I should preface this by admitting that I started piano lessons while in preschool, so learning to read phrases on a staff and learning to read phrases in a picture book were parallel processes. Now, while that may sound like a rather nerdy humblebrag, it isn’t meant to be. The fact is that notes were…
Have you been loving Adele‘s new single “Hello” as much as we have? It’s her first new song in 4 years and she came back swinging with a video directed by Xavier Dolan and staring 90210 and The Wire‘s Tristan Wilds (why can’t anything good ever happen to Michael?! First he falls in with Chris and Snoop and…
Remember Captain Planet? If not, I recommend taking a moment to familiarize yourself with the eco-friendly super hero. The point is, he had this amazing team of friends who brought different powers to the table that allowed them to start tackling crises before the big guy even showed up on the scene. Well, I’m going…
Sergio Carrasco, Malik Fakiri (Faki), and Ariel Utin are the co-founders of La Leche, a Brooklyn-based production company that hosts the “Hangover Sessions” — an intimate and inspiring performance series on Saturday afternoons. I caught up with Ariel recently to ask about some of her most memorable performances, how to write songs listeners love, and how to cultivate a…
Most of us have watched and re-watched that Axis of Awesome video by now. If you haven’t, take a moment and do it now. I’ll be here when you’re done. The point that video makes is that countless songs we all know and love are built around the same harmonic changes. There’s nothing wrong with…
This article is being published jointly on Soundfly and Sonicbids in celebration of #SongwritingWeek! My pursuit to become a songwriter started shortly after learning to read words and music twenty-something years ago. Throughout my quest to become better at what I love doing, I’ve studied a wide range of writing styles — both musical and linguistic. Here are five lessons…
A while back, Taylor Casey asked if I’d sing some backgrounds on his EP. All I knew about the project was that Taylor — who grew up alongside my baby brother — was a nice, Southern California kid whose love for music brought him to the big city. One of my favorite singers happened to be staying…
Carter Lee and Michael Summer are the minds behind Brooklyn’s Playground Sessions Hip-Hop Jam and its host band, Tiger Speak. The concept behind the jam is an intriguing one — a live band, complete with vocals, horns, and a rhythm section, plays a set of music tributing a hip-hop legend and then the stage is opened up…
About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Jen Baron — a remarkable musician and passionate educator. Her zeal for teaching music as a means of building confidence and fostering self-expression in her students is nothing short of inspirational. Jen launched the Santa Barbara branch of Girls Rock just a few years ago and already it’s given hundreds…
Setting up a proper workspace can make practice time infinitely more productive — at least, it definitely did for me. Here’s a list of things to keep at hand when you’re honing your craft. 1. A notebook Okay, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be a literal notebook (though I personally feel pretty tied to…
