Making music is incredibly rewarding. You can tell your story in a million different creative ways, change moods, and create communities.
But—it’s difficult knowing where to start. Between theory and technology, it can be daunting taking the first step.
Today I'm going to highlight some resources in our collection, and a few from elsewhere, to help you get started on your music making journey.
Lynda
Lynda for Libraries is a fantastic resource for learning technical skills, creative techniques, business strategies, and more. And it’s free to use with your library card!
But… personally, I get decision fatigue when I open it up. Even the menu just for Audio + Music classes has a maze of options!
So let’s cut a path through possibility and find our footing.
Getting Started
In my opinion, the best way to get started is by learning to use your voice. You don’t have to become an amazing singer to learn how to hear, understand, and create relationships between musical ideas. Plus, it’s the cheapest instrument you can get, and the easiest to take wherever you go.
There are two great Singing Lessons courses available—Fundamentals and Foundational Exercises. In Fundamentals you will learn the basics of your voice and some simple music language. Then, with Foundational Exercises you will start to practice one of the most vital skills for any musician: ear training.
Keep Going
Now that you have practiced with your voice*, you are more and more familiar with getting musical ideas out of your head. (*if you’re uncomfortable or unable to, feel free to just jump on here!)
What’s next?
I love the free Learning Music site from Ableton. The Learning Music interactive tool will teach you the basics of rhythm, melody, harmony right from any browser on a laptop/desktop or mobile device.
The best part of this tool is that it breaks down musical concepts in an intuitive way through popular songs like Daft Punk’s “Around The World,” Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” and Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
A Little Bit Further Now…
Unfortunately, in modern music making there a seemingly endless number of paths. Do you want to learn classical piano, or how to make EDM? Are you a singer-songwriter, or a lofi hip-hop beatsmith?
To help you down this fork in the road, Lynda has a very cool feature called learning paths. These paths are curated sets of tutorials around a specific topic; everything from learning specific instruments, to making electronic music, to production audio for film & video gets a highlight.
