My friend snorted and said ‘Maybe so, but it really flipping helps’.

(I’m sure you’ve guessed the word he used wasn’t really ‘flipping’ – but I’m not going to repeat what he actually said here.)

There’s a key truth in music, and that is: whatever music you make, the fundamentals are the same. No matter what your genre or style, whether it’s trap or classical and everything in between, the fundamentals of harmony, chord progressions, tension and release stay the same. But without knowing those fundamentals you are going to seriously struggle.

That’s why you have to learn some kind of instrument to get the best out of your music. And the best one to learn, in my honest opinion, is the keys.

Keyboard skills are a necessity for any musician because the keyboard is a tool. This is not about becoming a classical pianist or the next Emeli Sandé. This is about learning your craft, and more importantly, mastering your craft. And in order to be a master at your craft, you need to understand your tools.

This concept is so important I’m going to repeat it. The keyboard is just a tool. But it’s the best tool for creating absolutely any music you want to.

Think about it. All the notes are there, arranged systematically and logically from left to right, low to high. All you need to do to make a sound is press a key –any key. All you need to do to make a chord is press a few keys at the same time. All you need to make a track is put together a few chords in an interesting order. Pick your genre – are you going for electronica, folk, dub-step? Choose synths, guitars or bass to make your chord progression shine. Voila, you have the framework of your song.

Of course, in order to do this, you have to know where the chords are, which ones go together, and how to play them on the keyboard.

But you don’t need to start taking graded exams to learn this. You just need to learn the fundamentals.

This is where the Midi Music Company’s Cre8tiv® Keys course comes in. There are few courses out there that can give you a grand sweep of harmony, melody lines and chord construction in ten weeks. And there are still fewer courses that can also teach you chord progressions and how to make a great sequence – one that people haven’t heard a million times before. The goal is to get a thorough grounding in making great music, whatever your genre. That’s what the Cre8tiv® Keys course will do for you.

How? Because once you know the fundamentals of creating great music (which, remember, don’t change much from genre to genre) you can create any music you like.    Think of the keyboard as the most versatile, most useful and most important tool in your toolkit. It can literally do anything you want it to. In order to unleash its powers, you have to learn how to use it first.

I have been playing the piano for nearly 25 years. But I still took separate musicianship classes to really understand the fundamentals of great music. If I was starting again from scratch, I would want to learn these fundamentals as quickly as possible. Why? Because I’d want to get on with making the music! I wouldn’t want to let anything stand in my way – especially if there was a way to get rid of the obstacle.

Don’t be an artist who doesn’t really know their craft. That’s a waste of your time and your talent. Instead, be an artist who takes themselves seriously. Understand the most powerful tool in your musical toolkit. It’s worth it. It will unleash your music, your inspiration, and your overall creativity. Best of all, it will sound brilliant too.

To get started on your keys education, or brush up your existing knowledge join the Midi Music Company’s Cre8tiv® Keys course. The course starts on April 22^nd but places are already filling up so book early to secure your spot. Pricing is £80 for a ten week term or £40 for concessions.

It’s exhausting.

You know what I’m talking about. Practicing your vocal technique. Writing songs. Honing your expertise on your instrument or maybe even instruments. Rehearsals. Research. Finding gigs. Recording. Producing. Hassling promoters. Building your social media empire. And anything else you care to add to the list…

Wouldn’t it be great if you could lighten the load a little bit? After all, that’s a lot for just one person to carry on their shoulders.

I hear you all saying ‘yeah, amen’ to that. But I also hear a note of skepticism. I mean, how can joining a community choir in Deptford really help you with your whole music career? Isn’t it just singing?

In a word, no. No it isn’t just singing. Let me show you the real benefits…

Benefit number 1 – Expand your repertoire.

If you’re a singer and you don’t write, this is a non-negotiable requirement for your career. You’ve got to have a repertoire of songs you can pull out at a moment’s notice – otherwise you risk missing opportunities, like last-minute gig requests or depping for other singers. As artists making it in the music industry, we know how important it is to be available for opportunities that come our way. Joining a community choir exposes you to music you may never have even considered – and that exposure helps you get prepared and professional.

Benefit number 2 – Get professional coaching with minimum investment.

This is a no-brainer. You get the opportunity to hone your vocal technique with a professional musician and qualified teacher, without paying £35+ for an hour’s private lesson. If you are serious about making it as a singer, you’ll be serious about honing your vocal technique. And we all know that nothing beats a qualified vocal coach to help make your voice soar. So why not split the cost between a group of you? While you won’t get a whole hour’s worth of one-to-one attention, you will get two hours of experience and direction, every week for ten weeks, at a fraction of the cost.

Benefit number 3 – Build your network.

I have mentioned in previous posts how networking at the Midi Music Company helped move my own music career forward. I’ve met other solo artists working in diverse genres whose ideas have opened my mind and music to new directions. The power of networking is that you never know who you’ll meet and how they could play a part in your success. But you definitely won’t meet them by sitting at home! By joining classes such as the Cre8tiv®   Voices community choir you’ll meet likeminded people who have similar aims, interests and dreams as you. And likeminded people who want the same dreams you do are the best people to help you achieve those dreams.

Benefit number 4 – Get inspired.

If you write your own tunes you’ll know how frustrating it is to face the blank page. By exposing yourself to new repertoire and styles, you pick up new approaches to music-making that will get your creative juices flowing.

As an example, I’ve been doing classes at Midi Music Company and other educational establishments for years. I’m even learning Latin rhythms at the moment which have nothing to do with my own style of poetic piano dream-folk – but – I’ve got a new song out of it, learned new chord progressions, and honed my own song-writing process. Result!

Benefit number 5 – Have fun!

Sounds frivolous, but it’s really important to have fun while you’re making music. As independent artists we have got a lot to do – there never seem to enough hours in the day. And balancing the business side of music with the creative side can be tricky. But if you’re not enjoying making music, why are you making it?

Joining a community choir takes some of the pressure off. You can have fun, let someone else lead, and relax. But cleverly, you’re also expanding your repertoire, getting professional coaching, building your network and getting inspired at the same time. You can enjoy yourself while actually moving your music career forward. That can only be a good thing.

The Midi Music Company’s Cre8tiv®   Voices community choir starts on Tuesday 23^rd April 2013 and runs for 10 weeks. Booking opens  26^th February 2013.

Featuring young professional artists, bands and other creative individuals who are members of our creative industries careers advice service, sharing their experiences, knowledge, and letting you know who they are and what they’re about.

This month Phoebe Osbourne from Penniless Cove  talks to Tamsin abut her musical upbringing, the band’s history and future projects.

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Featuring young professional artists, bands and other creative individuals who are members of our creative industries careers advice service, sharing their experiences, knowledge, and letting you know who they are and what they’re about.

Kareem Dayes talks to Tamsin about being the bassist in United Vibrations, how he got into playing and learning music, and his inspirations.

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Featuring young professional artists, bands and other creative individuals who are members of our creative industries careers advice service, sharing their experiences, knowledge, and letting you know who they are and what they’re about.

Soneni & The Soul talk to Tamsin about the band, songwriting, and their upcoming EP launch.

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This summer, when I started the Music Production course at The Midi Music Company, we were asked to bring in examples of great production. Immediately I thought of the theme from TV’s Mad Men. It might not be a song in the traditional sense – although it started life as a track on a hip-hop album. But I think it’s a brilliant example of how good music – and good production – can get listeners to behave in a way that you want them to. And that’s very useful when you’re trying to polish your music – because in order to sell your music, you have to make people want to listen to it.

Sonically, the theme encapsulates everything the programme tries to be: a mix of classic and contemporary. You’ve got a classical string section (violins, violas and cello counterpoint) that starts and leads the theme, but then after the first phrase a truly modern beat jumps in to create tension and add a twist on the arrangement. Then in the final bars you get an electric bass leading into the final string phrases as the beat fades out. If you need a reminder, have a look now:

I think this piece of music is really important in setting up our expectations before we watch the programme. It promises classic themes with a modern twist. It’s different. It’s intriguing. It keeps us listening. And in this case, because it’s music for TV, it keeps us watching.

Of course, the music is only part of the equation. The visuals for the title sequence have to be equally inviting. And again we have a mix of classic and contemporary: the sequence features modern graphic designs set against a backdrop of sixties illustrations – entirely appropriate when you consider that the whole show is all about advertising.

But how can it help your music get heard?

Well, the first thing this piece gets absolutely right is that it keeps us listening – and that’s the whole point. It’s a brilliant example. It drip feeds the listener, surprises us, and keeps us intrigued. It’s fantastic to look at if you’re thinking about moving into music production – because the whole point of good production is to keep people listening. And, whether you are an artist or a producer, your job is to keep people listening. Because if you don’t entice people to listen the whole way through, they’re unlikely to buy your track or want to see you play it live.

Now I suspect the reason why the programme makers chose this tune in the first place is because it tells a story. And this is the second thing that the Mad Men theme gets absolutely right. It sets up our expectations, piques our interest, and then it delivers by leading us into the story – the good stuff it’s been promising. (Interestingly, they never use the opening music for the end credits. What does that tell you?).

Again, by keeping us listening, it keeps us watching. And because the music is so well-matched to the visuals, the whole experience flows seamlessly – we’re immediately hooked. And this is fundamentally what you must do if you want to branch into Making Music for TV Ads. I’ve already outlined why, as an independent artist you might want to make music for TV commercials – you reach a larger audience and you get paid at the same time . But you can’t do this without understanding what advertisers and programmers are looking for. So in order to enter the playing field, you have to learn the rules of the game.

Mad Men is set in an ad agency, so it’s not surprising that even the theme tune is persuasive. As artists, we have to remember this fundamental truth: music is supposed to be listened to, and our success depends on people listening to it – whether it’s in the context of a song, a symphony, an advert or a theme tune. So, whatever your music, give it the best chance of being heard: learn how to persuade your listeners to stay, listen, and do what you want them to – just like the Mad Men do.

Do you say you’re an artist yet, when you’re asked that question?

What would your life be like if you had made it? What would your life look like if you were a real artist, someone who worked on their art full-time, someone who answered ‘I’m an artist’ when asked what they do?

Have you ever thought that thinking like this is a waste of time?

We all – myself included – have an idea of what life will ‘really’ be like when we’re ‘really’ living the life we’re supposed to be. We all need goals to work towards. And it’s exciting to break those goals down into smaller milestones, so we can see how we’re getting on along the journey.

Plus, as I wrote in my last post, we artists don’t have career maps laid out in the same way that an accountant or a doctor might. There are no convenient signposts like getting a top qualification or becoming a partner in a practice. Not only do we have to define our own success, we have to find our own path, and our own milestones along the way.

Personally I like planning, mind-mapping and getting organised for success. I work well with projects, so breaking things down into end-goal and milestone format works well for me.

But when it comes to my, or your, whole artistic career, this is a mistake. And it is a mistake born of the need to control an uncontrollable universe. We can’t map out our entire artistic careers. We can’t see all the opportunities that might crop up, or all the setbacks that occur with any sustained career. We’re not fortune tellers. So trying to predict the future is a waste of time.

 It is actually far more useful to take small steps. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, points out that most artists are blocked in some way or another most of the time (when you decide to go to the pub early instead of rehearsing your latest melody line one last time, you’re blocking yourself). Small steps – spending 5 more minutes practicing your scales, taking half an hour every day to work on a new song, can lead to much bigger things. Notice these small steps are actually about doing your art, actually actively taking the time for yourself and putting your artistic practice about all other activities.

And when you’re ready for bigger steps? Well, life-long learning is the key to mastery – and nothing gets you ready for success like mastery. So if, when you are doing your art, you feel stuck or frustrated, see if a course can help you achieve mastery.

Being aware of what you need to work on requires you being honest with yourself. A great exercise is to list the things that are holding you back – the things that you say ‘if only I had this/could play this/knew how to do this’, then you’d be unstoppable.

So if you don’t have a home recording studio set up, come in and see whether Music Production can help you on your way. If you’re having trouble with creating chord sequences round your melody line, look at Cre8tiv® Keys 2. If you want to hone your singing skills but don’t fancy one-to-one tuition, come along to Cre8tiv® Voices. And if you’re ready to explore the many opportunities in the world of sync, check out Making Music for TV Ads.

All of these are valid steps along your journey to being the artist you really are. The artist who has made it. The person who is going to answer “I’m an artist” when asked “and what do you do?”

People don’t choose to be artists. Art chooses to come through people. So you can choose either to fight it (ignore your talent, submerge and sabotage it, do what everyone else wants you to do) or you can accept it, accept that you are an artist, and get on with making something great.

But the challenges have only just started. Being an artist is not the same as being an accountant, or a lawyer, or an IT consultant, or a marketer. Most career paths are signposted with specific steps and obvious routes in. But there are no exams to qualify you as a creative. And while we often talk about artists who have ‘made it’, made it can mean anything. Being successful as an artist is as individual as you are. You define where you want to go and how you want to get there.

Being an artist is not really like having your own business, either. It’s more like being your own business, because the art has to come from and through you. And it’s harder than most businesses. Why? Because when you launch a business you look at the market for your product or service, you scope out what penetration you could have, you look at the risks and opportunities. You see a need, you see a desire, you see the proverbial gap in the market and so you go ahead and fill it. (As an artist who has run a separate business I can definitely say that having and being an artistic business is harder.)

With music, you’re trying to reach people on a deeper, emotional level. And there is no prescription or business plan for creating music that touches people. We are all individuals and our tastes are subjective. That’s why you can listen to the radio for hours and only catch one or two songs that make you stop what you’re doing – songs you really want to listen to. The rest (to your mind) is just filler.

As artists, we’re trying to make great things. We are always striving to be listened to, not just heard in the background. That’s what our art – songs, lyrics, film, photography, words or pictures – deserves.

So, what can you actually do about this?

If art appreciation is totally subjective, and you can’t predict whether what you make will sink or swim, what can you actually do to influence the situation? How can you actually get your art the attention it deserves?

I’ve actually already given you the answer. The answer is: to make great art.

And how do you make great art?

 You master your craft. You keep learning. If you’re a writer, you write. If you’re a musician, you practice, rehearse and play as much as you can. Insert the appropriate action relevant to your art practice here.

And the actions need to be concrete. Thinking about your next masterpiece isn’t an action. Getting on with it is.

Improving your skills is a concrete action. Making a CICAS appointment is another. Booking a rehearsal space or studio is another. All these things move you forward. You’re taking the next step along your own path. And, because it’s your own, individual, artistic path, you can’t take a wrong step.