After a long delay (get off my case, Flore, I’ve been busy!), I am very excited to share my *highly* anticipated review of Play. Chatting to some of Play’s beta testers a few weeks ago, I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. What follows is my honest opinion of the platform: the good, the bad, and the ugly. As some of you might know, I am not the most musically gifted individual. I had previously thought that the Circle of Fifths was a song that had been cut from the Lion King and that a cappella was another word for virgin (check out my college a cappella groups and you’ll see what I ..read more

Didn’t you hear? Play by Jellynote is the new cool kid on the block What started out as a desire for connection in a time of isolation has become so much more (read our previous article on how it all started). Now we’re a community of musicians sharing and collaborating, and we’re only going to keep growing. In the few months since our private beta launch: more than 1200 videos have been uploaded to the platform, our Discord community has expanded to 1000 users, and we’ve even developed our own language. ➤ Check out one of our favorite Plays on Jupiter of Holst Yes, you read that correctly. “V ..read more

Everyone enjoys listening to music, but have you ever asked yourself why? The answer is more complicated than you might think…So stay tuned to learn more about how listening to music can improve your health, your career prospects and even your sex life! (Cheeky!) Music can improve your mood There’s nothing quite like coming home after a bad day and listening to your favourite tunes. Whether it be rocking out to some heavy metal or soothing yourself with some folk. But why is plugging yourself into Spotify so therapeutic? One cause is the link between music and the levels of certain hormones in ..read more

To celebrate our partnership with My Sheet Music Transcriptions, we sat down with its founder, Oriol López Calle, to discuss the company and how he got into the business. At just 27, Oriol already boasts a pretty impressive resume: CEO of two companies, with years of business experience and an aerospace engineering degree under his belt. Read on to learn more about him and his tricks of the trade… By 16, Oriol was already working as a professional transcriber and arranger, having set up his own website. The idea behind this came from the response he experienced to his YouTube channel, where he ..read more

In April 2020, I had hit rock bottom. I had learned every TikTok dance I could find. I had mastered the art of the perfect banana bread. I had won every Zoom quiz under the sun. I had even started a podcast…a project I swiftly abandoned three episodes in when I realised I had very little to say about the state of the world. I was bored. I was unmotivated. I was lonely. I was lost. I missed my friends. I missed my family. I even missed my colleagues… Of course, I wasn’t the only one. Everyone on the Jellynote team was feeling the strain. Sylvain had taken to performing “sold-out” concerts in hi ..read more

More than just your average Joe, these celebrities have made a name for themselves, whether it be in the entertainment industry, the media or in politics. But besides achieving notoriety in their respective careers, they’ve also reached high levels of success on the personal level – learning the piano within a few months or even playing it upside down. Get inspired by the determination of these nine celebrities and see how playing an instrument added more value to their lives. Michelle Obama As detailed in her hit 2018 memoir Becoming, piano was an important part of Michelle’s life growing up ..read more

When it comes to playing guitar, one of the most daunting tasks is learning how to play scales and learning notes higher up the fretboard. Guitar strings are tuned and organized in such a way that it makes playing scales somewhat confusing and unintuitive compared to other instruments. However, dedicating a little bit of time every day to playing guitar scales and learning notes up the fretboard will help you become a better guitarist–regardless of which genre you like to play! In this article, I’ll share 3 tips that can help you learn the fretboard and improve your tone using scales. You’ll a ..read more

Hi everyone, my name is Jenny Maclay, but my friends call me Jenny Clarinet. The clarinet has taken me around the world (over 30 countries and counting!), and I enjoy meeting other musicians from around the world. I’ve been playing the clarinet for many years, and I enjoy blogging about everything clarinet on my website www.jennyclarinet.com. Congratulations on beginning your journey to learn the clarinet! I might be a bit biased, but I think it’s the best instrument, and I’m so excited that you want to learn to play the clarinet. Before you start playing clarinet, you should check to make sur ..read more

Hi everyone, my name is Jenny Maclay, but my friends call me Jenny Clarinet. The clarinet has taken me around the world (over 30 countries and counting!), and I enjoy meeting other musicians from around the world. I’ve been playing the clarinet for many years, and I enjoy blogging about everything clarinet on my website www.jennyclarinet.com. The clarinet is a wonderful instrument, but it certainly does require several pieces of equipment, including reeds! For beginning clarinetists, selecting and caring for these reeds can be confusing, so here’s everything you need to know: Learn the lingo ..read more

If you’re like me and the sight of a treble clef makes you nauseous, you’ve certainly come to the right place. When I was first starting out as a musician, I would have done anything to avoid having to read a score. Now I genuinely can’t play without them – they’ve dramatically improved my playing ability. Learning how to read piano sheet music isn’t too different from learning a new language. At first, it can be overwhelming. One minute you’re feeling very French, ordering a croissant in your beret, the next minute you have a new pet fish called Liza. What I’m trying to say is that it require ..read more