Orchestration is one of the most important elements to establishing a composer’s “voice,” that certain sound that allows you to associate a tune with a composer, even when you've never heard the tune before. In short, orchestration is a composer’s, songwriter’s, producer’s, etc. choice of what instruments or sounds they will use to tell their musical stories. While history has seen its fair share of great orchestrators for the orchestra, the term is not exclusive to that medi

Rhythm is perhaps the most fundamental, the most human of all the musical elements. If we were able to take a time machine trip back to hear the 2,000-Year-Old Man give a recital at the Rock Conservatory, it would have probably consisted of music that was purely rhythmic in nature. So then why is rhythm often so deeply misunderstood when it is understood at all? Beats me (ha ha ha).             There is a rich, complex, and interesting history of rhythmic notation, but it is

In the words of Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, “Alllllrighty then.” Here we go, the first of my need-to-know posts on music fundamentals. I figured harmony, the sounds musical pitches make when they are heard all together instead of one by one, might be the hardest, so why not start there. Discussions of harmony seek to describe ways that music is organized, why it makes sense or is cohesive when we hear it. Harmony is like the grammar of music. Therefore, we should start with t