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Making Music

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced player, amateur or professional, chamber musician or choral singer; you never stop learning while making music! Here, we give you a few tips and tricks to help you enjoy music even more!

Random Progressions: Practicing Jazz with Chance

Random Progressions: Practicing Jazz with Chance

Quality beats quantity. This also applies to practicing. Much more important than the number of hours we spend with our instrument is how we use that time. Endless, monotonous repetition of difficult passages is not always helpful. Creativity is the key. Or chance: Random Progressions allow us to easily create a variety of personalised exercises that are perfectly suited to our abilities.

A 150th anniversary retrospective on Sergei Rachmaninoff

A 150th anniversary retrospective on Sergei Rachmaninoff

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music". This was the sentiment of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, who was born in Russia 150 years ago. Eleonora Paolin remembers the "last romantic" by looking at some remarkable aspects of his life and work.

Musicians, show your tongue! An exercise to relax the tongue for a better sound

Musicians, show your tongue! An exercise to relax the tongue for a better sound

Musicians, show your tongue! An exercise to relax the tongue for a better sound by Sophie Stahl (31.01.2023) Showing one's tongue in public is often associated with disgust, displeasure or insult. For musicians, however, sticking out the tongue in a controlled manner can improve articulation, coordination and regeneration ability and have a positive effect on free breathing. Here is my tip: If you want to put this exercise into practice, choose the place and time wisely to experience the great...

How you succeed in reaching your practice goals

How you succeed in reaching your practice goals

As the new year begins, many of us experience a yearning for change, a drive to establish goals and incorporate new habits into our daily routine. However, noble aspirations alone are insufficient, as without tangible measures, our resolutions for the new year rapidly become meaningless. In this piece, Aloisia Dauer outlines effective strategies for setting significant musical objectives and realizing them.

Learning to play the drums - 20 questions for Franco Hänle

Learning to play the drums - 20 questions for Franco Hänle

"It is always a pleasure to witness the sense of amazement on the faces of new music students as they step into the classroom and become wide-eyed, unable to shake off their amazement, upon learning that all of the instruments in the large room can eventually be played by them." In order to assist with the decision-making process for selecting a new instrument, we have asked percussionist and conductor Franco Hänle to answer our musical questionnaire.

Marc le Gars in Focus – From Award Winning Guitarist to Celebrated Composer

Marc le Gars in Focus – From Award Winning Guitarist to Celebrated Composer

The guitarist Marc Le Gars is known especially in France for his compositions for solo guitar and chamber music. Over the years, he has published dozens of sheet music from which is readily selected for guitar examinations and competitions. In this video interview, he talks about his career and his music.

From Sound to Emotion - How Music Affects Our Feelings

From Sound to Emotion - How Music Affects Our Feelings

How can music evoke emotions? How can music calm and reduce stress? Systematic musicologist Bettina Zeidler introduces us to the world of music psychology.

Young and Under Pressure - From the Lives of Budding Professional Musicians

Young and Under Pressure - From the Lives of Budding Professional Musicians

The start of a career in music can be particularly challenging for young people. Alongside rehearsal stress and the constant pressure to keep practicing and developing, the fear of auditions and thoughts of all the competition out there can take a hold of everyday musical life. Why do young people take all of this on and how do they deal with it all? A conversation about the pressure to perform with five aspiring professional musicians.

Instrumental Up-Keep in Winter - What Should I Consider?

Instrumental Up-Keep in Winter - What Should I Consider?

What would Christmas and New Year be without concerts and music? Unfortunately, many instruments don't like the winter temperatures at all, and the dry air from our heating can also cause problems. What might happen and how can I protect my instrument from damage?

The New Performance Option for The Christmas Oratorio – Orchestra vs Organ

The New Performance Option for The Christmas Oratorio – Orchestra vs Organ

For many musicians, it is as much a part of the Advent and Christmas season as the Christmas tree or minced pies... Of course we are talking about the Christmas Oratorio by the Leipzig Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach, which fills almost every church with festive sounds in wintertime. It is well known to us all in its original form with four soloists, mixed choir and orchestra with basso continuo, but the circumstances are not always suitable for such a grand performance. Good thing there's now a new option to perform this masterpiece without orchestra!

Learning to play the Bassoon – 20 Questions for Anselma Veit

Learning to play the Bassoon – 20 Questions for Anselma Veit

“I think the bassoon gives the music a nice depth - literally and figuratively. Precisely because the tone is so wonderfully warm and velvety. No matter what formation.“ Bassoon player Anselma Veit anwsers our musical questionnaire in the hopes of making the choice for a new instrument a bit easier.

Learning to play the Recorder – 20 Questions for Vera Petry

Learning to play the Recorder – 20 Questions for Vera Petry

“What fascinates me about the recorder is the warm, soft sound and the natural playing style: the direct contact of the fingers to the wood and the wonderful feeling, similar to singing, of bringing the instrument to life with your own breath.” Recorder player Vera Petry anwsers our musical questionnaire in the hopes of making the choice for a new instrument a bit easier.

WMC Kerkrade Retrospective: What is the Status of Wind Music Today?

WMC Kerkrade Retrospective: What is the Status of Wind Music Today?

The opinion is growing amongst wind musicians that the scene seems to be in a difficult situation. Which direction should wind music take in order to reach as many people as possible in the future? Perhaps the WMC, World Music Contest, in Kerkrade in the Netherlands, often referred to as a “laboratory for wind music” can give us an insight into the scene…

How Rhythmic Speech Can Make it Easier to Learn your Instrument.

How Rhythmic Speech Can Make it Easier to Learn your Instrument.

In music lessons, rhythm often receives less focus than other aspects of the music. In this article, drummer Manu Holmer shows us the first steps to help us use speech to overcome rhythmic uncertainty.

The Art of the Encore!

The Art of the Encore!

What makes a good encore? We asked eight professional musicians to try and answer this question. Let their answers inspire you for your next concert!

Loop Me, Pachelbel! Creative Practice with Loop-Apps

Loop Me, Pachelbel! Creative Practice with Loop-Apps

Do your students find repeating scales, exercises, or tricky phrases monotonous? Then why not try a Loop-App! These easy-to-use helpers create fascinating pieces of music from unpopular exercises in no time at all, which will delight beginners and advanced users alike!

Learning to Play the Accordion – 20 Questions for Nadine Soppa

Learning to Play the Accordion – 20 Questions for Nadine Soppa

“The accordion is a very physical instrument, so a good awareness of your body gives you a clear advantage. You have to play with your whole body and "breathe" with the instrument.” Accordion player Nadine Soppa anwsers our musical questionaire in order to make deciding which instrument you would like to play a bit easier.

Understanding and Experiencing Breathing - Part 2: Three Practical Exercises

Understanding and Experiencing Breathing - Part 2: Three Practical Exercises

The first part was about understanding breathing, the second part is about experiencing it! Physiotherapist and oboist Sophie Stahl shows you three practical exercises to relax, train or regenerate your respiratory muscles. They are ideal for everyday musical life - before, during or after a rehearsal.

Learning to play the guitar – 20 questions for Adrian Hommel

Learning to play the guitar – 20 questions for Adrian Hommel

"The learning curve for guitar is extremely steep and therefore usually very motivating." Guitarist Adrian Hommel answers our musical questionnaire to make it easier for you to decide on a new instrument.

Pretty Wild! Practical tips for educating restless students

Pretty Wild! Practical tips for educating restless students

Do you know that feeling of standing up in front of a group of children, but some of them are fidgety, and the restlessness starts to spread? What do you do when a private student finds it difficult to concentrate and their mind keeps wondering off? Kristin Thieleman collected a large selection of practical and effective tips.

Learning to sing – 20 questions for Sven Fürst

Learning to sing – 20 questions for Sven Fürst

"To experience what the human voice is capable of in terms of expression and art makes you very grateful, happy and humble!" Opera and concert singer Sven Fürst answers our musical questionnaire to help you make the decision to learn to sing.

Learning to play the Clarinet – 20 questions for Flavia Feudi

Learning to play the Clarinet – 20 questions for Flavia Feudi

"The clarinet has the widest range of all woodwind instruments and can produce very soft but also very loud sounds in different registers." "To assist you in choosing a new instrument, clarinetist Flavia Feudi has provided responses to our musical questionnaire.

Joy of Music – Rare Discoveries from the Schott Archives

Joy of Music – Rare Discoveries from the Schott Archives

While the word 'archive' rarely inspires joy, the opposite can be said of the "Joy of Music" series, which Schott produced for its 250th birthday. There are five volumes containing mostly virtuosic, sometimes meditative, but always entertaining treasures from the publishing house's archive. It’s an exciting insight into the music culture of the 19th century!

Large Choral Works with Small Orchestral Forces

Large Choral Works with Small Orchestral Forces

How can large-scale choral masterpieces be performed by smaller choirs? This question has not only arisen from the corona pandemic, there have always been many reasons, including financial, to reduce the forces. Carus-Verlag regularly expands its series of choral works with reduced orchestrations with new, exciting releases. So the Stretta Journal team chose to take a closer look at these editions and present some of them in detail.

Verband deutscher Musikschulen

Bundesverband der Freien Musikschulen

Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland

Frankfurter Tonkünstler-Bund

Bundesverband deutscher Liebhaber-Orchester

Stützpunkthändler der Wiener Urtext Edition

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