We all know that learning needs to be a step-by-step process.

But:

And what if that “missing step” isn’t just any old step – it’s the first step.

Let me put it like this:

Where would you start?

Not with the roof.
 
Or by laying down bricks.
 
Not if you had any sense at all.
 
Because if you did start with those later steps…
 
Everything you built would have a tendency to collapse.

But when you do put the right foundation in place…
 
It instantly becomes easy to build on top.

Well, for decades now the scientific research has shown that “talented” musicians are different from the average struggling music learner in one key way.

While the average music learner struggles away trying to “pile on bricks”...

The “talented” ones have first put the right foundation in place.

And what exactly is the “right foundation”?

All the research points to just one thing:

In fact, it turns out that what can transform a musician into feeling like a “natural” isn’t a vastly complicated mental model packed with music theory and extensive decades of instrument practice.

What matters is:

You don’t need to understand every detail of all music in full complexity to start playing by ear.

Or improvising.

Or sight-singing directly from notation.

What you need are mental models for understanding music in a way that matches up with the tasks you’re trying to do.

Think about it:

What’s the difference between you and those great “natural” musicians you admire?

It’s the ease, the confidence, the freedom, the creativity that they seem to embody.

Pick any instrument, any style, any musical situation, and one of those “naturals” is going to dive in with enthusiasm and fit right in.

Again:

The biggest piece that lets them feel free, confident and creative in music: mental models.

It’s their understanding of music that sets them free.

That instinctive grasp of what’s going on in music and how to participate, modify and conjure up music from scratch that we all crave.

The good news?

You can learn these new mental models – and they can be fast to put in place.

Once you put this new foundation in place, everything else comes quicker and easier than it ever could before.

And the even-better news? This isn’t about scrapping everything and starting again.

It’s about taking the time to fill in the foundation, so that all the skills you’ve already been working on finally “click” into place.



So what is that foundation?



What are the mental models that make you feel like a natural in music?

Well to answer that, let me share how I came to be asking exactly that question myself.

Just a few years ago...

I’d always hear people respond by saying simply:

The first few times I heard something like that I was curious – but I didn’t really think much about it.

But it kept coming up. Over the years in my work on musicality training I kept hearing mentions of this approach that seemed to hold almost legendary status…

We were equipping people with tools and skills which helped them, yes.

But it was a bit like laying bricks or putting tiles on the roof – before you’d secured the foundation.

I had always assumed that since people came to us with the basics of instrument playing or music theory under their belt, we could take the foundation for granted…

But that stuff is not the foundation.

Sure, it’s presented as being the starting point, in pretty much every music lesson and course around the world – but it doesn’t actually equip musicians with the mental models they need to really succeed.

While we were able to help our students and members at Musical U – it always felt a bit like building on quicksand.

So eventually I decided that I had to find out what this Kodály thing was all about, because clearly it was deeply tied to this subject I was so passionate about: unlocking the “inner instinct” for music.

I sought out one of the top instructors in the UK and took some private one-on-one lessons – and it was really interesting.

I remember in my first Kodály lesson, I found myself thinking “this is all very basic…”

Because I knew notation, I was comfortable singing, I’d done a lot of ear training.

And we were starting from the very beginning.

But in the course of that lesson I was given some new mental models for all those familiar concepts – and I came to realise this was a whole new way of approaching music.

By the end of that first lesson I’d done some impressive things with those simple concepts that were quite different from anything I’d been able to do before.

I came away thinking:

It took me a while longer to click that this wasn’t just an alternative to what I knew already – in a lot of ways it was the missing foundation that all the other stuff should have been built on.

Later I went on a 3-day intensive course where I was surrounded by Kodály instructors and students.

And that was fascinating because I got to see the impact Kodály training has.

These people ranged from amateur musicians, to teachers, to professional musicians playing in national orchestras…

Now if you’ve ever been in situations where musicians get together to learn or perform you’ll know – there’s often a lot of competitiveness and one-upmanship. There’s a lot of insecurity on display.

But on that Kodály course the atmosphere was completely different to that.

These people all had an ease and delight in music.

The skills and viewpoint that Kodály training was equipping them with – it just let them enjoy music.

It was remarkable. And exciting.

And it wasn’t just an attitude – these people could do some seriously impressive things, in terms of collaborating, creating, playing by ear, singing, and more.

But what stood out most was that having the new mental models that Kodály training equipped them with let them feel a confidence and ownership in music that just made it all a joy.

Because although Kodály training is well-proven and extremely effective, it’s still mostly hidden away…

You can find instructors or courses for in-person training here and there.

But there was no convenient, affordable, instant-access way for people to get Kodály training.

So we started to adopt parts of the Kodály approach in our online training at Musical U…

And each new thing we borrowed from the world of Kodály quickly had a massive positive impact on how effective our training system was.

But there were some aspects of Kodály that we couldn’t just “bolt on” to our existing training.

To put together something brand new, based on Kodály principles, and designed specifically to deliver the firm foundation you need for your “musical mind”.

You can find instructors or courses for in-person training here and there.

But there was no convenient, affordable, instant-access way for people to get Kodály training.

So we started to adopt parts of the Kodály approach in our online training at Musical U…

And each new thing we borrowed from the world of Kodály quickly had a massive positive impact on how effective our training system was.

But there were some aspects of Kodály that we couldn’t just “bolt on” to our existing training.

A musical mind that feels capable and confident in any musical situation – because you understand instinctively how music is put together?

The kind of musical mind that makes learning new things in music is a breeze – because everything just connects together and makes sense.