Issue #3 Notes from The Music Hub December 16, 2025

Learning Music, Not Just Songs

Music majors in college take a wide variety of classes beyond learning to play their instruments. Of course, they do take lessons focusing on their performance technique. But they also study music theory, music history, and music literature (the repertoire for their specialty.) Additionally, they perform in a variety of ensembles which play music across genres.

The combination of all these classes produces a well-rounded musician who can understand music from multiple perspectives and apply that to performing old and new material.

Most of the time, outside of a music school, people who are learning piano (or another instrument) only get instruction in playing that instrument.

In today's world, with DIY learning and YouTube videos that have the lights coming down like a version of Guitar Hero, students barely learn actual technique.

Instead, they are only learning how to play songs.

Each song is learned independently from another, with no real understanding that can be applied to something new.

My approach is different. Although I do demonstrate how to play songs, in my videos I also explain why I am choosing certain fingering or why music is notated a certain way.

I explain why a song might be fast or slow. What the difference is between staccato and legato articulations and how they impact the character of a piece. What specific meters tell us about the nature of a piece. I also include historical tidbits and how music notation has come to have the standard it has.

All of this helps you to be able to apply what you are learning to new songs, even if they are not demonstrated in The Music Hub.

But learning music is also about listening.

And that is why I also include the Listening Sessions as part of The Music Hub membership.

Once a month, I do a deep dive into a piece of music and its composer.

In these monthly Listening Sessions, I share historical background about the composer, the piece, and when relevant, the instruments.

You will learn how world events impacted composers. How instruments changed over time. How to know what to listen for in the piece.

In this month's Listening Session, I explain how Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky's piece Sonata Natalis is part of the "pastoral" genre. What does that mean? It means that the music evokes the countryside. Pastoral instrumental pieces often use the instruments to mimic bird calls, Alphorns or pipes played by shepherds.

When you know what to listen for, you can hear it!

My goal is not just to help you improve your playing. It's also to give you the tools to explore this fascinating, deep well called music, and to help you enjoy music even more than you already do!

What's new in the App?

If you are a paying member of The Music Hub, this month's Listening Session is now in the Listening Session portion of the app! Give Vejvanovsky's piece a listen. Get back to me with any comments or questions!

Are you ready to try the app?

Our monthly membership includes

• Instructional videos of theory concepts
• Demonstration videos of how to play each song
• PDFs of theory worksheets
• PDFs of songs*
• Listening sessions: monthly deep-dives into a specific piece and its composer

*Arrangements of songs that are still under copyright must be purchased separately to ensure that I comply with legal regulations and that royalties are properly sent to the right person.

There are two levels of membership:

• Independent Study (no group sessions)
• Weekly online group sessions for extra support

Get a 14-day FREE trial and check out what's inside!

If you'd like to know more, simply respond to this email!

Thank you for being a valued member of The Music Hub Community!

Please contact me by responding to this email if you have any questions or concerns!

Happy Music Making!

Heather Niemi Savage, composer, pianist & educator

Founder of The Music Hub