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St.Albans School of Music

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24.01.2022 Lots of Queen favourites here. A few twists and turns in the songs both in the keys and timing within the same song. This makes them a bit more challenging to play but a lot can be learnt from these. There is also a big diversity of chords between the songs, something not that common in recent music and will expose the student to a lot of new sounds. A good listen to the original recordings along with the music will certainly help to get familiar what all these sound like. Even though Freddie Mercury is the focal point of the band, a mention of guitarist Brian May, whose excellent guitar playing and general musical input into the band is invaluable. Brian May is also an astrophysicist with an honours degree in physics. Did learning to play the guitar help with this.hmm?

23.01.2022 Added to the guitar library this week ‘Chart Hits of 2018 - 2019’ from the Hal Leonard Easy Guitar series. Still a lot of piano/keyboard driven songs, but ‘Millionaire’ by Chris Stapleton and ‘Shallow’ by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper have catchy guitar intro’s without being too complicated. The most popular song is ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, mainly the pre-chorus and chorus parts of the song. Students (and teachers) enjoy having a play of current tunes and this is a good collection. The piano books of these and other recent songs are arriving soon in Easy Piano and Big Note Piano editions.

22.01.2022 Two new books added to our library this week from Hal Leonard Publishing latest releases. The first is 'The Very Best Of Santana for Easy Guitar' from guitar legend Carlos Santana and his band. A good collection of tunes from the early Fleetwood Mac cover of 'Black Magic Woman' to 'Smooth', a collaboration with Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20. As with a lot of the 'Easy Guitar' series books, the arrangements are quite playable in the early stages of learning and are a good stepping stone to the fuller versions later on. The other book is part of the 'Violin Playalong' series, this one being titled 'Pop Covers'. Violin doesn't have to be all classical music. Students do enjoy playing other songs and with this book containing tunes by Adele, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry and others is sure to be a popular addition.

22.01.2022 INSTRUMENT RENTAL. When learning a musical instrument, it is necessary to have one at home to practice on for the lesson material set by the teacher. Without 'hands on', no real progress can be achieved. But buying an instrument may be a bit risky if the kids lose interest early on. For this reason, we offer affordable instrument rental to get things going. Rental starts at $30 for 10 weeks for guitars, violins & keyboard. After 10 weeks, you should have a pretty good idea if the kids want to continue. If so, the rental charge is deducted from the instrument cost if you wish to purchase it. Please contact us for further information.

22.01.2022 One of the most ongoing popular tunes is the theme to 'Star Wars'. Good basic arrangements are available enabling even 'early learners' to have a go at this tune. Movie themes and music offer a great diversity of melodies, harmonies, rhythm and styles making them a great learning source. An 'easy guitar' book of tunes written by John Williams, the composer of the Star Wars music is soon to be released. The book includes themes from Harry Potter, E.T., Superman, Jaws. Really looking forward to add this book to our extensive library of songbooks. A lot of kids have already worked out the 'scary' intro to the Jaws theme. Time to learn the rest of the tune. Keep them coming.

18.01.2022 Getting lots of requests for songs from the movie 'Moana'. Kids are enjoying learning these tunes and also getting familiar with music from the 'islands'. It all helps to broaden knowledge of different styles of music. Keep them coming.

16.01.2022 St.Patricks day inspired a bit of a workout with some Irish and Celtic tunes. Some really good music here. The slower tunes are usually very melodic and emotional while the quicker tunes such as jigs and reels can be a bit more challenging to get them up to speed. Tunes such as 'The Irish Washerwoman' jig are good workouts and fun to play. Violinists can call themselves 'fiddlers' when playing this style of music, but keep in mind that a fiddle is just a different name for a violin, they're really the same instrument.

14.01.2022 Big Note Piano and Easy Piano editions of Chart Hits of 2018 2019 have arrived, published by Hal Leonard. Big Note Piano arrangements are more playable for an earlier learner while the Easy Piano arrangements have a bit more detail, with neither losing the essence of the songs. The teacher can always simplify parts of a song so that the student can still play the tune through. Again, a good collection of recent songs and, have a listen to the recording of the song while following the sheet music. This always helps to reinforce whats on the printed music and the sounds created from the notes in melody, harmony and rhythm. This should lead to a better feel when playing the songs.

13.01.2022 Had a run through with the theme from 'Mission Impossible' to help a student learning this tune with her school band. Like movie themes, themes from TV shows also offer a great source of interesting and varied music. The 'Mission Impossible' theme has an interesting time signature. For those students looking to music to 'improve' their academic performance, in this case arithmetic, this tune should verify... that 3 plus 2 does add up to 5. Your teacher will explain. A 'cool' guitar solo is played in a version of this song by Jerry McGee with the American instrumental band "The Ventures'. Have a listen, it's a good down to earth arrangement. Keep playing. See more

06.01.2022 Great news. Just got delivery of 2 new Yamaha U3PEQ upright pianos. Thumbs up all 'round from teachers and students. A good instrument always inspires better performance due to its better response and character. This of course applies to violin and guitar as well as any other instruments. A quick note to students that they are free to come in anytime to use the pianos for some extra practice if the studios are not being used. This would be really useful to those preparing for practical exams and dont have an acoustic piano at home to play on.

06.01.2022 Old Town Road Current favourite with students. A good fun mixture of country and rap genres. Arranged a semitone higher to get rid of the 5 sharps on the original music makes it easier to read and play for the early learners. One youngster believes there are horses in the bag. Either theyre small horses or big bags. A catchy melody and very playable for early learners with our simplified arrangement of the song. Might have to get Achy Breaky Heart ready for a rerun.

03.01.2022 Added to the guitar library this week Chart Hits of 2018 - 2019 from the Hal Leonard Easy Guitar series. Still a lot of piano/keyboard driven songs, but Millionaire by Chris Stapleton and Shallow by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper have catchy guitar intros without being too complicated. The most popular song is Shotgun by George Ezra, mainly the pre-chorus and chorus parts of the song. Students (and teachers) enjoy having a play of current tunes and this is a good collection. The piano books of these and other recent songs are arriving soon in Easy Piano and Big Note Piano editions.