One day, when I was (a little) young(er), I saw my friend, the fat one (we all have a fat friend, don't we?), showing up one day with his sister's guitar. He sat down in the middle of the block and started playing. It was awesome. He didn't only play fairly well —that bastard—, but every girl in the area came to him to listen to him playing. Moreover, they even joined his strumming with the unbearable screaming sounds that only female-teens-gone-wild are able to make. By the end of that afternoon, we all wanted to learn to play, as you may have already figured out. The fat guy grinned sarcastically and went home; and I ended up going with him as I had done many times before.
During that three-block-and-a-half walk, José (that's the name of the miserable fat guy mentioned above) told me about his school band, how he had learnt there and how he liked music. Today, José is one of the best music teachers in the city (at least, among preschool music teachers) and, ladies and gentlemen, here you have a few of his secrets.
Music is an art, correct; but it has also got some science. Those who learn to understand how music is structured or composed can do whatever they want with it; those who don't, will always copy to what they listened to someone else. That said, every musician must keep in mind three things:
+ Music needs to keep some rhythm. Even if rock has gotten used to 4-times rhythm or latin music, to polyrhythms; there are always rhythms in music to know and follow. A good musician must know how to use them wisely.
+ Music uses notes, and each note has a name and a duration when played. Do, sharp do, re, sharp re, mi, fa, sharp fa, sol, sharp sol, la, sharp la and ti. You have heard the word flat as well, haven't you? OK, sharp do and flat re are the same sound but with different names. Likewise, a musician has to dominate the use of musical scales.
+ The last ingredient in this cocktail are the chords. A chord is a combination of at least three notes at once. There are a number of chords, but we are not going to detail them here.
Should there be something really nice about music is that you can be taught its theory and practice, but its essence can not be transmitted. Music is art. It comes from the heart and it allows you to express things that will stick into your listeners brains for a while or maybe for a lifetime. Everybody can bend a knee before music... this doesn't mean it is a world without practice, sacrifice and tenacious persistence until making perfect. As a matter of fact, if a musician is not perfect, he will end up only with his relatives as public.
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