Studio Cline Music

The Most Affordable Acoustic Drum Kits Worth Considering

Acoustic drum kits are a lot of things including loud, expensive, and big enough to fill a small room. However, if you have the space and the money and you (and the neighbors) don’t mind the noise, an acoustic drum kit is absolutely the best drumming experience both in terms of sound and ease of…
Open Article to Read More
Buying Used Musical Instruments

New musical instruments are shiny and cool, but most decent instruments can easily equal the cost of a month or two of mortgage. The good news is that there are many places to get quality used musical instruments at a steep discount. For keyboards, guitars, and drums, Guitar Center is a good place to start,…
Open Article to Read More
Open School Music Karate Resources

For the second year in a row, students in Open School clusters that include 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have the opportunity to participate in Music Karate! Here are some great resources to help you continue the learning experience at home.
Open Article to Read More
Free Xylophone / Glockenspiel App to Practice Without an Instrument

Update (3/17/20): It seems the app reviewed below is no longer available for Android. Not to worry, it is still available for iOS and there are plenty of xylophone apps for Android. I will be testing the other Android apps soon and I will then update this article with my recommendations. In the meantime, here…
Open Article to Read More
Best Glockenspiels for Beginner Home Practice

This year at Open School, Red and Silver Clusters are learning basic keyboard percussion, mostly on glockenspiels. And, Yellow Cluster is learning more advanced percussion on glockenspiels, xylophones, metallophones, bass bars, hand drums, and other percussion instruments. Students are not in any way required to have a mallet percussion instrument for home practice. However, students…
Open Article to Read More
Live Looping Fun with Percussion and a Single Ukulele

For the first week of music class this year, I chose two great videos to share with the classes as motivation for the coming year. Both videos involved a concept called “live looping”, which involves the use of a electronic pedal or a computer to produce a loop or repetition of a sound. Live looping…
Open Article to Read More
The Basic Tools for Home Drum Practice

Though a full drum kit can be pricey, getting started practicing drums at home is a relatively inexpensive endeavor. There are really only two essentials: drum sticks and something to drum on. Below are some recommendations for drum sticks and a practice pad. However, if you want to be sure you are playing the correct…
Open Article to Read More
Small Group Music Lessons at Open School

In the spring of 2018, I made a significant shift in the nature of lessons offered in my after-school music program. Now, most all of the lessons I teach are some sort of “group” lesson. This came partially as an experiment because I simply had too many students interested in lessons and I did not…
Open Article to Read More
Recommended Electric Guitars for Home Practice (Kid’s Edition)

It is true that electric guitar are generally easier to learn more quickly than acoustic guitars. But, few young students think about the possibility of getting a guitar appropriate for their size. Even electric guitars with full size fretboards can make it difficult for young students to reach the notes they wish to play. The…
Open Article to Read More
Using the MuseScore App to Learn Music Faster

I have wrote before about the amazing free MuseScore program for music notation. With it, you can write sheet music and advanced musical scores on your computer for absolutely no cost. It’s 100% free and incredibly rubust. For just $2, you can take MuseScore with you on your mobile device. It is currently available in…
Open Article to Read More