Author: samstokes

Aug 15

Practice at your own pace with exercises

by in Uncategorized

Being told to practice your scales can seem like the dentist telling you to floss… We think there’s a better way.

Introducing exercises for Melodics, repeatable drills that focus on developing muscle memory and orientation to musical patterns such as modes, scales and intervals. Exercises are a zen-like contrast to our error focussed and feedback driven lesson experience. One that instead rewards patience, taking your time and repetition.

You can’t fail!

Exercises are rep based, and help you to focus on what’s right – not what you’re getting wrong. There’s no scoring and zero focus on errors. It’s all about positive reinforcement through rep based practice.

Play at your own pace with full control over the tempo and speed of your practice. Start it slow to learn the correct fingering and get comfortable. Then speed it up to see how fast you can play. Just hit those reps!

Built into courses

Exercises are built into courses, and develop your muscle memory and familiarity with scales, modes and intervals used in the lessons you’ll be trying to pass. Discover the underlying musical concepts of songs and lessons through playable exercises.

The idea is to keep practicing the exercise until you feel confident and ready for the next lesson in the course. The best way to get past those progress plateaus!

Learn the theory behind what you’re playing

Exercises also relate to the wider world of written music. You may notice that the design hints at the bass and treble clef of piano sheet music. This is designed to sub-consciously develop your spatial recognition of key interval structures and make it easier for you to transfer your learning between different contexts.

Key Features

  1. Full control over the tempo and speed. You can play at your own pace with no accompaniment, the metronome or a choice of different backing drum tracks.
  2. Orientation with no rush. Get the fingering right and get comfortable.
  3. Exercises dig deeper into the wider world of music education through a recognisable piano sheet music like display.
  4. Rep based, not error focussed. See how many reps you’ve done, and how many you need to do to move on to your next lesson.

Try out exercises today!

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Aug 10

Structure your learning with Melodics courses

by in Uncategorized

You might want to set aside more practice time this week. We’ve made some improvements to courses, and there’s loads of fresh material to fuel your next session. From courses on learning ornamentation and arpeggios for keyboard, to new drums courses on sub-divisions and finding the funk – there’s plenty to dig into!

We’ve updated the learning screen in Melodics, and you’ll now see that courses look a little different. We’ve had plenty of feedback since we’ve released Melodics and we know that these updates will make your practice sessions much smoother.

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Check out these new courses you might have missed

Building Arpeggios – In today’s musical landscape, it’s pretty hard to listen to anything without coming across arpeggios. Whether you’re into funk, classical music, or witch house, arpeggios serve as a key part of arranging, producing, and composing. Arpeggios are a crucial technique for arranging, producing, and composing. But what are they exactly, and how can you play them?

Ornaments – In performing, ornamentation can help you add detail, expression, and new layers of creativity to your melodic structures. In this course, we’ll be taking a look at ornaments, and not the kind you see around the holidays! We’ll practice adding ornamentation so that you’ll feel comfortable trying it out in your own music!

Subdivisons by Push4Life – Push4Life presents ‘Subdivisions’, a series of lessons that focus on performing changes in subdivisions from 8th notes right through to 16th note triplets. Explore how changes in subdivision can create dramatic, engaging arrangements.

Ain’t it Funky – Expand on a basic Funk beat with a series of variations in the style of Clyde Stubblefield. The variations will focus on kick, snare, open hi-hat placements and tom fills. Structure what you’ve learned into a song format to complete the course.

And if you’re interested to know what’s on the release radar. Here’s a sneak peak at some forthcoming courses!

  • Music Theory – Explore and demystify some of the fundamental concepts and terminology of music theory through play.
  • Hand Independence – Develop your ability to perform with both hands at the same time through these simple exercises and challenging lessons.
  • Extending Arpeggios – Develop your performance and understanding of arpeggios across a further range of musical styles.
  • Ultimate Arpeggios – Challenge yourself with this collection of more advanced arpeggio lessons.
  • Cinematic Chords – Chords can help shape emotion and feelings for an audience. Learn how to perform basic chord structures that achieve this in film scores.
  • On the Go – Why wait to create? Explore how you can perform music with extreme limitations. These lessons are all playable with just your computer keyboard.

Ready to jump back into Melodics? Try out a course now.

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Aug 08

A fresh face to learning in Melodics

by in Melodics, Uncategorized

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We’ve made a few updates to the learning and courses section in Melodics based on your feedback. Here’s a quick guide to what’s changed and how to find your way around your next practice session.

  1. Choose between lessons or courses – play lessons one by one, or try our guided courses which introduce different musical concepts and themes within a series of lessons.
  2. Favourite and recently played lessons.
  3. Browse by – Sort and filter our lesson content to help you find what to play next. Sort by Artist, Free, Genre, Grade, Latest & Tags (skills and techniques).
  4. Search for a specific lesson.
  5. Preview – listen to a lessons before you start.
  6. More info – check out the full details of what you’re about to learn in this lesson.

Take a look and start practicing.

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Jun 20

Ain’t it funky! Learn the fundamentals of funk drumming.

by in New Lesson Tuesdays

Written by Sigrid Yiakmis

‘Ain’t it funky?’ James Brown reckons, over the top of Clyde Stubblefield’s improvised pattern on the 1970 track ‘Funky Drummer’. And he’s right, it’s funky. So funky that this uncredited solo by Stubblefield went on to become a ubiquitous drum pattern in recorded music and what’s arguably hip-hop’s most definitive drum sample. A quick search of ‘Funky Drummer’ on whosampled.com returns a humble 1,441 results.

Stubblefield is untrained and self-taught. His early influences were the rhythms of industry in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his dad worked in a steel mill. He put patterns to the sounds of his environment; train tracks, factories, washing machines. In his 1999 instructional DVD ‘Soul of the Funky Drummers’ Clyde acknowledges he can’t read music. If he felt it, he played it, and this ethos cemented his work with James Brown as the gold standard of funk drumming.

In this course ‘Ain’t It Funky’ we have taken aspects of Clyde’s style, those beats that feel ad-libbed and environmental – ghost notes, off-beat open hats, sly swung 16th notes – and created seven lessons that will leave you with a foundation for funk drumming. Each lesson we’ll encourage you to adapt to your own environment by introducing a small variation that significantly shifts the feel of the groove. To complete the course, you’ll bring those variations together and play them out in a complete song. If you can already hold down a basic rock beat then this course is for you. Once you’re confident with funk drums, you can pretty much add the hip-hop beat to your résumé, too.

Here’s how you’ll progress through the course:

  1. The first lesson in the course, The Main Groove, lays out the bare bones of the song. You’re introduced to the snare, hat & kick patterns that will help anchor you during your practice.
  2. In Hats Off you’ll get accustomed to shifting the open-hat.
  3. Move Your Feet introduces a kick variation that tightens up the beat.
  4. Do You Believe In Ghost Notes? You will after this 4th lesson. Add an off-beat snare to the pattern that will complement the kick.
  5. Song Structure combines the above variations into a structured order that will make up the bars of the final song you’ve been learning throughout the course.
  6. OK, Give The Drummer Some. Play the entire song for the final lesson.

Congrats, you’re on your way to becoming a funky drummer 🥁


Course details:

Ain’t It Funky

Expand on a basic Funk beat with a series of variations in the style of Clyde Stubblefield. The variations will focus on kick, snare, open hi-hat placements and tom fills. Structure what you’ve learned into a song format to complete the course.
Open course in Melodics

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May 03

Stop practicing your mistakes

by in Fundamentals

Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.

Research shows repeating mistakes by just playing through without addressing problems can be just as bad as learning it wrong in the first place.

It’s counterproductive. Instead, try slowing your practice down, getting the notes right and nailing the tricky sections. It may seem fun to bash through pieces until you finally get it right, but if you’re not careful this can reinforce the incorrect neural pathways in your brain.

It’s important to take the time to master the details and then ramp up the speed. Practice Mode in Melodics is great for this, and you can use the Auto BPM feature to automatically increase the tempo as you get better. Repeating parts slowly to get the tough sections right will pay off over time.

Here are useful practice tips to get the most out of your Melodics time:

Create a quiet practice space, away from distractions.

This is the same thinking as not having a TV in your bedroom if you want to sleep better. Keeping your musical space set up specifically for practice can help reinforce the ritual and prepare you mentally for your session.

Begin with the end in mind.

Have a goal for your practice. What do you need to focus on today?

Practice smarter, not longer.

Map out your practice sessions just like a workout. Warm up with some easier lessons, or maybe go back and try perfect something you passed last week? You might then want to go and work on something specific like hand / finger independence or syncopation, before finally ending your session playing one of your favourite lessons.

Don’t always start at the beginning.

There’s nothing more frustrating than having to play through a piece you’ve nailed only to keep making a mistake halfway through. Rather than start at the beginning each time, work on that tricky part until you’ve nailed it – then try again.

Practice away from your instrument.

Visualisation can be really helpful to re-inforce what you’ve learned during practice. Just like in golf… Be the ball!

Let us know some of your favourite practice tips below!

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May 01

Talent is practice in disguise

by in Fundamentals

 

How often have you heard someone say, “I don’t have a musical bone in my body”? The way you think about your own talent has a powerful impact on motivation and learning. Here’s why learning to adapt a growth mindset to practice can boost your progress hugely – and how Melodics can help.

As Jonathan Harnum states in his book, The Practice of Practice, “Talent is practice in disguise”. We often think of ourselves as having a well defined set of talents, based on our upbringing, our DNA, or some otherworldly gift – bestowed on us from the musical gods. The reality is that the way we think about this actually affects how we can learn new skills and our motivation to do so.

Research by Carol Dweck in 1986, discovered that there are two kinds of intelligence, a fixed belief in your own talents, and the belief that these can change and grow. When you think of your own skills and talents as limited, you’re instantly building a barrier to learning and you’ll tend to take on tasks in practice that you’re more easily able to achieve rather than try something harder, gaining new knowledge through practice. The effect on motivation from having a fixed mindset to learning is huge. It’s one of the reasons why so many people want to learn instruments but never end up trying, or start but don’t follow through.

Have a think about these statements, and how you can reframe them within a growth, rather than a fixed mindset.

I’m afraid to look stupid. I hate failing.

Try to think of failure as something to help you progress. It’s just a reminder to work harder, and to approach the same problem from a different angle. A little bit of practice each day is the way to get better. Remember the Melodics 5 minute daily practice goal.

Remember, you’re not demonstrating your skills to yourself, you’re learning. Praise your effort, not your results.

I only like to play what I can play.

Seek out challenges. Try a lesson at a higher grade, but slow it down using Practice Mode. Focus on getting it right, rather than playing at full tempo. This is deep practice and the best way to progress. Read more on that here.

Persistence in the face of failure is what separates musicians from everyone else. When you make a mistake, you should understand it and work out the best approach to fixing it.

Finally… Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s just music. Have fun!

For further reading on this topic, check out “The Practice of Practice” by Jonathan Harnum.

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Feb 20

Level up! Win a Novation Launchkey 61 keyboard

by in Melodics

What better way to celebrate your progress on keys than winning a brand new keyboard from our friends at Novation.

How does it work? It’s simple:

  1. Play our keys lesson of the month, Reach Out (Grade 3)
  2. Take a photo or video of your setup while you’re giving it a go. 
  3. Post your photo or video on Instagram and tag @MelodicsHQ @WeAreNovation and add #MelodicsLevelUp
  4. You’re in the draw.

What are you waiting for? 

Competition ends in two weeks so get playing! 😎

Prize Draw Terms & Conditions

  • The prize consists of one (1) Novation Launchkey 61 Keyboard.
  • Entries Open at 12:00pm, 19th February 2018 (NZST) and close at 5:00pm, 7th March 2018 (NZST).
  • Prizes are not transferable and are not redeemable for cash.
  • Only one entry per person will be accepted.
  • The winner will be notified via Instagram.
  • Winner must make contact with Melodics within 7 days of being notified of their win, or another winner will be selected for the corresponding prize.
  • Melodics reserves the right to feature the name and location of the winners in future promotions.
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Jan 18

Smashing through the plateau

by in Pro Tips

It’s getting close to February! You’ve changed your diet (no foods starting with B), decided to learn Esperanto, vowed to run 5 miles a day, and make it to grade 20 in Melodics.

Great! But you’re still stuck on grade 6.

When you begin it’s normal to see rapid improvements. When that stops it’s natural to feel you’ve hit your limit of ability when in reality you’ve just hit a plateau. How do you move beyond your plateau? The answer is to challenge yourself in a new way.

Some examples of this could be taking lessons from an easier grade and…

  • emphasising your weak hand / fingers
  • playing blindfolded
  • speeding up lesson patterns as fast as you can

You can also think about the specific skills you’re finding hard. It could that you’re struggling with finger independence, endurance or syncopation. To work out what you might be finding difficult in each lesson, check out the tags for each lesson when in lesson list view.

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A good way to work on these skills is to use the “Browse by” button to sort by tag to show the full list of lessons relating to that skill – then you can go back and practice this on some easier grade lessons and slowly work your way back.

It might seem like going backwards, but in the long run it’ll help your progress.

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Moving past the plateau isn’t just about practicing more, it’s about practicing the right thing.

Set yourself a challenge this week and let us know how you go!

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Nov 23

Stro Elliot: Breaking down kits and technique

by in Pro Tips

Stro Elliot is the master of the pads. Recently named as an official member of The Roots, he’s continuing his amazing run of form from the last year – leading the way for pad drummers with his signature style of performance.

We were lucky enough to witness a masterclass from Stro in Berlin, at the Ableton Loop Conference. Not only did he show off his crazy fast fingers, he also broke down some of his technique and his unique performance setup.

Here’s a few pieces of wisdom from the maeSTRO.

Breaking down the 🥁 break

Since samplers arrived on the scene, producers have been creatively chopping up breaks and loops. Rather than just playing a loop, breaking it up into the individual hits gives you a palette of sounds to work with to make it your own. Stro maps these hits across his Ableton Push controller mirroring how he sets up a normal kit with variations of kicks, snares, hats, ghost hits, and vocal chops across the pads.

See how he works with breaks in the short video below to create his own pattern.

Keeping an organic feel to the kit 🌱

Stro arranges all his kits in a specific way, based on how he plays. He plays most of the beat on his right hand, leaving the left hand to add accents, play ghost hits and add complexity. Whether it’s adding the 1/16 note hi hat, or a roll to the pattern, having the extra hits available for the left hand lets him add variety.

Watch how Stro arranges his kit, and why it helps him in the short video below.

Feel like practicing now? As a subscriber, you can play Stro Elliot’s lessons in Melodics + lessons from loads of other great artists 😎

If you want to give pad drumming a try, download Melodics and try out our free lessons today.

Listen to more from Stro Elliot on Bandcamp.

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Oct 27

Introducing Melodics V2. Keyboards, Drums & Pads.

by in Melodics

Keys. Drums. Pads.

Melodics V2 is coming soon and we’re teaching you how to play the keyboard… and much more! The highly anticipated next version of Melodics adds support for keys, and a ton of new features for pad controllers and electronic drums.

Whether you’re a beat maker looking to add keys to your bag of tricks, or a drummer wanting to branch out – we’ll have you covered.

Melodics for keys will help you learn to play the chords, basslines and melodies of the music you love, whether you’re wanting to become a better producer, or just play for the enjoyment of your friends and family.

Melodics is free to try. To take your musical dreams further, subscribe and you will have access to over 400 lessons for keys, drums and pads – with new content added weekly.

Bonus extra add-on fun stuff for everyone!

We love hearing your feedback about Melodics, and we’re excited to be rolling out some great updates – for all instruments – including:

  • Choose your instrument within the app – keep track of your progress for Keys, Pads and Drums, with independent leveling for each instrument.
  • All new levelling system. Want to level up? Collect stars! See how many stars you need to hit the next grade and unlock more lessons as you level up.
  • New navigation. No more waiting for screens to load, version 2.0 is snappy AF.
  • A new view – the Finger Allocation screen is essential for keys, get the feel of how you have to place and move your hands over the keyboard before you work on playing the lesson.
  • Wait Mode – Playback will automatically pause until you hit the right notes, allowing you to step through complex rhythmical patterns or melodies. Paired with Practice Mode, Wait Mode is a great way to break down tricky phrases!
  • All new Learning page for a fresh look at courses and lessons. View lessons in list or grid mode, and browse by artist, genre, grade or tag.
  • New and Improved labelling of tracks in the play view to help you quickly work out which sample is on which pad
  • Colour coding for each hand, so you can see at a glance which part goes with which hand
  • Favourite Lessons – Add a lesson to your favourites list from the lesson screen, or within the lesson itself. Favourites are stored on line, so now they’ll be shared across computers.
  • Pause – press pause during lesson playback to have a deeper look at at difficult sections.
  • Scroll through the lesson arrangement before playing to preview what’s coming up.
  • Volume control always available. Control volume levels more easily within lessons – adjust the metronome, your notes, guide notes and the backing track levels direct from the play view.
  • Customisable Metronome sounds – Pick your metronome, with the familiar sounds of Ableton Live, Logic, Maschine, and many more.
  • Easily manage your account on melodics.com

We’ve also squashed some pesky bugs

  • Fixed an issue where your level could be reset as you passed over level 12 and above
  • Smoothed playback. Improved performance that could cause jittery playback for some users.
  • Plus a ton of other performance improvements.

We have a deal for you!

As a special pre-launch offer, if you pick up an annual subscription now you’ll get lessons for ALL instruments for the price of one instrument.

Already a subscriber? You’ll have all instruments until your subscription rolls over.

If you’ve been thinking about building your pad skills, and you’re interested in learning keys, now’s the perfect time to subscribe!

  • This deal applies to new annual subscriptions or upgrades from monthly to annual subscriptions purchased before 12 November.
  • You will have access to all instruments for the 12 months until your subscription renews.
  • Discounted Instrument bundle subscriptions will be available at the end of your 12 month subscription period.

Melodics V2 is coming soon! Stay tuned for the release before the end of 2017.

If there’s anything else you’d like help with, or if you have any extra feedback just get in touch. 😃

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