My name is Marc Sabatella, and I am the founder of Outside Shore Music - a pioneer of online music education since the dawn of the web. As the creator of Mastering MuseScore, A Jazz Improvisation Primer, and other resources, I have dedicated most of my life to helping as many musicians as I can. Subscribe to my free newsletter for MuseScore tips, theory insights, and more information on how to create your best music!
Hello! If you've already enrolled in the Mastering MuseScore 4 course but haven't really started exploring yet, what are you waiting for? Or if you started and then got side tracked, now is a great time to return to it. I keep adding lessons every week, so there is always new material to check out. That includes a new welcome message and tour I added at the beginning recently, to help you find your way around. Mastering MuseScoreFor the ultimate guide to the world's most popular music notation software, see my online course Mastering MuseScore 4. MuseScore CaféThis week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, we take a look at how to work with parts in MuseScore 4. The free MuseScore Café is live on Wednesday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive. Notation ProjectThis month, we're working on entering a choral piece for four voices - see the full post here. Tip of the WeekHaving lyrics between the two staves of a grand staff with the melody moving back and forth between the staves is a common thing to want to do, but it can be tricky to achieve: Musicianship SkillsIf you want to learn more about music - theory, composition, improvisation, and more - become a Gold level member and receive access to all of our music courses as well as exclusive benefits like my weekly Office Hours. Music Master ClassThis week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, I'll look at a couple of jazz-inspired pieces - an original by Greg Dunn and an arrangement by Larry Hankins . Both demonstrate the concept of focusing on thirds and sevenths in piano voicings and I'll talk about that as well also other aspects of the music. The free Music Master Class is live on Thursday at 12:30 PM Eastern (16:30 GMT, or 17:30 during the winter months), and you can access past episodes in the archive. Musicianship ProjectLearn to add color tones to your thirds and seventh in jazz voicings - see the full post here. In TheoryIn this week's lesson for the Musicianship Project, I discuss a specific strategy for adding color tones to chord voicings based on thirds and sevenths. But there is also a simple hack that a lot of pianists in the jazz and pop worlds use that is quite effective. It relies on the fact that the ninth of any chord is right next to the root, so any voicing that includes the root can be converted to one using the ninth by simply moving the finger that otherwise would have played the root a little to the right. For some examples, see the full post here. |
by Marc Sabatella
My name is Marc Sabatella, and I am the founder of Outside Shore Music - a pioneer of online music education since the dawn of the web. As the creator of Mastering MuseScore, A Jazz Improvisation Primer, and other resources, I have dedicated most of my life to helping as many musicians as I can. Subscribe to my free newsletter for MuseScore tips, theory insights, and more information on how to create your best music!
Hello! Thanks for bearing with me over the past week as I was setting up my new studio. While I still have work to do, we should be back to business as usual with respect to my live events.Meanwhile, this week in Practical Counterpoint, we're wrapping up our initial exploration of writing for three or more voices, and in Music Master Class we'll be looking at your projects on this topic. Mastering MuseScore If you are interested in getting the most out of the world's most popular music...
Hello! I wanted to give you a heads up that I am in the process of setting up a new studio, so bear with me if there are any glitches in my live events this week.Meanwhile, this week in the Practical Counterpoint course, we're continuing to expand to three parts and beyond. I'll be posting some new things for us to work on shortly. Mastering MuseScore If you are interested in getting the most out of the world's most popular music notation software, join our community with a Mastering...
Hello! In the Practical Counterpoint course, we're moving on to working with three or more parts, which has implications both for the types of textures and harmonies you can create. One of the most interesting things that should come from this is a realization of just how much of what there is to know about harmony can be learned - and indeed, was originally developed - through the study of counterpoint. Those of you in the course will be experiencing this first-hand, but as always, everyone...