Category: Learn Music

Brian Hunter Band Director

Band Director Profile: Brian Hunter

The New Jersey-based educator on helping kids fall in love with band and teaching them how to practice. For Brian Hunter, DMA, the music and movement teacher at Constable Elementary School in Kendall Park, N.J., helping young students discover a passion for band is more than a job—it’s a mission. With a deep-rooted love for […]

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Andrew Kasab

Andrew Kasab’s Fingerstyle Foundation

The harp-guitar master and Music & Arts instructor unpacks key concepts for players looking to lose the flatpick. The fingerstyle guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and veteran instructor Andrew Kasab, who teaches at the Music & Arts in Cary, North Carolina, doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who does anything half-heartedly—starting with choosing an instrument.   As a […]

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High School Drummers

How to Recruit Top Talent for Your Band & Orchestra Program

Imagine that a gifted drummer, guitarist or pianist just started their freshman year at your school. The student’s middle-school teacher even passed along a note praising their abilities. As the band director, you’d love to get them involved in the music program. But so far, they haven’t shown any interest in joining. Most band and […]

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Donnie Marple Advice to Aspiring Musicians

10 Things We Learned About Donnie Marple

Lee Brice’s go-to drummer on Nashville, Neil Peart, Dave Weckl and the record-setting Stagecoach crowd that nearly made him cry. In many ways, Donnie Marple is the perfect drummer for the current state of country music, when old-school honky-tonk fare has given way to explosive, genre-spanning music built for sold-out amphitheaters. He’s been influenced not […]

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Paul Carr

Paul Carr’s All-State Jazz Audition Essentials

Conquer All-County and All-State with these strategies from the eminent educator and saxophonist. Maryland-based saxophonist Paul Carr is one of those rare jazz educators who doesn’t need to bring in outside help when he wants his students to work with a respected professional jazz performer. He is that performer, with a steady schedule of festival […]

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Instrument Rental

Renting vs. Purchasing: Pros and Cons

It’s a question that confronts every parent of a band or orchestra student: Is it better to rent or buy an instrument? More questions follow: Will your child stick with it for a while? Will they want to switch instruments at some point? Will you need to start with a smaller instrument and upgrade as […]

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Guitar Maintenance

A Beginner’s Guide to Guitar Care & Maintenance: Cleaning & Storage

At a Music & Arts repair facility, a technician wipes down an acoustic guitar’s strings and fretboard using a microfiber cloth. Imagine you’ve just purchased your first guitar. You spent hours looking at all the available options and finally chose the instrument that’s right for you—the perfect model, in just the right color. How can […]

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Sheet Music

The Power of Printed Music

Linguistics researcher Naomi Baron, Ph.D., on the meaningful advantages of handwritten annotations and scores you can smudge In recent decades, as our avenues for information have been transformed by technology, music-education resources have followed suit. Books and play-along cassettes became books and play-along CDs and software; VHS lessons became DVDs and then online tutorials. The […]

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Steve Bello

Steve Bello: Rock Beginner Basics

Photo credit: Michael Perry The revered shredder and dedicated Music & Arts instructor shares his favorite tips and techniques for aspiring rockers. A decade ago, Music & Arts guitar instructor Steve Bello toured Germany in a power trio led by the late T.M. Stevens. Stevens, a slap-bass god whose original music picks up where Funkadelic […]

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Woman playing the oboe

Overcoming the Challenges of Double-Reed Instruments

Double-reed instruments are some of the most unique members of the woodwinds family. Unlike the clarinet and saxophone, which utilize a single reed mounted on a mouthpiece, double-reed instruments feature—you guessed it—two reeds vibrating against each other to create an unmistakable sound. The most popular double-reed instruments are the oboe and bassoon, but the category […]

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