Musical Musings Review
Links to my past posts about music & the brain & the world & more
Before we dig in, please consider letting me know what you'd like to read or discuss or expand upon. How does music affect us, how do we learn it, why play and listen to it, how do we use it? Do you have questions about how to improve your own fiddle/violin playing and learning or those of your friends, family or students? Are you looking for opportunities to play or learn, ideas about when and how to improve your instrument, pondering lessons vs classes, workshops or DIY options?
To share your questions, thoughts or requests, please leave a comment online or just reply to this email if you get my posts by email. You can also respond to my question on the Substack Chat where you can also see and respond to other people’s thoughts as well.
The review below focuses on general musical topics — next time, we’ll review articles aimed specifically at learning and improving fiddle/violin playing.) Remember, you can browse all past articles online.
Music is really about timing, all else is decoration! And why is the beat so essential to music?
Did you know that playing music enhances brain function?
Rhythm is tied to physical motion and even to basic actions such as how we learned to crawl (worth learning even as an adult!).
Many imagine we use our brains to understand how to play an instrument, then make our muscles do the work, and evaluate the results with our ears — but actually, it all works the opposite way.
If you’re a music teacher (or teacher of anything), whose side are you on? Are you on the student’s side, or is it you vs them?
Are you a perfectionist? We need good ones. But bad ones only get in their own way. Which are you?
What are your favorite music jokes? Can you imagine any kooky future tech for helping play fiddle?
I think most “cures” for stagefright have got it all wrong. Here are a few common-sense ideas.
Music is connected to everything. I wish educators, and the society at large, could appreciate and make use of this more!
Music is all about relationships. Here are ten of them.
Practicing the same thing over and over is like cramming for a test; it doesn’t work very well. Here’s what does work, according to cognitive scientists.
Musical expression can’t be learned or taught as a mere technique.
Dyslexia turns out to have its origins in audio perception, so naturally, music is involved in its treatment. And, how is music linked to the language center?
Pickup notes are everywhere; they lead us where we want to go, but we usually take them for granted. Being aware of pickups helps us listen and play more musically.
Unsure about improvisation? What if I said that all music is improvisation, taking you from one beat note to the next? That we do it all the time, that this is how we really learn and retain music?
Nature’s harmonic series is all physics and what musical instruments and scales are based on (psst… also learn how to annoy people no end by knowing the frequency of a mosquito wing)…
Would you like to host or lead a music session?
Here’s why we can all write new tunes, and learn a lot just from trying. And by the way, here’s how.
The power of sound and soundtracks tells us a lot about how we listen to and play music.
People often talk about “learning styles.” Those concepts can give us interesting ideas, but there is really only one learning style that works!
The pentatonic scale is so common that knowing it helps you learn and listen to lots of types of music, from folk to blues to jazz to classical, and here are some samples to see and audio to enjoy.
Teaching and learning fiddle/trad music gives you a chance to learn about cultures around the world, including some unexpected facts.