Adele’s new song “Hello” has been a phenomenal hit around the world but opinions are divided about whether the song itself is deserving of such success – or if it’s simply the result of clever marketing to a hungry fanbase. We asked five experts on music theory and analysis to give their opinions on what’s responsible for the massive success of “Hello”.

Since its release on the 23rd October Adele’s first single in three years has been breaking digital records all over the internet. It clocked up one million YouTube plays per hour in its first two days of release and two people were Shazaming the track every second in its first 24 hours.

“No single has ever been Shazamed so much in its first day” – Daniel Danker (Chief Product Officer)

On Friday it was unsurprisingly number one in the UK chart – the biggest number one for three years, in fact – and it has now become the first song to sell over 1 million U.S. downloads in a week.

The opening of the song is being described as “iconic” by the BBC and the song seems to have moved its listeners to tears in an inexplicable way. Even Adele herself cried when the single was played for the first time on BBC Radio 1. It seems the only person who hasn’t been bewitched by the song is Lionel Richie, who claims the the new Adele single resembles his 80s hit of the same name.

The internet is full of analysis. Why is she using a flip-phone in the video? There’s outrage from Brits at the way she makes a cup of tea. Is the song about the same guy as her previous hit “Someone like you”? Already there are numerous cover versions and (of course) a Lionel Richie mashup.

The evidence suggests there is something unique about “Hello”.

The release date of the single was a closely guarded secret. A 30-second teaser, without introduction, was first heard during an advertisement break on the X-Factor, sparking social media speculation that Adele “was back”.

Was it recognition of her unmistakeable voice that sparked her fans to start the hype about the single’s pending release?

Is it the lyrics or the song’s theme, tugging at everyone’s heartstrings?

Or is there something in the music itself which has made this song an unrivalled success?

We asked the experts what they thought.

Read on to find out what David Rees of Dave Conservatoire, Ethan Hein of NYU’s Music Experience Design Lab, Christopher Sutton of Musical U, Daniel Müllensiefen of the Music, Mind, and Brain research group at the University of London, and music informatics researcher Matthias Mauch think is responsible for “Hello” becoming such a smash hit.

We want to know your opinion too. Don’t miss the chance to cast your vote in our poll below: is the song’s success due to music or marketing?

David Rees (Dave Conservatoire)

David is the founder of Dave Conservatoire, a free online music school which specialises in teaching music in a modern and accessible way.

I teach a first year music theory class at Ravensbourne College. This week we explored the music of Adele’s new song “Hello” to see if we might reveal why it has been such a huge success.

While some have been quick to point out the similarity to other “telephone songs”, “Hello” does have interesting musical features.

We are not in standard major or minor key here, but instead something older, the aeolian mode. It allows for some less common harmonic colours in the song’s simple four-chord scheme. A soupy reverb-laden sound draws us in and helps set the scene for a nostalgic look back in time, much like Lana del Rey’s 2011 song “Video Games”. There is a rich palette of instrumental colours, combining electronic sounds alongside the track’s simple piano part.

However, like “Rolling in the Deep”, “Hello” principally serves as a vehicle for Adele’s exceptionally powerful and emotive voice.

The hushed, almost speech-like nature of the verses only highlight the emotion and impact of the song’s choruses when they arrive. Higher in Adele’s range, during these moments the song becomes something of an anguished cry.

We are particularly drawn to the words “side”, “times” and “tried”, where Adele’s long melody notes ache, clashing against the harmony beneath. As the song continues, more and more layers build to make the final performances of the chorus weightier still.

Big, emotional top notes have been used by composers for centuries to make a deep impact on listeners. Operatic arias often build towards a particularly high, long note, marking an emotional and musical climax.

The same is true here.

Adele’s performances express a direct kind of emotional connection that her audience clearly loves. She has mastered a range of vocal colours and techniques, but cuts particularly through her long, held, higher notes – a key feature of both “Hello” and “Rolling in the Deep”.

This is, in our view, Adele’s secret weapon.

“Hello” principally serves as a vehicle for Adele’s exceptionally powerful and emotive voice. Click to tweet

Ethan Hein (NYU)

Ethan is an Adjunct Professor at New York University and Montclair State University, and founding researcher with the Music Experience Design Lab, a research group that crosses the disciplines of music education, technology, and design. He blogs on these topics and others at EthanHein.com.

We can never know why one song is a bigger hit than another, but I can say with confidence that Adele’s overall popularity is the result of her being unbelievably good at what she does.

Her voice is a once-in-a-generation miracle, and for plenty of listeners, that’s enough. She has enough grit to make you believe her, but it comes with all the glossily Auto-Tuned perfection we’ve come to expect from our pop songs. Adele’s material is soulful enough to grab you emotionally, and conservative enough not to scare away any major listening constituency. The overall feel is retro enough for your parents, yet current enough for tweens. There’s no profanity, no street slang, and no hard-edged drum machines or synths. But there’s enough of an edge to keep from slipping into Norah Jones Sunday brunch territory.

Adele is exceptionally gifted at forging an instant emotional connection. The song is telling a sad story, but not so sad as to bring you down excessively. It’s easy to imaginatively put yourself in her position as the narrator, or in the position of the person she’s addressing, or both. The lyrics are laden with comforting clichés. The internet has already pointed out the opening line’s obvious association to Lionel Richie. The phrase “California dreamin'” evokes The Mamas and The Papas. Adele talks about calling someone who “isn’t home,” which is a sweet anachronism of the pre-cell-phone era.

While the song itself could have been written in 1972, the production has a few touches that locate it unambiguously in the present. In the seventies, Adele’s voice would have been soaked in natural reverb; now she gets a blend of digital reverb and delay that keeps her sounding crisp and immediate. The piano is reassuringly acoustic, but other sounds are more technological: the rising backwards-masked ambience, the filtered drum loops, the quantized rhythm.

The melody is a blend of bluesy pentatonicism and stepwise walks down the scale. Adele has a strong blues feel to her delivery, but this song has no other obvious blues signifiers like tritones or major/minor clashes. The chord progression is straightforward diatonicism. I’m sure someone else has done a thorough analysis. I’ll just point out that the tune uses a few harmonically static loop structures, with so little functional movement as to feel modal. A seventies tune would probably have a bridge in a new key, maybe on the fourth of the home key. I like that modern pop has so little harmonic activity; it keeps your attention on the sounds and the beats. If I want interesting chord progressions, I have jazz for that.

As a general matter, Americans love black music, especially when delivered by white people. We love the idea of soul, but we don’t like to have to confront uncomfortable racial politics. Like Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield, Adele has more going for her creatively than just appropriation. Reggie Watts, in his comedy special A Live In Central Park, describes Adele as “a black woman that got beamed into the consciousness of a white girl [and] completely neutralized the idea of racism.” It’s a nice idea, isn’t it?

If I want interesting chord progressions, I have jazz for that. Click to tweet

Christopher Sutton (Musical U)

Christopher is the Director of Easy Ear Training and Musical U, helping people to discover and develop their natural musicality.

To me there are three things which are notable about Adele’s “Hello”.

The first is the vocals. If you applied a musical 80/20 analysis to this song I think you’d have to conclude that the vocals are 80% of what makes the song special. Replace any other musical component and you’d still have a decent song, but replace the vocals and there’s really not much left. Adele’s voice is broad in its tone and she has a timbre that sounds “high definition” compared to some of the simpler-sounding pop voices out there. I’m not sure it’s unique or immediately recognisable, but it’s certainly distinctive and has an undeniable richness to it. This allows for a lush overall sound in her songs, and a recording you can listen to carefully multiple times and still find new ways to appreciate.

The second thing I think is notable about this song is the chord progression. It’s remarkable that one of the most successful songs of the last decade is a four chord song. Not only that but it’s the classic combination of I, IV, V, and vi chords throughout – specifically the version starting from the minor chord which is so common as to have its own name and dedicated website. The order changes around a bit to create a slightly different musical journey in the chorus than the verse, but we’re still talking about the same four chords that have powered thousands of pop and rock hits.

To put it another way: what’s remarkable about the harmony is that it’s about as unremarkable as could be. It’s a clear demonstration that you don’t need to get adventurous with your harmonies to create a hit.

The third thing is the arrangement. In today’s charts such a stripped-down under-produced spacious sound is quite unusual, but with a distinctive and powerful lead vocal it can work beautifully. Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” is a recent song in this style and one of my all-time favourites, Maddy Prior’s “What had you for your supper” is another good example of this. I think most listeners would agree it would have been a mistake to cram in more instruments or produce a thicker mix around Adele’s vocal performance!

To my ears, those are the three factors which make this a distinctive song. Since I heard about the song’s success before I listened to it I can’t say whether I would have predicted quite how successful it’s been solely from listening. On balance I don’t think I would have. It’s certainly a remarkable and memorable song but I feel that the raving fanbase and launch marketing must have also been significant factors in its phenomenal success.

Applying a musical 80/20 analysis to Adele’s “Hello”: the vocals are 80% of what makes the song special. Click to tweet

Daniel Müllensiefen (University of London)

Daniel is a Reader in Psychology and director of the Music, Mind, and Brain MSc at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was consultant scientist on the Earworm Project which investigated the factors which make a song get stuck in your head.

Adele’s “Hello” is everywhere at the moment: radio, TV, newspaper features, the internet. But the question is whether this song is so inherently good and catchy that people are just hooked on it. Or is it rather the people who create radio playlists and set media agendas have all just coincided in their judgement to push this song right now?

So, let’s see. The song definitely has some features that seem almost necessary conditions for a catchy tune or a tune that many people would report as an “ear worm”. It relies almost exclusively on a sequence of four chords (F-minor, A♭-major, E♭-major, D♭-major) that repeats over and over again. This chord sequence is the intro to the song but also used for its verse and chorus. It is also very short (about 5 seconds) and fits easily in human working memory. Repeating something short and very simple over and over again is a pre-requisite for people being able to encode and memorise a musical structure.

But just repeating a chord sequence isn’t enough and the song would be ultimately very boring if noting else happened. After a while the chord sequence shifts to the background and leaves the stage for Adele’s powerful voice which takes the listener on a journey form a very calm atmosphere to a highly agitated emotional state. This emotional journey almost guarantees that listeners will follow the song because it has an inner emotional narrative that you wouldn’t want to leave unresolved. Thus, it is her vocal performance that keeps us engaged and listening. The melody she sings is also extremely well structured. It has a very clear phrase segmentation which matches human chunking of an auditory input stream. The melody also re-uses the short two note motive (“hello”) from the beginning the song very cleverly to give it a strong inner coherence.

Thus, all these features (repetition of the chord sequence, easy chunking of the melody, re-use of melodic motives, emotional vocal performance) are conducive for attentive listening, good memory for the song and probably contribute to this tune catching on as an ear worm with many people. They are almost certainly necessary ear worm features. But are they also sufficient for predicting that this song is definitely going to be an ear worm?

We know from empirical research (Williamson et al., 2012, Psychology of Music) that one of the most common triggers of ear worms is recent exposure to the particular song. And with “Hello” there has been plenty of recent exposure for almost anyone tuning into entertainment media these days. Hence we can’t escape the song and this very fact might be the ultimate reason why people get it as an ear worm. In that sense the ear worminess of “Hello” is probably more a media phenomenon than anything else and if the media is now celebrating the catchy qualities of the song then the media are probably also celebrating themselves.

Adele’s song Hello has 5 musical features which make it a catchy “earworm”. Click to tweet

Matthias Mauch

Matthias is a music informatics researcher formerly of the Centre for Digital Music, London. He blogs about pop music and his research at matthiasmauch.net.

When it’s real love then it’s love despite the flaws. I love this song, despite the fact that it is a bit clumsy in some ways, especially the lyrics. There’s a lot of songwriting craft in the song though (and very little that actually resembles Lionel Richie’s song).

The song revolves around the same four chords, but, rather cleverly, in two different orders for the verse and chorus, respectively (don’t let Wikipedia tell you otherwise). This can be repetitive but it’s broken up twice in the song, just before the verse leads into the chorus. I like that, especially the second time when it goes together with the lyrics “it’s no secret that the both of us are running out of time”. To me those are the most beautiful seconds of the song, with Adele’s voice wonderfully low and smoky.

In the chorus her voice is much harder, and she employs quite a rare technique with some notes snapping into pitch from above (for example on “times” in “must have called a thousand times”). On that same note there’s another technique, one that I’ve heard people call “kobushi”, a one-of vibrato-like up-shoot. Other than showing great control of the voice, Adele uses these techniques to convey a mourning tone that nonetheless feels strong.

There are some strong lyrics, and then some that seem to be put together a bit clumsily and in a hurry, but the ones that are strong do make an impact: Adele is getting through to the world after years of calling when we weren’t home. But we clearly still love her.

Adele uses rare vocal techniques to convey a mourning tone that nonetheless feels strong. Click to tweet

So there you have it: An incomparable vocal performance, arranged and produced in a way which showcases rather than distracts from it. Melody and lyrics designed for emotional impact, easy memorisation and “ear worm” catchiness. And, it must be mentioned, a marketing campaign which perfectly leveraged the fanbase who had been waiting three years for a new Adele hit. These seem to be the key ingredients responsible for the astonishing success of Adele’s “Hello”.

Have Your Say

Do you have an opinion on what’s made Adele’s “Hello” such a success? Cast your vote below – and then leave a comment and let us know why!

Step 1 of 11 9% This quick exercise will reveal your current musical strengths and the areas of musicality you can focus on and improve next. This takes about 5 minutes. Just answer each question in turn. At the end you will be presented with your completed checklist and personal action plan.



Christopher Sutton

Director, Musical U Hi, I'm Christopher! What's your name?





Name: First Last So before we begin, one background question:

Do you play an instrument? * (singing counts!) Yes No

What do you play? I sing Guitar Piano Bass Percussion Brass or Wind (e.g. sax) Strings (e.g. violin) Other

Your instrument:

How long have you been learning ? Just started 1-3 Years 3-10 Years I am a Pro Here are the results of your Musicality Checklist, along with some advice and suggestions for starting to learn the new skills you want to have.

Okay! We're going to go through a number of musical skills. For each one, select if you can already do it and if it's a skill you want to have. If you're not interested in that skill, just leave it blank.

Clapping along in time with music When you hear music you can easily clap along and be in time with the beat. I can do this I want to do this

Clapping in time with music is the foundation of rhythm. Learning to find "the beat" by ear and clap along is an essential skill for any musician. Producing all the right notes will still sound bad if they all come out at the wrong times! To begin learning to clap in time, start simple. Often people have difficulty clapping along because they choose quite challenging music. Some music is easier to clap along with because it has a clearer beat . The beat is the repeating pulse of the music, and to "clap in time with music" means that you clap at the same moment as each beat occurs. So to begin with, try clapping along with the simplest of beats. Don't try recorded music. Instead, find a metronome which is a device that simply ticks at a steady pace (you can find apps or online metronomes). Or, even simpler, just find a clock that ticks and try to clap once each second. Most people find they can tell if they are clapping in time or not, just by listening: do your claps happen at the same moment as each beat? If you can't tell, try recording your attempt and then listen back. You should be able to clearly hear whether the claps match up with the ticks of your metronome or clock. Learn more at Musical U

Having a good sense of rhythm You can reliably play notes with accurate timing and handle complex rhythmic patterns. I can do this I want to do this

Rhythm can seem like a "natural" ability because we talk about someone who's "got a great sense of rhythm" or is "a natural dancer". In reality, only a small part of your sense of rhythm is "nature". The rest is learned. To have a good sense of rhythm requires two things: understanding how rhythm works, and training your ear to recognise and respond to rhythmic patterns. You can begin learning about musical rhythm from music theory tutorials online. Then once you understand concepts like "beat", "tempo", "swung rhythms" and so on, you can train your ear. The best way to get started with this is through active listening. Simply listen to the music you normally enjoy, and start asking yourself questions about the concepts you've learned. Can you find the "beat"? Is the "tempo" fast or slow? Are the musicians using "swung" rhythms and "syncopation"? How does the rhythm vary in the different parts of the song? The more you practice listening actively for rhythm, the more attuned your ear will become. Then you can begin to introduce dedicated ear training exercises to sharpen up your sense of rhythm and connect it with your own music making. Learn more at Musical U

Singing in tune You can sing back tunes you hear and be confident you are in tune (a.k.a. "in key", "on pitch"). I can do this I want to do this

Whether or not you consider yourself "a singer", being able to reliably, accurately and confidently sing in tune is a core skill for all musicians. It allows you to communicate your musical ideas quickly and fluently, boosts your musical memory, and is a powerful tool for training your musical ear. Learning to sing in tune is possible and practical, if approached the right way. The major mistake most people make is to immediately start trying to sing songs. This seems like the obvious starting point but it is actually skipping past some essential steps! To learn to sing in tune you must first learn to "match pitch" (meaning you hear a note and then can sing back that same note) and master basic "vocal control" (meaning you can move your voice's pitch from one note to another accurately). Spend some time practicing these two core skills before trying to sing songs, and singing in tune will be easy and natural. Learn more at Musical U Playing melodies (tunes) by ear You can hear a series of notes and play them back on your instrument without needing written music. I can do this I want to do this

Playing tunes by ear can seem mysterious but it can actually be a logical process. Learn the process and train your ears for it, and playing by ear will no longer seem like a mystery! There are two main approaches to playing melodies by ear: using intervals or using solfa. An "interval" is the distance in pitch between two notes. You can learn to recognise different types of interval which lets you "measure" pitch distances by ear. Then when you hear the notes in a melody you understand how far apart they all are, and can play them back by ear. "Solfa" is a powerful framework for naming the notes of the scale. You can train your ears to recognise each note by its solfa name, so that when you hear a melody you immediately know where each note belongs in the scale, and so can play it back on your instrument. Both approaches work well, and can even be combined. To begin learning to play melodies by ear, simply choose one of these two approaches and start training! Don't worry, you can always change your decision later, or mix-and-match. All the ear training you do will build valuable skills, even if you change approach along the way. Learn more about intervals at Musical U Learn more about solfa at Musical U

Playing chords by ear You can hear a sequence of chords and play them back on your instrument without needing written music. I can do this I want to do this

To hear a song and then play back the chords, for example strumming on guitar or playing an arrangement on piano, is challenging if you sit down and just try to do it. However, if you learn the simple principles of how chord progressions are built, it becomes much easier to train your ears and learn to play those progressions by ear. Did you know that a huge number of songs use the same handful of chords? There's a certain logic to it, and once you understand how it works, you can learn to play a lot of songs by ear with only a small amount of training. So the best way to start learning to play chords by ear isn't to dive in and start trying it with songs. It's to learn about how chord progressions work and which chords are the most frequently used - then do some dedicated ear training to recognise just those chords. This approach lets you very quickly develop a very useful ability level with this skill. Learn more at Musical U

Improvising a solo You can make up a short original melody on the spot, to match a piece of music. I can do this I want to do this

Conjuring up great-sounding music out of nowhere is perhaps the pinnacle of musical expression. Many musicians yearn for that freedom but don't know where to start. As with many things in music, the trick is to start simply. It's better to improvise something short and simple that sounds great than to try for something long or complex, and end up playing a bunch of notes that don't fit. To learn to improvise requires some core ear training in relative pitch so it's closely related to playing melodies by ear. This helps you go from music in your head to actually playing those same notes in the real world on your instrument. Then, by choosing to practice with simple exercises, including games and mini-challenges, you can build up your improvisational skills: from "simple and great-sounding" to "advanced and great-sounding". By focusing on the musicality of your improvisations (instead of complex rules and systems) you can make sure you always sound good and enjoy improvising. Learn more at Musical U Jamming with other musicians When a group of musicians are informally playing live together you can join them confidently. I can do this I want to do this

When you see a group of musicians sitting and jamming it can seem a bit intimidating if you've never done it before. The truth is that jamming actually does not require advanced musical ability. What it requires most of all is a willingness to make mistakes and keep trying. The real secret to successful jamming is to realise that nobody else is perfect! And they will all be very forgiving of newcomers making mistakes. Often a "jam" is much simpler than it sounds. Some musicians will be playing very basic chords or accompaniments. The overall group may sound sophisticated and impressive but don't let that hold you back. Even just playing a very simple accompaniment part lets you be a part of the jam, and the person organising it will be happy to help you figure out what that part could be. So don't be nervous! The whole point of jam sessions is to let anybody get involved. Give it a try, don't be embarrassed to be a beginner at jamming, and keep what you play simple. In a jam session any contribution is a good contribution! Learn more at Musical U

Talking about music with others You can discuss music and how it works with other musicians, knowing the right concepts and words to use. I can do this I want to do this

Music is a wild and wonderful world of variety. For every flavour and genre and tradition in music, there is a set of words, phrases and expressions. That means that even experienced musicians sometimes have trouble communicating! So if you've struggled to join conversations with other musicians or explain what you mean, don't worry! You are certainly not alone. Even a professional orchestra musician would feel out of place chatting with hip-hop artists in the studio, or vice-versa. There are two ways to get started learning to "talk music". The first is studying. The internet is your friend, here. Simply explore web articles about music slang, jargon, terminology. Look for glossaries and dictionaries. Try to connect up the words used in one style (e.g. jazz) with the words for the same concepts in other styles (e.g. classical). Often the words are shared, sometimes they vary. The key thing is to relate it all to real music, the music you actually listen to. Practice describing the tracks you love, even just to yourself. If you can't find the right words, go look and see if you can find out what they are. The second way to learn to "talk music" is by getting out there and doing it. If you're nervous talking to other musicians "live" then try to connect online. Find a friendly, supportive community where people discuss music and dive in. If you don't understand the jargon, just ask - musicians are often glad to show off their knowledge! And if you've done a bit of studying up, you'll probably have your own explanations to share too. Learn more at Musical U

Performing confidently live You can perform a piece you've learned in front of a live audience. I can do this I want to do this

Stage fright strikes every musician at one time or another. In a way, it's an unavoidable part of performing music live, and the nervous energy provides some of the exhilaration of music-making. However, there are practical techniques you can use to reduce your nervousness and conquer stage fright. These include things like breathing techniques, visualisation exercises and very practical steps you can take to prepare for each performance. If you've never performed music live before, or had a bad experience or two, the whole idea can seem scary. But if you take concrete practical measures to boost your musical confidence, performing live can become a true joy for you. Learn more at Musical U Understanding music theory You know and understand the basic concepts of how music works and why certain notes and rhythms sound better than others. I can do this I want to do this

Music theory can seem strange and abstract, even mathematical. But the truth is, it is simply "how music works" - and that makes it essential for every musician. The key to succeeding in learning music theory is to connect it with real music. Each time you learn a new concept, ask yourself where you've seen examples of it in the music you listen to or play. Try to find sources of music theory instruction that illustrate using real musical examples. For the core theory we highly recommend DaveConservatoire.org's great explainer videos. Inside Musical U we focus just on the essentials of music theory - the stuff musicians actually use day to day - and connect it directly to real music recordings and instrument practice exercises. You can do the same as you learn music theory. Adopt the mindset that theory is "how music works" and it is only useful if you also learn how to apply it in your own musical life - and you will find that learning music theory can be just as enjoyable as music itself. Learn more at DaveConservatoire.org

Writing music notation You can write down music in traditional ("score") notation - with pencil and paper or using software. I can do this I want to do this

As you develop your musicality you will find yourself with more and more musical creativity. Ideas for new melodies, chords and songs will spring up in your mind and you'll want to save them somehow. One way is to learn to play by ear, and then record yourself playing your newly-created music. But that can be a challenge in itself! Instead, learn to write music notation and you have an easy way to jot down any musical thoughts or ideas you have at any time. The best way to get started writing music notation is actually to read it. Learning to read music notation gives you the connection between symbols on the page and musical ideas in your head. Then, it's relatively simple to begin writing it down yourself, whether that's with pen and paper or notation software. Learn more at Musical U

Creating my own music You can write songs or compose music to express your own musical ideas. I can do this I want to do this

Simply learning an instrument can be rewarding - but ultimately if you only ever play what somebody else composed, it can feel limiting. You're missing out on the true creative expression which being a musician can provide. Learning to create your own music doesn't have to be hard. Once great way to get started is by exploring improvisation. This helps you get freed up to create new musical ideas without worrying about making "mistakes" and it's also great practice for expressing your ideas through your instrument or learning how to write them down. If you sit down with the goal of creating a masterpiece, that can quickly feel like a crushing burden. Instead, set yourself free with a goal to simply create something new and interesting. Let the masterpieces follow in due course as you playfully explore new musical ideas. Learn more at Musical U Reading music notation You can read traditional "score" notation and play from sheet music. I can do this I want to do this

Traditional music notation is often associated with classical music but the reality is that it's still used widely throughout the music world. Learning to read music notation helps unlock a whole range of new music for you to learn and play from sheet music. The "how to" of reading music is actually fairly simple and you can learn it from online tutorials in an hour or two. What trips musicians up is what they do next... The most important thing as you start learning to read music notation is to remember that reading music is different from sight-reading music. Don't expect yourself to glance at a new sheet of music and play it directly! First, it will be a process of step-by-step figuring out each symbol on the page, the timing of each note and rest, figuring out the note names and how to play them on your instrument. Give yourself the time to work it out, note-by-note and bar-by-bar. Separate out "figuring out the notation" from "learning to play the piece fluently". In time, with practice, the two will merge together and you will soon be able to sight-read (i.e. play immediately without the "figuring out" stage) any new piece of sheet music you discover. Learn more at Musical U

Sight-reading written music When you are given sheet music you've never seen before you can perform it directly without rehearsal. I can do this I want to do this

Once you've mastered the process of reading music notation, you can begin practicing sight-reading. This is a skill in itself! You must dedicate practice time if you want to learn to do it. We recommend the website SightReadingMastery.com as a great source of sight-reading practice material. As you begin learning to sight-read, remember this: it is absolutely normal for your performance level to be substantially lower for sight-reading as for playing learned pieces. For example, if you can comfortably play intermediate (e.g. Grade 5) level pieces on your instrument, you should be aiming to play beginner (e.g. Grade 2 or 3) level pieces when sight-reading. What generally discourages musicians is trying to sight-read pieces at their normal performance level. This is bound to be frustrating! The sight-reading itself is an extra challenge and you must allow for that. If you set your expectations a notch or two lower like this, and regularly practice sight-reading new music, you will find the frustration disappears and it becomes a smooth and gradual learning process. Learn more at SightReadingMastery.com

Playing from a lead sheet You can perform a song using just the simplified "lead sheet" or "chord chart". I can do this I want to do this

When you see jazz musicians sit in with a new group and somehow play songs you're sure they've never learned before, how do they do it? The answer is probably that they're relying on a "lead sheet". Instead of trying to memorise every jazz standard or becoming expert-level sight-readers carrying a suitcase full of sheet music, they have a small book of simplified notation. Lead sheets are much easier to sight-read due to being simpler - but they do require some extra skills. For example you'll need to interpret and adapt rhythmic patterns to match the style, jam well with other musicians so you sound like a cohesive group, improvise a solo when your turn comes around, and depending on your instrument you might also need to improvise a suitable arrangement from the chord symbols provided on the lead sheet. This means that learning to play from a lead sheet is actually a vehicle for several other skills of musicality. The best way to learn it is to practice by yourself at first, learning to interpret the specialised notation, while also doing ear training for melodies, chords, rhythm and more. Whatever style you eventually want to play, it's best to start simple: try picking up a rock or pop songbook rather than going to sophisticated jazz standards. This will give you a much easier outlet for exploring your musicality and developing your confidence playing from a lead sheet. Learn more at Musical U Tuning my instrument by ear If an instrument needs to be tuned before playing, you can do this by ear without needing an electronic tuner. I can do this I want to do this

Today we rely on electronic devices for almost everything, but if there's one place you should steer clear, it's tuning your instrument. Tuning by ear may seem relatively slow and inaccurate compared to a clever digital tuner, but in fact it is a dangerous dependence to have. How will you know if you've gone out of tune again? Learning to tune by ear isn't just a convenient skill - it also trains you for a level of pitch perception which will improve all your intonation and give you a more subtle appreciation of music. The simplest way to start learning to tune by ear is to try it, every time you sit down to practice. Keep using your digital tuner to check and correct your attempt, but always start by trying to tune up by ear first. There are ear training exercises you can use to accelerate the process of fine-tuning your sense of pitch - but this simple practice habit is a great way to get started today. Learn more at Musical U

Knowing my instrument(s) inside and out You know all the details and possibilities of the instrument(s) you play. I can do this I want to do this

Some people say there are two types of musician: those who can play and those who can just talk. And it's true, you do sometimes encounter musicians who can talk to (or "at"!) you for hours about music - but don't seem to have gone beyond the basics of playing their instrument. But don't let that deter you from learning all you can about your instrument. Studying the history, classic performances, playing techniques and future directions of your instrument enhances your musicality by giving you a broader and deeper connection with your instrument. The best place to start learning about your instrument and its subtleties is in online communities where you can quickly find a large number of people to discuss your instrument with, exchanging tips, tricks and resources. Learn more at Musical U

Playing more than one instrument You can play more than one instrument to a proficient level. I can do this I want to do this

One of the joys of developing your musicality is that it benefits you across all instruments. Once you can understand theory, play by ear, improvise, and jam with others on one instrument, it is very quick to learn to do it on another. You will still need to learn the physical practicalities of the new instrument - but even that goes faster, as your body understands the rhythmic precision of music already. Most musicians who have spent time honing their musicality while learning their first instrument are easily able to pick up another. If you have tried and found it very challenging, it's likely that your musicality lags behind your physical instrument skills. Spend some time honing your "inner musician" on your primary instrument and you will find it brings a new freedom as you try to learn a second (or even a third!) Learn more at Musical U One last quick question:

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