I face the same challenge every Christmas: piecing songs together from random internet sources to play holiday music at home. They’re rarely in a convenient key or format! This year, my son’s early excitement for the holidays—starting with the first snow in mid-November—inspired me to get into the Christmas spirit sooner. So, I decided to… Continue reading
The album “A Forgotten Day,” featuring author songs and poems by well-known poets, reflects on life in all its emotional shades, speaking of longing, hope, disappointment, pain, and joy, but above all, love. “Since the beginning of time, the theme of loneliness, the need for understanding and love has touched people. Today, this need is… Continue reading
Peeter Prints’ (1961) sheet music publication “Ballads, Preludes, Arias, Etudes, Blues” is likely familiar to all classical guitar students in Estonia from the beginning of the 1990s until now. The enduring interest in Prints’ music cannot be explained simply by the fact that there is a lack of printed music by Estonian authors for classical… Continue reading
By the early 1600s, the world was undergoing significant changes. Copernicus had placed the Sun at the center of the universe, Columbus had discovered America, the Church was going through the Reformation, and philosophers introduced new ideas about humanism and the individual’s role in society. As a result, rhetorics became an important part of school… Continue reading
Online music education has seen a rapid expansion with the proliferation of the internet, making it more accessible to people around the world. However, private music lessons can still be expensive, leading many individuals to rely on one-way instructional materials that provide information but do not offer any feedback. In a recent research paper (Käo,… Continue reading
Learners Need Feedback Anyone who learns a musical instrument wants to know how is he/she doing. In other words, learners need feedback. Sadly, two of the most popular learning models today – online learning and learning by textbooks – tend to omit it almost completely. But what about the traditional and luxurious one-by-one teaching? While I must admit that… Continue reading
A guitar is an instrument that enables you to play either melodies, chords, or rhythm, and everything at once. The simplest way to start, though, is by playing melodies. During this mini-course you will acquire the main skills and knowledge you need to play melodies on a guitar both by ear as well as from sheet music… Continue reading
After finishing the guitar chord game we have been working on a bigger project called MatchMySound. It is a web app for music teachers that allows them to give their students measurable homework. Basically an automated music teacher that has a very good ear for students’ mistakes. It distinguishes between the timing and sound mistakes… Continue reading
Yesterday we presented a mini concert at the Nokia Concert Hall. This year the Tallinn Music Week’s classical artists’ showcase was organized by Pille Lill Musicians’ Fund. Our program included three pieces by Estonian composers: Matbeth by Rene Eespere, Water Dance by Jüri Reinvere and For BBB And His Friend by Lepo Sumera. The first… Continue reading
In March I was invited to speak at the HITSA spring conference. The main focus of the conference was educational technology at schools and teaching programming. My topic was “The Sound Recognition-Based Tools In Music Education” and I introduced our MatchMySound automated feedback system. My presentation is on YouTube but in Estonian. Here are my… Continue reading