While many people take up an instrument and learn how to play it purely for their own enjoyment, some choose to take their love of music to the next level by performing for others. However, being a great performer requires a level of confidence that playing as a personal hobby does not. If you wish to feel and appear more self-assured when you play for others, these are the best tips for developing greater confidence as a performing musician. Recognize that confidence is made, not born.The first step to building confidence as a performer is to make sure that you’re not framing the idea of confidence in your mind as something that you either “have” or “don’t have.” Confidence as a musician is actually something you either choose to create for yourself, or you don’t. Confidence is not an inherent trait that some musicians are blessed with and others are not. Anybody can build more confidence in themselves as a performer if they are committed and put in the necessary work. Identify your strong points and areas that need improvement.To build confidence in your performance abilities, you first need to recognize your strengths. What aspects of your abilities as a musician do you already feel good about? Maybe you have a talent for being expressive when you play, or you’re gifted at sight reading. Perhaps you’ve mastered a very difficult strumming or bowing technique on your instrument. Acknowledge that there are some aspects of your performance to be proud of before turning your attention to the areas that need improvement. When evaluating which aspects of your performance could use some work, try not to think of them as flaws, but instead consider them as opportunities for growth. Practice positive self-talk when working on these aspects, avoiding unsupportive thoughts that are critical and self-defeating. Over-prepare for your gigs.There’s one element of developing your confidence as a performer that should go without saying: you need to play at public shows. Playing for family and friends is a great start for musicians who are just getting into the practice, but eventually you will need to play a gig in front of strangers. In these instances, if you want to project confidence, it’s important to be more prepared than you think you should be. Practice often and practice effectively. Don’t run mindlessly through entire songs, but rather take your time, going over the more difficult parts of a song repeatedly until you can play every part of the piece seamlessly. Consider splitting your practice time into multiple, smaller blocks of time in order to keep your focus sharp and your interest alive. Confidence as a performer partially comes from knowing that you practiced enough and have the ability to play a song perfectly from beginning to end. Be aware of your physical appearance.Apart from being very familiar with the music that you’re playing, another way to be confident as a performing musician is to make sure that you physically appear self-assured. This means dressing for the part and maintaining the right posture. On the day of a performance, make sure you wear clothes that reflect your commitment to your music. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to wear something expensive or formal, but remember to dress well, in clean clothes that make you feel good about yourself. Additionally, make sure that your posture on stage is straight and powerful. Not only will having great posture show the audience that you believe in your own abilities, but it also can have a positive effect on the way you feel mentally. Spend time around people with similar skill levels. Many professionals suggest that aspiring performers spend as much time as possible around musicians who are more experienced than themselves. While this is good advice for the purpose of improving your technical skills on an instrument, it can take a toll on your confidence if you constantly find yourself surrounded by people more advanced than you are. Balance time spent with more accomplished musicians by dedicating some of your time to people with abilities similar to your own. Jamming with musicians at a comparable level of accomplishment is not only fun, but it can also take the focus off technical skill-building and help you feel more self-assured when playing with other musicians. Mentor someone who is just starting out. Just as there will always be musicians who have more experience than you, there will also always be less experienced people who can benefit from your advice. Acting as a mentor to a budding musician will give you the opportunity to do something positive for another person while also receiving a confidence boost. By helping another person develop his or her talent, you can reflect on the knowledge you have accumulated and reinforce fundamental concepts in your own mind, which may give you more faith in your own abilities. Keep thorough track of your progress. If you’re aware of how far you’ve come from the point where you started, you’re more likely to appreciate your current abilities. Keep your practice sheets and make recordings of yourself as you continue to develop your skills as a musician. As time passes, you’ll be able to return to this evidence and use it as a reference to comprehend the extent of your accomplishments. Appreciating your growth as a musician will help you gain confidence and inspire continued progress.
While there has been some debate in recent years about the real-world value of arts education, school music programs undeniably offer children numerous benefits that can help them excel in academics as well as in life. Listed below are eight reasons that music education is an important part of kids’ lives. 1. Music exercises the brain. Research suggests that the minds of children who study music operate differently than those of kids who don’t. Taking lessons on an instrument requires a young student to exercise the brain in new ways, resulting in a higher degree of neural activity that ultimately strengthens parts of the brain related to fine motor skills and sound discrimination. Further studies suggest that taking music lessons also requires children to exercise parts of the brain related to memory, making predications, and attention span, leading to better function in these areas. 2. Music teaches children about diversity.Music education is a simple yet effective way to teach children about the value and importance of cultural differences. The unifying nature of music can help children see similarities between themselves and people who look or act differently, leading to greater acceptance of these differences and an understanding of the value of inclusion. Children who learn about the music enjoyed by other cultures are better able to see connections between themselves and others because of the way that people from every corner of the globe all dance, sing to, and play music. 3. Music may help children develop a larger vocabulary.Music lessons are an excellent way for children to expand their vocabularies. Research shows that the longer a child has trained in music, the more advanced his or her verbal memory is. A child’s vocabulary plays an important role in other scholastic endeavors, such as reading comprehension, communication, and self-expression, and can help boost overall academic performance. 4. Music can help a child learn how to work in teams.Group music lessons are an excellent opportunity for children to learn how to work together with their peers in order to achieve a common goal. Participation in musical groups like bands or orchestras requires children to develop skills related to cooperation, negotiation, and self-awareness—all of which are lessons they must learn in order to become a successful adult. Altogether, the teamwork skills that children gain through music education can result in a higher degree of social competency, giving them the ability to build positive, healthy relationships with peers. 5. Music can help a child develop higher levels of confidence.Commitment to music study gives children the opportunity to develop a new skill over time, which can help build confidence. As a child becomes more and more accomplished on an instrument, he or she may feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in his or her ability to cultivate a new skill through hard work. Additionally, children who take music classes in school often have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. Preparing for and performing in a concert instills a sense of self-confidence in kids, and helps them learn how to present themselves in front of a crowd. 6. Music can teach children the value of perseverance.Learning to play an instrument is not a quick or easy process, but children who commit to music lessons come to know the value of perseverance in the face of difficulty. These children learn to stick with an activity, even when the process becomes frustrating, and learn the rewards of pushing past challenges. Musicianship is also an excellent way for children to understand the importance of discipline, as they recognize the talents they are able to develop when they routinely set aside time for practice. 7. Music may lower the likelihood that a child will later use drugs or alcohol.Studies have shown that children who study music are less likely than those who don’t to experiment with substances like alcohol, drugs, and tobacco in their lifetimes. Additionally, statistics indicate that children who have taken music classes have a higher rate of school attendance than those who don’t, and are almost 20 percent more likely to graduate from high school. 8. Music gives children a way to express themselves.In addition to the more obvious academic and social benefits that can help children develop into healthy, functional adults, music also offers children a platform for self-expression. A child who has taken lessons will be better equipped to express him or herself through music and will have a useful outlet for developing his or her creativity. Music can help children express feelings they may not yet be able to articulate with words, and the creative development involved in self-expression may set children up for success in later life. Creativity is noted as a major indicator for leadership success and professional accomplishment.
Music has been a part of human culture throughout the ages, with some evidence suggesting that mankind has been creating songs for more than 50,000 years. Since then, it has evolved to become a crucial part of numerous societies. To explore the role that music has played in human history, check out the following facts about the songs, instruments, and musicians of the ancient world: 1. The oldest-known piece of music is called “Hurrian Hymn No. 6.”“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is the oldest melody to be discovered in its entirety, with an estimated composition date sometime between 1400 and 1300 BC. Etched into a Sumerian clay tablet found in Syria in the 1950s, the melody, written for a 9-string lyre, honors the fruit and fertility goddess Nikkal. The oldest full musical composition—consisting of a melody with lyrics—is a 2,000-year-old song entitled “Seikilos Epitaph.” This song was engraved on a marble column that served as a gravesite marker in Turkey, and includes the lyrics “While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll,” according to an article on History.com. 2. The world’s first instruments include flutes and drums.In Germany in the early 2010s, archaeologists discovered flutes carved from mammoth ivory and bird bones, which scientists estimate to be more than 40,000 years old. Though researchers cannot say with surety what people used the instruments for, they speculate that the bone flutes were used in either religious rituals or for recreational purposes. The next-oldest instruments ever found are drums, some of which date back to 6000 BC. Formed by animal skin membranes stretched tight across a shell made from objects like gourds and wood, drums of different designs and sizes have been discovered in the ruins of ancient societies located in places like Egypt, Iraq, and Turkey. 3. Ancient Greeks used music both recreationally and academically.Music was a cornerstone of life in ancient Greece, and people played it on all kinds of occasions, from the celebratory, to the everyday, to the somber. It served as a way to entertain guests at weddings and social gatherings and to console the grieving at funerals. It was even played on a regular basis for workers undertaking their daily tasks in an effort to make labor more tolerable. The ancient Greeks’ believed that music had a divine quality that promoted healing and allowed people to relax, but they also saw music as an academic tool. Music was one of four elements of mathematics education in Ancient Greece because of the role that ratios play in the relationship between melody and harmony. Thus, they considered music to be less of an art and more of a quantitative science. 4. Some cultures still play ancient instruments today.A number of modern musicians still play instruments that originated thousands of years ago in places like China, Australia, and many Middle Eastern countries. In China, people carry on the tradition of playing the guqin, a plucked instrument with seven strings strung across a long, narrow board. Some claim that the Chinese philosopher Confucius played the guqin, because he considered music to be a crucial part of maintaining a clear heart and mind. In countries like Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece, and Tajikistan, musicians still play a large frame drum known as a daf. The daf has a hardwood frame covered by a membrane, which is often made of goatskin. Played by the hand, the dafa is sometimes equipped with small metal ringlets around the interior to produce a tambourine-like sound. In Australia, aboriginal peoples still play a long flute known as a didgeridoo, which is formed from local hardwoods. These instruments tend to be between 3 and 10 feet long, and are played by vibrating one’s lips continuously through a large mouth opening at the top while tapping out patterns along the side. 5. You can hear recreated ancient music on the Internet.In 2013, a researcher from Oxford University claimed that he was able to accurately reconstruct the sound of the lyrics and melody of the “Seiklos Epitaph” through new findings about ancient Greek vocal notations. To play the song as it was originally meant to be heard, he used an instrument known as a canon, which has eight strings and is similar to a zither. That song can be heard here. Many people have also attempted to recreate “Hurrian Hymn No. 6” using a variety of instruments, including different forms of lyres that may be similar to those used at the time the song that was written. Several different versions of “Hurrian Hymn No. 6” can be found here.
One of the few music genres to truly originate in the United States, jazz was first developed in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was influenced by the sounds of the blues, ragtime, and traditional funeral music from the South. Generally a fast-paced genre, it is distinguished by its improvisational nature, syncopation, bent notes, and the “swing” created when musicians accent the beat by adding unexpected rhythm on the offbeat of a song. To understand the spirit of jazz, one must understand the components that create its style. Listed below are the most common instrumental elements in the jazz genre. Rhythm section instrumentsTo play standard jazz, a band needs rhythm instruments to provide percussion, a bass line, and harmony to its songs. The most common rhythm instruments in a jazz ensemble include bass, drums, piano, and guitar. Bass Though it can’t be heard as distinctly as other instruments, the bass plays a crucial role in jazz songs, laying a rhythmic foundation for the other instruments while simultaneously providing harmonic support. Early jazz bass lines were played on upright bass, though a majority of jazz bassists today prefer to play on electric models. Jazz bass is often played in the pizzicato style, in which a player forcefully plucks the instrument’s strings rather than strumming or tapping them. Drums As with many forms of contemporary music, the drums in jazz are responsible for pushing the movement of a song by keeping the beat. A jazz drummer, however, has the added responsibility of periodically altering his or her playing style to complement other musicians as they solo during a performance. This can mean that a jazz drummer plays softer in some parts of a song and then returns loudly in others, or may alter a beat mid-song in order to accent the notes of a soloist. Much of a jazz drummer’s performance is improvisational, as he or she must be able to react according to the improvisation of the lead musicians. Piano Jazz piano can be both a rhythm instrument and a harmony instrument. It can be played in such a way that it provides percussion to a song through a technique called “comping,” or it can be played softly, using single keys to create a melody. Jazz pianists often play rhythm with one hand while playing a melody with the other. The instrument’s 88 keys provide musicians with a wide range of notes to work with, giving it a dynamic role in jazz performance. Guitar Like a pianist, the guitar player in a jazz ensemble can play a single-note melody in a song, or may play percussively, comping full chords to provide rhythmic support to the rest of the band. Some musicians will choose to use a solid body or semi-hollow body electric guitar in a jazz ensemble. However, hollow body archtop guitar has been a popular choice for jazz music since as early as the 1920s. Horn section instrumentsThe horn instruments in a jazz ensemble are a collection of brass and woodwind instruments that are responsible for playing the melody of a song. The most common instruments in the horn section are the trumpet, trombone, and saxophone. Trumpet The trumpet is an iconic jazz instrument, first popularized by the likes of Louis Armstrong in the 1920s. Made from brass, the sound is controlled by three valves on the top of its body, which manipulate the notes created by a musician as he or she vibrates the lips and pushes air through the mouthpiece. Even with only three valves to work with, trumpet players are able to produce 45 distinct notes on the instrument, which they use to perform the energetic solos characteristic of jazz music. TromboneThe trombone is another brass instrument used to play melodies and solos in jazz songs. As with the trumpet, a trombone player vibrates his or her lips against the mouthpiece while blowing air into the instrument. A player uses a slide on the trombone’s body to change the pitch of the sound, producing loud, powerful notes that command attention during jazz songs. Saxophone Though it is made out of brass like the trumpet and the trombone, the saxophone is considered a woodwind instrument because of its single-reed mouthpiece. The saxophone’s brass body, combined with its woodwind mouthpiece, produces an intense vibrato in its notes, creating a popular, distinct sound. There are five different kinds of saxophone, including the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass sax, with tenor and soprano being the most frequently used in jazz bands. The voice as a jazz instrumentThough ensembles within the genre are frequently instrumental, some of the most popular jazz songs of all time feature vocalists. Singers like Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra all saw great popularity due to their work as jazz singers in the middle of the 20th century.
To perform jazz, vocalists sing at a pitch that is similar to a speaking tone. Professionals suggest that your singing voice in jazz should be a musical extension of the tone you use when talking. A jazz vocalist may also choose to employ an improvisational singing technique known as scat singing. To scat, a vocalist will periodically use emotive nonsense words or syllables to mimic a sound similar to that of a jazz instrument. Musicians, whether they are amateur players or professionals, occasionally have to bring their instruments on a plane trip. However, while air travel is an extremely safe method of transportation for people, it can often lead to lost or damaged instruments. Musicians who wish to make sure their instruments arrive safely should keep the following helpful tips in mind when planning their next flight: Follow any Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rulesBefore taking their instrument on a plane, musicians need to be aware of the relevant guidelines set by the TSA. According to the organization’s website, all instruments must undergo a security screening. Musicians who bring an instrument as a carry-on item must present it for a physical inspection at the airport’s security checkpoint. At this time, owners should communicate to TSA agents any special guidelines for handling their fragile instrument. If checking their instrument as baggage, individuals should be sure to label it with written instructions describing how TSA agents should handle the instrument while examining it and then restoring it to its case. Arrive early if you plan to bring your instrument as a carry-onIn 2012, the US Congress passed a law requiring airlines to allow instruments as carry-on items without imposing extra fees, as long as the instrument can safely fit underneath a seat or in an overhead bin. However, the law does not state that airlines must give musicians priority space in overhead bins, and in the event that there is no room for an instrument in the cabin’s stowage area, owners will need to check the item at the gate. For this reason, it is a good idea for musicians to purchase priority boarding tickets to make sure that they are among the first passengers to board the aircraft. This ensures that there will be plenty of room to store an instrument in the overhead compartment. Buy a seat for your instrumentMusicians with larger instruments like cellos and upright basses also have the option to purchase a seat for their instrument provided that it meets the weight and height guidelines established by the airline. The major US airline carriers all maintain different policies on instruments as cabin seat baggage, which travelers can find here. Even after establishing that a large instrument qualifies as cabin seat baggage, musicians should still contact the airline 24 hours ahead of time to confirm the viability of the special travel arrangement. In addition, any person traveling with a large instrument should arrive at the airport a half hour earlier than normal to make sure that he or she has enough time to transport the instrument through the airport and secure it safely in its seat before takeoff. Take necessary precautions for instruments stored in the cargo bayMusicians who check their instruments need to make sure their instruments are well protected while stored in the cargo bay. One way to do this is to purchase a quality hard case equipped with protective padding on the inside. It’s also a good idea to fill any empty spaces within the instrument’s case with newspaper, bubble wrap, foam, or soft fabric to prevent the instrument from moving around during transit. Musicians should label their case with an ID tag that clearly lists their full name and contact information to help prevent the instrument from becoming lost. Additionally, whether an instrument is traveling in the cargo bay or the cabin, owners should make sure to tune down stringed instruments and drums before takeoff. The pressure changes that occur during air travel may cause increased string tension on instruments like violins, guitars, and cellos, which could cause the necks of the instruments to bend or even break entirely. Tightened drumheads may also be at risk for this type of damage. Buy a cheap version of an instrument to take on trips insteadTo avoid the stress of traveling with an expensive instrument, musicians should consider purchasing a lower-quality version specifically for use during travel. Owners should take steps to protect these cheaper versions the same way that they would for their standard instruments, but in the event of accidental damage, loss, or theft, the cost of replacement is much less. If obtaining a cheaper version of the instrument is not feasible, individuals can purchase travel insurance to protect them against the significant costs associated with replacing a lost instrument or repairing a damaged one.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Marina K Caprara