Tuesday 31 March 2020

3 Ways to Cure Boredom through Music in Lockdown

First of all, stay safe, stay informed, get the facts from a reliable source and stay home until this dire situation in the world settles down. The whole world is in quarantine but now that we have all the time for ourselves at home, we don’t really know how to occupy ourselves. Some will go back to their hobbies as a child like reading books, painting and whatever you like to do to have fun. One such activity is practicing music.

When I say practicing, I don't mean just doing the same exercise over and over again, but to be involved with music. Listen to music, play music, practicing your instruments, watch concerts on YouTube or watch people doing covers or putting your own rendition of a song that you always thought of trying. If you are inclined towards being involved with music during these tough and trying times, here are some ways to work on yourselves so that you come out a better and more talented person on the other side of this pandemic.

Listen to a lot of music
Music helps to ease anxiety which, all of us have a lot in stock during these isolated times. Cheer yourself up. Listen to music, a lot of music and a lot of different artists - new and old and discover different styles which you never thought you needed in life. Sing along to your favourite tunes or learn the lyrics of a new song. Watch your favourite artist play in front of thousands play live on YouTube or support the local bands and brands that are trying their best to put out content just for you. But be involved, this is the most important time to support each other and don’t let the virus win by killing the only thing you love to do, whatever that may be. If you love to enjoy listening to music, you should do that more often. The best thing about listening to music is, you can do that with any other activity. You can do it while reading books, painting your illustration, working on your office chores from the comfort of your home desk, while washing your clothes or dishes. Basically, you can club music with any activity, in fact I am listening to music as I write down these few helpful tips to cheer you in your boredom.



Learn Music Online
So, you always wanted to learn music but never found time. Make use of your time now! Go online, search for online classes and start your music journey. Although YouTube has a lot of lessons and content on how to start playing your instrument, it is never structured and more importantly you don’t know if the lessons are any good or where to go from there. So, go to exclusive sites or ages which are designed specifically for music lessons. One such example is https://musicpandit.com/ who curates and designed lessons according to your needs Beginner or someone who wants continue from where they left off - in a more structured manner, this is the site you should definitely check out. They have lessons in over 5+ instruments and also have this cool feature of real time assessment and provide the necessary tips and tricks  and practice routines to get your playing up a notch in the most effective way.

Support Local Artists
Due to the lockdown practiced in so many places to curb the spread of coronavirus, some of those who have had an economic impact are the local artists whose shows and concerts may have been cancelled. Also, several local music education centres are closed too which, resulted in a lot of losses. However many of these places are now trying to bring something for you through online sites or social media pages. You can definitely explore their content and help them even a little by subscribing to their pages or following their work. If you like what you see or want to see other things, you can even send in requests.

So, in this tough period, we request you to please support the musical community by listening to their content, sharing and subscribing to their channels so that they can earn a living through those means. You can also take up music lessons online, practice and perform! Release your home videos and who knows, you could get famous too!

Finally, please stay home, stay safe and be a corona hero.

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.

Tuesday 3 March 2020

4 Ways to Practice Drumming without Drums

It is always exaggerated that you won’t progress until you practice it in a real thing. Although it is mostly true for most instruments, it is a different story for drums. But first, why should you practice without a drum kit, will that even help you improve? The answer is Yes, because you should practice keeping in mind that you do it to improve your muscle memory and your timing which are essential parts for any instrument. So how do you make sure that you practice something that is gonna help you apply it in the real kit. Here are some examples:

1. Pillow Practice for Your Hands
Start with a pillow because that is the most readily available practice pad you can find. Sticks are important in this practice because then you can play the exact finger and hand motions that you would perform when playing a drum set too. Another advantage of this is that since the pillows are soft, it doesn’t offer you much rebound and you end up strengthening your muscles doing the lifting. This will be difficult in the beginning, but that’s why you are practicing, to get better. As you adapt and return to your drum set with considerably more rebound, you’ll notice that you have developed speed in your playing. 

2. Air Drumming for Your Arms
Here is a strange one but one every one of us is familiar with. Everyone had that one air drumming moment that releases you from all the stress. However for a drummer, it can be more than just an imaginative play. You can practice your movement and practice being conscious about your limbs. You can choose to have sticks or can practice even without it. All you have to do is take a groove or a piece of sheet music, visualize your kit in front of you and play it as it is required. You will be surprised to see the awareness it needs to be perfectly executed. You have to make sure that your hands move and play the parts as it should be played, otherwise the whole point of practicing through air drumming is a waste. For example, if in a section you have to hit the cymbals, your arm has to reach approximately at the same point in air as if there was a cymbal.



3. Ground Drumming for Your Legs & Feet
Ground Drumming is for your legs and feet. One of the best ways to practice your feet is to get a foot pedal and arrange it in a way that the beater hits the wall. Since the wall provides no rebound, you will start feeling some pull in your thighs and it will strengthen your muscle. You can play along with a music piece and practice the bass drum part in a way that you build coordination along with some necessary muscle so that you can play it on a drum kit for a long period. You can also do this practice without any pedal and just tap the parts on the ground. Once you shift to a real drum set you will able to recognise the increase in speed and lack of fatigue in your playing.

4. Clap for Your Timing
Keeping rhythm is one the fundamental skill a drummer should have as they are the metronome for any band they are playing for. So, you would not want to let your bandmates down. So this is to improve your timing and one of the best ways is a clapping exercise. Download a metronome and and clap along with it. Make sure that your clap purely and completely synchronises with the beat. Once you can do that, here is one fun exercise. On your metronome there are different time signatures, make it 8/8. Now, let the first four beat be heard but mute the last four beat. Now clap along with it. Your aim is to be on time and that will be determined by your 9th clap which will come after your 8th clap which was muted. If it completely synchronises with the beat, you are on time but if it is ahead or behind, then you have to start over again. You can also vary your clapping exercise by leaving some claps in between beats and start being more adventurous with the metronome.

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.