This music teaching blog is designed to help you further understand some of the more challenging music concepts! If you have a question you would like us to answer then please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will write an article on it to help your understanding!
Music Theory
Circle of Fifths
Circle of Fifths Cheat Sheet
The circle of fifths is an incredible tool for performing musicians and composers alike! It is a key aspect of music theory. In this post we will look at what…
The Circle of Fifths Complete Guide!
Welcome to the circle of fifths complete guide! The circle of fifths is a concise diagram that gives you all the information you need to understand and play any piece…
What is the point of the Circle of Fifths?
We’ve all heard of it, perhaps your teachers have mentioned it a few times. But what is the point of the circle of fifths? The circle of fifths actually has…
Scale and key signatures
Major Scales
Ab major – A guide to the scales and chords
Learning your scales is so important and the Ab major scale is no exception. In this major scale the first note is Ab. This scale also includes four flats and…
E flat major Explained – A Music Theory Guide
Learning your scales is so important and the E flat major scale is no exception. In this major scale the first note is E flat. This scale includes three flats…
Bb major Scale Explained – A Music Theory Guide
Learning your scales is so important and the Bb major scale is no exception. In this major scale the first note is Bb. This scale also includes two flats and…
The F major Scale – A Music Theory Guide
Learning you scales is so important and the F major scale is no exception. In this major scale the first note is F. This scale also includes one flat and…
B major Scale Explained: A Music Theory Guide
The B Major scale contains 7 notes: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A# You might see the scale written as starting and ending on a B and this can…
E major Scale Explained – A Music Theory Guide
In our last scale page, we investigated the scale of A major. Remember, A major had three sharps in its key signature, F sharp, C sharp and G sharp! Today I…
A major Scale Explained – A Music Theory Guide
In our last scale page, we investigated the scale of D major. Remember, D major had two sharps in its key signature, F sharp and C sharp! Today I would…
D major Explained – A Music Theory Guide
In our last scale page, we investigated the scale of G major. Remember, G major had one sharp in its key signature, F sharp! Today I would like to visit the…
G Major Scale Explained: A Music Theory Guide
In our last scale page, we investigated the scale of C major. Remember, C major was one of the simplest scales (or keys) you can learn. Today I would like…
C Major Scale Explained: A Music Theory Guide
The C major scale is one of the simplest scales (or keys) you can learn. It is perhaps one of the most common key signatures in western music… precisely because…
Minor Scales
What is the Melodic Minor Scale?
Minor scales sound very different to major scales because they are based on a very different patterns of intervals. As we have seen before there are actually three different types…
transposition
How to Transpose Up a Minor 3rd: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How to Transpose Down a Perfect 5th: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How to Transpose Up a Perfect 5th: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How to Transpose Down a Major Second: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How To Transpose Up A Major Second: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How To Transpose Down An Octave: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How To Transpose Up An Octave: A Music Theory Guide
Transposition is essential skill for any aspiring musician. At their heart of it, transposition allows you to alter music so that it can be played on different instruments or in…
How to transpose in the tenor clef, an overview!
As before, make sure you check out the previous blog posts to this! This post will be discussing how to transpose in the tenor clef. Part 1 and Part 2 can…
Transposing into the alto clef, an overview!
If you haven’t yet had a read, take yourself over to the blog article, Transposition Basics Part 1. In last weeks post we explored why we need to transpose and where…
How do we transpose? An easy method!
Being able to transpose is a requirement for all levels of the ABRSM Theory exams. Completing your ABRSM Grade 5 theory is necessary for any musician to complete their ABRSM…
Time Signatures
Time Signatures and Meters Explained: A Complete Guide
Time signatures set out the rhythmic pattern that a piece of music is played within. Whether it’s a waltz in 3/4, a sonata in 4/4, or Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ in…
What is an Irregular Time Signature?
We’ve looked at what a time signature is, visited simple time signatures and also compound time signatures! Now it’s time to explore the final type of time signature, the irregular…
What is the Difference between Simple and Compound time?
If you haven’t done so already it is important to read through the time signature blog post and watch the video before reading this post. In this blog post we…
What is a Time Signature?
We’ve all seen those numbers written at the start of our music, but what exactly do they mean? These two numbers are called the time signature! But what is the…
Intervals
How to work out Compound Intervals!
The final stop on our intervals journey… what if my interval is larger than an octave? How to work out a compound interval! So far we have learnt how to…
What to do if you don’t know the scale of the bottom note!
Before reading on, please make sure you have visited the other interval blog posts and watched the relevant YouTube videos! In today’s blog we will be looking at what to…
How to work out diminished and augmented intervals!
Before reading through this blog post, make sure you are happy working out the intervals number (distance between the two notes) and working out whether it is a major, minor…
Major, Minor and Perfect Intervals – how do they work?
In the last blog post we looked at working out the number (distance between the notes) for our intervals. If you haven’t done so already, make sure to read the…
What Are Intervals in Music? A Complete Guide
How to work out intervals! This is such an important aspect of music theory, read this post to find out how to do it!
How to Read Music
How to Read Music: Step-by-step
Being able to read sheet music is an amazing skill to master and is very much like learning a new language. But a language us as humans were all born…
How To Master Your Sight-Reading!
Sight reading… these two words always seem to send students into a stressed frenzy! But just how do we achieve high marks in this often-feared aspect of a music exam…
Instrumental Lessons
Should children learn music? How will it benefit your Childs development?
This week has been fun exploring lots of different music activities with my twin toddlers! In this blog post I wanted to explore why children should learn music. I am…
Music development for young children
It has been a hot minute since I posted on my blog! In the time since I have been off we have been so incredibly busy. It seems that as…
4 easy steps to relate to non-musical parents!
One thing I have come across quite regularly in my teaching is talking to and dealing with parents who are ‘non-musical’ as in they do not play a musical instrument…
The top 21 Online Music Games for Teaching
Teaching beginner music theory and musicianship to your students whilst online is quite tricky! If you are like me, during live lessons I love to play games with my beginner…
Did you have a Merry Musical Christmas?
Merry Christmas everyone! Wow… what a year we have had! Christmas has definitely not been what everyone was expecting but I do hope you all managed to make the most…
5 ways to Effective practice during the festive season
Practicing during the holidays can always be a challenge at any time of year, but particularly during the Christmas season. All that lovely yummy Christmas food around, the mulled wine…
How to keep your Christmas Music Lessons Fun – Online Learning
It’s the most wonderful time of the year but we’re still hard at work with the last Christmas music lessons! But how do we add that little bit of magic…
How to stay motivated – 5 steps to getting motivated!
How do we stay motivated? We all know it, we start the school year with a high level of motivation to get things accomplished but then gradually as the daily…
5 ways to incorporate music theory into your lessons
Knowing how to incorporate music theory into your lessons is absolutely vital but it can be tricky! Here are a few of my ideas to make it fun! Ask music…
How to use music to help your mental health
We are currently in the middle of an extremely bizarre situation and many of us are stuck at home. I for one have not left my apartment for five weeks,…
Are online music lessons successful?
In light of what is happening around the world and this Covid-19 pandemic, how are you all going forward with your music lessons? The question on everyone’s lips is, do…
Are graded music exams important?
Are music exams necessary? This is a question I am constantly asked in one form or another. There are actually many different answers to this, with some students finding exams…
Flute
Technique
6 ways to stop you having a bad tone day!
We’ve all been there, we’ve had a stunning practice session the day before where our sound just seems perfect! And then we get up the next day to practice and…
Effortless breathing for flute players: The Complete Guide
Being able to breathe freely and easily is the foundations of all flute playing, but can be quite a confusing subject to understand. We all know that breathing for flute…
Top Tips to help you learn how to warm up the flute!
Learning how to warm up the flute is a vital aspect of any flute players practice routine! It should be incorporated whether you have 60 minutes to practice or 15…
Flute vibrato: What is it and how can it improve my flute playing?
I have spent quite a bit of this week talking to students about their sound quality and in particular their vibrato! Vibrato has an interesting history as it is only…
6 tips to improve your low notes on the flute!
Low notes are often a problem, particularly for beginner flute players. Creating that perfect low note embouchure, regulating the air and being sure of your air direction are all important…
Will my braces affect my flute playing?
I’m not talking about the trouser kind… trouser braces will not affect your flute playing so go for it! Haha! We are talking specifically about the kind that fill your…
The 5 most common flute fingering mistakes
When you take up the flute, or any instrument for that matter, it is really important not to allow yourself to slip into bad habits. There are many common flute…
How to teach breath control – tips and tricks!
Breathing is the most important technique to get right when you play the flute, or any wind instrument! So let’s explore how to teach breath control effectively! I mean, if…
Flute Embouchure: Developing Your Best Sound
If you play the flute, chances are you have talked about the flute embouchure. The embouchure is vital if you are to have great success with your playing. When we…
Maintenance
What are the main Flute features? A detailed look at what you can expect on a typical flute!
The flute has many main features that you will see in all models that you can purchase but there are also a few special features that you will only see…
How to clean your flute!
This is one of the most important things to learn when you first purchase or rent your instrument and to be honest it is not discussed enough! So here we go,…
How to upgrade your flute
This is a common question I am often asked by my students. Deciding on the right time to upgrade has a few different factors. There are many things to consider…
What beginner flute should I look out for?
It is very tricky for teachers and students when it comes to recommending an ideal beginner flute. The market is flooded with substandard flutes and you seem to be able…
Practice
How I found the #100daysofpractice challenge
On Tuesday 25th August 2020 I completed the #100daysofpractice challenge and wow what a complete rollercoaster that was. What is the #100daysofpractice challenge? This challenge is all about an artist, usually…
What is the importance of slow practice?
I don’t know about you but this covid-19 crisis has got me working at a million miles an hour. With a full teaching schedule, baby twins and my own practice…
10 ways to keep your scales practice fun!
Following on from last week’s post about why we should practise our scales, I thought it might be nice to look at how we can keep this fun! If you…
Why are scales important in my music practice?
Scales… the mere mention of this word can be enough to make some students tremble in their boots! So why should I practice my scales? There are in fact many good…
10 ways to create an effective practice schedule!
Practising is hard and once the initial excitement of learning something new has worn off, how do we keep ourselves motivated? The only way to do this is to create…
Performance
How to deal with Stress and Performance Anxiety
We’ve have had a pretty stressful time of it recently and this week was the last straw for us because our boiler decided to explode boiling water everywhere and fall…