A Beginner's Map to Understanding Classical Music Forms
A simple beginner's map to classical music forms: the symphony, the concerto, sonata form, string quartets and the eras that shaped them.
Strum Magazine
Where to Hear Classical Music in Boston Year-Round
A year-round guide to classical music in Boston: Symphony Hall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory.
Rutgers-Newark Opens Hispanic Heritage Month With Mariachi and a Question
A campus kickoff earned real attention. Whether the month's programming backs it up is the fairer test.
Different Ways to Strum a Guitar, Explained
Pick, fingers, thumb, or hybrid — each right-hand approach changes what your guitar can do.
Scale Length Explained: Why 25.5 and 24.75 Inches Feel Different
The distance from nut to bridge sets string tension, fret spacing, and how the same gauge bends — the two classic lengths are a whole playing philosophy apart.
How Often Should You Change Your Strings? The Honest Answer
String makers' published guidance lands at roughly 100 playing hours or three months for a casual player — and your ears are the final gauge.
The Right Humidity for an Acoustic Guitar, Explained
Wood expands and shrinks with the air around it, and both Martin and Taylor document what happens to a guitar outside a narrow humidity band.
Reviews
Album Reviews: How We Score Records and Why
What our rating measures, what it deliberately leaves out, and how to read it.
Reviews
How to Read a Music Review Like a Critic
Taste tells you what a writer likes. Substance tells you whether you should trust them. Here is how to tell the two apart.
Reviews
How to Test a Used Amp Before You Buy
A plain-spoken checklist for power tubes, pots, speakers, hum, and the red flags that should end the conversation.
Reviews
How to Choose a Guitar Humidifier: Specs, Prices, Trade-Offs
Two-way packets or a refillable soundhole tube? A buyer's primer built entirely from the makers' own documentation and published federal wood-moisture data.
How Music News Outlets Actually Work Behind the Scenes
Where the stories come from, how they get checked, and why some break early while others wait.
Small Festival Done Right: What SON Posidonia's Ten Years Teach
A 350-person festival on a Spanish island has spent a decade proving that less can be more. Here is what its model offers players and festival-goers.
How to Evaluate Music News Today for Accuracy
A practical checklist for separating confirmed reporting from rumors, recycled guesses and AI slop in music coverage.
The Eras Tour Became the First $2 Billion Tour — and Reset Live Music's Numbers
Taylor Swift's 149-show tour crossed $2 billion in ticket sales by its December 2024 finale, a figure no tour had ever reached.