Duane Shinn

It has long been suggested that “music soothes the savage beast.” But is this true? And if it is, does this have any implication where humans are concerned? The answer, apparently, is yes.

Will listening to music make you smarter? Will learning to play a musical instrument make your brain grow larger than normal?Questions like these ones have been popping up all over the place in the past few years, and not just in scientific journals...

It is said that families that pray together stay together. I think it’s almost equally true that families that play together stay together. If play time is the glue of family life, our family is a sticky crew!One scorching August day we were...

One unforgettable Sunday our church had a three-year- old preacher, an organist who could play one song, an altercation involving the offering and a visiting beagle who knocked over the pulpit. It happened this way.Our family car was down at the...

Is it really possible to become an expert in some field in 20 minutes a day?When I first was exposed to the idea, I’ll admit I was rather skeptical.

Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music – the others being melody and rhythm – it would be useful to know how many chords there are.

Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began...

It’s no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some form or other. After all, it is the universal language, and we all participate in it to some degree from the cradle to the grave.

There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to “chord a song” at the piano. By “chord a song”, I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or...

We’ve all heard of them. Child prodigies who begin composing music at some ridiculously young age. For instance, history reports that Mozart was writing minuets by the time he was five years old. Amazing.