Musicality Now

Scales... Most music learners think scales are just an exercise you've got to do as part of learning your instrument. But did you know there's actually a whole area of ear training dedicated to scales?   In fact there are two! In this clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U we talk about these two types of scale ear training and how each can help you.   If you want to get more out of scales and ear training, don’t miss this episode.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 245   Links and Resources • How to Make Scales Less Boring • Musicality Now - Music Theory You’ll Love to Learn, with Glory St. Germain • Musicality Now - About the Power of Solfa • Musicality Now - About Scales and their Flavors • Musicality Now - How to Improvise For Real, with David Reed         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Do you sometimes get the notes wrong when you sing?   At Musical U we strongly encourage every music learner to sing because of the huge positive impact it has on your musicality - but what if you find you just can't get the notes right? Here's a clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U where we talk about just that.   Enjoy!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 244   Links and Resources • How to Learn to Sing in Tune • Musicality Now - Finding the Notes Yourself, with Sara Campbell • Musicality Now - About Singing as a Tool • Musicality Now - How to Sing Smarter, with Meghan Nixon • Musicality Now - Singing that Sounds Good – and Beyond, with Davin Youngs • Musicality Now - All Things Vocal, with Judy Rodman • Musicality Now - The Instrument Inside You, with Ben Parry • Musicality Now - What Your Voice Can Do, with Jeremy Fisher • Musicality Now - Find and Make Peace with Your Voice, with Nikki Loney • Musicality Now - About the Power of Solfa         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

If playing music is like speaking a language, how should we think about harmony, or playing two hands on piano?   We answer that question in this clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U. Enjoy!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 243   Links and Resources • Musicality Now - About the I, IV, V and vi Chords • Musicality Now - Choose Your Words Carefully, with Glory St. Germain (Ultimate Music Theory) • Musicality Now - In Perfect Swinging Harmony, with The Quebe Sisters • Introduction to Chord Progressions • What can you already play by ear? Harmony & Rhythm? • How To Sing Harmony Like A Pro         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Did you know that wearing good headphones is one of the easiest ways to improve your ear training? Why is that - and what exactly makes a pair of headphones "good"?   Learn how to choose the right headphones to level up your ears in this clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U. Enjoy!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 242   Links and Resources • Musicality Now - About the Ear Training Trap • Musicality Now - About Active Listening • Musicality Now - About Listening as the Route to Musicality • Musicality Now - What Is Ear Training? (and why does it normally fail?) • Wired For Sound Part 4: Headphones • What are the best headphones for ear training?           Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Audiation is one of the most powerful ways to develop your musicality - but what if you find you really struggle with it? In this clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U we share some practical tips to help you audiate. Enjoy!   Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 241   Links and Resources • Musicality Now - About Audiation • Musicality Now - Audiation and Thinking Music, with Cynthia Crump Taggart • Musicality Now - How to “Hear Like A Musician” • The Secret Music Practice Skill: Audiation     Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Have you ever felt like you were guessing the answers while working on ear training? Believe it or not, that may not be a bad thing! Find out why in this clip from the archive of live member Q&A calls at Musical U - stay tuned!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 240   Links and Resources • Musicality Now - What Is Ear Training? (and why does it normally fail?) • Musicality Now - Boosting Musical Brainpower, with Josh Turknett (Brainjo) • Musicality Now - Intervals Versus Solfa: Which Is Best? • The Ultimate Guide to Interval Ear Training • Musicality Now - About the Ear Training Trap         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

We’re joined by Dylan Hart, one of the top French Horn players in Hollywood today. He has played on many well-known soundtracks including Moana, Frozen, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Baywatch, The Good Place, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.   You’re about to hear Dylan’s unlikely journey to becoming a highly-successful session player, concert performer, and French horn teacher.    In this conversation Dylan shares:   • The importance of “getting out of your own way” when playing - and how to do that. • His unexpected advice on how to sight read at the extremely high level required of session players. • Why we must look for the root cause of problems rather than just treating symptoms - and how that applies to practicing off your instrument, sight-reading, and performing at your best under pressure.   In everything he does and teaches, Dylan has a focus on the inner instinct for music and a deep connection with your instrument. You’re going to love this conversation packed with thought-provoking ideas.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 239   Links and Resources • Dylan Skye Hart Online • Annie Bosler Online • Norman Doidge - The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science • Daniel Coyle - The Talent Code • Daniel Coyle - The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills • Dr. Bob Rotella - Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect • Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan - The Breathing Gym • Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan - The Brass Gym: A Comprehensive Daily Workout for Brass Players • Jaume Rosset Llobet - A tono: Ejercicios para mejorar el rendimiento del músico • Alexander Technique • California State University Long Beach • Musicality Now - How The Best Play Their Best, with Annie Bosler • Musicality Now - Your Peak Performance Toolkit, with Mark Morley-Fletcher (Play In The Zone) • Musicality Now - The Keys to Performance Success, with Dr. Don Greene (Winning On Stage)         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

We are excited to bring you another inspiring edition of Pathways. In this special series of episodes you’ll hear the stories of music-learners just like you, reaching out and lending each other a hand on our musical journeys. We’re speaking with Oli Fuhrmann, a swing dancer and swing dance teacher from Berlin, Germany.   Oli started learning piano and trombone in the last three years to play the music he loves to dance to. He’s eager to try new things and happy to risk failure. You’ll hear how his attitude has really payed off for his music learning and the richness of his musical life.   In this conversation Oli shares:   • Why it was easy for him to start joining jam sessions despite being only a beginner-to-intermediate player - and a few specific tips for how you can make it easy for yourself. • How learning trombone was relatively simple after piano, and why he realised the importance of a good musical ear. • How he discovered the power of community support as part of his online learning.   Enjoy this episode and be inspired to be more bold and risk new endeavours in your own musical journey.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 238   Links and Resources • Swingstep Online Courses • Mad Oli Facebook • Oliver Fuhrmann Facebook • Mad Oli Instagram • Musicality Now - Pathways: Nick Cheetham • Musicality Now - Pathways: Sharilynn Horhota • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson       Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Have you been feeling stuck on something challenging in music? A section of a piece, a specific technique, an overall plateau, or maybe practice goes fine but then everything falls apart in live performance.   Have you felt like you just don’t have enough time for learning your instrument and learning new music? Maybe you feel like you’re putting in the time and effort but just don’t seem to be getting much payoff in terms of results.   Have you been frustrated by struggling to memorise things, or finding the things you did work hard to memorise slip away over time?   Or maybe it feels like whatever you try, you’re just spinning in circles, or tripping yourself up, so that you never quite make solid progress towards your musical goals - like there’s something continually sabotaging you - and it might just be all in your head.   If you’ve felt one or more of these frustrations in your musical life you are certainly not alone. And believe it or not, there’s a single solution which can quickly eliminate all of these challenges.   It’s time to re-learn what it means to “learn music”. It’s time to discover the techniques of musical superlearning.   What does that mean, exactly? That’s what we’re talking about in this special episode with Christopher and Andrew from the Musical U team: what does “musical superlearning” look like in practice, and is it right for you?       Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 237   Links and Resources • Musical Superlearning • Practice Q&A [1/5] How To Find More Music Practice Time, with Gregg Goodhart • Practice Q&A [2/5] How To Get Maximum Results In Minimum Time, with Gregg Goodhart • Practice Q&A [3/5] How To Conquer Tricky Sections And Break Through Plateaus, with Gregg Goodhart • Practice Q&A [4/5] How To Stay Consistent - Without Discipline, with Gregg Goodhart • Practice Q&A [5/5] How To Spend Practice Time And Prevent Overwhelm, with Gregg Goodhart     Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Feeling overwhelmed by all the information about what to practice?   This is the fifth and last in a special series of episodes on how to tackle the biggest sticking points in your music learning. We recently surveyed our audience to learn about their experiences with music practice. The results were astounding! Across several hundred responses, we found a handful of really common and painfully frustrating practice issues – including, “How can I know what to practice?”   To answer these big burning questions, we invited Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach, back on the show. Gregg is a leading expert on how to apply all of the latest scientific research and understanding of how the brain learns to skill acquisition, including in music.   Learn what to focus your music practice on in this episode.   Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 236   Links and Resources • Learn Music Faster • Gregg Goodhart – Learning Coach • What is a Practiclass? Sax, cello, guitar, The Learn Like A Genius Institute • Learn Like A Genius – Piano Practiclass (Full), Houston, TX with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Carol S. Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success • Barry J. Zimmerman - Dart Throwing Study         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Have you lost your motivation for practice?   This is the fourth in a special series of episodes on how to tackle the biggest sticking points in your music learning. We recently surveyed our audience to learn about their experiences with music practice. The results were astounding! Across several hundred responses, we found a handful of really common and painfully frustrating practice issues – including, “I feel bad because I don’t practice enough”   To answer these big burning questions, we invited Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach, back on the show. Gregg is a leading expert on how to apply all of the latest scientific research and understanding of how the brain learns to skill acquisition, including in music.   After watching this episode you’ll regain your enthusiasm for learning music.   Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 235   Links and Resources • Learn Music Faster • Gregg Goodhart – Learning Coach • What is a Practiclass? Sax, cello, guitar, The Learn Like A Genius Institute • Learn Like A Genius – Piano Practiclass (Full), Houston, TX with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Carol S. Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success • Barry J. Zimmerman - Dart Throwing Study         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Struggling to get that complex section up to tempo?   This is the third in a special series of episodes on how to tackle the biggest sticking points in your music learning. We recently surveyed our audience to learn about their experiences with music practice. The results were astounding! Across several hundred responses, we found a handful of really common and painfully frustrating practice issues – including, “How do I break through plateaus?”   To answer these big burning questions, we invited Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach, back on the show. Gregg is a leading expert on how to apply all of the latest scientific research and understanding of how the brain learns to skill acquisition, including in music.   Enjoy this episode and unlock your music learning super powers!   Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 234   Links and Resources • Learn Music Faster • Gregg Goodhart – Learning Coach • What is a Practiclass? Sax, cello, guitar, The Learn Like A Genius Institute • Learn Like A Genius – Piano Practiclass (Full), Houston, TX with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Carol S. Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success • Barry J. Zimmerman - Dart Throwing Study         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Can you get results from only 10-15 minutes of practice?   This is the second in a special series of episodes on how to tackle the biggest sticking points in your music learning. We recently surveyed our audience to learn about their experiences with music practice. The results were astounding! Across several hundred responses, we found a handful of really common and painfully frustrating practice issues – including, “How do I get the most results out of my practice time?”   To answer these big burning questions, we invited Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach, back on the show. Gregg is a leading expert on how to apply all of the latest scientific research and understanding of how the brain learns to skill acquisition, including in music.   In this episode you’ll learn a 3-step process you can use to get the most out of every minute of your practice. Start supercharging your learning today!   Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 233   Links and Resources • Learn Music Faster • Gregg Goodhart – Learning Coach • What is a Practiclass? Sax, cello, guitar, The Learn Like A Genius Institute • Learn Like A Genius – Piano Practiclass (Full), Houston, TX with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Carol S. Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success • Barry J. Zimmerman - Dart Throwing Study         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Do you have enough time to practice your music?   This is the first in a special series of episodes on how to tackle the biggest sticking points in your music learning. We recently surveyed our audience to learn about their experiences with music practice. The results were astounding! Across several hundred responses, we found a handful of really common and painfully frustrating practice issues – like, “How do I find time for music?”   To answer these big burning questions, we invited Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach, back on the show. Gregg is a leading expert on how to apply all of the latest scientific research and understanding of how the brain learns to skill acquisition, including in music. In this episode, we talk about what to do if you feel like there’s never enough time for practicing music.   After this episode, you may well find time that you didn’t even know existed, as well as ways to supercharge the time that you do have for practicing, and get better results faster.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 232   Links and Resources • Gregg Goodhart – Learning Coach • What is a Practiclass? Sax, cello, guitar, The Learn Like A Genius Institute • Learn Like A Genius – Piano Practiclass (Full), Houston, TX with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart • Musicality Now - The Truth About Talent, with Professor Anders Ericsson • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Carol S. Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success • Barry J. Zimmerman - Dart Throwing Study         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

We are delighted to bring you another inspiring edition of Pathways. In this special series of episodes you’ll hear the stories of music-learners just like you, reaching out and lending each other a hand on our musical journeys. We’re joined by Joanne Cooper, a longstanding member of Musical U, who has particular expertise in a piece of software called Band In A Box.   Joanne’s musical life has never been the same since she started using Band in a Box. She went from writing zero songs to writing and covering hundreds of songs! She has learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way, so we were excited to have Joanne on the show to share her musical journey.   In this conversation Joanne shares:   • How Band In A Box made a life-changing impact on her song-writing and musical performance. • How she used performing with backing tracks as a stepping stone to accompanying herself. • The simple and specific song-writing process you can try if you're just starting out.   If you've never tried song writing, are nervous performing, or you've never come across the Band In A Box software, this episode will enlighten you.   Have you picked up useful ideas or techniques in your own musical journey so far that you think could inspire or help others on their path of exploring their musicality? Get in touch by dropping an email to hello@musicalitynow.com! We are always looking for new guests for Pathways and would love to share your story next.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 230   Links and Resources • Joanne Cooper Online • Joanne Cooper - First Song with Band-in-a-Box for Windows video course • Band-in-a-Box 101: A beginners guide to making and performing with Band-in-a-Box backing tracks by Joanne Cooper • How To Make A Backing Track, with Joanne Cooper • How To Make A Backing Track with Band-in-a-Box YouTube Video • Band-in-a-Box for Windows and Mac • Joanne's Extensive Playlists of Videos on YouTube • Musicality Now - About the I, IV, V and vi Chords           Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

We’re joined by violinist and Suzuki pedagogue, Laura Nerenberg. Laura is founder of Rideau Falls Violins where she teaches based on the principle that all children are born with the potential to develop a high level of instrument ability and creative ability.   Laura shares the inspiring story of how she learned to combine improvisation and classical violin - and how improvisation has impacted her teaching.   In this conversation we talk about:   • Laura’s upbringing learning violin with the Suzuki method - and some of the myths and misconceptions people have about Suzuki’s ear-based approach. • How Laura didn’t realize until later in life that she had learned a lot about improvisation growing up with a jazz-pianist father. • The Creative Ability Development framework which empowers learners to improvise from the outset, and in a way that focuses on listening and personal expression.   Even if you’ve never improvised, or you’re an avid improviser keen to learn more, you’re going to love this conversation.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 231   Links and Resources • Musicality Now - Welcome to the Musicality Podcast! • Laura Nerenberg - Rideau Falls Violins • Laura Nerenberg with Triptych Piano Trio - Facebook • Shinichi Suzuki - Nurtured By Love • Suzuki Association • Alice Kanack - Kanack School Of Musical Artistry • Art of Improvisation Workshops • David Darling       Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

We are delighted to bring you another inspiring edition of Pathways. In this special series of episodes you’ll hear the stories of music-learners just like you, reaching out and lending each other a hand on our musical journeys. We’re joined by Joanne Cooper, a longstanding member of Musical U, who has particular expertise in a piece of software called Band In A Box.   Joanne’s musical life has never been the same since she started using Band in a Box. She went from writing zero songs to writing and covering hundreds of songs! She has learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way, so we were excited to have Joanne on the show to share her musical journey.   In this conversation Joanne shares:   • How Band In A Box made a life-changing impact on her song-writing and musical performance. • How she used performing with backing tracks as a stepping stone to accompanying herself. • The simple and specific song-writing process you can try if you're just starting out.   If you've never tried song writing, are nervous performing, or you've never come across the Band In A Box software, this episode will enlighten you.   Have you picked up useful ideas or techniques in your own musical journey so far that you think could inspire or help others on their path of exploring their musicality? Get in touch by dropping an email to hello@musicalitynow.com! We are always looking for new guests for Pathways and would love to share your story next.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 230   Links and Resources • Joanne Cooper Online • Joanne Cooper - First Song with Band-in-a-Box for Windows video course • Band-in-a-Box 101: A beginners guide to making and performing with Band-in-a-Box backing tracks by Joanne Cooper • How To Make A Backing Track, with Joanne Cooper • How To Make A Backing Track with Band-in-a-Box YouTube Video • Band-in-a-Box for Windows and Mac • Joanne's Extensive Playlists of Videos on YouTube • Musicality Now - About the I, IV, V and vi Chords           Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

Right now, millions of people around the world are choosing to stay in and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In this challenging and unprecedented time, Musical U’s priority is to provide new free training daily to keep you engaged, excited, and learning during your extra time at home. We’re continuing to collaborate with world-class music educators to bring you everything you need to continue honing your musicality in this time.   In this interview, Brent Vaartstra of Learn Jazz Standards and the Passive Income Musician podcast shares his four “defaults”: mindset ideas for getting through this difficult time while staying positive and connected through music.   He talks about: • The power of gratitude and how to focus on the things you’re grateful for on a daily basis. • The impact of generosity, and ways to volunteer and donate your resources. • The importance of community engagement . • Goal-setting, and how to take this time to invest in your dreams. • Recognizing the activities and routines that will help you make the most of every day.   Brent’s “defaults” are the perfect antidote to the unusual circumstances we have found ourselves in - his ideas are as helpful for your daily well-being as they are for your musicality. Enjoy!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 229   Links and Resources • Learn Jazz Standards • Learn Jazz Standards podcast • Passive Income Musician podcast • Musicality Now - How to Stop Doubting and Start Performing, with Brent Vaartstra • Musicality Now - An Ear for Jazz, with Brent Vaartstra • The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-Being by Hale Dwoskin         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review      

We’re excited to have Zach VanderGraaff, the founder of Dynamic Music Room, on the show. Mr. V (as his students like to call him) is a K-5 music teacher who’s developed his own teaching philosophy drawing on the Kodály approach.   Zach shares many of our core beliefs here at Musical U. He believes that “talent” is a myth, that music learning can and should be enjoyable, that the learning process should feel musical, that it’s more effective to learn together with others, and much more.   In this conversation you’ll hear about:   • Zach’s own first experience of playing by ear - and why he was frustrated by his family being impressed. • The key difference between the elementary music teaching Zach does and the more common approaches you may be familiar with. • The three core concepts on which Zach bases his teaching - and how you can apply each in your own music learning.   You will be fascinated by just how much you can learn from the world of children’s music education. Enjoy this episode and make your music journey more fun and effective.     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 228   Links and Resources • Dynamic Music Room • Dynamic Music Room Facebook • Musicality Now - Designing for Joyful Learning, with Anne Mileski • Musicality Now - How to Improve AND Enjoy Your Musical Life       Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review  

Hi, this is Christopher Sutton from Musical U, and this will be a special short announcement episode to invite you to Stay In - and Play On.   If you're watching this episode when it airs then you'll be well aware of the current situation with the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.   Now I'm not here to offer health advice or news updates - no doubt you've got enough of that flying at you already. But it seems clear that the sooner people self-isolate, the more lives can be saved.    I’m here in Spain on total lockdown with my wife and two young daughters - and although it’s all a bit crazy, we are all in good health so far.   And if you're like most in our community at Musical U then faced with that prospect of staying in for several weeks ahead, you're quickly turning to music as a rock you can rely on. I’m glad that my home office is always packed with instruments so I can keep playing. I did have a momentary panic when a guitar string broke - but it’s okay, it turned out I had a spare set.   Now I don't want to trivialise this and say "hey, never mind, let's all just have fun and play music!" - this is a serious situation.   But at the same time, music can be an incredible force for keeping our spirits high, helping us stay connected with one another, inspiring us to hope and be thankful. And with the opportunity to spend more time on our music learning it even offers a possible silver lining, that we can come out of this situation with new and better skills, feeling more musical, eager to go out there and enjoy performing and collaborating at a new level once life returns to normal.   So I wanted to record this special episode to share some cool things that are happening right now which can help you make the most of any extra music time you may find you have.   First off, you can expect Musicality Now to continue as normal. We took a short break - and I'll share in a minute what we were busy with elsewhere - but we're back on track for an episode per week, possibly more, so that you can always count on that new episode to listen to or watch.   Beyond this show though there's actually a lot of other stuff available for you that I didn't want you to miss out on.   Here at Musical U over the last week, as it's become increasingly clear how many people likely face lockdown for weeks or even months, and that the sooner people start self-isolating the better - we've been talking with members and brainstorming in the team, trying to figure out how we can best serve you all in the weeks ahead.   Last week we announced a few quick measures for members, which I'll just mention because I know we have a lot of members who listen to the show and you may have missed that announcement. We will be keeping our doors open at Musical U and doing everything we can to make sure you can rely on us for "service as normal" throughout this period. And we're also doing a few extra things based on what we've been hearing from you.   Firstly we know a lot of folks are facing financial difficulties with their work interrupted so we're offering an amnesty on membership payments for anybody who needs it. We don't want your membership payment to be a source of stress and we'd hate to lose you from the community.   Secondly, we were hearing that many of you anticipated more time available for music practice, but your regular activities like local group rehearsals or performances were all cancelled so you needed something new to sink your teeth into. So for a limited time we've dropped the prices of all five of our standalone courses in half for you - that's Foundations of a Musical Mind, The Musician's Ear, Ear Training For Beginners, The Circle Mastery Experience and even our latest course, Improv Immersion.    We're also shaping up plans for more regular drop-in Q&A sessions where you can connect with the team and other members, virtual jam sessions, a member “perks” page with exclusive discounts and offers on recommended products and services, and a new series of live masterclasses with outside experts for you. And of course we'll be continuing to talk with you in the community to find out what you most want and how we can help.   So that's members. We also wanted to do something to help our wider audience who aren't yet members, like our Facebook fans and email subscribers.    So last week we launched a series of free daily masterclass reruns - one hour-long music masterclass every day for a week, free of charge. We have an incredible masterclass library inside Musical U and so it’s been exciting to share some of the highlights more widely, with sessions from folks like "The Learning Coach" Gregg Goodhart, vocal coach Davin Youngs, improv extraordinaire the late Forrest Kinney, and several more. And we've had such a great response to those with hundreds tuning in for every session, we're going to keep that party going with a few more daily masterclasses at least.    Along with those masterclass sessions I wanted to provide a way for those who were eager to get access to even more. So even though we don't usually offer a free trial of Musical U membership, for a limited time we're offering free membership for a full 30 days, with no obligation and no strings attached. So if you miss a masterclass you wanted to catch, or you want to watch them all, or you want the full in-depth skill training that complements them or you want to connect with other music learners like you during this time, then you can come in, try it all for the next month, and not pay a penny. We do of course hope you'll choose to stay, and you can enjoy a big discount on regular pricing if you do - but there's no pressure and no obligation, you're able and welcome to come in, use it all, including the new special events we’re organising for members - and then leave at the end with no payment required.   So that felt like a good start, to do what we can to help our community and wider audience stay engaged in fun, productive music learning at this time.   Of course if you know us here at Musical U you'll know we never pretend to be the one true be-all-and-end-all of music learning - we love to collaborate with and help recommend other amazing online music educators. So from the outset we were also looking for ways to go beyond just what we at Musical U can provide ourselves.   This week we went ahead and added a new "Friends" page to the Musical U website. You can find that by going to musical-u.com and clicking "Friends" in the top menu. This is something we were working on anyway as part of bigger website changes to showcase our mission and more of what we're all about here at Musical U - but given the circumstances it seemed smart to go ahead and make sure all visitors to our site had easy access to our top recommendations for other resources that can help you in your journey of becoming more musical.   As you can probably imagine, that wasn't an easy page to put together! Because I wanted to include pretty much every single one of the amazing guests we've had interviewed here on the show! We did have some particular criteria for who to include though, which is a bit hard to explain until those fuller website changes are made. But just to say if you spot any notable absences, folks like Brent Vaartstra at Learn Jazz Standards, for example, who you know we highly recommend and consider a good "friend" of Musical U - that's no slight on his work, it's just about the particular framing of that page, which will hopefully become clear in due course.   As well as that Friends page, over the last week I've been reaching out to all our friends and contacts in music education to see what they have planned, and paying attention to what's been going on in the various music teacher groups online.    A lot of us have been trying to figure out how to adjust what we do to best serve music learners at this time, and a lot of music teachers have been hastily making the shift to online teaching. A big shout out to some of the amazing teachers-of-teachers like Sara Campbell, Glory St. Germaine, Bradley Sowash, Tim Topham, Anne Mileski and Melody Payne who've been rapidly providing special training and guidance to help with that transition.   So there's a lot going on! And to help you stay musical and stay connected we've put together a special page at stayinplayon.com with details of everything I've mentioned.   You'll find there the free daily Musical U masterclasses and whatever we do next after that, you'll find a list of all the special resources and opportunities with other music education providers online that we know about, as well as a way to let us know if you come across any we've missed. And we're also compiling a list of independent teachers who are accepting new online students at this time if you're looking for something new or you want to support music teachers at this difficult time.    We're also encouraging you to share what you're doing to stay musical during this time, by posting on your social media of choice, whether that's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever Snapchatty Tik-Toky thing the cool kids are using these days, with the hashtag #stayinplayon - so that even if you're not joining us for our group activities inside Musical U we can all still feel connected and inspire one another to draw on music as our comfort, our refuge and our silver lining at this time.   I would love to hear what you're up to - but instead of our usual invitation to drop us an email I'm going to ask you to put it out there on social media for more people to see and be inspired by. Hashtag it #stayinplayon and we'll see it there.   So head over to stayinplayon.com and check out everything that’s happening and I hope to see you at some of the live events we’re organising for members and the public in the weeks ahead.   Stay healthy. Stay safe.   And together, let’s stay in - and play on!