Posts Tagged 'how to article'

Become a Sheet Music Plus Power Searcher

Published December 14, 2012 General , How To Articles 19 Comments
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By Charles Moehnke

With over 835,000 titles in the Sheet Music Plus catalog, it can occasionally be challenging to find the exact edition you want. During my years in customer service, however, I’ve developed a strategy for zeroing in quickly and effectively. By following these few strategies you can simplify your search experience and become a Sheet Music Plus Power Searcher, just like me!

To quote a fortune cookie I once received, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” That Confucius fellow was obviously way ahead of his time, because Power Searching is all about simplicity! I start every search on Sheet Music Plus by using our main search bar at the top of the page.

SMP Search 1

This search bar will search all fields and descriptions, and your results will be displayed based on the relevance the title has to your initial search. You can modify any set of search results to only show digital or print titles, and you may adjust the order of the listed items, sorting by price, top-selling order, alphabetically and release date–whatever best fits your needs.

To increase the Continue reading ‘Become a Sheet Music Plus Power Searcher’

How to Improve Music Memorization Skills

Published August 23, 2012 How To Articles , Practice & Performance , Teacher Resources 22 Comments
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By Carolyn Walter

Memorizing music can be a daunting task for musicians of all stripes.  Unfortunately for many of us, repetition alone is not enough.  Simply playing a piece of music from a score over and over again only teaches you to play the piece extremely well. . .but with the aid of the written page.  The key to “getting off of the page” is identifying what kind of musical learner you are, and which strategies will be most effective for you as an individual.

#1 Prepare the piece for memorization
For technically challenging works, memorization will be much more difficult if you don’t have a firm grasp of the most difficult sections beforehand.  In a similar fashion, you should have a clear picture in mind of

Continue reading ‘How to Improve Music Memorization Skills’

How to Practice Efficiently

Published July 5, 2012 How To Articles , Teacher Resources 14 Comments
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By Carolyn Walter

As with any artistic discipline, regular practice is essential to any musician’s mastery of their craft and growth as an artist.  While some may feel that practicing for hours and hours on end is the only route to improvement, the adage “quality over quantity” ought to be kept firmly in mind.  The following
list of strategies contains tips which can help musicians of any instrument, style and skill level practice “smarter” without necessarily practicing harder.

1. Organize your time.

Begin your practice session with a clear outline in mind of what needs to be accomplished.  Many choose to divide a practice session into sections, e.g. setting out to practice for one hour total and using Continue reading ‘How to Practice Efficiently’

How to Improve Your Vocal Range

Published May 22, 2012 How To Articles , Instrument Guides , Learn to Play , Teacher Resources 54 Comments
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By Jennifer Kay

In my many years of singing, I’ve realized that the topic of vocal range can be very tricky, but always worth discussing. A singer should invest in voice lessons if they want to improve; however, if lessons aren’t an option, there are a few tips that can help. I can’t guarantee you’ll be hitting the high notes like Mariah Carey by the end of this article, but hopefully you will learn something new!

Tip #1: Proper Placement

You cannot increase your vocal range in a safe and healthy way without learning how to sing with proper placement.  If you’ve ever sung in a choir, you’ve heard the terms “sing in your mask”, “sing through your eye balls”, “sing through your cheekbones”, etc.  As a singer, you want to take care not to sing from your throat and that you, essentially, sing from the same place you naturally speak from.  One great exercise for this is Continue reading ‘How to Improve Your Vocal Range’

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Thought-provoking articles by musicians for musicians, music lovers or those that want to learn more about it!

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