If you are not familiar with the butterfly effect, it is essentially when small changes can make bigger changes happen. Whether or not you may agree with the butterfly effect theory, you might agree that this past year and a half most of us had to make many small changes for lessons to continue. Many found themselves in a situation that forced them out of their comfort zone. Online lessons became the solution to keep the "doors" open and continue teaching. The small changes we have made this year with online lessons, ultimately created a beautiful array of lessons learned. And I think you migh ..read more

One of the first questions a new student asks when sitting at the piano bench is, “What do those three pedals do?” Great question! Before diving into the details of each pedal, let's look at the history of them. Piano Pedals - Long, Long Ago Piano pedals have been around almost as long as the modern piano itself, but they had a rocky start. The Father of piano himself, Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the first tone-modifying mechanism in 1722. Today, this pedal is in the left-most position and is known as the una corda or soft pedal. Soon after, Gottfried Silbermann — a renowned European constr ..read more

Taking care of your musical instrument properly is extremely important, especially since you have to invest a lot of money, time, and research on choosing and buying the right one. Hence, if you plan to move to a new home, make sure you prepare your instrument for the transfer. Instruments are not only costly but also very fragile compared to furniture and appliances. This means your regular packing routine won’t do. For this reason, it is best if you do your research on how to pack and prepare musical instruments for the move. Apart from this, taking good care of your instrument is vital for ..read more

The vocal range is one of several voice qualities that vocal teachers use to determine voice type. It refers to the full scope of pitches a given singer can produce, from the lowest to the highest. Other important voice qualities to consider are:  Vocal tessitura (tehs-sih-’too-rah): the area of the vocal range most comfortable for the singer to use Vocal weight: a “light” voice is usually more agile and flexible, and a “heavy” voice is usually more resonant and full Vocal timbre (‘tam-burr): the characteristic of the voice that allows a listener to judge that it is different from anothe ..read more

Music is a huge part of everyday life for most people. Some are casual listeners, others live and breathe through it, but the fact is that it’s meant to help people relax, grow, and enjoy themselves in the purest way possible. Even though it can help us through our hardships without us giving it too much thought, simply listening to your favorite tunes sometimes isn’t enough. Opening up to strangers in regular therapy isn’t too appealing to some people, which paved the way to a new, more approachable means of mental healing – through music. What are the benefits of music therapy? The myriad of ..read more

Western Classical music era, which was between 1730 and 1820, was characterized by a distinctive music style, with a touch of romance and an aesthetic attitude, despite the politics in that era. The most common form of music was the Sonata. Its structural pattern formed a basis for most classical instrumental music. Ludwig Van Beethoven, a renowned German music composer, and pianist participated mainly in the widening of the Sonata, and he remains the most admired music genius of classical music. He composed many songs in different music categories in his musical pursuit – Symphony, Concerto ..read more

Learning to play the piano is so much fun when you are passionate about the music and want to produce your own songs. Once you have started playing fluently and feel that you can begin to practice more by yourself, you might start thinking about purchasing a piano of your own. You could have your pick at affordable instruments with so many to choose from, but the prize for all pianists will always be the grand piano. There is a variety of the original, and one might catch your eye. However, when you decide to go out and purchase one, you will need to be sure about the maintenance plan, and tun ..read more

By Lou Ann Pope, Tonara Creative Education Specialist One of my favorite radio shows is John Tesh’s Intelligence for Your Life. I have learned so many interesting tidbits, but the best piece of advice is “Don’t buy your children things; give them experiences.” So started the first of many trips with my three children. Instead of purchasing needless gadgets, which were only to be quickly tossed aside and soon forgotten, we traveled to Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, and Venice, Italy. In the same vein, no rewarding my piano students with a pencil adorned with music notes; I would rather create ex ..read more

By Marilyn Floyd “Music melody is the part of a song that you can sing,”  - Marilyn Floyd I tell my music composition students. Melody is the part of the song that everyone knows and remembers. Three parameters -melody, harmony, and rhythm - make music out of a collection of sounds and beat. Melodies are the easiest recognized aspect of music, and so easy to remember that even cockatiel can do it. Melody Defined Notes and pitches organized horizontally are called a melody. Melody is a series of musical notes arranged in a definite pattern of pitch and rhythm. Melody is a Serie ..read more

How do you get rid of stage fright? Well, you may never be rid of it 100% — a small amount of stage fright is actually not a bad thing! Well into his 60s, the renowned Duke Ellington used to say he enjoys a happy jolt of stage fright every evening. That being said, Duke Ellington’s stage confidence surely stood 10 feet taller than his stage fright, and that’s the goal of this article; be bigger than your stage fright with these three tips! By embracing the strategies of unbeatable preparation, acceptance of mistakes that may come your way, and seeking opportunities to get on stage more often ..read more