Trinity

Trinity College London, an international examination board or arts incorporating Trinity Guidlhall, has a high reputation in the world with its ability to offer accredited qualifications in English Language and a wide range of arts performance. Established in 1872, Trinity is considered as a leader in performance assessment as it has been assessing students by conducting over 500,000 assessments each year worldwide from graded examination and certificates to diplomas and higher level vocational qualifications. Following with their growth in international network and the deepening in educational role in the community, Trinity offers a flexible and enhanced range of syllabuses with a variety of teaching and learning styles. This is to enable the students to enjoy and excel in their process of learning and developing their skills. As Trinity Guidlhall focuses on performing arts in music and drama, overall performance is highly emphasized rather than a prescriptive formula.

What set Trinity apart from others is their ability to pay high focus on each and every learner. The purpose of examinations and assessments is to help and develop the students’ progress and to mark their achievement at each stage of their development. With expert examiners, leading specialists, academics along with its service quality, approachable style and enduring relationship, Trinity highly encourages and motivates all students to achieve their personal, vocational and professional goals. Hence, this helps them to have a smooth journey towards the fulfillment of their own individual talents at all levels of competence.

Read More

Parts of an Upright Piano

Normally, the teachers in Robinson Music Centre will use an upright piano to teach their students. Therefore, let’s us take a look into some important parts of a piano.

Key

A piano key is where you put your fingers on the keyboard and press the keys in order to produce sound at different pitches.

Hammer

Hammer is a row of mechanism whereby it vibrates the strings and produces sound. Each and every hammer will hit only 1 specific string. Thus, the number of hammers will be the same as the number of keys available on the piano.

Tuning pin

Whenever you shift the piano, the piano will eventually go out of tune. So, here comes the function of tuning pin. Tuning pin will tighten or loosen the strings in order to get the right pitches.

Soft pedal (UnaCorda)

This pedal is used when you want a particular note to produce a soft sound rather than the normal loudness of its pitch.

Damper pedal

This is the most commonly used pedal. This pedal is also known as sustain pedal as it prolongs the sound of that key. As long as this pedal is stepped, the sound will remain until the pianist releases the pedal. The use of this pedal needs more practices since the whole song will be unstable if this pedal is not managed well.

Muffler pedal

This pedal is also known as sostenuto pedal. This pedal is rarely used as compared to soft and damper pedals. Muffler pedal has the function of sustaining that particular note while the other notes on the keyboard remain unaffected. That notes will remain resonance until the pianist releases the pedal, just like damper pedal.

Read More

Comparison in terms of brain development between those kids who learn music and those who do not learn music

In terms of brain development, studies and scientific evidences have found out that kids who learn music could gain the following benefits:

Develops the left side of the brain which involves in language processing and at the same time wiring the brain circuits in specific ways.

Provides brain workout and improves memory and general intelligence, such as literacy, verbal memory, thinking process, mathematics, IQ, emotional development and other academic skills.

Stimulates brain growth throughout early childhood period.

Improves language ability, including vocabulary, expressiveness and ease of communication.

Helps the automatic processing in the brainstem, which is the lower part of the brain that joins onto the spinal cord to have a better control for many vital functions, such as heartbeat, breathing and responses to complex sounds.

Kids who begin to learn musical instrument(s) before the age of seven are able to enhance neural pathways by increasing the thickness of neural bridge that connects the left and right brain hemisphere.

Read More

Technics

Techinics Music Academy (TMA) is a relatively new music academy whereby it is a comprehensive music education system encompassing popular music and electronic musical instrument based on a set of curriculum. TMA guides students everything about music from the basics and foundation of music to advanced musical expression. This is to develop students with the ability to express themselves musically. Students are able to play many different styles of music in a positive and stimulating environment. At the same time, it teaches students to foster the love of music which helps in building self-confidence and self-esteem besides developing the musical skills and knowledge of the students.

Read More

Benefits of learning music for your child

There are several beneficial attributes for kids who learn music:

Music helps kids to perform better in school

Numerous studies have found out that kids who are actively involved in music tend to score higher in Maths and other cognitive development tests.

Music helps kids to concentrate well

Reading a music piece requires high concentration to interpret notes, rhythm and translate it into hand movements on the instrument. This allows them to think critically and creatively as well.

Music helps kids to be diligent

A smooth and well-played performance requires hard work and effort as a small mistake can be easily noticed while playing the music. This enables them to be strong, patience and at the same time develops a positive mindset when facing difficult tasks.

Music helps kids to increase their self-esteem

Mastering music skills and showcasing their talents on music can increase their self-esteem.

Music enables kids to enjoy a “rich sensory environment” and have stronger neural connections

Learning music helps kids to expose to a wide variety of sensory activities such as sight, listen and touch.

Musical instrument, specifically piano, helps kids to increase coordination

Besides improving eye-hand coordination, playing piano helps kids to improve fine motor skills as piano requires both hands to work independently. This enables kids to increase their dexterity and complex thought process as well.

Read More

Famous Guitarist-Robert Johnson

Born on May 8, 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Robert Johnson’s life is rife with myths and allegory. Throughout his schooling time, one of his childhood friends recalls that Robert was famous for playing the harmonica and the jaw harp in those early days. One Blues musician called Son House mentions that young Robert Johnson, who tried in vain to copy his style, disappeared from the area for a couple of months and returned with a masterful guitar skill. That was where the stories of Robert Johnson came into place. There were many stories mentioned that Johnson’s unexpected and entire transformation from no talent to super talent were because of him exchanging the talent by selling his soul to the devil.

Early in his adult life, he travelled from town to town, played whatever audience requested and earned decent earnings at his craft. Having the idea of furthering his career, Johnson met up with H.C. Speir, who was the talent scout. Speir had seen eye to eye to record Johnson and this resulted in one of the several prominent songs- “Cross Road Blues.”

Johnson eventually died at the young age of 27. Since then, every artist has unwittingly influenced by him. He had expressed pure emotion with no bars held and worked on reducing the gap of social barriers. Besides helping the civil movements of the sixties, his music was to add interest by white musicians.

Read More

ABRSM

Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) is an internationally recognized educational body and the world’s leading provider of graded music exams and assessment. ABRSM is based in London, UK, and the British Council is its representative. This organization runs exams in centres all over the world whereby there are over 600,000 candidates who take their music exams annually in more than 90 countries.

Established in 1889, the Associate Board offered 35 instruments. Singing, theory and practical musicianship are open to students of all ages. At the same time, it provides schools, private music teachers and general public with a scheme of music examinations of well recognized authority that is able to nurture and evaluate an individual’s performance and progress.

A structured framework for the progression of a beginner to an advanced musician is provided for graded music exam. Most subjects are offered from Grade 1 to Grade 8 and there are three standards for students to pass, which are straight pass, a pass with merit and a pass with distinction. There are four types of graded exams, which are Practical Exams (the most commonly taken exams and they are available for 35 instruments examined through four parts: set music pieces, scales, sight-reading and aural), Theory Exams (which is examined through written papers), Jazz Exams (they are available for a variety of instruments and they are marked as the same way as practical exams) and Practical Musicianship (examines the candidates’ understanding of melody, harmony and rhythm and the ability to respond to the questions of music). Candidates are allowed to sit for any practical or theory exam grades without taking any other graded exams. However, theory exam, jazz exams and practical musicianship have to be subjected to a minimum of Grade 5 level in order to progress to practical examination of Grade 6 to 8.

As the world’s leading specialist in music examination and assessment, ABRSM carries a well recognized international authority with its consistent and rigorous approach. The purpose of examination and assessment is to motivate students of all levels and ages to develop individual skills and talents. A series of realistic goals and tangible rewards are provided for a certain level of achievement. Students are highly encouraged to play and experience the greatness of music by embracing a wide range of genres.

Read More