The Playground
The Simply Music blog
A Way of Listening – The Diversity of Jazz
Welcome to A Way of Listening, an occasional series where we look at music from a range of angles designed to open you up to new listening opportunities and hopefully teach you a little along the way. It’s a big, exciting musical world when you…
Recording Yourself Part 4 – Sharing Your Recordings
In previous posts we have discussed some benefits, learning value and methods of recording yourself, mostly from the perspective of developing your own playing. But what if you feel the urge to share your work? The playing field of recorded music has never been flatter. No…
Ted Talks and More on Music & Creativity
A picture is worth 1000 words, but a 1000-word online talk is free! Here’s a selection of interesting and informative Ted Talks and other Talks about music and creativity. Enjoy! 1. Daria van den Bercken: Why I take the piano on the road … and…
The 3 Keys to Benefitting from Composing & Improvising, Part 2: The What
Photo Credit: Trusty Joe – https://trustyjoe.com/ Creating your own original music is one of the most beneficial aspects of studying an instrument and being a musician. In Part 1, I talked about two of the three keys to reaping those benefits. First was understanding…
Recording Yourself, Part Three – How To Record Yourself
Credit: http://www.intuneaudio.ca/ In the last two articles, we talked about the benefits of recording yourself and what to listen for when reviewing your recorded efforts. In this installment, we’ll discuss some practicalities of making recordings. Even if you’re simply making a cheap and cheerful recording…
Pride of Place – Songs We Share for National Celebrations
Credit: college.usatoday.com We hope all our Teachers and Students in the United States are enjoying 4th of July celebrations. But why not spread the national pride further afield? We enlisted the help of the wonderful Elizabeth Gaikwad to create some simple accompaniment versions, using the key…
A Graphic Speaks a Thousand Words
Here in the Information Age, there’s no end to the opportunities to learn stuff. Trouble is, there’s no end to the stuff we ought to learn. How do you narrow all the available information about your favourite subjects down to the nuggets you can use in your…
Recording Yourself, Part Two – What to Listen For
Credit: http://sepeusz.blogspot.com.au/ In the first instalment of this series, we talked about the value and benefits of recording yourself. It’s amazing what you’ll notice about your playing when you listen back to it without the distraction of having to actually play. But there can…
Our Creative Colleagues
Credit: http://www.coos.be/ We know our teachers and staff are passionate about their day jobs, but for some, this is just part of their musical journey. Many of them have multiple irons in their musical fire, including writing and recording their own music. It is…
The 3 Keys to Benefitting from Composing & Improvising, Part 1: The Why & How
Credit: Fabrizio Paterlini – The Art of the Piano Creating your own original music is one of the most beneficial aspects of studying an instrument and being a musician, even if you’re not especially interested in becoming a composer or a songwriter, and even if…
