After trying several apps that promised ear training, Doug joined Musical U and says he was immediately surprised by the comprehensive approach that the site employed to teach. Starting off with very simple exercises gave him the confidence and foundation to continue learning more complex skills. The logical flow from one module to the next, along with his progress journal, gave him a clear plan and direction.

Doug can now sit at the piano and confidently play a simple folk tune or Beatles song without needing to rush off to find the sheet music. Being able to play songs and sing with his family is now a source of joy in his musical life. His improvisational skills have greatly improved and he has a firm structure for how he approaches improvisation. Doug says his experiences at Musical U have opened up his eyes to some new ways of thinking about music and performing. 

Paris is a budding producer and multi-instrumentalist who had become mystified by the attitude many people seemed to have for music, that “you either had it in you or you didn’t”. He would watch musicians performing and wonder how they were able to just get on stage and play with such confidence and presence in the moment. Wanting to explore his own creative side, he sought an answer, a step-by-step method to unlocking his desire to play music. 

Upon his initial sign-in to the site, Paris says he was delighted to be greeted by the team and dove straight into his music learning. He was able to set goals and see the course work laid out in a sequential manner. Having real human interaction within the membership was a big deal for him, and helped to inspire years of learning and developing his musicality. 

Paris calls Musical U the “center of the musicality universe, a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge”. He says he’s now able to speak in a musical language and communicate freely with other musicians and his instrument teachers. This holistic approach to his music learning has given him the confidence to play with others, continue to learn new styles of music, and to find true happiness as a musician. 

Shirley describes herself as a lifelong caretaker, raising many children and caring for foster children. Her house was always a musical house and she was delighted to see the children grow and develop musicality as part of their upbringing. But she was so busy caring for the family that she never had the opportunity to explore her own musical side. Retirement opened up a new chapter and she was able to join a local choir and began to thirst for more knowledge about her newfound passion for creating music. 

She said she was drawn to Musical U because of the passion for music that Christopher had. It matched her own! While she initially found the site overwhelming, the Musical U team was able to guide her in the direction that she wanted to take and give her the support that she needed. The clear breakdown of the modules allowed her to review skills that she had already gained while setting a foundation for more difficult and complex music learning as she continued her journey.

Since joining Musical U, she’s made steady progress toward her goals and still revisits previous training to refresh her skills. She’s become more confident in her singing and reflects on her thoughts about playing music with the community. She says that perhaps the most surprising aspect of Musical U was how kind the community is - she’s never heard a single negative word from anyone on the site. 

Tony developed a passion for recording and allowed other musicians to record in his home studio for years. Along the way, he decided that he’d like to try his hand at playing music and began studying the guitar through a website online. While his technical skills improved on the guitar, he felt that something was missing and began to explore ear training and developing a better instinct for playing music. 

Tony first found Musical U through the show Musicality Now and was immediately attracted to the collaborative nature of the team. He said that he could tell that the team genuinely wanted him to learn these skills, and wasn’t just after a financial transaction. The material complemented his guitar lessons and he was able to began applying his new training to real music quickly.

Tony describes himself as not only a Musical U student, but a Musical U fan. He’s continued to develop as a musician and urges others throughout the community. He calls his membership a patronage to the idea that people have the right to learn these skills and become confident and capable musicians. He says the site has given him a lot, and he’s happy to pass along the skills he’s learned to other musicians. 

Sharilynn is a classically trained musician that moved away from music for a career and to raise her family. While she wasn’t able to play as much as she would have liked during those years, she kept music in her household and knew that one day she would return. The opportunity finally came and she was able to begin playing in a big band as the children got older.

Finding herself playing completely new style of music, Sharilynn knew that she had to develop her listening skills. She first joined Musical U through the course The Musician’s Ear and says she was amazed at the depth of the material and how much it related to her goals. The wide variety of different songs and styles helped her develop active listening quickly and it’s now a skill that she uses on a frequent basis. Eventually, she moved onto the membership site and continued to learn more skills and encourage other musicians throughout the community. 

The biggest breakthrough for Sharilynn has been the discovery that she does have a musical ear. While she had previously struggled through ear training at university, she was now able to develop her skills in a step-by-step manner and experience real progress. This gave her the confidence to continue learning and apply the training to her musical life. Being able to pick and choose her learning in a flexible manner with the support of the Musical U team allows her to have never-ending fun and progress with the training. 

Min grew up and lives in China, where she attended primary school and received a basic music education. But she never had the opportunity to play the piano and had a passion for exploring the instrument in her future. After beginning her professional career in the legal industry, she took a leap of faith and purchased her first piano and began looking for a teacher. To her surprise, most of the teachers in her area scoffed at the idea of someone her age just beginning their music education. She was told she was “too old” to learn music and should stop immediately. But she persisted. 

After making a new years resolution that 2019 was the year she was going to learn music, she stumbled upon Musical U. She loved the structure that Musical U provided to her music education. She’s now able to improvise and play songs by ear, which has greatly increased her repertoire and ability to play songs for her friends.

The biggest breakthrough for Min was the idea that solfa can be used throughout her musical life. In China, solfa is primarily reserved only for primary school music, and isn’t practiced much outside of school. Solfa has been instrumental in providing Min with a musical foundation that can be used in nearly any musical situation she finds herself in. Min is also immersed within the Musical U community and loves to converse with like-minded adult musicians. She says that Musical U is the “best thing that has happened to her this year”.

Music had been a part of Glenn’s life since childhood, teaching himself chords and putting various music groups together. While he enjoyed playing, he felt that he was limited to strumming some chords or basic finger picking. The basic theoretical knowledge that he needed to play by ear or work out his own melodies wasn’t there yet. As he entered retirement, he saw the opportunity to take up another instrument and purchased a ukulele. Playing a new instrument was exciting and he began to explore more learning opportunities. While he was doing new things, he still felt that something was missing. 

Musical U appealed to Glenn because he has always felt that he needed to have a good baseline knowledge in whatever he was learning. Having that firm base would then allow him to continue learning more advanced skills. He says he’s found the material quite easy to learn and surprisingly transferable to everything that he was studying in his instrument lessons. 

What Glenn likes the most is that he’s able to go through a lesson in a short period of time and then immediately begin applying what he’s learned on his instrument. He likes the self-paced and flexible learning environment, which he uses to go through the roadmaps and explore topics on his own. He says the interaction between members and the Musical U team is an enjoyable part of his learning and he looks forward to each time he comes to the site. 

Oli came into music after he started swing dancing and he wanted a better understanding of the music that he was dancing to. After discovering the Musicality Now podcast, he found that the idea of learning to play by ear was something that just made sense to him. After trying a couple of apps that were designed to teach playing by ear, he decided to join Musical U. 

After jumping into Musical U training, Oli appreciated the support and interactive nature of the site. Having other musicians to talk to and a staff to get advice from made a big difference in his ability to express himself musically. 

Oli is encouraged by the quick progress that he’s been able to make. He’s expressing himself musically and is able to learn entire songs by ear in quick fashion. Musical U will be part of Oli’s music learning for a long time into the future. He recognizes that he’s on a long journey and is enjoying every step along the way. 

R.J. had experimented with music in his youth, playing the clarinet and guitar. His family was very supportive of his interest in music, but his music education was derailed by his father’s overseas assignment. Instead of pursuing music further, R.J. became an engineer and raised his family. 

R.J. encouraged his children to learn music, and in turn they urged their father to resume his music studies. After buying a guitar one holiday, he realized that there were things his children understood about music that seemed foreign to him. They were quick to point him in the right direction and he discovered that there was a whole world of music that he hadn’t been exposed to yet.

Since joining Musical U, R.J. says he has found that the "dots are connecting" and he’s gained a greater understanding of the world of music. He’s not content to just play music - his training as an engineer requires that he understands what’s going on with the music. R.J. says this has been an incredibly rewarding experience and he looks forward to studying music for as long as he can. He looks forward to a continued exploration into music and expressing his musicality on the guitar and other instruments.