Music Lessons in Burbank CA | Los Angeles Music Teachers

If you're interested in taking lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-saxophone-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​

Musical performances have always been part of history. Since the advent of the piano, as a musical instrument, performers have always stunned their audience at concerts so phenomenally. History is replete with the remarkable achievements of piano grandmasters such as J. S. Bach and Franz Liszt. Generally, learners can gain the right technical approach to this practice by seeking the best piano lessons in Burbank. Here are some helpful piano training tips that can substantially elevate a learner’s skills when incorporated.

1. Maintain a natural posture
Keyboardists are always advised to maintain a calm posture and portray good deportment when addressing the keyboard. This can be effectively achieved by ensuring a comfortable seating posture while maintaining an appropriate distance from the keyboard for enhanced ease of movement.

2. Ensure proper use of the full arm
As a constituent of the full arm, the forearm provides support to the hand which in turn supports the fingers. It is best to ensure that the forearm is well-positioned to ensure easy movement of the hand (sideways, upward and downward).

3. Make the wrist flexible
Playing with a supple wrist can bring about a seamless execution of gestures. The legendary music tutor, Beethoven strongly advocates the development of a unique feeling of musical impulse when playing slurred notes. This would require the light withdrawal of the hand purposely.

4. Play with a compact hand
By default, the hands are meant to be kept in a compact position when playing the piano. Apart from helping to keep the arm and hand calm, this also helps to enhance finger movements.

5. Flow naturally with the fingers
There is no need to exert force while playing the piano. As a best practice, players should try to keep the muscles relaxed, as well as maintain a natural arch when working with the fingers.

6. Follow the right finger motion (fingering)
It is very easy to play the wrong note when adopting the wrong fingering. To avoid creating execution difficulties, pianists should ensure that they articulate gestures with the right fingering.

7. Try to be consistent
To achieve greater reliability, it is best to ensure full consistency by maintaining a regular hand shape.

8. Understand the structural function
The left hand is the foundation of playing the piano. This is where the bass line which is responsible for clarifying harmonic rhythm, maintaining timing, providing direction, sustaining the rhythmic energy, and setting the tempo is located. Ensure to work with the left hand by listening and building from the bass up.

Conclusion
As it is commonly said, practice makes perfect. Following the best piano lessons in Burbank can set anyone on the right track to perfection.

If you're interested in taking lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-piano-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​

At the end of the day, singing is a physical process. It requires precision movements from your entire body. Because of this, singers need to take just as much care of their voices before they sing as when they’re singing.

Have you ever been to the gym and had a great workout but felt really sore the following day? Or perhaps you’ve been on a run with a friend and gone to bed that night with a clicking knee? Stretching can prevent the athlete from unnecessary damage and pain. Stretching your voice is just as critical. 
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Here are some of the best reasons why you should take the time to condition your voice with regular warmups. 

Warmups bring you right up to your best voice.
You may have noticed that some days you can sing all night without a problem. Other days, you might wear out by the second or third song. You may even have noticed that some days you can hit that high note, but other days it’s a stretch to come near it. You may find that you’re able to sing lower notes in your range at the end of the day than you can in the morning.

All of this can be worked through ahead of time by warming up your voice prior to a recording session or performance. And if you record at home, it’s much easier to notice how your vocal strength improves day by day by listening back to the recordings you make.

By gradually putting your voice through its paces, you’re able to loosen it up and get your blood circulating through all the different parts that make up your voice box. This gives you access to all the different abilities you have as a vocalist. By warming up, you don’t have to wait around for a “good voice day” to happen.

Warmups grow your skills as a singer.
Think of warming up as exercising for your voice. What happens to your voice when you warm up is actually similar to what happens to athletes’ muscles when they stretch and exercise.

Here’s a simplified explanation. Warmups prepare you for the intense vibrations that come along with singing. Controlled, steady vocal exercises will increase acid in the muscles surrounding your vocal folds, which helps those muscles do their jobs more effectively.

One of these jobs includes interacting with a tendon in your throat. When that tendon is properly engaged, it’ll stretch, giving you more flexibility and control over your voice.

When you properly and regularly exercise your voice, you build upon your abilities and become a much more effective singer.

Warmups help you sing healthily without damaging your voice.
Remember all that stuff above about the muscle and tendon? If there’s a high or loud note you can’t sing right away, forcing yourself to do it can strain your voice. You could literally pull a muscle or give yourself tendonitis. Ouch! Not worth it.

Have you ever tried to push through a long set on a “bad voice day” and felt tired and sore at the end of the night? Perhaps your speaking voice was mostly gone?

Vocal warmups before a show prepare your voice for the strenuous activity that is singing. It may seem counterintuitive. “How does singing before I sing make me less tired from singing?!” This is because warmups are a controlled, steady way of singing that doesn’t stress your voice out.

Warmups prepare your voice for the vocal event that is singing. When you sing something challenging in a performance without adequately warming up, you run the risk of damaging your voice and really hurting yourself.

When should you warm up?
Ideally, you should warm up every day. And if you’re not already, you should start slow. Do some simple exercises for 20 minutes every morning. Don’t try to belt out that high C just yet — you’ll need to work yourself up to that.

Remember, warmups help grow and unlock the skills that you already have. If you don’t have a regular warmup routine, it’s wise to consult a voice teacher and build one together so that you approach the exercises correctly.

These exercises should also be done the day of any strenuous vocal activity. If you have a show in the evening, warm up in the morning, then again an hour or so before the show. If you’re a public speaker, you’ll want to warm up ahead of your presentation as well.

Choose your favorite warmups and then make sure you’re practicing correctly.
If you’re familiar with vocal warmups, this will serve as a great reminder of what you already know. If you’ve never warmed up a day in your life, I highly recommend getting in touch with a teacher to properly lead you through your exercises.

Relax.
Relaaaax. Inhale, exhale. Good, healthful singing starts from a relaxed body. Do what you need to do to loosen yourself up — within reason, of course!

Some singers like to start their day with a hot shower and a lukewarm mug of licorice root tea. Feel all your tension melting away and your muscles becoming looser.

Practice proper breathing.
Proper breathing for singing is the way we breathe when we lay down. You want to imagine your chest is filling with air from the bottom of your lungs, up. Imagine a glass filling with water; the water fills the bottom first, then rises to the top.

To exhale, reverse it — empty your lungs from the top down. It will feel a bit unnatural at first, but you’ll become accustomed to breathing this way. This is how you breathe deeply.

Release tension in your neck.
The quickest way to damage your voice is to sing with tension. When you’re singing any note, you want to make sure your neck looks soft and relaxed. Sing in front of a mirror and watch your neck. Does it tense up? Can you see veins and ligaments protruding out at certain notes? Be mindful of where you’re feeling tension.

Your neck should look the same when you’re singing as it does when you’re not singing. This is true for softly sung songs as well as big belters. Although, if you’re screaming to heavy metal every night, I’m not sure there’s much you can do about those veins.

Stand up straight.
There’s a correct way to stand when singing. Straight! Don’t allow your shoulders to hunch. Plant your feet firmly on the ground, shoulder-width apart.

Now, imagine there’s a string that winds all along your spine and comes out the top of your head. Imagine yourself pulling that string and straightening out your spine, your neck, and lastly, your head. Your chin should not dip or rise, but be level with the floor. You’re ready to sing!

Pace yourself, and enjoy your newly warmed-up voice.​
Vocal warmups should be challenging the same way that going to the gym is challenging. You should leave feeling better than when you came. One crucial difference, though, is that vocal warmups should not leave you feeling sore. A good exercise will have you feeling ready to sing anything!

For true music lovers, the piano is the most versitle of all instruments. It is suggested that the piano should be the first instrument taught. The piano gives such rich sounds with each key that is pressed, to not just the person playing, but also all who listen to it.

The piano is one of the best instrument all around due to many reasons. For one, it is the only instrument that can play all 88 notes on the musical scale. The notes played can be higher and lower than all other instruments.

The piano is basically the base foundation for all other musical instruments. The piano is considered a string instrument, percussion instrument as well as the keyboard itself. As a person learns to play the piano, they are learning all four harmonic portions of music. The piano also is able to play both clef and treble, while the majority of other instruments only play one. After being taught to play the piano, nearly all people claim that all other instruments tend to be easier to learn. People who learn to play the piano, tend to have more coordination from head to hands and toes.

When a key is pressed on a piano, there is instant sound. Many other instruments, you need to spend days or longer learning to make a musical note come out of the instrument. Pianos allow the person to play multiple notes at a time, which helps to make the piano the best instrument by far to learn and play.

When teaching musical theory, teachers tend to use the piano keyboard to play chords and also explain many other theories in music. The keyboard allows the player to be able to ‘see’ the music he or she intends to play and analyze.

Ultimately, keyboards are not only the easiest to learn, they are the most versatile instrument. They can play any type or class of music you desire. Learning to play a piano first, will enable you to master the concept of music on other instruments too. The piano also will impress a far larger crowd with the various types of music that can be played on it. Reggae to hip hop and rock and roll to jazz. The piano can create simple tunes and still play complex music.

A piano will look phenomenal in a huge concert hall or sitting in the middle of a classroom; and it fits very nice into your home. The piano in a home makes for fun musical nights to be enjoyed with family and friends. 

Did you also know that many of the famous musical artists have also learned to play the piano, many before the current instruments they play?

We believe that this makes the piano not only the best instrument, but also the one instrument anyone who wants to play another instrument, should learn first.  At Los Angeles Music Teachers, we teach all ages ready to learn.

If you're interested in taking lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-music-lessons-burbank-ca.html​

The Advantage and Disadvantages between Learning on an Electric and Acoustic Guitar
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When it was first launched, all acoustic guitars could project sound acoustically. No amplification was necessary from outside. In fact, they were not designed to take outside amplifications. However, modern acoustic guitars are designed otherwise. They can take amplifications from outside.

Advantages of learning with an acoustic guitar
•    Acoustic guitars generally have calm, nice and pleasant tones so no matter how bad you are, the tone projected from your guitar will not be so bad.

•    It is more difficult to play an acoustic guitar than an electric guitar so if you learn with the former, playing the latter will be a breeze. This can be likened to learning how to drive. Acoustic guitars are like cars with manual transmission while electric guitars can be likened to cars with automatic transmission. Since manual cars are harder to drive, if you learn with them, driving an automatic car will just be as easy as ABC.

•    Acoustic guitars do not require amplifiers and additional cables so it saves you some cost.

Disadvantages of learning with an acoustic guitar
•    One of the things that make acoustic guitars more difficult to play is its higher gauge strings which makes it harder for users to hold barre chords. Electric guitars offer better gauge strings.

•    The higher gauge strings on acoustic guitars are more likely to produce buzzing sound so they require better skills.

•    Acoustic guitars usually have wider fretboards and these are more difficult for beginners to handle. Besides, they are more fragile than electric guitars.

•    Beginners usually find it difficult to play the heavy strings of acoustic guitars.

Electric Guitar
Unlike acoustic guitars, electric guitars make use of electric amplification to produce sounds. They pick up string vibrations and convert them to electric signals which are sent to the amplifier.

Advantages of learning on an electric guitar
•    They have headphone input for you to practice without disturbing people around with noise.

•    It is easier to hold barre chords on electric guitars because they have softer strings.

•    Since the pickups and amplifier project all the sound, the strings are easier to learn.

•    Electric guitars have lighter gauges, thinner necks, and smaller bodies, so they are not only easier to carry around but they are also easier to play than their acoustic counterparts.

Disadvantages of learning on an electric guitar
•    Being able to play an electric guitar does not mean you can automatically play an acoustic guitar.

•    Being able to find a good tone is more difficult on an electric guitar.

•    An electric guitar requires an amplifier and that is an additional cost.

Conclusively, whether you learn with an acoustic guitar or an electric one, you will need several years of practice and dedication to be a master of the game. Even the best guitarists around the world still continue to learn. Lastly, it is also necessary to bear in mind that newer guitars will still be produced and they will have better features than older and existing ones so you need to be abreast of the new guitars that are coming into the market.

If you're interested in taking lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-guitar-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​

If you have ever been thinking about taking voice lessons in person or online, but you just aren’t sure, here's a few FAC's to answer some things that you might be wondering about. A lot of people like to sing in a choir, in the car, or even in the shower. But is taking voice lessons right for you? The thought seems a little scary – particularly if you’re not used to singing in front of others, let alone a trained, professional instructor! Here is some information that can help you to decide if taking voice lessons is the right thing for you.

1. When should I start voice lessons?

“The sooner the better!” If we start with proper technique at a young age, we can get a solid foundation of healthy singing that will last a lifetime. It's best for getting a firm foundation, understanding how important breathing and understanding how to use your vocal cords without straining them.  At a very young age, we learn by copying! Don’t you remember a time when you copy the singers on the radio just because you like a particular song? As a matter of fact, vocal cords are like muscles, we train them to have muscle memory. Just as we train the greatest athletes at a young age, we can do the same with singers. As the voice is developing, we can start the same initial training that athletes do, but for the voice which can protect you from injuries to your vocal cords. 

2. Know your goals

The first thing you need to ask yourself is: what are my goals? Establishing your goals with singing is what will help you and your voice teacher set a path for your lessons. If your goals include sight reading better for your community choir, great. If they include one day singing on the Broadway stage, great. Knowing your goals with singing will help you to stay motivated and moving forward.

Your goals should be realistic and achievable though. Voice lessons will improve the sound that you already have, but they aren’t going to guarantee you a fame-worthy singing voice. Everyone can learn to sing better, and a voice teacher can help you learn how to use your voice to the best of its ability. If the goal is to access your full potential as singers with an emphasis on easy and natural sounding tone, you’re in the right direction.

3. What to expect from taking voice lessons online?

Voice lessons are about more than just singing. Vocal training engages the entire body and you will be instructed on correct posture, breathing and vowel shaping. Good singing lessons involve:

• Continuous diagnosis by your teacher on your personal vocal needs
• Exercises and repertoire/books selected according to the cause and effect principle to direct the lesson to what you need in your voice
• Applying those techniques to a song of your choice

Vocal changes take time and effort. One or two voice lessons will not be enough time for a teacher to have a real impact on how you sing. Expect to give it a few months before you hear changes. The more you pay attention to the adjustments your teacher suggests, the faster you will get results. Keep in mind that any adjustments to vocal technique are most effective when you apply them every time you sing – with the radio, in the shower, in choir class, and anywhere in between.

4. How long should each lesson be?

Basically, singing lessons should be as long and as frequent as you can afford them in term of time and finances! However, we’re not suggesting you should have a singing lesson every day – that’s a bit much! But a lesson at least once a week is beneficial for 99% of our students.

Voice lessons are usually broken into 30, 45, and 60-minute sessions. It would be best to start with 30 minutes and then discuss with the teacher how and if you would benefit from trying a longer lesson.

Normally we like to see our adult students for a 60 minute lesson every week so we can work in-depth on their voice and take a look at a song at the same time. This gives us as the teacher, and you as the student, an idea of how well you’re practicing and progressing.

But if 60 minutes a week is not financially viable for you, it’s better to have a 30 minute lesson every week. When you’re training your voice, frequency is much better than duration – you don’t want to form any unhealthy or bad habits! Some people take voice lessons just because they find it fun and consider it a hobby! In that case, we recommend going with whatever feels right to you, either 30 minutes or an hour. There really isn’t a right or wrong. There is plenty you can learn in either time frame.

Young kids don’t have as much vocal stamina, so 30 minutes at a time is best until around age 10. If your child is under 10, but you’d like them to have more lesson time, try two 30-minute lessons a week on different days.

5. How much will it cost and is it worth it?

Here at Los Angeles Music Teachers the Prices are all the same. For online or in person lessons its $35 for 30 minutes, $45 for 45 minutes, and $60 for 1 hour lessons. If we are traveling to your house then we will be adding a $10 Traveling fee. Whatever the price is, you must remember it is an investment! You are investing in learning a useful skill that can elevate you life in many ways. And that's something that is priceless!

If you're interested in taking lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-voice-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​

The Grand Staff
​This is what is known as the grand staff. It includes the treble clef and bass clef. Pianists read from the grand staff.

Note that the two notes shown above are the exact same pitch. Each is called "middle C."


Clefs in Relation to Middle C
Middle C is the note exactly between the bass and treble clefs, as noted in the image above. It is known by many other names, but for these tutorials I will be calling it "middle C". Middle C is located in a different spot for each clef, but it remains the exact same pitch. To show how each clef is related, here are images of each clef with middle C. Yes, this means that the clefs overlap each other.
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Treble Clef
The treble clef is also known as the "G clef." The easiest way to remember this is seeing that the clef circles the note G (second line from the bottom).

Bass Clef
This clef is also known as the "F clef." One way to remember this is that the line between the two dots is F (second line from the top).

The tenor and alto clefs are referred to as the "C clefs." Notice that middle C is located at the middle line of each of those clefs.

Why all of the clefs?

Each instrument has a range of notes that it can play. If every instrument read from the treble clef, for example, there would be a lot of ledger lines for lower instruments, which would make the music very difficult to read. Different clefs are assigned to different instruments based on the notes each instrument is able to play.

Drum Lesson on Standard 8th Note Groove​
No drum beat is more iconic or important to learn than the standard 8th note groove.

In fact, it provides the basic foundation for most of the music that we listen to.
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You’ll have heard it countless times in pop, rock, blues, metal and a variety of other musical styles.

In a standard bar of popular music, we have 4 beats in each measure of time in music. That’s why our first job as drummers is to count the band in when starting a song. We've all heard the drummer count the band in "Ready .... 1 ...2... 3 ...4"   That's because music is written in one and two bar phrases. 

On beats 1 and 3, you play the low-pitched bass drum. On beats 2 and 4, you play the high-pitched snare drum.

Keeping great time is your most important job as a drummer, and the bass and snare are the key instruments that will make you into a first-class timekeeper.

Great drummers move from bass to snare in the same way that a pendulum moves from side to side.

This creates a feeling of motion that encourages listeners to dance, rock out, and get lost in the music!

Don’t forget the hi-hats.

​The final part of this groove is the 8th notes which drummers typically play on the hi-hat cymbal.

You can think of these 8th notes as the essential glue that holds the groove together.
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Drummers play the hi-hat on all 4 beats as well as the spaces in-between.

So how does that work?
If you were to count the hi-hats out loud, you would count them as “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”. This gives you 8 notes in total, hence why this known as the standard 8th note groove.