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Today's topic may seem like a tongue-in-cheek cliche, but I would like to talk a little today about what's really important as a musician. Last week you read about the first ever, Dallas Christian Music Festival and the preparations going on with it. This week while reading something else, I was struck by something Franklin Graham shared on Twitter. In Louisiana this last weekend, some young men knelt as a funeral procession passed by. You can read the story here: http://www.nbc-2.com/story/38018948/louisiana-teens-take-a-knee-as-funeral-passes. What a marvelous witness these young men were! It got me to thinking more about how a simple act of kindness can deeply effect so many people. In addition to this story, my own personal life recently has had some very challenging times with our sons. Without going into details, we have been challenged in our faith and continue to be. Last night was particularly difficult because of someone who was very offensive during a visit we were making. At this point you're probably wondering what this has to do with music? Well, what better way to witness to God's love by demonstrating it through music! That is exactly what the music festival is about. Our community and world are in desperate need of love. Those who don't know Jesus are living lives of quiet desperation. We can give them hope and love through the Spirit of Christ. We can touch them through our gifts that nothing else may be able to reach. Think about it for a minute, when did hate or divisiveness ever solve anything or cause anyone to change for the better? It never has and never will. The apostle Paul talks about what's most important in life in 1st Corinthians 13:13 - "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." - New Living Translation We can lead people into a healing, whole relationship with the One who created them. What a privilege and honor! In fact, I learned last September at a worship conference that the only spiritual gift that will remain in Heaven is worship. In 1st Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul talks about the body of Christ and how some have been appointed Apostles, some Prophets, some Teachers, some who do miracles, etc. What Revelation 22:3 shows though is that those are earthly roles while worship is forever. How exciting! My encouragement to you today is to spread God's love the way He's blessed you with. People are in desperate need of kindness. Forgive others and move on. It's the only way we can find peace and make this world a better place. #community #festival #inspiration #Musicians

Today's blog post is about the first ever, Dallas Christian Music Festival. I'm excited to be working on this event for the summer. There are more details available at: https://www.facebook.com/DallasChristianMusicFestival If you live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, please come out and see us. We will be at the Rotary Performing Arts Stage on, Thursday August 16th, 2018 from 4 to 8 pm. The Dallas Area Visitors Center, Dallas Chamber of Commerce , and the City of Dallas , are promoting this event and assisting in facility preparation. We're also working with the Dallas Ministerial Association to facilitate cooperation with the local churches. There will be local food vendors, the Bounty Market, and kids' activities galore. We would love to see you there! #Music #God #festival #community

Well, I'm going to deviate a little today and talk about vocals! While they're not typically something that I know as well as guitar, it's always good to do a little stretching. In fact, that's exactly what this blog subject is about today. While I've had my share of critics including my Mom at a very young age, I've also had my share of champions including a very intense vocal instructor. The biggest challenge I have with my voice is that it's not big like some people have. It's smooth, pleasant, and melodious, but I know that I have my limitations. When I hear some lead singers, my first thought is: "If only!" Let me set something straight though, that thought is hogwash! I don't need to base my evaluation of my voice by comparing it with someone else's. That's just not fair. There are so many people I've met who have been told that they can't sing or shamed into not singing out. But I'm telling you today, there is hope! The first thing you need to do is to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself, "Do I have some desire to improve my voice?" If the answer is yes or even maybe, it's time to work harder. One of the go to channels for me is on YouTube. It's called Verba Vocal Technique. Anna and Mark are from England and have a plethora of good, easy instructional videos. Their channel is a great place to start with or tune-up what's not working. You can probably guess what the next step is if you've read any of my other blogs: PRACTICE! Yes, it's hard. Yes, it can be discouraging. But isn't it worth trying to see what you can do? Just like exercise, it takes time and effort. But it's well worth it. For my third point I'm going to borrow from something that Anna mentioned in one of her videos: "You're listening to yourself and to others!" What the heck does that mean? It means that you're listening to other people tell you what they think of your voice or you're listening to yourself too much! We are typically our harshest critics. Instead of criticizing ourselves, let's critique our voice in a positive way. In other words, try not to be so hard on your singing. Yes, not everyone can sing like a lead singer but that doesn't mean you can't sing! Yes you can and the more you practice with singing out the more confident you'll get. You also need to challenge your voice when you practice. And, you need to stop listening to what others say. Let me end by telling a short story of inspiration. In 1928, an 18 year-old gypsy named Django Reinhardt was hired on the spot to play guitar in British Bandleader John Hylton's orchestra. But before he could start the job, he and his young wife were in their caravan one night and it caught fire. While pulling his wife to safety, he badly burned the fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand. Most people would probably quit playing after an injury like that, but not Django. His brother gave him a new guitar and he wound up learning how to play with only two fingers on his left hand. Quite a feat for quite a musician! Go find your inspiration then go out there and sing your heart out! #inspiration #Music #Vocals #determination

Welcome to my weekly blog post about music for musicians. This is part IV of a series about music theory. One thing I would like to add to last week's blog posting about intervals is I need to mention that there is one other type of interval, minor. A minor interval would be an interval that has one whole step and then one half. For example, if you go to a middle C on a keyboard and go up 1 and 1/2 steps to an Eb, you have a minor third interval. Intervals are a beautiful way of complimenting a song, (at the right time) or as written in a great work. One of the best examples of interval work can be heard in Johann Sebastian Bach's Chaconne. I realize that many of you are much younger than I and are probably wondering about why you would want to listen to 'old' music? Well, Mr. Bach was THE eminent Rock Star of his day, but I understand why it could seem outdated. I looked around and found a music instructor who in her 20's, realizes she needed to add some more up-to-date examples of intervals. Her name is: Ashley Evelyn Mazur. She has a blog page where she culled together "29 fresh, modern songs" that demonstrate the concepts I've been discussing here for the last 3 installments. That pretty much covers everything that I wanted to discuss about intervals. The next topic I would like to cover with you is: Triads. Triads will probably be the most recognizable sound for musicians as they’re constructed of a tonic, mediant, and dominant tones, or, a first, third, and fifth. They are also some of the richest structures that a musician works with. Many instrumentalists have seen chordal sheet music that has basic triads: C, F, and G listed. These can be mixed up with different bass notes, inverted, added to as with extended notes, e.g., C2, and even enhanced with augmented or diminished tones. Building on some of the previous blogs we can see that triads are simply a combination of different portions of a diatonic scale. These can get complex very quickly, but if you feel you're getting lost or confused, read my first two music theory blogs as a refresher: https://www.matthewgoolsby.com/blog. I'm going to stop there for this post because I'd rather not overload you, the reader. I would like to however change the subject next week and address a subject I read about today: Digital music. There have been some good online articles recently about the proliferation of digital music and how it's changed the landscape for artists who want to get their music distributed. I will discuss that more next week. In the meantime, go forth and make music! #Music #Theory #performance #God

Welcome to my blog where I offer tips for musicians. This is installment #9 for 2018. I recently found something I had written 10 years ago by request of some people I had played with. They were wondering about music theory and why it was important. So, why not share it with you too! Let me first start by saying that I've heard this phrase more times than I can count: "I don't need to know theory. That's for musicians." Let's do a little fact-checking on that statement. A) If you are trying to play an instrument or sing a song, then guess what, you're trying to be a musician! B) If you have the desire to play or sing, then guess what, you're trying to be a musician! You probably noticed the word 'trying' in there. Yes, it is true that one is not really a musician until they get a little more serious about the art of music. Having said that, one doesn't have to be making money or even performing in front of others to be a musician. For all practical purposes, you could just be doing it as a hobby. But, you are still doing the art of music! To belabor this point a little more, you don't hear someone who paints or draws referred to as a dabbler or scribbler, so let's get past that notion of what a musician is or is not. Now that the air has been cleared, if you are seriously wanting to be a musical artist, then why not learn more about the craft? Sure, you can sit down and play a song on guitar or piano and that's great. You could even sing tunes to the radio. But, and this is important, if you really want to learn a craft, why not study how it works? That's where this blog comes in. Now that we've gotten some of the important details out of the way, the next step is to talk about music theory. One of the most influential composers and professors was Walter Piston. Every music student is or should be aware of his definitive writings on music theory. His book 'Harmony' is the musician's bible of music theory and composition. I was utterly fascinated when I first read his book in my music theory classes. His writing style is straightforward and written in a down-to-earth form that doesn't patronize or belittle the reader. When I wrote the document I mentioned above for other musicians I was working with, I referred to his book in terms of scale structures: 'Scales are the organizational representation of a key signature. For example, in the key of C major which has no sharps or flats, there are eight tones in a C major scale. They are arranged in steps like so: C –whole- D –Whole- E –Half- F –Whole- G –Whole- A –Whole- B –Half- C The indication of whole or half between the tones represents the steps or frets between each note. Therefore, this is a C-natural scale. As Walter Piston states in his book called ‘Harmony’: “It is customary to refer to the scale degrees by Roman numerals: Tonic (the key – note) Supertonic (the next step above the tonic) Mediant (halfway from the tonic to the dominant) Subdominant (as far below the tonic as the dominant is above it) Dominant (actually a dominant element in the key) Submediant (halfway down from the tonic to subdominant) Leading – tone (with melodic tendency toward the tonic)"' Let's call it a day on music theory for now. Next week I'm going to write more about this subject. It should be fun AND engaging! #Instruction #Musicians #artistry

Today's blog installment, (Number 6 of the year if you're keeping track), is about recording. So why the dog picture you say? Well, let me get right into that. Many people have watched American Idol over the years and seen numerous people audition for a coveted spot to become America's next great phenom. I must confess that I don't much care for the show, but when my wife has watched it, I occasionally will sit down and listen to a few auditions. This picture is representative of what the auditioners think they sound like. They think: "I'm so good at this." "They love me." "It's wonderful that people all over the country and world get to here my talent." Then comes the shocker. Randy Jackson used to have a saying: "Yo, dawg, check it out." And then the dreaded phrase, 'What was that?' from Simon Cowell. You can sympathize with one who auditions on the show but is clueless about how they sound. In fact, now that their world is shattered or they're still in denial, what do they do next? Well, there are three options: Quit Try again Practice more, then try again Which would you do? Okay, there is a fourth option. Record yourself! There's really no excuse these days. You must learn how to record yourself and SERIOUSLY scrutinize what you sound like. This is where the subjective part of you becomes objective. Like a Judge in American Idol, you must listen to yourself and see what areas you haven't worked enough on, what things need honing and what don't, and if necessary, get some help where you're falling short. Help doesn't have to be professional. It can be from someone who likes to help musicians or is just interested in seeing what you've got to work with. There are lots of options but I would recommend finding someone who you trust to help you. Look around, ask friends or family for suggestions, but by all means don't give up! You never know that you may have the talent and creative energy to be a Diva yourself. It's also enough to just enjoy yourself with your music and never be a well known musician. Fulfilling your dreams as you see them is enough, Dawg! #Instruction #Musicians #Musicrecordingsoftware #performance

Fellow web travelers, today's blog (Installment #5 of the year), is about music school. No, this isn't going to be a talk about how to get into music school, auditions, curriculum, or even survival. This is going to be about the school of music called life! I'm also going to try to write some of this blog in Spanish (Español) since there are people from Brazil, Mexico, and Spain reading this. If you read english only, please skip ahead at this point: A mi amigos quien hablan espanol, muchas gracias por leer este blog. ¡Bienvenidos! Y para aquellos quien están celebrando Carnival, yo espero que esta vez sea muy agradable para todos. Este blog es para ayudando a los músicos quien necesitan consejos sobre cómo tocar y disfrutar de lo que hacen mejor. ¡Muy bien! Now, back to english. The subject for today is music school and the first impression that comes to mind for many of us is sitting in a classroom listening to lectures and taking tests. Well, it's much more than that Thank God! Everywhere we go we can learn from our experiences about music. For example, this morning I woke up to hearing a bird singing. When I'm with a friend that I really enjoy, there's a certain rhythm to our relationship. Even the rising and setting of the sun has its own tempo! What I'd like to do is to stretch your thinking in this blog post. Take a look at the world in terms of rhythm, tempo, and keys. See if you can find patterns in nature or other parts of life that can enhance your music. There are plenty of opportunities every day. Take a look at the picture below to see what I'm talking about. We will discuss this more in coming blogs. Enjoy the music of life today! One small P.S. - There's now a Musician's Forum on this website. Its intent is for musicians to connect and discuss musical topics in a safe, respectful way. If you're interested, consider joining. #Instruction #Musicians #Musicartistry #Rhythm

Hopefully the subject of today's blog caught your attention. (This is 2018's installment #3 blog) You may be a wiz at math or struggle with it like many people do. But, did you know that music and math have a tremendous commonality? It's true. One of the great geniuses of Western European music is: Johann Sebastian Bach , or, J.S. Bach as he's commonly known in classical music circles. Mr. Bach lived a few hundred years ago and wrote music for his church services on a weekly basis. Now, I play almost every week at church, but writing music every week is astounding! And we're not talking about a simple song. No, he wrote magical musical pieces that have intricate counterpoint in them. They're still studied in any music school worth its salt because they demonstrate the composer's ability to weave intricate phrases and scale structures together to make a compelling and ear-pleasing work. I mention this because of the symmetry of math and its sibling: music. Math itself is a very profound discipline to study and use. Imagine highways, computers, space missions, or even medicine being formulated or used without it. Impossible! If you've ever struggled with a complex equation in geometry or algebra, then you know that the brain power required to solve problems is also the same that can build a beautiful melodic composition. Imagine that for a moment; a beautiful piece of music has been composed, written, arranged, and then performed by highly analytical processes within our brains. Music can bring one to tears, inspire, sadden, and evoke any number of emotions. Now for the practical point of this blog: How do you, the musician, use these analytical processes to get out of your musical ability all that you can? I'm going to leave you with that point until the next blog. Give it some thought.... #Musicians #WebsiteDesign #Mathematics

Well, this is post #2 of the year and I thought that going back in time would be appropriate. I don't literally mean that I have a time machine, but I do have lots of good memories from when I first started doing music. It seemed relevant to look back at that time and offer up a couple of tips for the reader. When I was very young, I got signed-up for group guitar lessons. This was exciting and challenging at the same time. I remember racing home and wanting to practice because I had learned some new songs! I'm sure my playing wasn't very good at the time, but I stuck with it and then got to take private lessons as a young teenager. If you're young and you want to learn how to play an instrument, I can't begin to tell you how important it is for your parents to find someone competent to help you learn. You must also like your teacher! If you don't, see if you can find one you think will better suit you. Good teachers are hard to find, but bad ones are everywhere. Let me be fair about this too. I've taught many students, adults and kids, and there are some who are very serious about practicing. Many of them though are not serious. So in all fairness, there are some students who really need to be moved on by a teacher. Better to move them on than to waste time and money. One other comment I'd like to interject here: There are numerous online teaching methods and tutorials. I'm sure some of them are no doubt very good! However, nothing can replace the face-to-face time a teacher and student have. It's so good to hear someone give feedback in the same room about your playing. I still hear compliments (and criticisms) of my playing in my head every now and then. My final tip is about your personal ability to deal with criticism. If you are thin-skinned then taking lessons with someone will probably not be advantageous right away. Maybe you want to do some practicing on your own and get some confidence before trying lessons. That's totally cool! Why spend money if you'll be frustrated? For the others who are fine with some level of criticism, (and by the way, I mean constructive criticism in all of this writing,) listen to what your teachers have to say but don't let that sway you from your mission: Becoming a better player! I do have a picture here of guitarists, but these tips apply to any kind of instrument. I've heard students at music school practicing for hours. There were: trombonists, trumpeters, pianists, vocalists, cellists, etc. You get the point. But they never let constructive criticism stop them from attaining their objective: Playing! Now get out there, and perform! #Musicians #performance #music #Instruction

¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo! A mis amigos quien hablan español, ¡que seas bendicido con amor, risas, y música! Este es un temporada para todos gustar familia y amigos durante el nacimiento de Jesu Cristo. Es con mucho gusto que te deseamos Feliz Navidad! #Holidays #Musicians #Christmas #Navidad #Amigos #Familia