Wow 🤩- just discovered you yesterday. I found your ear training major scale video fascinating! It’s really helped thank you. I think you are the only person who’s (long, in-depth video) I have ever watched all the way through (lol doing some bedtime stretches on my bedroom floor at the same time - so yes, meditating on what you are saying at the same time as stretching and relaxing). You definitely have a gift in helping people stay focused on the topic! Your comprehensive, creative and sensitive language use is really one of the best I have ever seen. I love how you keep repeating things over and over - a bit like in meditation how one would use an anchor like the breath to return to focus - but obviously it also helps practically embed the concepts. I am in my mid forties and learning multiple instruments - piano, guitar, bass and drums. I’ve had so many people say to me it’s not wise, people get hostile with me about it - crazy - but what I find fascinating is how learning different instruments at the same time is unlocking so many musical concepts that all relate to each instrument. It is helping me beyond words! Things click every time I sit down and play. I’m getting creative gifts being able to manifest the music from within my being. My body has never relaxed sooo much in years when I use the skills (the ones that are embedded and now naturally there). It’s euphoric and peaceful. I look forward to when my skills are better and I can incorporate faster and more upbeat or complex rhythms and scales. I feel like I’m doing really well! So screw the nay sayers. I am a deep thinker and analytical type but never really had the life circumstances to let this ‘divine’ life force blossom. But here I am 🙏🏻 😌 I’ve been able to pick apart and dive deep into all parts of a song for years. It’s great to be able to put into action. I am not starting from scratch as such on these instruments. I played guitar and wrote harmonically complex songs when I was a teenager knowing nothing about music theory. All by ear. But my ‘kind of’ musical training was from my mum who sang in a band with 3 others, having practices at each others houses. They sang four part harmonies which led me to a life time of only ever singing the harmony to any melody I ever heard. It’s only now when I’m learning intervals that I realise my 1,3,5 are pretty well embedded in my musical mind. I’m thrilled at the ‘free gift’ 😂 I’m still miles off in reality but it helps. I look forward to more of your videos. You are very very kindly giving a great gift to the world with your beautiful tuition. Thank you 🙏🏻 so much ❤
Wonderful! Happy to hear all that and glad you're enjoying the videos. If you have the motivation to work on all those instruments, that's great and I can certainly agree that they all influence and augment each other from many perspectives. Lucky you had that harmonization "training" growing up. Not everyone does and it makes a huge difference, as I've seen in many people over the years. Enjoy! 🌞
I just discovered you through RU-vid recommendations. You and your content are a real breath of fresh air on my musical journey. Especially in this video where you go beyond music itself and think about life in total, with music as a lens into gaining insight into it. I just joined the Discord and hopefully I'm in a place in life where I can use your challenges as a vehicle for getting my artistic expression out of my head and into the world. Thank you so much. Looking forward to seeing more from you!
Hey Max ,I would love if you made a video about mind and stuff relating to the universe. i also noticed in the musical warp drive course that you have a whole section dedicated to the deeper experience of music and how its not separate from who we are, I'd love if you spoke more in depth about that. Oh and your course is changing my life dude, thanks.
I liked your explanation that music theory concepts, such as modal interchange, allow us to repeat a certain idea, even though these concepts don't necessarily refer to something objective. 😊
👍Great discussion about how each person learning to express themselves through music must primarily figure it out on their own, accepting their own preferences and what resonates with them.
Thanks Max, I really appreciate your answer to my question (about repertoire and sheet music). The interesting thing is that during my question and your answer I came to some of the same conclutions, especially about the idea of choosing between the various options asuming that the time spent in one thing is not spent in the rest. In my case, I'm very aware that the things that I enjoy the most in the music realm are: composing, playing the piano (not necessarily repertoire, but just playing) and listening/analyzing music. The thing that I did the most in the last month or two was improvising. To me, improvising is in the same realm that composing, so usually when I begin my practice improvising end up composing, usually sketches that after I can develop. But also, when improvising I usually find weaknessss in my playing and my theory knowledge, and because of that I end up practicing some type of chord, voicing, chord progressions, scale/mode, etc. So, to me improvisation is a very broad activity, some middle ground between the micro and the macro, the theory and the practice, which also is very fun and rewarding. I also found something similar when working with repertoir in general (not just sheet/piano), where there are many options: arrange, transcribe, reduce, analyze, or just have fun. I hope to see more of this Q&A series in the future.
Great to hear! I resonate with what you say and share these experiences. Improvisation is a big part of my musical life and its benefits reach into all aspects of the process. Thanks for the feedback and question
I did seem to enjoy this Q&A, watched it over a couple of days and I especially liked the talk about harmony beyond music in the beginning, as that is a concept that I'm being exposed to through books at the moment, it sure is strange.
Question #1 was the #1 question to me. Thanks for sharing your view on this topic. The frequency spectrum goes far beyond modern human reach. I wish it was more openly studied even at young age.
Love your content! And I look forward to seeing your video on how our minds and life relate to music. I do have a question about the quote you read(from 2:15 to 3:25 time stamp), what's the musician's name?
I appreciate this video and all your content. Your Udemy courses really helped me connect with music and my playing in mind, body and spirit. A lot more present in my explorations. 🌌🌄🙏😎🎧
Regarding the person that asked about drawing in notes to the piano roll - I'm also in the same boat here, don't play instruments but learning. Are there any sort of, techniques or resources for learning to listen by ear in a way? It's super easy when in the flow right, lol, but just in general any food for thought would be great whilst we learn. Cheers
Hi Max, I'd like to continue on the topic of maximize my musical progress in one year. I' m presently working with the Ableton DAW and was told by a music producer that for the next 6 months to a year, take reference tracks of my choice and try to reproduce them however i'm stuck ...i've listened to them and tried to break down all the instruments that I hear but my dilemma is the synths...i don't know which synth used in the 80s 90s songs. So I know its a synth but which one. Example the song New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84 by Simple Minds. Which of your courses are best suited for my situation. Thanks for the video!
While this approach is ideal on paper, it's quite difficult to do in practice. When learning other people's music while learning an instrument, there is only one part to worry about and you can usually find some kind of transcription to help you out. When trying to remake full tracks by ear, especially if you don't have a ton of production and/or musical experience, it can be very confusing and frustrating because there are so many unknowns and so many dimensions to tackle at once. My advice when trying this is to simply do your best and not get too bogged down in every detail. Find presets that are close enough to the sound without trying to match it exactly. In the beginnig, it's most important to understand song/beat structure and composition as compared to sound design and mixing. Those elements will come in time but pale in importance compared to the actual notes, rhythms and arrangement. I don't have any courses tailored to production like this at the moment. My courses are about theory and composition, which will certainly be useful to you, but not for sound design and the like...
@MaxKonyi, Thanks for your reply Max, I've just purchased your Music Theory, fundamentals for any Genre course on Udemy and I am eager to start learning!
I recommend learning to play the chords along with simple music you enjoy. This could be pop, rock, folk, country, or anything else that uses simple chords primarily. Understanding how to build all your triads for any root note, plus the basics of two-handed voicings and simple rhythms, will take you a long way. Being able to visualize chords, scales, basslines, melodies, etc., on the piano is invaluable. You don't need to be able to perform complex two-handed pieces, but it is very helpful to quickly see musical structures and their relationships. Part of that is learning music theory and how it is laid out on the keyboard, part is practicing building chords and scales, part is playing real music in time with recordings, and then a million little which will happen automatically as you pursue it.
