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Music Student 101

We are musicians, composers, engineers, teachers and students alike. The path through academia, as a musician, can be challenging and uncertain but it can also be enriching and great fun! This is the path we chose and we are here as your resource. Explore theory, history, ear training, technique, special topics and overall musicianship.
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Music Student 101
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Now displaying: Category: special topics
Feb 27, 2024
One out of every 10,000 people have absolute pitch (a.k.a perfect pitch). Many more, epecially musicians, wish they could have it. It's time to discuss this phenomenon and how it differs from relative pitch!
Jul 29, 2023

To keep your woodwinds sounding their best, it's important to keep them safe, clean and properly maintained. In this episode, we will review the instruments of the wood wind family: the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, flute and bassoon. We will also discuss the many parts involved and how to properly care for them.

Apr 28, 2023

The sound engineer is the driving force behind a good listening experience at any live concert. If you enjoy the tech end of the music world, you will enjoy what our special guest, Raymond Calhoun, has to say. This career path can lead to some awesome places and some amazing people. So let's get mixing!

Feb 28, 2023

It is time to add yet more listeners to our composing community! They work hard, that we may listen hard! So let us listen! This episode will feature the original music of: 
Visa Oscar, Alex Turnbull, Aubriel, Lemongrass, Neal Malley and Steve From an Undisclosed Subterranean Location.

Jan 29, 2023

Do animals appreciate music? Do they create their own music? Could they benefit from exposure to the right kind of music? The field of zoomusicology attempts to address some of these questions. In this episode, we will revisit some scientific studies involving primates, pets and some of our underwater friends. It's gonna be a wild time!

Oct 28, 2022

What makes scary music scary? We can only SPOOKULATE! Join us as we examine some well known scary scores in the classic music and cinematic genres. We will discuss some reoccurring themes, such as the dreaded "Dies Irae". We will discuss reoccurring intervals, such as the minor 2nd and the tritone. Grab your pop corn and maybe don't listen all by yourself. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Sep 30, 2022

Does listening to music make you more productive? Does it elevate your mood and help you get through your chores. Many have asked this question. Many have researched the answer. Let us discuss!

Apr 27, 2022

Once again, the students become the teachers! There's so much talent among our listeners, we simply must feature it.
So, get ready to listen and discuss!
This episode will feature the original music of:
Treybien/Alex, Gerald P. David, Linda Felcone, Rev. Jack Ladybird, Adam Hayes, Kara Ciezki and Andersonlane

Feb 28, 2022

Resuming from the previous episode, it's time to top off our discussion on reading music. We're going to take it back to the basics with the clefs, the lines and spaces of the staves, the notes they represent and some methods for grouping them. We'll also cover the notes and rests, their symbols, and the time values they represent. Finally, we'll cover some dynamics, tempo and form indicators that we may have missed in past episodes!

Jan 28, 2022
Reading music is a complex but essential skill for one who wants to learn and reproduce new melodies or songs. On this episode, we will discuss some tips and philosophies on how to approach reading and sight reading music. We will also share some of our own experiences and challenges in this endeavor.
Oct 28, 2021

If you love to play music, you probably love the idea of recording. Once you plug in, or approach the microphone, you may find some of these effects to be a great help. With dynamics, such as compression, limiting and gate, you can tame your volume levels. With equalization (EQ), you can add or subtract frequencies to better shape your sounds. And with reverb, to can add depth and dimension to an otherwise sterile sound by adding the reflections that would otherwise occur in large spaces.

Sep 30, 2021

Today's most widely used tuning system is equal temperament. It sounds great to our ears. But it is a compromise! Musicians and mathematicians have always struggled finding tuning systems that didn't compromise the pure tones provided within the natural harmonic series. On this episode, we will discuss these struggles and the systems that arose from this effort: just tuning, Pythagorean tuning, meantone tuning, well temperament and equal temperament!

Jun 30, 2021

This episode is truly a celebration of how far we've come on the show and how far you've come in the theory sequence! We will discuss songs we've written for our pets. We will catch you up with our own projects and talk about the future of the podcast! Finally, we will hear some outtakes from previous shows. Don't worry, it's still a family friendly episode thanks to my censor guitar!

Dec 29, 2020

We don't show enough love to our good horn section and other brass players! We're going to start making that right with a discussion on the general care and maintenance for the tuba, trombone, euphonium, horns, trumpet and other brass instruments! We will discuss their mechanics, routine cleaning suggestions and how to keep them sounding shiny and brassy!

Oct 29, 2020

In this episode, we are going to take a moment to address an issue that many of us must reckon with: staying creative during difficult times. We are going to share some of our experiences, based mainly on the Covid-19 social distancing guidelines. We will hear from some of our listeners who have been so kind to share their own stories. We will also discuss a few articles on the topic. Enjoy and be well!

Sep 22, 2020

Once more, our listeners have bared their souls and shared their own original music. Let us listen! This episode will feature the original music of: Badrinarayan Rammohan, Eamon Kelly, Jerome Chapman, Sharli Azulai and Keith Andrews.

Sep 9, 2020

In this episode, we will be meeting more new listeners and discussing more music topics! We're going to give a little tease of an up and coming episode on form and analysis, by discussing the sonata form. We'll meet two mothers who are continuing their music education while being rock star moms! Furthermore, we will cover some good sight reading tips and we'll hear a fantastic submission for our "Locrian Challenge"!

Aug 11, 2020

Continuing our “shelter in place video series”, the content of this 2nd video is now available for our good podcast listeners. We will find some good acronyms for the diatonic modes. We will discuss some of these modes and we might pick on Locrian for a bit. We will give also show a little more love to the minor diatonic chords and dissect a classic rock favorite. We hope you enjoy! 

Jul 14, 2020

In efforts to keep this show going, while sheltering in place, we have decided to launch a mini series of videos to share on social media and other video platforms. But for you, our good LISTENERS, it seemed fitting to release the audio of these videos! In this episode, we will tackle diatonic and non diatonic (chromatic) substitutions. We will also discuss our composition processes and what inspired them. Enjoy this series while we work on the next step forward!

Mar 23, 2020

It's time we had a chat with some more musicians! Most of our bumper tracks for this show have really come together thanks to the efforts and talents of Brian Maloy (drums) and Jerome Chapman (guitar). Let's get to know them as we discuss their beginnings, some of their favorite bumper tracks and what music has done for them.

Feb 11, 2020

For some reason, creative types are often drawn to mind altering substances. Musicians have been no exception. In this episode we will discuss the lure towards nicotine, alcohol, marijuana and hallucinogenic influences. We will discuss their effects and some of the risks involved. We will also share some stories of those who have fallen to, and those who survived, some of the dangers that come along with this lifestyle.

Dec 8, 2019

We talk a good bit about theory, ear training and history. But let's talk about you and your craft. The only way to get better at playing your instrument, ear training and theory is to practice like crazy! In this episode, we will focus on how to practice more efficiently and effectively. Let's get to work!

Oct 23, 2019

Everyone enjoyed our last listener compositions episode so much, we decided to make this a regular thing. Our listeners have bared their souls. Let's listen! This episode will feature the original music of: Cody M. Gibson, Ray Parker, Alex O' Hagan, Seth Hammonds, Paul Olsen, Chris Waite and Scott Jackson.

Sep 2, 2019

In part 1 of this series, we heard an original song (by one of our own listeners) for the first time. By the end of that episode, we put "Dewey and Dora" (by Keith Andrews) to paper with key and time signatures, tempo and a chord chart! Now it's time to round it out with lyrics and a melody, in proper lead sheet fashion!

Aug 19, 2019

It's time to talk about transcription. This is the process of translating what you can hear to something you, or another musician, can read. In part one of this series, we will break down "Dewey and Dora", by Keith Andrews (one of our talented listeners). We will figure out the key, the meter and the tempo and chart it down, in "lead sheet" fashion. We have a great song to work with and a great process to take you through as we put it down on paper!

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