A Brief-ish History of the Drum Kit
Got 10 minutes to learn about the history of the drum kit as we know it today? We talk about how individual drums, players, and genres helped the kit evolve.
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Why Is THIS the Most Influential Music Cue in Hollywood?
From 20th century minimalism to early Gregorian chant structures, this film cue has it all…and it’s probably not the one you’re thinking of.
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11 Great Classical Pieces to Put on While You Study
Cramming for a big test coming up? Make sure you’re focused, inspired, and energized with this playlist of classical music to help you push through!
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Shoutin’ Out: A Crash Course on Blues Shouting
A closer look at the tradition of “blues shouting” in the early 1930s and ’40s, which helped inspire the creation of rock ‘n’ roll out of jazz and gospel.
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4 Great Nicknames in Blues History
Read the stories of four of our favorite American blues musicians to see how they ended up with some of the best nicknames of all time.
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Making It in Hell: The Lomax Prison Song Recordings from Parchman Farm, 1933–69
We explore in audio, photo, and text, the history of John and Alan Lomax’s multiple visits to Parchman Farm to record prisoners’ work songs between 1933-69.
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How to Make Your Mixes Sound Great in Every System (Part 1)
Pro mixing engineer, composer, and mentor Gary Gray shares his thoughts in this two-part series on how you can get better sounding mixes in every system.
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Quick Tracks Monthly Challenge Roundup: June
Quick Tracks is Soundfly’s monthly series of creative musical challenges. To get your right brain bubbling with creative ideas, we love thinking up short production and songwriting challenges, aimed at helping you solve fun musical conundrums. 1. Pull a James Blake on ’em! James Blake’s new single, “Don’t Miss It,” floats in and out of different keys,…
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How to Make Your Mixes Sound Great in Every System (Part 2)
Pro mixing engineer, composer, and mentor Gary Gray shares his thoughts in this two-part series on how you can get better sounding mixes in every system.
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Here Are the Songs We Break Down in Kimbra’s New Course on Soundfly
In Kimbra’s new course on Soundfly, she uncovers the influences, inspirations, and techniques behind her most beloved songs. Here are some.
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Where Did All the Chords Go?
A sampling of single- and multi-chord progression songs between the 1980s and 2010s reveals a disheartening trend. How to fix it?
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How to Let Your Notes “Breathe” in Improvisation
In this excerpted lesson from Soundfly’s The Improviser’s Toolkit, Mahea Lee explains why it’s important to let your notes “breathe” a bit.
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3 Ways to Grip Your Listeners With Opening Lines
In today’s music landscape, attention spans are at an all-time low. Grab your listener’s attention right away with lyrical immediacy.
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The Lyrical Genius of Chuck Berry
In this Guest OpEd, we explore the plethora of ways Chuck Berry tackled race and societal issues with humor and relatability in his lyrics.
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Bowie Production Theory: 4 Influential Things Bowie Did in the Studio
Listening back to David Bowie’s 1977 albums “Low” and “Heroes” gives both producers and songwriters ideas of how to experiment in the studio.
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RJD2 on the Art of Sampling (Video)
In this video premier from RJD2’s new course on Soundfly, he talks about the legacy and art of sampling from a creative, composing standpoint.
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The Birth of the Unjazz
Modern songwriters, producers and artists are reinventing the way jazz idioms and foundations are applied in modern pop. Let’s break it down!
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Talking Points: Igor Stravinsky on How New Problems Require New Approaches
In this edition of “Talking Points,” influencial composer Igor Stravinsky shares his thoughts on composition, creativity, craftsmanship, and other topics.
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5 Lessons On: The History in Our Music
Soundfly’s new monthly newsletter, “5 Lessons On…” comes to Flypaper. Check out these thematically curated lessons to direct your learning.
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How Emotion Affects Learning — and Why That’s Great for Musicians
A brief look at the ways in which leaning into the emotionality of music whether joyful or sad, can help us learn and retain new information.
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On July 9, 1955, Rock ‘n’ Roll Went #1 for the First Time Ever
For someone my age, who grew up in the latter half of the 20th century — listening to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, heck, even the Killers — it’s hard to imagine life without rock ‘n’ roll. Even if that style of music isn’t your personal listening preference, can you even picture…
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Rudy Van Gelder: The Optometrist Who Pioneered an Ethos in Record-Making
By Brad Allen Williams Rudy Van Gelder died 25 August, 2016 at the age of 91, having made some of history’s most enduring sound recordings. If you’ve explored the variegated tapestry of 20th century recordings lumped together under the criminally reductionist banner of “jazz,” you probably know the name. If you’ve dug through crates and slid…
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Uncovering the Jazz Influence in Pop, Rock, and Hip-Hop Classics
+ Bridge the worlds of theory, improvisation, and jazzy hip-hop, and improve your piano chops with Grammy-winner Kiefer in his course, Kiefer: Keys, Chords, & Beats. Jazz music is daunting to wrap one’s ears around. It is safe to say most Americans have a complicated relationship with one of our oldest art forms. Jazz is chronically…
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Exploring the Lydian Mode with Elliott Smith’s “Waltz #1”
Like thousands of other young music fans with a penchant for the delicate beauty born through the combination of musical genius and a great deal of misery, I obsessed over Elliott Smith’s music back in college, and was affected deeply by the news of his tragic and sudden suicide in 2003. Performed on Saturday Night Live in…
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Why a Video of a Young Ukrainian Accordionist Went Viral
By Shinjoo Cho If you’ve spent any extended time scrolling social media this year, you’ve probably come across a video of Ukrainian musician Alexander Hrustevich playing “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (formally, the Violin Concerto in G Minor, Opus 8, No 2 “Summer”: III. Presto) on his bayan accordion. This footage of a spellbinding, virtuosic performance by a young…
