Amazon Book Description
- The 'missing manual' which every musician and music-learner should have been handed on day one.
- Have you ever wondered how the musical "greats" do what they do?
Whether it's the child prodigy who masters instrument technique and new music ultra-fast... the creative genius who can conjure up incredible-sounding music on-the-fly and write songs that are remembered for generations... or the campfire hero who can sit with any music group, any time, and nail any song that gets called out, no sheet music in sight.
- It's easy to assume that those musicians have some special "talent" or "gift". But the surprising truth is that every single skill we associate with "being a natural" in music is, in fact, learnable-by anyone.
- Written based on 15+ years of experience helping 30,000+ adult music-learners of all kinds at Musical U, Musicality covers all the topics and skills which are never normally taught... but can enable anyone to achieve the musical feats most assume take "talent".
- Including detailed chapters on:
- Musicality and Musical Mindset
- Active Listening
- Audiation
- Ear Training (incl. Solfa, Intervals, Chords and Progressions)
- Playing By Ear
- Improvisation
- Songwriting/Composing
- Singing in Tune
- Mastering Rhythm
- Playing With Expression
- Spell-Binding Performance
... and even the modern "Superlearning" techniques which let you learn up to 10x faster.
- This book was written with the average adult musician in mind, from hobbyist/beginner through to pro.
- Musicality is suitable for all instruments, from piano/keyboard, guitar and bass through to ukulele, trumpet, saxophone, violin, harmonica, mountain dulcimer... And for every genre, from rock/pop, jazz, country, folk and classical through to electronic, dance, punk, R'n'B and techno. The "inner skills" of music are universal.
- Its 840+ pages are packed with the information, explanations, methods, and tips and tricks you need to finally become the musician you've dreamed of being.
- "An incredible resource."
- David Reed, Improvise For Real
- "Musicality leads us to a musical land of success and ease. A valuable, meaningful and important text that will be a beacon for musicians for years to come."
→ Tim Topham, Top Music
- "With this comprehensive yet accessible book Christopher Sutton heartfully guides us into the new era of musicianship, where practice and performance alike can be realms of genius-level play and excellence. The H4 model alone makes this book worth reading. By debunking common myths - and providing models of "superlearning" music practice, accessing one's innate talent, and addressing the true fundamentals of musicianship, this much-needed book can guide anybody to greater enjoyment and effectiveness in their musical journey."
→ Mars Gelfo, creator of the Modacity practice app
- About the Author: Christopher Sutton is the founder and Director of Musical U, the home of musicality training online. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary, University of London. A lifelong music-learner and devoted musician, he has benefitted beyond measure from a wide range of music teachers over the years. From his early instruction in the excellent music department of Dulwich College, London, through years spent studying with phenomenal instrument teachers, and more recently through having the opportunity to learn from his colleagues in the team at Musical U, and its numerous collaborators across the world of music education. He considers Musical U to be less a company or career than a calling and feels honoured and blessed to have the opportunity to pursue its vital mission: to put musicality back at the heart of music-learning. Christopher lives in London with his wife Natalina, daughters Alice and Laura-and far too many instruments.
Chapter-by-chapter preview of what you’ll find inside in the book (from The Musicality Book)
- Introduction
- In the introduction you’ll learn about where this book came from, the extensive experience of the full Musical U team, and author Christopher Sutton’s own journey from frustrated music-learner to discovering how to unlock his own true musical potential through musicality training.
- You’ll also get guidance on how best to go through the book, depending on your personal goals and priorities.
- PART 1
In Part I we cover six fundamental topics and skills. These are the foundation on which everything else is built. Get these right, and everything else will flow easily. Without these, everything you do in music will be far harder and slower than it needs to be.
- Musicality
- We begin by exploring what “musicality” means. We all have some understanding of what’s implied by that word, and what it means to “be very musical” or “have great musicality”. But if we are to develop our own musicality we need to define what exactly we mean by that word, and the specific ingredients which contribute to having greater or more advanced musicality.
- Through sharing a range of definitions from a variety of musicians and music educators, we paint a picture of what “musicality” can be. This is then distilled down into 15 specific skills, ranging from playing by ear, through having good rhythm, singing in tune, creating your own music, reading notation, understanding music theory and more.
- We introduce the concepts of “The Complete Musician”, 3 Musical Cores, and the H4 Model of Complete Musicality, equipping you with an easy and precise way to both assess your current musicality, and define exactly what your ideal future musicality would be.
- Musical Mindset
- It’s clear from working with tens of thousands of adult music learners that developing the right mindset for music-learning is one of the highest-leverage things you can focus on. The average adult learner is constantly tripping themselves up with limiting beliefs, misconceptions, and wide-ranging lack of clarity about their musical journey. With the right set of mindsets, anything becomes possible for you.
- In this chapter you’ll set your “Big Picture Vision” which becomes your North Star, guiding everything you do in your music learning going forwards. You’ll discover the four Pillar Beliefs which run through everything we do and teach at Musical U, and how each one of them can empower you as a musician. We debunk the “talent myth” once and for all, to make sure you know with certainty that anything you’ve dreamed of in music can indeed be possible for you. And we introduce four special mindsets you can adopt, which each remove blockers and limitations, and ensure you keep moving forwards quickly and joyfully in your music learning.
- Audiation
- The first of the practical skills we cover is Audiation, the ability to vividly imagine music in your mind’s ear. When you can conjure up clear and detailed music in your head, it becomes a powerful and versatile tool to be used throughout your musical life.
- In this chapter you’ll learn about this important skill, the myriad ways it helps you in different areas of music, its connection to musical memory and to singing, and you’ll learn the three “Levels” of Audiation ability and how you can develop each in turn.
- Singing
- Singing is every human’s “first instrument” and although most musicians don’t necessarily consider themselves “a singer” and the prospect of singing can stir up a lot of emotional resistance, we’ve found that singing is a universal accelerator for your music learning. Fortunately, there is no need to become the next Pop Idol superstar! The level of singing ability required to reap the significant benefits is far lower than you might imagine.
- In this chapter we present the four reasons you might currently think you “can’t sing” or are even “tone deaf”, and walk you through a clear and simple series of exercises to start getting comfortable with using your singing voice “as a tool”. You’ll learn to comfortably, confidently and reliably sing in tune, so that you can start using singing throughout your music learning to improve your results and bring musical ideas out from inside you directly.
- Active Listening
- The next foundational skill is Active Listening, the ability to dissect and decipher music you hear, understanding each component and how they all fit together. Beyond simple “music appreciation”, active listening lets you actually understand everything you’re hearing.
- When you develop this skill, music comes to life in a whole new way. Not only can you increase your musicality solely through listening to music, you enhance your ability to create, play and perform music yourself.
- In this chapter you’ll learn more about the benefits of Active Listening and the simple approach we’ve developed, of “Listening with a question in mind”, along with the 4-Dimensional Active Listening™️ framework, which makes it easy to analyse any music you hear in as much depth and detail as you wish. Through a series of exercises and question lists, you’ll be guided through practicing Active Listening using any music you are learning, or even your favorite tracks.
- Superlearning
- Over the past 20 years, the academic research into the neuroscience of learning has proven conclusively that seemingly-gifted musicians who learn significantly faster than everyone else are simply practicing in a different way.
- In this chapter you’ll be introduced to the specific Superlearning techniques for music practice which let you learn and memorise music at up to 10 times the normal speed. These are often strange and even counter-intuitive, but when you start to practice in this way you can make dramatically faster progress, with even less practice time. These techniques work for absolutely anybody, and once you’ve adopted this very different way of practicing, it will accelerate everything you work on in music, for the rest of your life.
- PART 2
In Part II we explore the process of ear training and introduce a set of “building blocks” you can use to rapidly develop your musical ear. As you gain proficiency with these building blocks, leveraging the fundamental skills covered in Part I, you will unlock all the skills explored in Part III of the book.
- Ear Training
- The phrase “ear training” comes with a lot of baggage for most musicians, and even those who’ve studied the topic at university or conservatory level and passed all the requirements still typically report dissatisfaction and disappointment with what they’re actually able to do with their musical ear.
- In this chapter we present the Integrated Ear Training™️ approach which not only lets you develop concrete skills faster and more enjoyably, it also ensures that every step forwards you take in ear training results in real, practical abilities you can benefit from in your everyday musical life.
- Relative Pitch
- Relative Pitch is an approach to pitch based entirely on the relationships between different pitches - from note to note, or relating to the key. Everything pitch-related that you might want to do by ear can be done by developing your sense of Relative Pitch, including naming or playing notes and chords by ear, choosing notes when improvising, transcribing music by ear, and more.
- In this chapter we cover the difference between Relative Pitch and Absolute (or “Perfect”) Pitch and how Relative Pitch enables you to accomplish anything pitch-related you want to. We introduce the idea of a “pitch contour” and explore how the three building blocks covered in subsequent chapters allow you to refine this contour by recognising notes and chords by ear. Finally we explain a step-by-step process for finding the key of any song or piece of music by ear.
- Solfa
- Solfa, also known as “solfege” or the do-re-mi system for naming notes isn’t just some cute idea from The Sound of Music! In fact, it’s a way of thinking about the notes of the scale which perfectly matches how the ear naturally hears musical pitches.
- In this chapter we explore the benefits of solfa, how it works, and provide a learning sequence and set of exercises you can use to gradually develop a robust ability to recognise notes by ear and produce them with your voice or on your instrument.
- Intervals
- Although intervals are often where musicians start with ear training, they are in fact one of the most challenging and confusing topics, when taught in the traditional way.
- In this chapter we’ll introduce a simple and natural way to approach learning interval recognition, explore how it relates to and can be combined with solfa, and present a learning sequence and set of exercises you can use to gradually develop a robust ability to recognise different intervals in music.
- Chords and Progressions
- Intervals and Solfa can both be used directly to help you recognise chords and chord progressions by ear, but dedicating some attention specifically to developing your ear for harmony will produce much faster progress.
- In this chapter we’ll explore the topic of chord progressions from a Relative Pitch perspective, relating it to our Solfa and Interval building blocks, and covering the most common chord progressions and how to start recognising and playing them by ear.
- The Beat
- Underlying all musical rhythm is the beat, or pulse of the music. Musicians tend to take this for granted, but that frequently results in a weak connection to the beat, or an inaccurate ability to keep the beat.
- In this chapter we’ll explore different ways of connecting with the beat, so that you have a reliable “inner metronome” and accurate ability to synchronise with, or create your own, musical beat.
- Rhythm
- A musician’s ear for rhythm is typically more capable by default than their pitch skills. For example, more musicians can clap back a rhythm they hear than could sing back or name a series of note pitches they heard. However, rhythmic accuracy, and an ability to deeply understand and be creative with rhythm is a significant part of what sets a great performance apart from a mediocre one.
- In this chapter we’ll explore both the “beat counting” and “rhythm syllables” approaches to developing your rhythmic abilities, enabling you to sight-read rhythmic notation easily, transcribe rhythmic patterns you hear, and tune in to your instinct for rhythmic creativity.
- PART 3
In Part III of the book we use the foundational skills and building blocks from Parts I and II to enable several musical abilities typically associated only with “talented” or “gifted” musicians: improvising freely and creatively, playing music entirely by ear, writing or composing your own distinctive and satisfying music, playing with powerful expression, and performing in a way that connects deeply with your audience.
- Improvisation
- Musical creativity is mysterious to many, and often over-romanticised, making it hard to know whether you have “what it takes” to be creative, or how to develop your musical creativity. Perhaps the epitome of this is improvisation, being able to conjure up your own great-sounding music on-the-fly. The traditional methods of teaching improvisation based on strict rules and patterns, or memorised “vocabulary” provide the illusion of creativity but result in same-y sounding solos and little of the self-expression and fulfilment that truly free improvisation can provide.
- In this chapter you’ll be introduced to the Expansive Creativity™️ framework for unlocking your natural creativity. Through the concepts of “Constraints and Dimensions” and musical “Playgrounds” you’ll be able to gradually start expressing your own musical ideas, sounding great and feeling creative from day one, and leading to total musical freedom. With the “Play-Listen / Listen-Play” feedback loop you’ll become your own best teacher, letting you have fun improving your improvising day by day.
- Playing by Ear1
- To “play by ear; means to hear some music, and then reproduce it on an instrument.
- In this Chapter we'll begin by defining "playing by ear", and introducing the idea that it exists in a continuous spectrum of abilities. We'll discuss how an approach of "Trial and improvement" can let you move steadily along the spectrum into greater and greater abilities to play music by ear.
- We introduce the Play-By-Ear Process we've developed at Musical U which can be applied to any piece of music in a step-by-step methodical way. We'll then go through each of its three component parts - Listen, Engage, Express - in turn, explaining and illustrating the process of each.
- Finally, we will share a number of ways you can practice Playing By Ear using this process, to gradually improve your skills up to any point you desire.
- Song Writing
- To write a song that stands the test of time - or even something you wouldn’t mind letting other people hear - can seem out of reach to the average music learner. Our love and reverence for the great songwriters and composers of history can make it seem futile to even try to write something ourselves. And yet, if you’ve ever dreamed of writing your own music, you’ll know it’s a dream that is hard to ever let go of!
- Building on the same Expansive Creativity™️ framework introduced for improvisation, and introducing song-specific concepts such as lyrics and musical form, in this chapter you’ll be led step-by-step through writing your first music and learn to gradually develop and refine your creations into something uniquely yours and which you’re proud to share.
- Expression
- We all know the difference between a dry, robotic, lifeless performance, and music that’s played truly expressively, moving the listener with each and every note. Or do we? What exactly does it mean to “play with expression” - and how can you learn to do it?
- In this chapter we’ll use the same 4-Dimensional framework introduced for Active Listening to practice shaping a note and series of notes in each of the possible ways. You’ll develop your ear’s sophistication for appreciating and understanding the expressive choices being made in music you hear. And you’ll also develop your own instinctive ability to make those same choices on-the-fly any time you play or perform. You will learn to understand and speak the “language of emotion” in music, empowering you to play with deep, moving, personal expressiveness.
- Performance
- What does it take to put on a truly memorable and moving musical performance? We know it’s more than just overcoming stage fright and managing to play “the right notes”, but it can be hard to get further than that.
- In this chapter you’ll be introduced to the “3 C’s” of the Performance Free-Flow™️ framework which enable you to connect deeply with the music, with your instrument, with other musicians and with your audience. All spellbinding performances are making use of each of these three C’s: Connection, Conversation and Creativity. Through simple ideas and exercises, you will develop your own skills with each of these, and discover how to put on spellbinding performances of your own, each and every time.
- Conclusion
We wrap things up with a recap of what’s been covered, and suggest a process you can use to continually review and improve your musicality going forwards, moving you closer and closer to your musical dreams each day.
What constitutes musicality? 15 Specific musical skills
- Talking music
- Singing in tune
- Having good rhythm
- Keeping the beat
- Understanding music theory
- Reading notation
→ Sight-reading music
→ Playing from a lead sheet
- Writing music
- Writing notation
- Improvisation
- Playing by ear
- Jamming
- Performing live
- Knowing your instrument inside out
- Tuning your instrument by ear
- Playing more than one instrument
Notes on Musicality
- The book makes an excellent case for integrating the various constituents of musicality so as to become a ‘complete musician’ . The author also claims that all these skills can be learned. It is encouraging to think that they can, as for some of them I have no idea how to start. The important thing – as the book points out – is to escape from being a ‘dots to notes robot’, which is pretty much me.
- The author also encourages the readers to describe their ‘big picture’ – where they want to get to. This includes deciding what they want to ‘park’ for now at lease. As a first stab, I’ll annotate the above.
- Talking music: that’s being able to discuss music intelligently with other musicians, knowing the terminology and all that. I imagine it’ll be a spin-off of much of the work needed to achieve the other items on the list. So, not a priority.
- Singing in tune: I’m terrible at this – but it’s essential for the grades and is basic musicianship. A priority, but I’ve no time to join a choir at the moment.
- Having good rhythm: I think I’m OK with this, at least compared with other aspects. Not a priority for focus.
- Keeping the beat: As above.
- Understanding music theory: I have a basic understanding but need to enhance it. It’s the integration with other aspects of musicality that’s the important matter. One thing I’ve not got a clue about is understanding how the keys relate to one another. This ties in with being able to hear music in your head and to tell what key a piece is in.
- Reading notation
- Sight-reading music: I’m quite good at that – relatively easy for a ‘dots to notes robot’. Not a priority, though it requires continual practice. Not a priority.
- Playing from a lead sheet: this is for jazz, or pop, which I’ve no interest in.
- Writing music: I’ve no intention of composing but would like to be able to write out the score of music I hear.
- Writing notation: No problems with the treble clef but can’t read the bass or alto clefs easily.
- Improvisation: I can’t imagine being able to do this, but it’s really subservient to the item below.
- Playing by ear: Haven’t a clue, but it’s an essential skill I’d like to learn. If I could do this, I’d feel as though I’d ‘arrived’ as a musician.
- Jamming: It might be fun, but not a priority. I doubt it can reach the hights of complexity of carefully orchestrated music.
- Performing live: Not one of my aims, though it’d be a fairly automatic spin-off from all-round competence.
- Knowing your instrument inside out: I think if I got that serious with the oboe, I’d need to buy a professional instrument.
- Tuning your instrument by ear: Not much of an issue with the oboe, recorder or piano. But I’d like to be able to hear if the wind instruments are out of tune (if cold, or failure to control the reed properly for high or low notes. Playing out of tune and not realising it is shameful.
- Playing more than one instrument: I’ve always wanted to play the piano. You can’t be a ‘complete musician’ otherwise. I’ve not found the time. I’m currently learning the tenor recorder, a much simpler proposition for an oboist!
- I dare say the crunch will come when the amount of time required to learn these skills becomes apparent.
The H4 Model of Complete Musicality
- This is sensible – it likens musicality to a chair with four legs that need to be balanced: All begin with H, hence H4:
- Head: This is music theory.
- Hands: This is being able to play your instrument – ‘Instrument skills’.
- Hearing: This is audiation (being able to hear music in your head) and all sorts of other aural skills. ‘Ear Training’.
- Heart: I was a bit confused about this. It doesn’t seem to be about enjoying music, but is a psychological component, in particular overcoming self-doubts and having the right ‘Mindset’.
- I like the way that we’re told that these aspects are integrated and inform one another, rather than being free-standing.
Nature versus Nurture
- One of the most annoying aspects of the book – part and parcel of the inordinately long motivational introduction – 200 of 846 pages2 according to one reviewer – and in addition to continual plugs for the author’s company ‘Musical U’ – is the author’s claims about the learnability of all musical skills and his denial of ‘talent’, which he describes as a ‘myth’ that has been disproved by ‘research’.
- This is just tosh. He is right – of course – to say that to develop skills you need to work at them – and he may well be right that all these skills are learnable. But – in any subject area – some people pick up skills seemingly effortlessly while others have to work really hard even to acquire the basics. So, while it’s nice to know that anyone can acquire any skill, it doesn’t mean that everyone should try. Time is limited, and if you want to obtain the most success you should find something you find easy to learn and put all your effort into that. Yes, it still requires a lot of effort because anything worth doing is very competitive and you have to outcompete others who have talent and application. Better to be a first-rate X than a third-rate Y.
- Also, some skills at the edge of human competence cannot be mastered by an average – or even superior – intelligence no matter how much effort is expended. Advanced mathematics, for instance.
- I’ve written on this before …
In-Page Footnotes ("Sutton (Christopher) - Musicality: How you too can learn music like a gifted prodigy, unlock your musical instinct, and unleash your inner natural")
Footnote 1:
- The blurb for this Chapter was a repetition of that for Chapter 8 ‘Relative Pitch’.
- For me, it might be the most important Chapter, so I’ve taken the blurb above from the introduction to the Chapter itself.
Footnote 2:
- I’ve only got the Kindle edition so it’s difficult to get a feel for the length of the book and pagination.
- Amazon says the hardback is 846 pages and the book’s website (The Musicality Book) say ‘over 800 pages’. However, there seem to be only 1113 pages on Kindle, which usually takes up many more pages than a hard copy.
Book Comment
- Musical U (31 Oct. 2024). Kindle - bought dirt cheap when on offer.
- See Musical U.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)