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  • Off Notes: How to Learn Everything Online

    Off Notes: How to Learn Everything Online

    In honor of the launch of our BRAND NEW COURSES this week, the theme for our weekly internet round up is… instructional videos! Have you ever wanted to learn how to build a DJ studio out of IKEA furniture? Or how to film a vinyl record in an electron microscope? Then you’ve come to the right place! Watch on…

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  • Laura Moody: “I’m terrified… which is why I’m doing it”

    Laura Moody: “I’m terrified… which is why I’m doing it”

    Laura Moody is a wildly alternative cellist, singer, and performer based in London. As a member of the genre-defying string ensemble, the Elysian Quartet, and a performer for Hot Chip, The xx, Aphex Twin, and more, she has toured extensively, performing the works of both classical and contemporary music in the great halls of Europe…

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  • You Shouldn’t Be Waiting for Inspiration to Write Songs

    Songwriting is a cathartic, stimulating, and back-and-forth process. When inspiration really sinks in, it’s incredible what we’re capable of creating. And after channeling that inspiration into a new song, there’s a strong feeling of purpose and secure creative identity. We can, however, often sit around waiting for that moment to happen. Writer’s block is one…

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  • Launching Today: 3 New Music Courses!

    Launching Today: 3 New Music Courses!

    Drumroll please! Today we’re launching a new round of course offerings, including our first ever Premium-level content. And — as you may have noticed — our whole site has an entirely new look and feel. We can’t wait for you to peek around and tell us what you think! The free courses you know and love…

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  • How to Write a Musical: Find Your Song Posts

    How to Write a Musical: Find Your Song Posts

    This is part 3 of a series on how to write a musical. Start from the beginning with a brief history of musicals and explore the role of the music in telling the story. The basic question we’re looking at today is: when writing a musical, where do you begin?  First of all, it’s important to know the purpose that…

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  • Off Notes: Musical Facelifts

    Off Notes: Musical Facelifts

    Welcome back! It’s been a few weeks since our last internet round up, because — as you may have noticed — we’ve been hard at work giving both Soundfly and Flypaper quite the makeover! And the redesign has inspired our theme for the week: finding new in the old. Below we’ve got all kinds of innovations and…

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  • Apple Music — The Best Worst Thing to Happen to Music

    Apple Music — The Best Worst Thing to Happen to Music

    If you’re a music lover, creator, and/or nerd like me, you’re probably hearing a lot of mixed and somewhat befuddled reviews of Apple’s new aggregated music service, Apple Music, announced at their WWDC keynote on Monday. It was exciting to watch unfold — Apple had revolutionized the business once, and we hoped, in this era of…

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  • William Ryan Fritch’s Unusual Path to Film Scoring

    William Ryan Fritch’s Unusual Path to Film Scoring

    William Ryan Fritch is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter who has been making music for film and releasing records professionally for about 7 years. I only came across his music recently but was immediately taken aback by his wide range of sounds and compositional tactics, that despite their different origins, all feel distinctly and familiarly…

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  • 3 Professional Lessons from Film Composer Michael Giacchino

    3 Professional Lessons from Film Composer Michael Giacchino

    Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love Pixar films. The Incredibles is still one of my favorite all-time movies. Ratatouille made me see the world differently. Up had me balling like a child within the first ten minutes. And no small part of that was the music. I only recently found out…

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  • 5 States with More Than 5 Awesome Cities to Tour Through

    5 States with More Than 5 Awesome Cities to Tour Through

    Smart touring means covering as many live markets as possible with the smallest amount of overhead. Being able to perform in cities a short distance away from each other saves your band transport costs, time, and energy. On major tours, small cities and college towns are often overlooked in states with big cultural epicenters, but…

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