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Have you ever wondered why some music just seems to have staying power? Like the energizer bunny, it keeps on going and going. Take the recent Grammy Awards for example. The Rolling Stones and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney were both nominated. Paul even gave his first live performance at a Grammy awards ceremony this year.

I remember the days when there was a constant debate raging over which group was the greatest- The Rolling Stones or The Beatles. These two super-groups reigned supreme. Many loyal fans took sides in this debate and were fully convinced that it was their favorite band which made the best music.

For me, it was simple. I loved the Stones, but the Beatles were by far my favorite group. Afterall, when the Beatles were beginning to see the effect their music was having on the kids of their generation (known as Beatlemania) the Stones were also charting with a song called, “I Wanna Be Your Man.” But it just so happens that Lennon-McCartney wrote this song and gave it to The Stones as a favor. Later, when The Beatles masterful Sgt. Pepper album was released in 1967, The Stones released an album shortly after which many considered to be a copycat version of Sgt. Pepper.

Here is another interesting fact to consider. The Beatles stopped giving live perfomances after their concert at Candlestick Park in San Fransisco on August 29, 1966. They decided they wanted to spend more time in the recording studio and just make music. Many people thought they were crazy and would quickly lose their fan base and popularity if they stopped giving live performances. They didn’t listen. What happened as a result? They kept cranking out hit songs and their popularity grew even more. The question that was constantly on everyone’s lips back then was, “when are the Beatles going to give another concert?”

Now, this is not to take anything away from The Rolling Stones. After The Beatles officially broke up, The Stones became my favorite group for awhile. I spent a lot of time listening to their music and saw them in concert three times. I even got back stage once. But they never inspired me to think deeper about life, or to question why. The Beatles did. I began a spiritual journey in search of “Truth” (which I eventually found in Jesus) largely due to the impressions and impact which The Beatles had made on me.

Musically speaking, these two super-groups definitely had, and continue to have, staying power. I still get students young and old who want to learn their songs on the guitar. The recent Grammy nominations also reveal that the creative juices of Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones are still flowing and will probably continue to do so for some time yet. The lesson we can learn from this is that good music never dies. And I, for one, am really glad that Paul did finally “pass the audition.”

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Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

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Music courses are a great way to learn about virtually any area of music; history, theory, and musical instrument instruction — you name it and somewhere music courses specialize in it. Though generally found through colleges, universities or high school programs, music courses are also offered via one-on-one instruction with a private teacher or community-based workshops. Some churches even offer music courses as a complement to their choirs; the music courses may be offered to the general public, but they’re often geared toward the choir members and congregation.

In the last few years, however, a new dimension to learning music has appeared in the form of the internet - the world wide web. Now instead of being limited to classroom
courses, students are free to create their own schedules and learn at their own pace. A quick search on Google or Yahoo will turn up online courses in:

-Chord Piano

-Classical Piano For Beginners

-Improvising on the Piano & Guitar

-Rock Guitar

-Praise & Worship Guitar

-Killer Drum Instuctions

-Black Gospel Piano

-Jazz Piano

and many many more

Music courses offered by colleges are generally far more in-depth than other music courses and are usually only available to degree-seeking students (though some colleges offer music courses as part of their continuing education programs). Lower level college music courses often focus on an amalgamation of music theory and history, teaching individual theory concepts based on the historical period to which they are particular. As the music courses grow in skill level so too does the number of specialized topics. Advanced music courses are available for nearly every historical music period and are sometimes based on one particular movement. Advanced music courses for theory grow increasingly more difficult and slowly teach every detail found in modern music theory; it’s during the theory music courses that students intending to major in music have their skills challenged the most — some even refer to these music courses as a weeding out period.

Instrument-based music courses are equally as tough at the college level, though they usually assume a working knowledge of the instrument before the class begins. Those wishing to learn an instrument, therefore, are better off with private music courses or music courses offered by a community orchestra or social group. These music courses will focus on the basic details of learning an instrument, starting from the very beginning. Fingering, theory and music reading will be covered, in addition to the occasional bit of history. Students of these music courses may then wish to move on to college-level music courses after completing a few years of private instruction.

But for those more interested in “recreational music” - in other words, music that is played for personal enjoyment or to entertain family and friends, college music classes are not at all necessary. The internet abounds with wonderful courses that will help you do everything from play at your church to accompany your child on their flute or trombone, or even play in a jazz or rock or fusion or country group.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD’s, CD’s, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He is the editor of the review site Killer Music Instruction in Keyboards, Guitar, Drums, Etc. He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions” with over 60,100 current subscribers.

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If you thought music theory was a waste of time and not necessary to further your musical goals, then read these following 5 reasons why this is not true.

1.Read sheet music: Being able to play from any piece of sheet music. Well it may be hard to play BUT you can read it!

2.Be able to transpose: Say you are playing a piece from the sheet music you can now read but you think it sounds too high or too low, or just not right. Well now you can move it into a new key and play at a better singing.

3.Be able to modulate: You will be able to, with a few quick moves of the fingers, move your music into a new key with a succession of notes so pleasing to the ear it will bring a smile to your listeners faces.

4.It will increase your skill in improvising: Enough said.

5.Knowing music theory will help you recreate the sounds you enjoy in your favorite songs. Those fabulous chord progressions. The parts that give a song that certain sound. Gospel, Contemporary etc.

To learn music theory you don’t have to become a scholar on the subject. Just at least learn the basics. Getting a good music theory book and spending a few minutes a day reading from it and doing any included exercises can jump start your music playing.

K Quinn is a church pianist and guitarist for her church. Having picked up music late in life she is the site proprieter at http://www.strugglingchurchmusician.us
Tips, tools, and recommendations for a church musician.

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