Music Lessons in Burbank CA | Los Angeles Music Teachers

If you're interested in taking Singing lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, we have some of the  best Voice lessons in Los Angeles. Our Vocal instructors are picked by interviewing hundreds of teachers and we have really high standards on both their teaching ability as well as their personality. If you'd like to talk to one of our instructors or set up a first lesson we have a guarantee that if you don't absolutely love your first lesson you don't have to pay for it. 

Vocal Range

I’m sure we’re all familiar with words like bass, tenor, alto and soprano, but how do we actually find out our voice type when we start singing?

Discovering our voice type is in fact a really simple exercise, and certainly one which is worth spending a bit of time on as a beginner.

Knowing and understanding vocal range gives us an important guide on the notes and songs we are able to sing safely and effectively. It's important to remember that vocal range really isn’t related to singing ability: many experienced singers can have a narrow vocal range, and are still able to produce a beautiful, rich sound.

​As vocal range is mainly determined by the shape and structure of each individual's vocal folds, it's difficult to train to reach notes outside our range. However, we can strengthen the notes at the edge of our range, and much of vocal training focuses on improving the quality of the notes at the top and bottom of our register, giving us a wider range to sing with a clear and natural sound.

Here are some simple steps for finding your vocal range and voice type:

1. Warm up
Before doing any type of singing, it’s vitally important to do a vocal warm up, particularly when singing near the edges of our vocal range. This is in order to avoid straining or damaging the voice. Simple techniques to warm up the vocal choirs include: humming scales, sirening, and singing scales using different vowel sounds.

2. Find your lowest note
Using a piano, find Middle C (also known as C4) and sing along as you play the note. Travel down the white keys to the lower notes and sing along to each note until you reach your lowest note. Any note within the octave of Middle C is designated a number 4, any note in the octave below is designated a number 3, and so on.  Your lowest note will be the last note you can sing comfortably and sustain without croaking or breathing the note. Write down the note (for example G3). Once you’re sure you’ve found your lowest note, don’t attempt to try singing any lower as this might strain your voice.

3. Find your highest note
Much like finding your lowest note, travel up the piano from Middle C until you find the highest note in your normal voice and write the note down. Continue up the scale in your falsetto voice until you find the last note you can sing and sustain comfortably and again write the note down - this note it is the top of your vocal range. It’s very important not to push your voice and attempt to sing past this note.

4. Compare your lowest and highest note
Once you know your lowest and highest note, check these against the voice types below:-
-
Soprano: C4 – C6
Mezzo Soprano: A3 – A5
Alto: F3 – F5
Tenor: C3 – C5
Baritone: G2 – G4
Bass: E2 – E5

You've now found your vocal range and voice type. However, it’s important to bear in mind that many singers within the categories above can often sing higher or lower than the ranges displayed, so don't worry if your range doesn't match exactly. The top and bottom note are not the only things to determine voice type: factors such as tessitura (the most comfortable part of the range to sing) and timbre (texture and quality of the voice) also inform voices types. As you gain more experience as a singer you will develop a better awareness of the parts you are able to sing most comfortably comfortably and naturally.

If you're interested in taking singing 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.
​

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.

We're going to cover one of the first parts of learning how to play lead guitar. I'm going to show you the 5 essential guitar scales. These scales are the ones you'll find yourself using the most in your lead guitar playing. For all of these scales, we are going to be using A as our tonal center.

The Major Scale
The major scale is a 7 note scale made up of a pattern of whole-steps and half-steps. When we look at our fretboard a whole-step is 2 frets, and a half-step is 1 fret.

Every professional guitarist starts a session the same way: by warming up.

Whether you’re playing a gig or recital, planning a monstrous guitar practice session, or preparing to impress your friends at home with your killer chops, a precursory limbering up session is mandatory. A thorough warm-up will help bring your playing to peak level and prevent hand injuries.

Here are 11 ways to get your hands and fingers ready for action, both off and on the guitar.

GET 'EM HOT
Here’s an excellent way to get the blood circulating in your fingers and hands and make everything nice and loose.

Simply head to the nearest sink and crank up the hot water. It doesn’t have to be that hot—you don’t want to scald yourself—but it should be warm enough to get your hands loose.
​
While running your hands under the water, stretch out your fingers. Don’t apply any external pressure to your hands or fingers; simply stretch them out just as you do when you’re playing.
Now before “prune hands” take effect, let’s start working on the warm-up exercises.

FOUR-FINGER EXERCISES
The four examples that follow are designed to loosen up all four of your fret-hand fingers as well as your picking hand.
Before you get started with the specifics of each example, there are a couple of general rules to follow for all the exercises here.
​
First, always start at a slow tempo to ensure that you’re playing the music correctly, and then gradually increase your tempo as you progress. Remember: it’s always better to play something slowly and correctly rather than quickly and sloppily.
Second, alternate picking (down-up-down-up, etc.) is essential for all of the single-note exercises in this workout. This technique may seem difficult at first, but you’ll develop much more speed and accuracy in the long run.

FIGURE 1 is a relatively simple starter—a pseudo-chromatic line in 5th position. We’ll use this example as our “base” pattern for the three examples that follow. Pay strict attention to the fingering, making sure to use all four fret-hand fingers (including the pinkie) for each string grouping. Once you’ve got this base pattern down, move on to its more extensive—and more challenging—offshoots.
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2 is a “double-back” pattern reminiscent of a Charlie Parker–style bebop line. Notice how it develops independence between your first two (index and middle) fingers and your last two (ring and pinkie) fingers. To extend the exercises in FIGURE 1 or FIGURE 2, simply shift the entire pattern down one half step (one fret) at a time.
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3 kicks things up another notch by applying the original base pattern to sequential strings (E A D G). (From a harmonic standpoint, this one probably won’t win any Prettiest Ballad awards, but remember that the goal here is to warm up your hands and fingers.)
FIGURE 3

Once you’ve completed the initial four notes, simply invert the pattern, playing in a descending fashion. This completes the motif. To get the fullest impact possible, try this one on all three sets of these four adjacent strings.

FIGURE 4 adds notes between those that compose the base pattern. An octave is added between the first two notes, a minor 6th between the second two. This example is a great dexterity builder and, again, you should move it up and down the fretboard.
FIGURE 4

Feeling loose yet?

CHORDAL WARM-UPS
Have you ever seen a show in which the lead guitarist does nothing but solo? Me neither. So obviously at some point you’ve got to be a rhythm guitarist. Since rhythm playing varies so from genre to genre, I’ve included a nice cross-section of different chord voicing that will get both of your hands active. Even if you don’t jive with the style of a certain exercise here, try it anyway. It may open some new paths in your musical evolution.

FIGURE 5 is a descending open-chord sequence in the key of C, shown here as an arpeggiated exercise (though strumming your way through is also a viable option). For the sake of variety, try transposing this chord sequence to other keys as well. For instance, this same chord sequence in the key of G major would be G–D/F#–Em–D–C–D–G.
FIGURE 5

FIGURE 6 is a great power-chord workout that doubles as a dandy barre-chord workout. Try it with the power chords first, and then extend them to full barre chords simply by adding the notes in parentheses.
FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7—a James Brown–style funk rhythm using E9 and E13 chord shapes—is a great workout for your pick hand. Work through the rhythm slowly until you perfect it, and then gradually bump up your tempo. For some tonal variety, try moving the exercise to different areas of the fretboard. For instance, if you wish to play this as a typical blues sequence, such as a I–IV–V progression, you can play the IV chord—in this case, A9—with the root on the 12th fret. The V chord, B9, is located on the 14th (or 2nd) fret.
FIGURE 7

STRING SKIPPERS
Now that your pick hand is moving, let’s kick it into high gear, this time with two devilish string-skipping exercises, each written here as a three-notes-per-string pattern in A major (A B C# D E F# G#).

FIGURE 8 is simple enough in nature. Start on the low E string with the first three notes of the scale and then skip to the D string for the next three notes. At that point, backtrack to the A string, which you skipped, and continue the pattern in the same fashion. Use alternate picking throughout, even when skipping strings. That is, start by picking the first three notes (on the low E string) in a down-up-down sequence, and then pick the first three notes on the D string in an up-down-up sequence. (Repeat this picking pattern for the skip from the A string to the G string and so forth.) Taking this approach makes for a challenging sequence, but you’ll be rewarded in the long run.
FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9 is a pivot-picking, or pedal-tone, exercise. The concept here is to return to the root of the scale between the other scale tones. This technique is used often in classical music, both in ascending and descending fashions. Each of these string-skipping figures is pattern based, so try using various scales or modes to maximize your warm-up.
FIGURE 9

THE FINAL STRETCH
FIGURE 10 uses some stacked power chords (or sus2 chords) to great effect. These chord shapes are a staple of quite a few rock classics. Thumb placement is key here. For instance, since the first chord covers a four-fret distance (the 5th fret to the 9th fret), your thumb should be centered on the back of the neck at the 7th fret. This allows you to reach back to the 5th fret and forward to the 9th without shifting your hand position.
FIGURE 10

The same can be said for FIGURE 11, which covers a whopping five-fret span. This exercise is based in A minor, and as a bonus it makes for a pretty crazy soloing line if you so choose.
FIGURE 11

That concludes our warm-up exercises. Note that we aren’t suggesting you should perform each of these guitar exercises before you play, but working through at least two or three will benefit your playing, whether you’re hitting the stage, the studio or the rehearsal room.

f you're interested in taking Guitar lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, we have some of the  best Guitar lessons in Los Angeles. Our guitar instructors are picked by interviewing hundreds of guitar instructors and we have really high standards on both their teaching ability as well as their personality. If you'd like to talk to one of our instructors or set up a first lesson we have a guarantee that if you don't absolutely love your first lesson you don't have to pay for it. Please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-guitar-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​

Why Singers Should Take Piano Or Guitar Lessons In Person And Online

Singers, you are musicians. Often times we are lost in the solo world of performance and emotive expression through sound, which is awesome. But we are complete musicians and expected to be, and definitely respected much more so, when we act as such.

Solo performers are at somewhat a disadvantage when they show up at rehearsals with other kinds of musicians, a band, an orchestra, back up singers, or a pianist. We need to keep time so that people can play with us. We need to be able to follow a conductor during a staged performance. We need to be able to count.

And that is where piano or guitar lessons will do you some good. Learning to really read music, for real; rests, quarter notes, time signatures, key signatures, key changes, dynamics, tempo markings, minor, major, harmony, theory and songwriting etc...

And number one, being able to learn your part spot on, by yourself correctly, even when it is hard.

May we suggest you sign up for some piano or guitar lessons? We have been teaching and working in the profession for over 20 years. 

We love to teach the piano and guitar at Los Angeles Music Teachers with a passion because it works a different part of your brain than a voice lesson. It always feels like completing a complicated math test after a good lesson and that is great for us. I am sure our piano/guitar students feel that way as well.

Also, what is fantastic about piano and guitar is that you can really track your improvement by completing levels of music so you know you are getting better.

Singing is more complicated. You have to be born with a certain amount of talent beyond your control. Lessons are important and help so much in singing, but it is different than piano playing. (You do need a certain amount of natural talent to be a concert pianist/guitarist of course- I am not referring to that).

So consider putting learning the piano/guitar on your list of things to do to further your singing level. We can not tell you as a singer how many times it came in handy for me to be able to pluck out my parts, or play the harmonies with my part so we could practice singing against them. Piano/guitar especially helped me out of college because we are able to teach voice lessons.

As much as every budding violinist would love to pick up their instrument and begin playing beautiful music, the work required to get there is much more mudane. Every breathtaking performance requires strategic and focused warm up exercises beforehand. These routines help develop and maintain your basic violin skills as well as gear for more advanced techniques too. 

For beginners, it may be difficult to know even where to start; after all, everything seems to need work. However, using the beginning of each practice session for a warm up will optimize each days result and pave the way for strong playing for months and years to come. 

Although warm up excursuses will vary from person to person based on the advice of your violin teacher, there are certain exercises that can benefit everyone. Here are five beginner violin tips that will help you grasp the fundamentals.

1. Long Open Strings

Playing long open strings does several things: it lets your practice consistent intonation from each stroke, it allows you to become familiar with your bows weight and speed across the strings and lastly, it helps ensure that your bow remains in the proper location on the strings in relation to the bridge. Look into a mirror and place the bow on the string in the proper point and pull the bow across the string, listening for a clear, clean and consistent note. As you play, continually check in the mirror for your bows contact point. Repeat at least five up and down bows before moving on to the next string.

2. Finger Placement

Correct finger placement is essential for playing the right notes on the violin, and to learn this correctly, you must practice! One of the tried and true beginner violin tips is to play simple scales in first position. This trains your finger to understand where they belong on the fingerboard in relation to other fingers, and it trains your ear to hear each note as it should be played. To practice, pick any scale, and play each note slowly, separately and precisely. Always play with a tuner so that you can tweak your fingers placement for a proper intonation. 

3. Fourth Finger Practice

Placing your fourth finger on a string creates the same note as the subsequent higher open string. Some beginner violinists use the open string to play the note because it is much easier and you know that the note will be correct. However, as you advance, there will be times where you cannot access the open string to play the note, or it is much less efficient to do so. Therefore, you need to strengthen your pinky finger! Start by playing the open string, then mimic the note using your pinky on the lower string about five times for each string. Listen carefully - does the fourth finger note match that of the open string? Don’t get discouraged if its difficult to even stretch your pinky at first - it will take time for it to gain strength and flexibility

4. Slurs

A slur allows you to play two or more notes in a single bow stroke. To do this, start by placing the end of your bow close to the frog on the string. As you slowly but steadily bring your bow across the strings, place and then remove your first finger in the proper place while keeping your bow straight. Also, make sure that you place your finger on and off the strings at regular intervals - using a metronome will help. Start with two notes per stroke.

5. String Crossing

The final of the beginner violin tips is the ability to make a clean change from string to string while playing. Keep your elbow at a right angle to form a square - include the bow and trace an imaginary line from your shoulder to prove where the bow hair touches the string. Rock the bow to each string while practicing your long bow strokes. Make sure that your arm and bow remains in the same plane and use the natural weight of your arm on each string.

Because these warm up exercises set the tone for your practice session and for your learning overall, always perform them with focus and intent. They don’t need to take long, a dedicated five or 10 minutes should be fine. If you are unsure of what to practice or how to practice, ask your violin instructor for some violin tips - they have the knowledge and experience to guide you in the right direction

If you're interested in taking Violin lessons on Zoom or In Person in Burbank, Glendale or North Hollywood, we have some of the  best Violin lessons in Los Angeles. Our violin instructors are picked by interviewing hundreds of violin instructors and we have really high standards on both their teaching ability as well as their personality. If you'd like to talk to one of our instructors or set up a first lesson we have a guarantee that if you don't absolutely love your first lesson you don't have to pay for it. Please contact us at (818)902-1233 or on our website at https://www.losangelesmusicteachers.com/online-violin-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. 
​
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!

If you're interested in taking drum 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-violin-lessons-in-burbank-ca.html​