Music Report Excerpt on How to Learn a Song Quickly
Transcript of Music Report Excerpt on How to Learn a Song Quickly
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
to Quickly Mastering a Song
Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
This is an excerpt edition of the Learn a Song Report
Covering Considerations and a Method to Quickly Learn a
Song.
The full report is included with any purchase of a course or
workshop at theMusic Learning WorkshoporMusic
Theory Workshop.
Or the full report can be obtained at
http://musictheoryworkshop.com/learn-a-song/
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
Learn a Song Crucial Steps to QuicklyMastering a Song Excerpt Edition
CONTENTS:Introduction ...................................................................................... 5
Considerations - How to Learn a Song ............................................... 7
Simple Song Approach ................................................................................... 7Increased Complexity .................................................................................... 7What Do Great Musicians Know That You Don't ................................................. 8
What Does It Take For You ................................................................ 8
Things You Need To Know .............................................................................. 8My personal struggle to learn and play music ................................................... 9Motivation, Determination, and Knowledge .................................................... 11
Final Point .................................................................................................. 11How to Quickly Learn and Master a Song ......................................... 11
The First Step Is In Preparing Your Self. ........................................................ 12
Get These Music Elements Down Cold ............................................................ 12
Physical Steps to Quickly Learn & Master a Song ............................ 13
First Steps - Preparation of Music .................................................................. 13Summary - Preparing Your Music: ................................................................. 20
Following sections are included in the full report and not in this excerpt.
Learning to Play your Song .............................................................. 21
Chart Your Music ........................................................................................ 21Repeat for each bite ..........................................Error! Bookmark not defined.Additional notes on charting your music...............Error! Bookmark not defined.What You've Done So Far...................................Error! Bookmark not defined.Summary - Charting Your Music: ........................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Playing your song ............................................................................ 21
Pulling It Together ...................................................................................... 21
Expressing Your Music ..................................................................... 22
Expressing Melody ............................................Error! Bookmark not defined.Background Expression ......................................Error! Bookmark not defined.Phrase Expression .............................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Summary of Putting it together ..........................Error! Bookmark not defined.
So What's It Going to Take .............................................................. 22
Review - Learn and Master a Song. .....................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Putting the steps into a success chart ............................................. 22
Using the Success Charts: ..................................Error! Bookmark not defined.Song Progression Record - Part 1 ........................Error! Bookmark not defined.Song Progression Record - Part 2 ........................Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Introduction
Greetings fellow music lovers, learners, musicians, educators, and professionals.
This report was developed to provide you with a direct method of how to learn songsquickly and easily using your own instrument. The procedure uses methods that Iwas taught as I learned, continue to learn music, and use to teach others.
You will find that much of what is presented in the report is based on learning musictheory and the various music elements. Armed with this knowledge you will can
effectively increase your ability and skills to learn and play songs at a much fasterpace.
Take your time to read the full manual, the stories along the way are importantbackground to your success. Jumping right into the meat of the method may let youmiss an important part of your mental preparation.
Before we get started I wish to
Introduce you to The Music Learning Workshop.
We know that learning music is not easy for everyone and that it can even beoverwhelming if you don't understand how all the different elements work.
Therefore, thewww.MusicLearningWorkshop.comwas created to provide music theory
principals and methods to help the student in learning and the educator in teaching
music more effectively.
The workshop is dedicated to providing music courses, workshops, and materials to
aid in the process of learning music. Our brand takes on the form of "AcceleratedMusic Learning" and "Getting It Down Cold". It's about finding and providing ways tomore effectively play and learn music.
Developments in teaching music have allowed the modern world to teach music in apiece meal approach to music theory. Although it seems rational to teach the music
theory as you need each piece, it slows down the process of learning.
We determined that a comprehensive approach to accelerated learning of musictheory needed to be addressed.
The objective of the Music Learning Workshop Music Theory Course materials is to
accelerate learning and allow the student to not only learn the principals, but toapply and master them far faster than would be expected in standard approach tolearning.
You can visit our web site for additional music information and products:http://MusicTheoryWorkshop.comandwww.MusicLearningWorkshop.com and the
music learning blog at:http://mlblog.musiclearningworkshop.comand join in on our
community conversation.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Thanks and Credit
Much of what I learned was provided by two excellent mentor/teachers. I've adopted
my learning sequence and applications from both sources, although I find theyoverlap a lot in principal but not always in application.
I wish to thank both Donna Cercone and Bob Gillis for their patience and savvy in
teaching me and guiding me to find my way in this jungle of music elements.
In developing the foundation series, credit to this method goes go Donna Cercone
and her mega learning application of education. This is where I spent my formidableyears in learning music.
For anyone truly serious about learning to advance and accelerate learning should
get Donna's course and understand how the brain works and practical application ofmethods to get the most from your learning experience.
You can learn more athttp://www.musiclearningworkshop/MEGALearning.html
I highly recommend this for teacher and student alike. There is a wealth of
information there and simple taking one concept and implementing it will transform
your learning abilities.
Additional credit goes to Bob Gillis to opening my eyes to the possibilities in jazz
music. I feel extremely fortunate to have studied with his kind and patent
understanding. I credit him with giving me the understanding of the rhythmcontinuum and how it is important to practice your rhythm with and without your
instrument.
Brad ChidesterMusic Learning Workshop
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Considerations - How to Learn a Song
The process of learning a song has been approached from many different directionsover the many years and centuries that he has been taught.
The use of various means and methods has been used by many students and
teachers and each has had their successes and failures. Each student has their own
way of finding a path with guidance from their mentors and teachers. Certainmethods work well for some students and other methods work better for a different
set of students.
Today I am going to share with you a successful method that has served mepersonally for years. The following report is on how the use of music theory can
accelerate your own learning and reduce the amount of time to learn a song.
I would even suggest that it can enhance nearly every method used out there today.
Simple Song Approach
For simple songs, if you can read notes then it doesn't take a lot of effort to learn thesong. You just simply do it by playing the notes one after another and in rhythm.
Nothing new there. The thing is that you better know your notes down cold and bereasonably comfortable with basic rhythm if you are going to get it to sound smooth
and pleasing.
Using a guitar you learn a chord that goes with those notes and then you play thenotes available to you. You usually start and find that the song can be played with a
simple strumming of the held chord to give you the basic form of the song andsound.
Again not a lot to do. Rather it's about getting down a couple of basic concepts and
enjoy.
Increased Complexity
So what happens when you get beyond the simple and the notes become two, three,
or even five to be played at one time? What happens when the rhythm changes andis divided into two or three parts per beat, and what if it alternates between to
separate rhythm patterns?
That's when you start down the road to complex song learning. If you are not well
versed in theory then you begin to learn the songs one note or beat at a time. That's
just like reading a book by spelling the words instead of reading the words andsentences.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
As the songs add more notes and stack them on top of each other things begin toget harder and more complex. When this occurs, you have to apply skills and
knowledge to reduce the amount of time it takes to learn and play a song
proficiently.
What Do Great Musicians Know That You Don't
Most of the good and great musicians know the theory behind music and use thisknowledge to be able to play these complex songs. As a matter of fact they do italmost intuitively as they have gained the knowledge and skill needed.
What you have to realize is that at some point along the way to this greatness thesemusicians studied music in some way or another.
They may have, as a child, learned the "natural way" to listen and associate music togain their abilities. Or they studied it in depth over many years to achieve thismastery level ability.
What Does It Take For You
You are likely reading this report as a way to figure out how to learn and play musicas a total beginner or as one that has experience but not yet achieve a level ofsatisfaction you desire in your ability to learn music.
You can learn and achieve the success you wish. It takes several things and resultsare derived from participating in learning activities, study, and practice.
Those results are created by ambition, motivation, desire, and learning new abilitiesand skills.
To do this, a number of music theory elements need to be in place for you tosucceed at learning music at a faster pace.
The following is a systematic approach to applying music theory to clearly get a
picture in your mind. The steps are easily explained and I believe they will help youmake progress much faster when you get the fundamentals of music theory downcold.
Things You Need To Know
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this method of learning a song I want you to
understand the mind set.
This is just as important as having the "how to" of the method. The typical standard
way is of learning and practicing is a rote method of learning.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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In rote, you simple look at and play the same thing over and over again withoutreally getting into the particulars and nuisances of the music. That is you don't spend
enough time on specific details, patterns, relationships, and phrasing.
Your progress can be slow and frustrating.
The pure lack of focused effort and inattention to details that make learning musicincredibly interesting and fun is why I believe many people give up their love of
playing.
Those students that don't give up eventually learn to play, but don't get the successthat they hope to achieve. They have such a love for music that they continue in
spite of the rote method.
Eventually they learn what they need to know. However, it is not all they could have
or should have learned.
My personal struggle to learn and play music
The early years
I want to share my experience with learning so that you understand the nature of
the mind set and how important it can be to your success or failure.
I began my music journey in middle school when I took my first piano lessons andplayed with the school band. I got absolutely nothing out of the school band other
than complete confusion on playing a recorder and a few notes.
My piano lessons were better, but I remember going for several weeks before Ilearned what a sharp note was and I was completely confused by the way it waspresented. I had only learned a handful of notes in that time.
I continued to take lessons with this teacher and made adequate progress. After one
year I quit and started to teach myself. In that time frame I learned enough to playmelody and simple base lines.
In other words I learned enough notes to get by, using the association of sayingsand letters, but never really understood the bass clef very well.
I look back and realize that the teaching method and teacher were just not really
geared toward what I wanted or should have been learning.
I continued to teach myself all through high school and actually did well enough to
just get by. I never could have joined or "made it" in a band or performing, but I didenjoy playing what little I could.
College
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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In the college years I took up guitar for a while and learned enough to strum a littleand play a few notes. I recall that the way I was taught that learning to change a
few chords is all I would actually learn. I improvised a lot and again learned enough
to say I play, but oh my, never did I learn enough to actually play in front ofsomeone.
My First Career Years
I never gave up on playing, I kept at it, but just didn't have the proper knowledgeand technique to get any good at it.
Shortly after I started working full time, I was given an old 1909 Bush and Gerts full
upright piano. It was in relatively fair shape and was quite playable.
I tried to continue learning and playing and basically banged at the piano because I
didn't have good training. I had a friend teach me a few songs. I was heavy handed
and it sounded like it. I won't repeat the comment I heard from the neighbor, whowas at least a normal two house lengths away. Let's just say it wasn't very faltering.
A new Beginning
Even though I didn't play that well I was bound and determined to keep playing.
I had my old upright piano rebuild when I was in my early 30's. I had a professional
rework the keyboard mechanisms and I refinished the body. It turned out good, (I'm
not a very good craftsman on these kinds of things) and my sister has that piano asof the writing of this report.
After many years of sowing wild oats and trying to play I decide to find a teacher.
I realized that I wasn't getting any better and needed to find a way to jump start my
learning and not spend years trying to catch up.
I've been trained as a professional engineer, left brain, logical kind of guy. However,
at this time I was into exploring the metaphysical and was fascinated with learningand what methods were out there to get into the right side of the brain. Yes the
creative side.
In the yellow pages I found an ad promoting accelerated learning and that I could
learn one year of lessons in one weekend. I had just landed on an intriguing ideathat showed promise in being able to speed up my training.
Incredibly interested, I called, signed up, and started my new adventure into
learning music and playing the piano all over from scratch at the age of 36.
A New Approach
I learned more in that one weekend than I had the entire 25 years before. I was justamazed.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
I continued on and within a year I was well past what most students would have
learned in 3 to 5 years.
I have to add a caveat here. This is where the mindset comes in. I was so
determined that I was going to learn that my motivation didn't let me down in
accomplishing my goals.
There were several components to what I learned. It boiled down to this:
Fundamental theory More Theory Practice Theory application More practice Technique More theory and application More technique, theory and application
Actually they were all interconnected, but here is what I learned:
Motivation, Determination, and Knowledge
Motivation will get you a long way. Determination will take you further.Knowledge and its application will allow you to get where you want toactually go.
Once I began learning music theory and applying it across the board I became muchbetter at learning music and playing it. The addition of technique is required inwhatever instrument you decide to pursue, but it won't take you far unless you have
the knowledge to back it up.
I hope to be able to bring some of that to you through the Music Learning Workshop
as we find good teaching and materials to support it. Be sure to check out our
resources and recommendation pages for possible materials that might help you.
www.MusicLearningWorkshop.com/recommended-resources.html
Final Point
So all of this ends up with me making the point it's the mind set that gets in the rightdirection and it will be the knowledge presented shortly that will get you down this
journey of creating music.
How to Quickly Learn and Master a SongThe really good and great musicians have learned to go deep. Figure out the theory,
and the application. That is what this method does.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Make no mistake it takes effort and thought, but if applied you too will get there.
This method is designed to help you learn to play a song from sheet music, or even
fake book which provides basic song structure.
You will find basic principles on our site. To fully understand any of these basic
concepts, the Music Theory Course covers all of these areas in detail and provides asystematic approach to learning music elements and application. Find out more at:
http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-instruction-ebooks/
The First Step Is In Preparing Your Self.
As we have just discovered your mind set will make a big difference in your ability to
learn music. It's the knowledge that will allow you to achieve that success.
If you want to learn a song fast you need to study the music theory. It is the key toyour being able to learn the songs. We promote and teach the theory as a way to
master music.
If you talk to any of the professional musicians a great majority are going to agree
with this method. So here are objectives you will want to achieve over time in orderto quickly learn songs:
Get These Music Elements Down ColdLearn your music notes
Know your Scales and Intervals
Learn Your Chords and Chord StructuresRead and Tap rhythms effortlessly
Read your music by Chords, Intervals and Scales
Playing with Expression
Using these as your long term objectives and studying them will lead to learningsongs faster and faster. Let's move on to details.
SideBar
The following methodology is primarily speaking to or for polyphonic instruments,
piano, guitar, keyboards, or any instrument that can use multiple notes at one time.
However, the knowledge on monophonic instruments is just as important when it
comes to improvising and playing with others. The basic principles apply to allinstruments sli ht im lementation chan es ma be re uired
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Physical Steps to Quickly Learn & Master a Song
First Steps - Preparation of Music
1. Start by taking your music (book or sheet) and going to the table, leaveyour instrument alone.
It's important for you to study the music first away from yourinstrument. This allows you to concentrate on pure theory and more
deeply become involved with the written language of music.
2. Next define the parameters of the song:a. Bass and Treble Clef positions - know where you're starting.b. What key signature is the song written in.
Can you tell if it's major or minor? If not you may need to come back
to this point. It can be determined by chord progressions and theending chord in that section or movement of the song. See section4.b. below and(www.musiclearningworkshop.com/key-scale-workshop.html)
This graphic shows the typical position for a piano staff with treble andbass clefs. It just as easily have two treble clefs. Or it could have tobass clefs. It also shows a key signature which may be either major or
minor.
Four sharps (#) can be either the
Key of E Major or C# minor
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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Copyright 2009 - 2012 Music Learning Workshop,www.musiclearningworkshop.com
c. What time signature does it have?
The time signature of 4/4.
You need to know what rhythm you will be using.
3. Take a look at the notes (quarter, eighth, sixteenth, etc) determine howyou will count. (www.musiclearingworkshop.com/rhythm-definitions.htmlandwww.musiclearningworkshop.com/rhythm-workshop.html)
Given the eight notes in this example you will be counting one
and, two and, three and, four and.
It's the smallest note that will normally determine what your
counting will be.
SideBar
Sometimes your song title will tell you the key. I play a
Mozart piece called "Rondo in A minor."
That's a big clue right there, it's written in A minor which
looks just like a C major (no sharps or flats), however, youwould see the use of a G# note quite often for this key
signature.
This one sharp note is used in the harmonic A minor scale.
This may be a bit much right now if you haven't fullyexplored the major and minor key signatures and scales.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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4. Analyze the chords of the first 4 to 6 measures.(www.musiclearningworkshop.com/creating-chords-workshop.html)
a. The chord notes may be all stacked up or broken up as individualnotes across several beats of a measure. Look at the individual notesand determine the chord spellings and patterns.
C minor chord C 1st inversion C major inversions
Here is a C chord ( spelled C-E-G) broken pattern. The
chord notes C, E, and G or all present. Sometimespassing notes are used, so look for basic chord spellings
you know.
Most often the bass clef or bottom note is the root noteof the chord giving you a starting point to determine
what chord it might be.
b. Based on the chords used determine the key signature as major orminor.
Analyzing the first few chords usually will give you enough
chords to determine if they fit a major or minor key.
Sometimes it takes more.
Music typically ends on the tonic chord or 'I' (one) chord of thekey signature. This can be another clue.
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Getting It Down ColdLearn a Song Crucial Steps
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As well the composer may put a key change in the progressionwithout changing a key signature. (look for a lot of changes in
the number of sharps or flats used.)
Obvious key signature changes occur in music such as:
Typical Key change might look like this one from Ab to D.
5. Write out on top of the music the scale being used, For C Major:C D E F G A B
a. Next write the harmonic system number underneath. For the key of CMajor you would write:
C D E F G A B
I ii iii IV V7 VI vii
b.
Label the 7 basic chords of the harmonic system using minor anddiminished symbols.
C Dm Em F G7 Am Bdim
I ii iii IV V7 VI vii
You should know the chords for the system or be able to refer to yourharmonic system easily.
Here is the C Major diatonic harmonic system written out.
SideBar
Be careful, the last chord may be a V7 chord of a new keysignature of the next section..
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6. Analyze all the chords in the section or piece of music you are working on.Here's an example of working with A Major. It has a modified ii chord, whereit was made a diminished seventh, which occurs from time to time.
Write out the chord position/function near the chords analyzed. I, ii, iii,etc. (Altered chords will be used, especially with jazz or even Bach.)
Make sure you work with the proper major or minor key signature.
SideBar
Be on the lookout for key changes that aren't obvious.
When analyzing your chords you may see a series of chords that don't belong
to your written key signature. That's usually an indication that the key was
changed for some duration without showing it on the sheet music.
Often times these changes occur between major and related minor keys or
even form same key name major to minors. Such as from C major to Cminor. Take a look at this excerpt from a popular Bossa Nova.
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Take a look at this excerpt from a popular Bossa Nova.
You will see it starts in the key of A minor, then we have a strong chord
progression of Dm7 (ii7), G7 (V7), to CM7. This is a very commonapproach to use the relative major key of a minor key signature.
Then a couple of lines later we go back to A minor with Bm7(b5) (ii7), E7(V7), to Am.
The ii7, V7, I or(i) is a very common progression for jazz style of music.
These changes may only be a few measures long. They may be a changed
(transposed to a different key signature) for effect.
7. Last, mark off bite size pieces of the song that you can work oncomfortably.
a. This may be the easy progression of 3 to 5 chord changesb. It can be the various phrases or statements of the music.c. Look for logical breaks.d. If really complicated, use only enough that you are working 3 to 4
different pieces of information. You could easily be working just twobeats of a measure in some cases.
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e. Use your judgment; don't take on more that you can easily do in a fiveminute setting.
In this example the big blue brackets look like a logical bite of music toapproach. However you may find that a small bite as shown in red is abetter place to start. Or you might look at the two blue boxes as a way
of working on this line.
The second line looks to have to distinct phrases as circled in green.And one of those might be considered to be broken into two partsdepending on how well you are doing with the changes and rhythm.
What this session of preparing your music is about
This part of the session is all about becoming familiar with the theory and details ofthe song. I spend quite a bit of time with a song just looking and learning what I
can about it before I ever get to playing it.
This is all about finding manageable bites. You don't shove an entire meal in yourmouth, you take bite size pieces and enjoy the meal. Same with music.
Taking on to much can be frustrating to your progress. I use a simple test. If I take abite and I struggled to learn it. I take half and try again. This usually works, but
every so often I have to cut it down even further.
I recall working on one measure in Mozart's 'Ronda in A minor' and even had to cut it
down to one beat, then add the next beat, then the next until I could play all fourbeats together.
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Summary - Preparing Your Music:
1. Take your music away from your instrument to begin study.2. Define the parameters of the song, clefs, time signature, initial key
signature.
3. Take a look at the notes to determine how you will count the rhythm4. Analyze the chords of the first 4 to 6 measures to help determine if key is
major or minor.
5. Write out on top of the music the 7 basic scale notes of the keysignature, add the position Roman numeral functions, write in the chord
names and chords on staff if it helps with the chords determinations of the
harmonic system.
6. Analyze all the chords in the section of music.7. Mark offBite size pieces
That's a first giant step toward learning your song. It will only take a few minutes toaccomplish these important steps.
The more proficient you become with the music theory the quicker it becomes toaccomplish this preparation.
This preparation will allow you to focus on your instrument without having to figure
out all the theory at the same time.
You will have implanted the necessary knowledge to allow you to move more quickly
in learning your song.
But theres good news and bad news
The good news is that if you know your music principles and theory this is a fast track to
learning songs. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can learn big complicated songs.
You can learn everything you need to know and more, by studying music theory the easy
way. However...
The bad news is that the vast majority of music students and even musicians are very
weak on music theory principles. And hap hazard study takes a long time to learn these
concepts.
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It normally takes between four to five years, and as long as eight years to learn to read,
understand, apply music theory, and potentially play music at performance quality.
Without applied application and step by step guidance you're going to struggle to get this
information down cold like you need to, but....
The Best News:
You Can Learn To Read and UnderstandMusic Like A Pro!
How would you like to learn 4 to 8 years of music
easily in a direct path to success spending only 10
To 15 Minutes A Day, in less than a year,
guaranteed?
The music course workshops can and will guide you through getting your notes,intervals, keys, scales, and chords down cold.
Workshops for each area are available and all workshops are included in full musictheory course. See links at the end of this section for specific courses and lessons.
The following section titles are an outline of the full learn a song report provided with
the music theory courses and workshops are can be purchased individually here:http://MusicTheoryWorkshop.com/learn-a-song/
Next you move the song to your instrument.
Learning to Play your SongNow it's time to get back to your instrument.
Chart Your Music
These steps apply to each bite of your music you have chosen to learn.
... See full report for this section
Playing your song
Now that you have completed the preparation sequence it's time to put it together.
... See full report for this section
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Expressing Your Music
Expression is the essence of conveying your emotion and feeling
... See full report for this section
So What's It Going to TakeA summary of everything youll need to do to put this all together and become a true
musician.
... See full report for this section
Putting the steps into a success chart
Success charts are a way to track your progress and put the elements of learning asong quickly together
see full report for complete section.
Music Theory Course and Individual lessons-
WE provide a full course, targeted workshops, and individual lessons which can be
obtained from our site. To learn more about the music theory materials visit one of
the links below.
Courses and Workshops
http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-instruction-ebooks/
Note Lessons: http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-notes-lessons
Rhythm Lessons: http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-rhythm-lessons
Keys Lesson: http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-keys-lessons
Scales Lessons: http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-scales-lessons
Chords Lessons: http://musictheoryworkshop.com/music-theory-chords-lessons
Now it's up to you. Get it done!
Stay Tuned!
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