Musicality Now - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Musicality Now — Music
Musicality Now

Ever wondered why some people seem to have a gift for music? Have you wished that you could play by ear, sing in tune, improvise and jam? You are in the right place.

Musicality Now is a mix of interviews and teaching, featuring some of the most inspiring and insightful musicians and music educators, talking about how to learn the core inner skills you need to feel like a “natural” in music and enjoy freedom, creativity and confidence.

Topics include: Playing by ear, Singing in tune, Jamming with other musicians, Having a good sense of rhythm, Writing your own music, Writing notation, Improvising a solo, Talking intelligently about music, Understanding Music Theory, Clapping in time, Knowing your instrument inside and out, Tuning your instrument by ear, Reading notation, Sight-reading music, Playing from a lead sheet, Performing live, and Playing multiple instruments.

Musicality Now is brought to you by Musical U (musical-u.com), the leading provider of musicality training online. Learn more and get shownotes at musicalitynow.com.

Copyright: © Copyright 2017 Musical U (Easy Ear Training Ltd.)

Latest Episodes:

077: About the Word Tone (Part Two) May 31, 2018

Show notes

With so many possible uses, it can be difficult to know exactly what we mean when we say "tone". In part two of our series about tone, we look at three more common uses for this multipurpose word, and how to contextualize them in music.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 077

Links and Resources

• About the Word "Tone" (Part One)

• Interview with Donna Schwartz

• Donna Schwartz's course on saxophone tone

• Series on Bass Tone

• Tuning Your Instrument

• Hearing Tone, Timbre, and Texture

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

076: What Your Voice Can Do, with Jeremy Fisher (Vocal Process) May 29, 2018

Show notes

Today we're joined by Jeremy Fisher, one of the co-founders of Vocal Process, one of the most impressive and useful websites for learning how to develop your singing voice and sing better. Through blog posts, live in-person training, online webinars, books and even an app, Vocal Process covers all the most in-demand topics for singers, ranging from how to get started and sing in tune, through extending your vocal range, through developing your singing style and even passing auditions.

Jeremy himself has had a fascinating career and one thing that made me particularly keen to have him on the show was that he was an instrumentalist first and foremost, and we think that's given him a particular perspective on the musicality of singing that's distinctive. The other component of that is definitely his focus on the science and analytical approach to how the human voice works and how to improve your singing.

There was a lot that we wanted to quiz Jeremy on and we had to hold ourselves back a bit so as not to produce an epic 5-hour podcast - but we still crammed a ton of interesting stuff in!

In this conversation we talk about:

• How his brain works as an expert sight-reader, and the process of learning to do the same thing yourself

• The "Trombone exercise" that can help you learn to sing the right notes and land on them in tune.

• And why wanting to help singers led to Jeremy discovering a love of having a camera stuck up his nose.

This is one of those episodes that packs a whole bunch of different subjects and a ton of expertise into a short conversation, so whether you're an instrumentalist, a singer, or a bit of both, you're going to take at least one - and probably several - really useful ideas or insights from this.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 076

Links and Resources

• Vocal Process

• This is a Voice Book

• Vocal Process Webinars

• Singing Express book series

• How to Sing Legato eBook

• One Minute Voice Warmup app

• 7 ways to change your style without changing your sound

• About the four stages of pitch matching

• About the relationship between singing voice and speaking voice

• Blog post: About onsets and offsets

• Easy top notes - how to stretch your voice

• Learning and memorizing lyrics and lines

• Interview with Gerald Klickstein

• Interview with Ben Parry

• Podcast episode: About Your Voice Sounding Weird

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

075: About the Lydian Chromatic Concept May 24, 2018

Show notes

The major scale may get all the attention, but have you been introduced to its close relative, the Lydian scale? In this episode, Musical U's own Andrew Bishko discusses the Lydian and the associated Lydian Chromatic Concept - a theory that may change the way you think about the major scale forever...

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 075

Links and Resources

• Interview with Andrew

• The Lydian Scale: Seeking the Ultimate Mysteries of Music

• The Lydian Chromatic Concept, by George Russell

• Tension and Release in Music

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

074: The Musicality of Sitting on a Rock, with Andrew Bishko May 22, 2018

Show notes

Today we have the distinct pleasure of interviewing one of our own team members at Musical U.

Andrew Bishko is our Content Editor and Product Manager at Musical U, which means he's in charge of overseeing everything we publish and also the teaching material we continue to expand and improve inside Musical U itself.

But as you're about to discover, despite his huge contributions at Musical U, this represents just one small part of a long and fascinating career as a musician, composer, author and music educator.

Andrew has performed and toured professionally in a number of bands, taught private instrument lessons, published a book and taught university courses in the US. He's played a wide variety of instruments, from piano to accordion to flute and Native American flute to a recent new addition, the guitarrón. He's played in styles as varied as classical, folk, reggae, jazz, Klezmer - and even a Pink Floyd tribute band.

In this conversation you'll discover:

How he went from classical Chopin recitals on piano to touring the world playing flute in a reggae band.

The one genre of music that resonated most deeply with him emotionally and caused him to focus on it for 15 years.

Why the best way to learn to improvise might involve being taught how to go sit on a rock.

This one runs long! And that was with us being very self-controlled and not diving into any one of several topics along the way which we would have loved to pick Andrew's brains on further. After 90 minutes we felt like we'd barely scratched the surface, and there are a ton of interesting and useful insights packed into this conversation for you. You'll see why we consider it an honour and a privilege to have Andrew on the Musical U team.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 074

Links and Resources

• HeartWinds World of Music

• Mariachi Flor de Missouri

• How to Sit on a Rock

• Napasha Music

• Take lessons with Andrew

• The Sound of Klezmer

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

073: About Playing by Ear with Trial and Error May 17, 2018

Show notes

You may be surprised to learn that a large part of learning to play by ear is in fact trial and error! However, you can accelerate your learning by adding some method to the madness - with the proper tools and training!

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 073

Links and Resources

• Interview with Chris Owenby

• "Start Playing by Ear" module preview

• About Perfect Pitch

• Interview with Professor Anders Ericsson

• Roadmaps at Musical U

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

072: Off the page and back again, with Chris Owenby (Practice Habits) May 15, 2018

Show notes

Today we're speaking with Chris Owenby, the man behind the website "Practice Habits" where he shares blogposts and videos to help musicians and especially piano teachers with their students to form more effective and enjoyable practice routines.

As well as running Practice Habits and its corresponding members website for piano teachers, Chris is also an award-winning composer, and the creator of The Online Piano Course, which as you'll be hearing in this episode is an interestingly different approach to learning piano, both in what is covered and the way it is taught online.

In this conversation we talk about:

• The unusual musical journey that led to him being equally comfortable in the worlds of sheet music and playing by ear

• How to find patterns in the music you play, and why that's useful

• The clever way Chris has managed to reconcile the importance of adapting teaching to fit each student with providing an online course for learning piano

We expected to focus mostly on practice tips and tricks in this interview but it turned out to be so rich in interesting ideas and advice about playing by ear, improvising, and finding your own way through music learning that we think we'll have to invite Chris back for a part two in future!

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 072

Links and Resources

• PracticeHabits.co

• Expedition Piano

• The Online Piano Course

• Free Piano Mini-Course

• 5 Brilliant Practice Habits

• About the I, IV, V, and vi Chords

• Interview with Sara Campbell

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

071: About the Non-Musical Benefits of Music May 10, 2018

Show notes

There's a slew of obvious and not-so-obvious benefits of playing music. From boosting your self-esteem to improving your brain's ability to multitask, music is the gift that keeps on giving - whether you're a child starting piano lessons, a college student joining the school choir, or someone picking up an instrument in retirement.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 071

Links and Resources

• Interview with Jimmy Rotheram

• Infographic: The Benefits of a Music Education

• 20 Important Benefits of Music in our Schools

• 9 Ways Learning an Instrument Strengthens Your Brain

• Benefits of Learning a Musical Instrument After 50

• Fighting Dementia with Music

• Singing Their Way through Retirement

• Why Retirement Can Be an Excellent Time to Learn to Play an Instrument

• Why You Should Learn a Musical Instrument as an Adult

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

070: Transforming Education through Music, with Jimmy Rotheram May 08, 2018

Show notes

Today we're talking with Jimmy Rotheram, the man behind an incredible success story in the UK school system. Last year Feversham Primary Academy made headlines after transforming from one of the worst-performing schools in the country to well above average, in just a few short years. After being singled out for its unacceptably poor student attendance and academic results in 2010, Feversham now has 98% student attendance and is in the top 1% of schools nationwide for student progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

So why are we talking about this on the Musicality Podcast? Well, it turns out that a large part of their success is attributable to a greatly increased and improved music education programme for all students.

We were so impressed with Jimmy's story and the results that he and his colleagues at Feversham have managed, so we were excited to have the chance to speak with him. And as you'll learn in this interview it wasn't just "adding music" that made the difference. It was a particular kind of music education which focuses on developing the inner musicality of each child - and which can be equally powerful for adults too.

In this conversation we talk about:

• The specific kind of music education Jimmy adopted for use at Feversham

• Why this kind of music education was initially a real struggle for Jimmy personally, given his own musical background, and why it's the exact opposite, a fun and easy experience, for his students

• Whether it was the kind of music education or the increased amount that produced such amazing results

A couple of things we mention which we should probably explain in case you're not familiar with the UK system: the "PGCE" qualification is the main teaching degree for UK primary and secondary schools, and "Ofsted" is the official body which evaluates schools in the UK.

This is a really interesting and inspiring story even if you don't have a particular interest in childhood music education yourself, so whether you're a parent, a teacher, or just a musician yourself, we know you'll get a lot out of this one.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 070

Links and Resources

• Feversham Primary Academy

• Improving school results not with maths, but with music

• Jimmy's YouTube channel

• British Kodály Academy

• About Solfa

• Jimmy's Twitter

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

069: About the Word Tone May 03, 2018

Show notes

What does "tone" mean in music? This multipurpose word can actually take on some very different uses depending on the context it's mentioned in. Learn about how "tone" can refer to a note, a frequency, or an interval.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 069

Links and Resources

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

068: Listen First, with Donna Schwartz (Everything Saxophone) May 01, 2018

Show notes

Today on the show we're joined by Donna Schwartz, one of the best-known saxophone teachers online. As you'll be hearing though, Donna's expertise goes deep on sax but also wide on other instruments and musicality in general. Along with past podcast guest Nick Mainella, Donna hosts the "Everything Saxophone" podcast, and is the creator of several interesting online courses, including "Get a Killer Saxophone Tone", "Practice Smarter" and "Jazz Improvisation Explained".

In this conversation we talk about: • how learning a second instrument helped Donna overcome crippling performance anxiety on her primary instrument • the revolutionary approach to teaching and learning music which really shouldn't be all that revolutionary and • the surprising key to producing a good tone that really projects

This was one of those conversations where we had to keep holding ourselves back because we could have happily dived into any of several areas Donna touched on and spent hours just talking about that! So we know you'll enjoy this and go away keen to explore Donna's website, courses and podcast for more of her insights and expertise.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 068

Links and Resources • Donna Schwartz's website • Donna's online courses • The Everything Saxophone podcast • Gordon Institute for Music Learning • Learn and Sing: Your Way to Great Musicianship, with Donna Schwartz

Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it!

Click here to rate and review

Related Podcasts