Perhaps this blog is a few days late (May the 4th already passed us) but I’ve been thinking: the music of Star Wars has a lot of recurring themes and sometimes even foreshadowing in it. Generally speaking, many things in the Star Wars universe have their own signature music. For instance, there are themes associated…

Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is coming up and what better way to acknowledge the holiday than by learning its true meaning and listening to some Mexican music! First off, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. Independence Day is actually September 16. Cinco de Mayo is the day in which Mexico defeated France…

A couple days ago I watched a competition show on YouTube called NO COVER, which hosts new and unsigned artists at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and pits them against each other for a chance to win life-changing prizes such as record deals or management contracts. They compete by performing live in front of judges…

Music heals. This is something that we believe to be true but we don’t exactly know why or how. Perhaps it’s the distraction that listening to music provides from our problems, or the relatable lyrics, or even the music itself. All we know is that when we’re hurt, angry or sad, listening to music makes…

When Starting Out When someone first starts learning to play an instrument they might start with simple songs that they like. For instance, it’s a meme but a lot of new guitar players start with “Stairway to Heaven” or “Wonderwall” – or perhaps I’m dating myself with my examples. Learning by oneself gives one the…

While some people can pick up an instrument and just play it, others may not find the task so natural. While part of this reality has to do with a person’s inherent talent, curiosity, patience and determination, another part is knowing which instrument to pick up in the first place. While delving headfirst into any…

Classical Indian Music It’s interesting to know that all countries with deep histories have their own style of classical music. If you take a look at countries in Europe, their music traditions go back a long time and usually we think of composers like Bach, Chopin and Mozart. In other parts of the world, while…

Musica Norteña literally translates to northern music or music of the north, referring to the northern geographic region of Mexico that encompasses the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa and Durango. It was in these states that the music that we know of today as norteño music originated from. A Brief History…

Jazz. It’s one of those purely American creations that took the world by storm when it first came out as a legitimate form of musical expression in the early 1920s. Some people love it while some people just don’t seem to understand it. Frank Zappa once famously said: “Jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny.”…

In the past there have been video games aimed at being able to allow players to experience music with more than just their ears. Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band were amongst the first to enable players to feel as if they were actually playing instruments. By playing on guitar and other instrument-shaped controllers,…