Demystifying Staff Notation part 2: Rhythm
admin Part two of my series on the basics of reading music in staff notation. This is intended as a logical, from the ground up explanation of music notation for people…
Practice Like a Pro part 5 – Performative Practice
kerryjk This is the final article in my series on holistic musical practice, set out in the framework I like to call MoPToP. We looked at mental practice, the in depth…
Practice Like a Pro part 4: Technical Practice
Now we get to what most people think of when they think of practice, also the part you’re most likely to associate with unpleasant and uncreative chores. But this is…
Practice Like a Pro part 3: Physical Practice
Continuing the series of articles on holistic practice habits for musicians, last time we looked at mental practice – figuring out the kind of musician you want to be and…
Practice Like a Pro part 2: Mental Practice
Part two in a series of articles on personal musical practice, last time I gave an overview of my MoPToP framework describing what I see as the four main aspects…
Practice Like a Pro part 1: Overview
How often do you practice at your instrument? This is a dreaded question among musicians at all levels, conjuring as it does visions of stern authority figures standing over sweating…
What makes a relatable track?
kjkmusic Since I joined the moderating team at Fresh On The Net, a few people have asked me what makes us choose one song over another when the overall standard of…
Demystifying Staff Notation Part One: Pitch
To the uninitiated, classical music notation looks beautiful and terrifying, filled with bizarre looping symbols, black dots scattered around lines like footprints and numbers and fragments of text in strange…
Notes From The Total Perspective Vortex – Finding Your Way In The Big, Big World Of Music
”For when you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little marker,…
Among Musicians There Are No Divisions
This story concerns Roddy, a fantastic fiddler and folk musician hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, who I met on the Leeds music scene. To give a little backstory for those who…