The violin is often thought of as one of the most difficult musical instruments to play. Unlike, for example, the piano or drums where a newcomer can at least make a nice sound almost immediately, the violin (and most other stringed instruments) takes a great deal of practise just to make one...
Georgia on My Mind
Here at Music to Play we absolutely love this song. Georgia on My Mind is a classic love song from the period of classic love songs. Written in 1930 by the great Hoagy Carmichael and first released in 1931, reaching the heady heights of the US top 10, it is a blues-ballad in the truest...
Rihanna – Umbr...
Umbrella was released by Rihanna in 2007 and catapulted her to universal fame and notoriety. The song featured Hip Hop luminary Jay Z alongside a whole host of lesser known producers and rap artists. Umbrella went straight in at number 1 in the US as well as many countries in Europe and...
Badly Drawn Boy, Onc...
Growing up in the Lancashire town of Bolton obviously inspired Damon Gough’s early musical output. The sound is a mix of a sort of pastoral / natural ambience alongside a more urban sound which is probably inspired by Manchester. Maybe I am reading too much into the background of Badly...
Mahler, Symphony #1
Mahler’s epic 1st Symphony, subtitled Titan, is one of our favourite symphonies of the Romantic period. It was composed in 1887/8 whilst Gustav was conductor of the Leipzig Opera Orchestra. The work harks back to his childhood a great deal with the sound of marching bands passing the...
Elvis Chords
Elvis was the undisputed king of rock ‘n’ roll but whilst his band always included the best musicians in the business, the king himself wasn’t the worlds greatest guitarist (no disrespect obviously, I did address him as the king after all). This basically means that his...
Odd Time Signatures in Songs
Odd times are often feared by musicians who are not used to them, but once you do become accustomed to them they can feel as natural as playing in four four. Here at Music to Play, we always try to encourage greater understanding of rhythm and the understanding of odd time signatures is part of that for jazz, pop and classical musicians. I think that the only reason we are afraid of odd meters is the fact that they are just not used in popular music very often so our ears haven’t become accustomed to them. Five Four Most people don’t really consider three four to be an odd time signature in this sense as it covered quite a lot in...
Rhythm Tree | UK versus USA notations
This is a two part lesson with two very similar goals. Here at Music to Play we always try to encourage a deeper understanding of rhythm for all musicians. Often musicians (who are not drummers), do not fully understand and respect the relationship between different rhythms and rates of notes. The most important thing to understand here is that eighth notes (or quavers) contain quarter notes (or crotchets). The same is true for quarters and sixteenth notes, the greater rate always includes all previous rates in the same class. Crotchets versus Quarter notes The second point that I am trying to make here is that (for once…joke) the...