Barcelona is well known for being a hot spot for musicians, from all walks of life. Maybe it’s the beach and mountains, maybe it’s the unusually warm weather or the carefree attitude that its people exude, but whatever it is, Barcelona has a unique energy that inspires and nurtures artistic expression. Flamenco chords rising from random street corners, hustling reggae musicians singing with a raspy voice in the metro, Latin American Orchestras searching for their own sound. The city has always been bursting with a creative energy that has gifted us with many extraordinary artists. In fact many of our own teachers form parts of Bands or perform solo in Barcelona!
Let’s have a look at some of Barcelona’s famous exports:
One of such talents is Joan Manuel Serrat. Born to an anarchist father in the popular barrio of Poble Sec, Serrat became the voice of a generation, singing in Catalan when it was frowned upon if not openly prohibited, and singing about the daily life in Catalunya after the civil war. Infused with the sensibilities of the “coplas” and traditional music of his early childhood, his sound captures the essence of Mediterranean nostalgia, and built acultural bridge between latin american and catalan music in the XX century.
Coming out of the rock scene from the early nineties, Pau Dones and his band Jarabe de Palo, redefined what was to be expected from spanish rockers. Their intensely popular song “la flaca” propelled them to international stardom, breaking records across all the spanish speaking world. Not to be defined by their early success, they have kept pushing the envelope and constantly surprising their audiences with their creativity.
Too punk for rock, to rocker for punk, José María Sanz Beltrán, better known for his stage name, Loquillo, has had a tumultuous career. Alongside his band Los Trogloditas, and recently by himself, he has earned his place in the rock pantheon of Barcelona´s greats. Navigating easily between popular genres, he has eluded being pigeonholed by his style and continues to be one of the cities favorite prodigal sons.
Barcelona has always been characterized for being a melting pot of identities. The city lends itself for cultural cross-pollination. It’s no surprise then, that a group like Ojos de Brujo found its footing in the streets of el Raval. A genre-bending experiment in musical creativity, these talented musicians have fused their influences in a large pallette of sounds that they have come to define as jipjop flamenkillo, a tongue twister of a name but a clear and focused execution of modern fusion styles.
Walk around the streets of the gothic quarter on a Friday evening and you will soon understand why this city is loved by the creative types. Maybe it’s the fact that the city defined itself in a opposition to the XX century dictatorship in the country, or the amount of talented immigrants who like to call Barcelona their home, whatever it is, the musical effervescence felt around every corner has surely inspired many souls, and lures the artist with its energy.
Do you wanna be part of the music revolution? Learn more at the Shine Music School, we offer combo and band lessons! And don’t forget to browse our Teacher pages, where we have featured videos of many of our teachers performing!
As summer vacation is fast approaching, and international and national restrictions lift, holidays are looming, and even perhaps a little bit of travel if you can! Perhaps you have already planned your first trip! You can start dreaming again of sand between your toes on a beach in Ibiza, or the Canary Islands. Perhaps even a secret cove in Mallorca. Close your eyes and think of the mountain hike you can go on in the Pyranees. The birds singing in the trees, the sound of a softly trickling stream. Suddenly you realize something is missing. What could possibly make this moment even more magical? Yes! Music! What if you had an ukulele or guitalele right next to you?
Traveling with an instrument is difficult!
Most guitar players that travel are worried about their precious guitar getting damaged on the plane. Imagine turbulence as you descend over the Pyrenees bumps and scratches your favourite guitar! And you didn’t insure it! Even worse, you are forced to stow it in the luggage bay, or pay for an extra seat to accommodate your instrument. Then the baggage handlers loose your luggage, including your guitar! A nightmare for musicians! This is why finding other options than traveling with your guitar can be a smart idea.
Here are some benefits of choosing an ukelele or guitalele as your travel instrument of choice:
1# Size and weight: The ukulele and guitalele are small enough for taking inside the airplane and are easy to transport, making them the perfect instruments for travel. Extremely lightweight and easy to transport, they fit perfectly in the overhead luggage compartment in an airplane. Small and easy to carry, but offering a similar sound to the original guitar.
2# To socialize: Because of their small size and weight, both instruments become a great way to make friends and meet people. The great thing about them is you can take them everywhere! You can easily play the ukulele or guitalele on Barceloneta beach, perform on Barcelona streets or jam in the most popular pubs and bars around town. The joyful sound of both instruments easily attracts peoples attention and you will often find yourself surrounded by smiley faces. People love singing along to today’s favourites played on a cheerful little instrument.
3# Price: You can get any of these two instruments at a very reasonable price and not worry if they get damaged. While traveling it’s easy for your instrument to get damaged by the sun, bumps or too much use. So better not take your expensive guitar on the road! You can easily rent or buy an ukelele or guitalele and not worry so much if something happens to your little buddy.
So why not give it a try?
Our teacher Sebastian Pan regularly plays his electric guitalele, you can get a lesson with him if you like!
If you in Barcelona and want to try an ukelele or guitalele, please contact shinemusicrental.com for more details.
Pianos are renowned the world over, despite being just over 300 years old. A relatively short rise to fame compared to that of the guitar, whose beginnings can be traced back to around 3000 years ago. And yet they have been a prominent part of society almost since they were created. Today the piano is still often found in middle and upper class homes, and taught at schools across the world. In china alone, a survey counted over 40 million children learning to play the piano in 2015.
Considered a vital instrument for musical learning, the piano is here to stay. This is hardly surprising, as pianos have been found to enhance our performance in numerous ways, and brain imaging has shown that playing the piano actually physically changes our brain, forming more connections between both the left and right hemispheres. Pianists are a step ahead of the game in problem solving, language, spontaneity, decision making and social behavior. It’s no mental leap then, that parents and teachers alike would encourage learning the piano.
Pianos have opened the doors to music for many people, they are relatively straightforward to understand and play. They provide an important basis of musical knowledge and have become a stepping stone, often allowing musicians to move onto other instruments.
For many years pianos brought music into homes and the lives of people. Forming such an important role in our social history, the instrument has easily found its way into popular culture. Movies, books and musicians highlight it as a magical and versatile instrument.
Read more about the history of Pianos on our Instrument Rental Website. If you live in Barcelona, we rent pianos to students, or anyone who wishes to play at home. Living in a city with limited space means that having a piano at home is a bit of a luxury, but the rental program takes care of a number of issues. There is no longer a huge initial investment. A delivery service bring the piano to your door and removes it when you no longer need it or want to use it. Phew!
Having a piano in the house has benefitted many of our students during the lock down. Keeping fingers nimble and it’s also as an intelligent way to pass the time. Playing the piano is a workout for your brain!
Before the pandemic our pianos made appearances in various concerts across the city from small private functions to large orchestras in the Palau de la Música. They have been played as brides walk down the aisles up and down the coast of Barcelona. A piano certainly adds a special touch to any event. As we slowly start to move forward again, and places begin to open, we hope that our pianos bring joy to many more people, and music begins to appear in the public quarters of Spain.
Did you know that most of the pianos we use at the school are digital pianos? By all appearances they seem to be acoustic pianos. But what is the difference really?
Digital pianos are electronic keyboards which have been developed to mimic acoustic pianos. Technological advances mean digital pianos now sound and feel (almost) like classical acoustic pianos, but with the convenience of being portable and not requiring fine tuning.
Digital Pianos can also easily be amplified for concerts or connected to headphones for playing at home. Digital pianos are usually cheaper than regular acoustic pianos, but their advantages often outweigh the fact that they may not feel or look exactly like an acoustic piano, and they are rapidly becoming the instrument of choice for the modern day classical pianist.
These pianos accomplish all that through a variety of methods, from weighted keys to built in sound quality. And no, a digital piano is not a keyboard. There are unique differences! If you are intrigued you can read an in-depth explanation here.
The guitar may have taken over in popularity, but the piano is a key stake holder in the world of popular music, with the likes of Alicia Keys, Elton John, John Legend and Lady Gaga all performing pop music on the instrument.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN01vHhFZdA
The piano is widely used as an important classical instrument, forming part of symphony orchestras across the world. And the classical pieces are still hugely popular with pianists such as Louis Lortie known as one of the best interpreters of Beethoven, Chopin and Ravel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH6za0Cp4RA
The piano has been used in all kinds of music, from jazz and classical to rock and pop. It’s a versatile instrument, and if you are interested in lessons in the piano, our teachers are talented professionals who can help you accomplish your musical dreams!
Gabriela Grabowski was born in Argentina. She is a singing teacher at The Shine School of Music, specializing in the Functional Voice Method (Rabine Method). She has more than 10 years of teaching experience in both Individual and Group Classes, for children, adolescents and adults. We chatted with her and asked her some questions about her interests in music and singing. Here is what she has to say!
What was the first thing that made you interested in music? Music has always been with me, my parents were very young and the radio was always playing in my house.
Who inspired you to make music? My earliest influences were 80s singers like Bonnie Tyler. In my teens grunge appeared and singers like Alanis Morrissette and then metal with singers like Anneke Van Giersbergen whose influence has stayed with me to this day. I have always been inspired by singers who compose their own music and are very personal like Bjork, Tori Amos, Eddie Vedder …
How would you describe the music you normally make? As a performer create and enjoy various styles: Jazz, Tango, Rock. But when composing I am more into indie rock or gothic metal.
What is your creative process like? I usually compose melodies that occur to me when I walk down the street (it happens very often) or when I am playing on the piano, I let myself get carried away by a sensation, an image, or perhaps a color, and then I add harmony and finally the lyrics . When I work with other musicians and the harmony is already composed because they already have one or several instruments, it is the same, I allow myself to be “inspired” by them and compose the melody and then finally the lyrics.
If you could choose to collaborate with any musician, who would it be? Phew there are many but I think if I had to choose only one it would be Bjork.
If you could choose to open any musician’s show, whose would it be? With my Rock project: Radiohead. With my acoustic song project: Fiona Apple.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs? I don’t sing much in the shower, but when I do I usually repeat a phrase that “floated” into my head (many times it’s a song that my students are working on) If I liked it, it gets stuck in my brain and I repeat it like a loop.
Of your concerts, which one have you enjoyed the most and why?
I really enjoy the stage in general, whatever the genre it is, as long as it sounds good to me (you are blessed if you have good sound technicians) But the ones that I enjoy the most are the concerts in which a beautiful silence is generated, the audience is “really listening ”and makes me feel very connected not only with what I am performing but also with them and with the musicians who are with me on stage. There is a concert that I did a few years ago touring singing tangos in the house of a town near Toulouse that fulfilled all that.
Where would you like to do a concert? With my Jazz band at the Duc de Lombards in Paris (I owe it to myself)
What famous musicians do you admire? Bjork, Fiona Apple, Anneke Van Giersbergen, Lisa Hannigan, Eddie Vedder, Amy Lee, Tom Yorke, Tori Amos, Sarah Vaughan, Bach (he’s more than famous haha), Arvo Pärt …
What has been the best advice you have been given? “No one is going to knock on your door looking for a singer, it’s you who has to knock on doors …”
If you could change something in the industry, what would it be? The music industry’s insistence on responding only to certain commercial “fashion of the moment” criteria and its “without money, you don’t exist”… but we are already entering the debate that we live in a world of capitalist consumption and the change should be cultural and blah blah …
How do you think the internet has impacted the music industry? I grew up listening to cassettes and leaving cds in the bars where I wanted to play, putting together an international tour without a manager would not have been possible without the internet. In my case, the Internet generated bridges that crossed oceans, shortened distances. It allows many musicians to spread our music, thus reaching places that would otherwise be impossible.
What would you be doing right now if we weren’t in confinement? Singing Jazz at a Festival !!
César Munera teaches Flamenco, Classical, and Contemporary Guitar (covering both Jazz and Blues, Rock, and Pop) at the Shine School of Music. We asked him some questions:
What was the first thing that sparked your interest in music?
Since I was little I used to watch my Father play the guitar and I started from there.
Who inspired you to make music?
My inspiration began with The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, Queen, and Pink Floyd.
How would you describe the music you normally play?
Well, I have been fortunate to study various styles, Classical, Flamenco, Blues and now what I play the most is Fingerstyle or fingerpicking which covers many genres, especially Ragtime, Country and Jazz.
What is your creative process like?
My creative process begins with listening to a lot of music, in addition to choosing the musical pieces that I like and from there I start to create, it also depends a lot on the environment I am in.
If you could choose to collaborate with any musician, who would it be with?
Well I would like to collaborate with many musicians.
If you could choose to open the show of any musician, whose would it be?
With my band it would be great to open for Radiohead and as a soloist I would like to open for Tommy Emmanuel.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
I hardly ever sing in the shower
Which of your concerts have you enjoyed the most and why?
When I played the Aranjuez concert, because it was amazing to experience the orchestra, I felt like I was on another planet.
Where would you like to do a concert?
At the Liceu and in one of the great theaters in New York.
What famous musicians do you admire?
Tommy Emmanuel, Robben Ford, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Gary Clark jr, Joe Robinson, and I could go on …
What has been the best advice you have been given?
Hmm, I’ve received a lot of good advice, I think the one I like the most is to not compare myself to anyone and express what I have.
How do you think the internet has impacted the music industry?
Internet is a good tool, the sad thing is that almost nobody buys the discs anymore, they download everything or listen to it over the Internet.
If you could change something about the industry what would it be?
I don’t want to answer this question, because maybe I would say a lot of ugly things hahaha …
What would you be doing right now if we weren’t in confinement?
I would be planning a trip for this weekend which is my birthday 😁
Take a class with Cesar and be sure to follow him on Instagram, where he often shares his music and videos.
