In our one-on-one lessons, you will gain confidence improvising, playing by ear, and making up accompaniment parts on the spot… while enjoying the process!
Over time, you will learn to play anything you hear on your own (no sheet music or tabs necessary).
The Flow Music Program will prepare you to feel confident in any jam session or ensemble.
You and your teacher choose a song, tune, or solo. You will study it inside and out and learn it by ear. You learn the specific technical details that give the piece its distinctive style, which you can then replicate and adapt.
Identify intervals, chords, and melodic passages by ear, by voice, and on your instrument. We use the same exercises used in The New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation Program.
A deep dive identifying as much as you can about what you hear. We will explore phrasing, dynamics, instrumentation, harmonic movement, melodic movement, repetition, rhythmic feel, and expression.
Explore the more esoteric aspects of music. How does your mind/body state affect what you play? We'll explore posture, physical technique, breath, and the psychological components of playing and performing. Learn to feel for the right thing to play in any given moment.
Structured improvisation exercises designed to push you just slightly beyond your comfort zone.
Come up with a song, tune, accompaniment, or harmony informed by everything you've learned. We will help you record/ produce your creations if you like. Many of our students find this a great way to track progress and share their work.
“Your intuitive nature is creative and inventive and yet translatable to us who only ever knew very rote styles of learning.”
If you can hear it, you can play it. Greats like Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix learned by listening to and emulating their favorite records. By internalizing the music, they organically developed their own styles. Beethoven and Mozart were also expert improvisers. Their ears and fingers knew the patterns that wove together a beautiful sonata or fugue.
The Flow Music Method works the same way: by training your ears to take the lead. Soon, your ears will start speaking to you. You will know what works and what doesn’t. You will be able to contribute tastefully to any musical situation.
And finally, you will develop your own style, your unique self-expression.
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