Busy Bards Ear Training

In this Episode of Busy Bards Ear Training, we go on a nice gondola ride through the canals of the major scale.   We're only using notes 1, 7, and 5. When 1 is the tonic, or the home note, we will always feel the most comfortable when heading there. 7 always tends to point us back to home, because it’s so close. Note 5, when it’s BELOW note 1, also tends to direct us back home to note 1. We’ll...

In this Episode of Busy Bards Ear Training, we go on another tour of the Major Scale. We're only using notes 1 2 3 and 4. Notice how nice it sounds to travel from note to, to note 4. I haven't specifically taught tension and release yet, but you can really start to notice it once we bring note 4 into the equation. This song has a country-esque song to. AND, I also have a Youtube Video to A...

On this weeks episode of Busy Bards Ear Training, not only do we get our feet wet in a new Ear Training track, but we also explore a new segment called "Musings on a Mower". In this weeks ear training track, we explore the Major Scale, where 1 = A. Putting us in the key of A Major (not that we're terribly worried about that, yet) Since we're slowly learning our place in the major...

In this episode of Busy Bards Ear Training, we're going to explore our first major scale ear training track. (00:00:00) Theme and Welcome (00:00:55) Why it took so long between episodes. (00:02:30) I Finally explain why i'm a "former" teacher...hint hint...I got fired lol. (00:05:20) The Early History of Busy Bards, and where these ear training tracks come from. (00:07:05) Recap...

In this episode of A Nuclear Survivor's Guide to Music, our squad of survivors finally starts to create the sounds of music they recognize in their daily lives. But...just because you know the seven notes it takes to build a song...does it suddenly mean you have everything it takes to make music? Find out in this episode. Next week, we'll break character for a few weeks to really start wor...

Do you truly need absolute pitches? That is, do you need to think of music in terms of A, A#, B, C, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, and G#? Well….Yes and No. Absolute pitches and the musical alphabet are very important for helping you pick an absolute, fixed pitch, to build your template of music (scale) off of. But once you have that established….is knowing the musical alphabet really the key to creating mus...

In this episode, you’ll take a more frank, laid back tour of the 22 “Rhythm Bricks” or “building blocks” of rhythm. Rhythm, in it’s simplest state, is not much more than placing these 22 blocks at will on a canvas of beats (the measure). It’s worth taking some time to gain some concious experience with each one. This lesson is independent from the main plot of “A Nuclear Surivivor’s Guide to Music...

Now that the foundation of rhythm is established; The central beat, our teacher is able to take it to the next level. While listening to the bickering of the camp-mates, you decide to use the natural rhythm of the birds singing in the trees to introduce the essential building blocks of rhythm: The Quarter Note, the Eighth Note, The Sixteenth Note, and the Triplet. These core note values can be sub...

You want more practice with finding the central beat in real music? You got it! In this “half/bonus” episode we’ll take a break from “A Nuclear Survivor’s Guide to Music”. We’ll have a quick chat, and then go straight into some exciting exercises outlined below. By the way, In addition to breathing, nodding your head is one of the best ways to connect with the central beat. Listen to this episode...

You realize you were just in a nuclear blast. Tired, out of energy, and out of hope, you fall into comatose listening to “Busy Bards Ear Training Podcast” again…and again…and again… You wake up three years later in a survivor’s camp full of bored, slightly stupid camp-mates. Will you be be able to cure the boredom? Are you qualified to teach music in a society that has collapsed? The faint memory...

I’m super glad you see the value in ear training! Scales, modes, solfege, chords, etc are all excellent things to practice, especially on the road! But…if you take the wrong path, you could end up in danger of colossally wasting your time. I don’t want that to happen to you. In this episode of “A Nuclear Survivor’s Guide to Music”: (00:00:00) Our hero leaves work for the day and decides what podca...

You like music. And you’re probably listening to this during your commute to your work that destroys your ability to practice. But what would you do if the fabric of society collapsed tomorrow? Everyone dreams about how they’d survive with food, supplies, guns…but have you ever prepared for the number one killer: boredom? Well, you’re lucky to tune in to the first season of Busy Bard’s Ear Trainin...

Are you a someone with an increasingly dusty instrument? Or your neighbors complained about your “shower voice”? Or you joined local theater to find a lass, only to find out your tone sucks ass? Is work, chores, and family time taking up too much of your practice time? Wouldn’t you love the super-power of turning generic radio songs into full-fledged music lessons for you to transfer to your own s...