3 Reasons Why you Should Perform Music

Learning Music just as a hobby? Not keen to perform? Got Stage fright? Well, those should not be excuses should not stop you from performing music. Believe it or not, but it gives you more joy when you are singing or performing with or for someone else. The feeling is rewarding and no one plays music just for themselves. It is a form of expression and the best way to express it is to perform in front of others. Now, if you are just beginning to learn and feel like you are not ready to perform, then it’s okay to take some time to build you confidence but you must eventually perform. Performance should be the goal that drives you to play your instrument longer and commit more time to practice.

1. Music is The Best Teacher

Yes, your performances can be teacher you need. No one can teach you more than performances in terms of building musicianship. Musicianship is about training the student not just to be a player of an instrument, but to be a Musician. This is the only platform where you can be a self-critic, you yourself will be able to see/hear the shortcomings and areas that you want to improve on. It will teach you to be comfortable around other people and open up new ideas and ways to make your instrument sound better. Also, when you play things right, it boosts your confidence and your ability to play the instrument automatically upgrades.

2. Know your Instrument Inside Out

There are more to your instrument than its looks. It be a guitar, keyboard, drums or even your voice - it is not something that makes any sound, it is an object that if used right, can paint a story to the audience. There are so many dynamics and so many different possibilities of using your instrument to sound different and contribute to the song in the right way. Playing your instrument is not just about playing your notes right, it is about giving definition to a melody you play. All these things, although taught through technique but the real understanding only comes through experience and for that, you have to perform as much as you can, and learn from each experience.

3. Helps Build relationships

Performance is not just about you, it is about understanding those who stand with you on the stage - Complementing and supporting each other in a band. The idea of coming together and playing a song is a rewarding feeling. You understand the importance of each and every instrument, and learn from each other. Only if you prepare for performances, will you be able to discuss music with your peers and come up with ideas that will make the songs sound better. You also understand different influences and open up to the exploring different genres and styles of music and that makes you a better musician. As a musician you should always want to keep growing and learning new things. Also, you get a chance to interact with the audience which, will give you more encouragement to continue what you are passionate about.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

4 Things to Do Behind the scenes before a Performance

Now, if you have come back from a show and absolutely blown away by the performance that you have witnessed, let us share a secret with you – it is harder than it looks. The flawless and almost natural stage presence is the consequence of rehearsals and practice. Here are few things that happen before a memorable show.

1. Practice till you drop!

The only way you feel comfortable and feel natural when playing your part is by putting time to practice relentlessly until you can play your part almost unconsciously. No matter how long it takes, musicians put their time until they can hit every note without even thinking about it. They practice their part separately and master their individual parts. They go through each and every part in detail, play them over and over till they get it to sound they want. They work on their tone, sound dynamic, practicing when to play loud and when to play softly - to give the song more depth.

2. Jam Sessions

Once each member of the team is ready with their part, it is now important that everyone plays as a part of the band and not for themselves. Being ‘tight’ as a band is an important aspect of performance. Being able to participate, contribute and coordinate with each one of them in a band is what makes the song alive on stage. So the key is to do regular jams and able to hear each part of music from different instrument and able to complement it with just the right amount of participation through their instrument. Band dynamic plays a very important role in making a show stand out.

3. Rehearsing antics on stage

To be able to attract a crowd in front of you, it is important to interact with them and work on stage presence. From crazy antics to small gestures to be able to introduce a sing along, everything that you see a band doing on stage are, in fact, practiced off-stage and are rehearsed in the jam room and on the stage before the show they are about to perform. Take any band you know and if you ask them, they will agree that they do practice. Although it feels impromptu, it is not. It is rehearsed so that when they do it on stage, it doesn't feel unnatural to them. Having said that, yes, there are some things that they tend to do according to the environment there but majority of it is rehearsed and that is how it feels so natural to look at them and be mesmerised.

4. Investing in the right Instruments

Nothing would sound the way they do if the instrument they are playing is not up to the standard. Every professional musician does their research and invest in the right instrument to boost the sound of the whole show. They also keep information and tabs of the speakers, P.A. and monitors that will be available in the show. Most of them even check out the place one day before the show and do a sound check to understand the capability of the equipment available on the stage. The band then sets the sound to what they like best. Thus, everything you hear and see on a professional show are planned. So it is important for any of us playing in a band to cultivate these habits before playing live and prepare the best way possible for any show.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

3 Tricks to get the Most out of Listening to Music

Now, we have so many tools that can help us play our favourite songs and artist However, in the midst of technology we should not forget about one of the main component in music which is Ear training A good musician has a good auditory skills To develop this skill you have to listen to a lot of music but to really hone the skill, you have to know how to effectively listen to music. How do you train your ears by listening to music?

1. Isolate the instruments

One of the very first exercise you should do is to be able to recognise different instrument in a song and understand how they are contributing to it. For example, start with bass, listen to the melody it is laying and then hear the drums, listen to the beat and tempo it is following. Once you got the beat and flow of the rhythm, listen to more complicated arts like the guitars and keys. Vocal should be the last thing you should concentrate. This will help you develop your musicianship and also understand different ways you can use your instrument to contribute in a song. This will make you a better musician as well as a better user of your instrument. However, it takes a little bit of time and sounds daunting when you are beginning with it, but once you have done it a couple of times, you will be able to segregate them in ease and understand each musical component in the song Yes, it will take out the leisure of listening to music as enjoyment but if you are looking to be a musician, you have to train your ears to differentiate different components of music.

2. Play what you hear

Now the next stage is to be able to interpret what you hear. Play a very small melody part of a song and then try to emulate on your guitar. You can do the same with chords, however it will be challenging for the first few months to exactly recognise the chord, but once you keep doing it and get familiar with the different sound of different chords and their relation between them, you will be able to figure out the basic chords that outlines the song. This exercise will help you even more if you know your theory and know the scales. Then you can relate the notes in reference to the scales which will help your own creativity and strengthen your understanding about the usage of scales. You can also keep some of the licks that you listen in a song for your own creativity. Also, in case of drummers, they will understand the way to use their rudiments in more practical and effective ways. Once you get used to it, it becomes easier to find the melody and chords you hear which is a great sign of a good musician.

3. Play what you see

Now that you are able to pick up melodies, chords and different rudiments, it is time to polish your techniques. For this, you will have to not just listen but also watch your favourite players play their lick or fills. Every technique has a different purpose to it and those techniques help you showcase different melodies with more dynamism Copy your idols or someone who has put up a video on that song Listen very carefully, what kind of musical sound each technique is making and try to emulate that in your playing. That way you will have a reference and also practicing to execute in the correct way. So along with your auditory skills, you have to also develop your comprehension ability to be able to take the most out of any song that you hear.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.