He found that he didn’t really have a full understanding of what he was trying to learn, like there was something that was missing. Then “along came the Foundations course”. He liked that the promotional videos teased that this course was something that would impact all of the things that he was trying to learn as a Musical U member. As he puts it: “This is a way of getting back to the roots of music where you can fill in the gaps of your hearing, fill in the gaps of your melodic understanding, and bring yourself up to a better set of fundamentals in your musical life.”

This course has helped him see the “mind’s ear” in a different way. He says he now realizes that there are different pieces to his music knowledge and its the pieces that make up the whole of a musician. This has enabled him to realize that the pieces of music he plays all have a tremendous meaning and it’s up to him as the musician to interpret that meaning in his performance. The course also opened up new meaning to the word “improvisation” that has greatly expanded his understanding of how (and why!) to improvise.

The thought of just being able to look at the notes, and know how the music was supposed to sound was completely foreign to her.

It wasn’t until she was in her forties that she realized that were all these other musicians that could “audiate” from the page, that this was something that people could just do. She says “The idea of ‘fundamentals’ of music, of being able to understand how music is put together at a very basic level and how to know, either by listening to music or by reading it on the page, to understand what that means really at a deep musical level, really appealed to me.”

For Christine, the course was about learning to hear music. Learning to recognize patterns in the sounds and relations between notes in a way that lets me work things out by ear much easier than just “This note, this note. Nope, that’s wrong. This note, this note. Nope, that’s wrong.” She says that the community aspect – learning that you’re not alone in this, and that other musicians were going through the same thing that you’re struggling with – was “so freeing”.

He says that enrolling in the Foundations course was a gut reaction for him. He had been a member of Musical U prior to enrolling and said he has really came to love this approach to learning music. So when he heard about Foundations he was immediately excited and says didn’t need to give the decision much thought.

Since going through the material, he’s discovered that this has created a new way for him to fully internalize music and the music is able to flow more naturally from him. Music theory became fun, and learning all the various techniques and exercises was “fun, easy, and amazing”.

One of the biggest breakthroughs was that musical ideas began to make more sense and connect. He was able to take musical activities that seemed to be separate before, and incorporate them all into his musicality.

Zac notes that other courses tend to separate composing, improvising, rhythm, singing, etc… but this course combined them in a way that he had never experienced before.

Going forward he’s learning ways that he can be more productive in his music practice. While it may seem counterintuitive to do more steps when learning music, or slow it down, he says these extra steps to learning music get a musician to their end point much faster than the way he had been learning.

Nothing was able to fill the gap between learning musicality skills and actually creating music.

Steve saidthat the Foundations course seemed to say all the things that he had been searching for. A way to internalize music and just be able to know it. “Forget all the theory and the technical chops, to actually be musical”.

As he started the course, he was at first surprised by the simplicity of the songs. But as the course developed he was amazed at just how musical these very simple songs were. And by stripping away the complexity of the music he was able to discover more about phrases, melodies, and rhythms in a way that had never been possible before.

Moving forward, Steve says he’s learned that you can take this method and techniques to get information from any music, and that this process of learning and experimenting with music is something that’s going to stay with him.

One of the major benefits that he discovered was learning music by actually playing with it, rather than staying within technical definitions. Everything in music had seemed circular for him, as everything was defined in terms of itself or another technical concept. He’s now discovered that music theory is just a way to describe the music, and is still important – but not the starting point for him any more. Learning all of the concepts and songs was more of an experience, and he’s finally been able to experience the music in a way that he never had before.

Since joining MU, Ian has been impressed by the systematic way that musical learning is approached. The Foundations course appealed to him because it was built around the methods of Kodály, which he was already familiar with.

He saw the course as a way to refresh his existing knowledge and kick himself back into action. Ideally, to be able to teach aural skills to his students. After years of teaching and having the answers right in front of him at all times, he saw this as an opportunity to challenge himself, improve his skills, and go further.

Ian shares that one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course was that he was encouraged to listen to music in a progressive way, building upon the musical ideas without becomign overwhelmed. 

“This is a structured method that is not only useful while learning in the course, but can be applied to everyday music and practice sessions. It makes more music accessible, even if it’s not something that they thought they could handle. It’s a very empowering method that will enable the learner to become better than the teacher at some point.” 

As a music teacher, this was always his goal and he finds great joy in his students progressing to the point where they no longer need his instruction.

Ian says “Whatever the skill it is that you want to pick up, you need to develop listening skills, you need to develop musicianship skills. And Musical U and Foundations of a Musical Mind are very good at giving you the foundations and the confidence to go ahead and do that.”