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…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. The struggle was real, and we loved it. Let me paint a nostalgic picture of a time before streaming existed, when making a single playlist could take…
Bach’s Ode to Java Rocket fuel. Joe. Jitter Juice. These are just some of the nicknames we’ve given to one of the world’s most favorite drinks: coffee. It’s no surprise that artists over the years have been compelled to pay homage to the great brown muse; Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and even blues legend Mississippi John…
In this quirky video, courtesy of our popular Mainstage course, Orchestration for Strings, composer and arranger Ian Davis demystifies some of the historical context behind the modern day orchestra’s bowed string section, as well as its attributes and compositional strengths. Davis composed all of the compelling score music to this course himself, and you’ll hear and…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Colin Woodard’s book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rivan Regional Cultures of North America, identifies a number of distinct cultures that have historically spread across and divided…
Last summer, I took a road trip to the Grand Canyon with some friends. After some time passing the aux cable from phone to phone, we ended up on Aerosmith’s 1993 7x platinum, 20-million-selling, mega-hit record, Get a Grip. This was one of the albums that seemed to follow us everywhere we went in the mid-’90s. All…
Whether it’s writing a song or learning how to read music, becoming a serious musician comes with its fair share of hardship and challenges, already. Everything — from the time and patience it takes to build up your chops on a new instrument, to coughing up enough cash to purchase equipment — is a pain.…
+ 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. For the musicians of the many houses of improvised music out there, the Art Ensemble of Chicago is one of the most influential bands of the 20th century. Yet for…
Horns are a prominent piece in the puzzle of modern music. When it comes to pushing the language of American music forward, predominantly via jazz in the 20th century, their role has been invaluable. But what about their prominence in film? Whether it’s the saxophone, trumpet, or trombone, or, yes, even a bunch of tubas,…
Welcome back to our new series on Flypaper, Album Histories Monthly, which brings you the story of a single album each month, in the month that it was originally released. Last month, we covered The Buggles’ Age of Plastic. This month: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours Release Date: February 4, 1977 “When we started Rumours in early 1976, we were all in…
