Technique

The physical development of consistent and healthy habits.

Learning to play with proper technique can be the primary difference between students who remains dedicated to learning an instrument and students who pursue other activities.  When technique is neglected students often reach plateaus, struggle to perform the repertoire they enjoy and lose their motivation.

Rhythm

The ability to groove and play in time by yourself or with other musician.

Rhythm is much more involved than simply clapping/counting or playing combinations of note values.  Rhythm is about the overall feel and groove of a song.  At times, this may be for a quick, light feel; or at other times (such as a tango) a strong, rigid feel may be more appropriate.  Being able to play different combinations of rhythms while also making them feel natural in any style is what learning rhythm is all about at Inspired Minds!

Ear Training

The ability to identify the notes/instruments or chords in a performance or recording.

Continuing with our belief that Music is a language, we must acknowledge that being able to listen and understand what is being heard, is a crucial part of becoming fluent.

Our instructors help students identify notes, chords and rhythms.  Once students are able to identify these elements by ear, they also learn how to accurately play it back.

Written Theory

The ability to effectively transcribe music and charts.

There are many advantages to developing written theory as a skill.  Being able to write your own music is an essential way of communicating your ideas.  Further, when you learn how to write music, you simultaneously develop your reading, rhythm, and analysis skills.  Written theory provides students the opportunity to visually break down concepts before jumping ahead and trying to apply them on their instrument.

Sight Reading

The skill necessary to look at a piece of music, and be able to play it unrehearsed.

Reading or Sight Reading stimulates many of areas of the brain simultaneously.  Even when sheet music is taken away, the brain is stimulated in the same way as the musician often visualizes the material previously read or learned.  This is the core component most responsible for the theory that “music makes people smarter.”

If you were choosing a tutor for French, Spanish, English or any other language, wouldn’t finding a tutor who could read the language be an important factor?

It should be for music too!

Applied Theory

Putting Theory Into Performance!

Learning about scales, chords, rhythms, etc is fine; but, if you can’t play them.. what’s the point?  Applied theory teaches us how to use each concept in a musical way.  If you’ve learned a new scale, rather than playing it going up and down, how can it be made more musical?  Which keys could you use it to solo/improvise with?  This is just the starting point.  Applied Theory allows musicians to perform and communicate all of the concepts and musical ideas they have.

Repertoire

Studying and performing songs!

Being able to perform Repertoire is the main reason students take lessons.
Inspired Minds teach a wide variety of genres including; Pop, Jazz, Classical/Art Music, Blues, Rock, Musical Theatre, Folk/Traditional and many more.

While we are happy to make recommendations for songs, our teachers are always interested in hearing the songs our students have found and want to learn!

Ensemble

Performing with other musicians (or accompanying yourself!)

It can be a pretty spectacular experience working with other musicians.  Often, when you play with a great musician you can find yourself playing at a level above what you expected of yourself.  This is because great musicians know how to support each other’s sound and allow each other to have a voice within the song.  This is a skill developed over time, but starts by developing clear verbal communication and understanding non-verbal cues, and eventually predicting performance behaviour.