Musical Sound
Watch the bellows to hear more in an accordion performance
Watch an acoustic accordion’s bellows as well as its keys to understand airflow, phrasing and why a sustained note can change in intensity.
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Instruments and Listening
A piano’s sostenuto pedal holds selected notes rather than every new note
Sostenuto can sustain selected notes while later notes remain separate. Check the piano’s pedal function before trying a short listening experiment.
Listening More Closely
An ostinato stays recognisable while the music around it changes
Hear how an ostinato holds a repeating pattern while melody, harmony or instrumentation changes around it, using a simple listening exercise.
Listening to instruments
The piano’s soft pedal does a different job from the sustain pedal
Hear how the soft pedal changes a piano’s attack and colour, and why the left pedal on an upright does not work exactly like one on a grand.
Musical Sound
A prepared piano changes the sound before a key is played
A prepared piano changes the strings’ response before performance. Listen for its altered timbre without assuming every piano-like sound has the same source.
Rehearsal Notes
A guitar capo changes the sounding pitch without changing the chord shape
Understand what a guitar capo changes, distinguish chord shapes from sounding chords and communicate the key clearly when playing with others.