As a musician, not all of your practice will be on your instrument. Some of it will be in your head, and some of it may even be on objects that just look like your instrument. We call this mental practice, and in this excerpt from Barbara LaFitte’s Practicing Techniques for Musicians course, the former principal oboist in the Boston Ballet Orchestra shares tips on how to practice your instrument when you just aren’t able to actually play your instrument.

Explore how Berklee Online instructor Ben Camp is helping songwriters harness the creative potential of AI. Also, discover a unique approach to structuring prompts, and insights into the ethical debates surrounding AI-generated music.

Explore the surprising military backgrounds of some of music’s biggest stars. From Elvis to Jimi to Sturgill, we take you through the journeys of legends who swapped their stage clothes for uniforms—like Shaggy in the Marine Corps and Johnny Cash decoding Soviet messages—before (and sometimes while) making their marks on the music world.

Steve Morse was a legendary music journalist, having served as the senior rock critic for the Boston Globe for three decades, and on the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also a Berklee Online instructor, who put all of his heart into his Rock History course. He passed away after a brief illness in October of 2024.

Music education and technology are constantly evolving together, and Berklee Online’s newest development, a chatbot named BOB, is a testament to that. And before you ask, BOB stands for Berklee Online Bot.

The key of a sound recording may not always work for you; It may be too high or too low. This doesn’t mean that you can’t sing the song. In this excerpt from Berklee Online’s Improvisation Techniques for Singing Pop and R&B course, Gabrielle Goodman teaches you how to find your vocal range so you can pick a key that will make your voice shine.

Have a question? Register for the next Berklee Online live Q&A, and meet the folks who advise, teach, and lead at the world’s largest online music college.

October 12 is Hug-a-Bassist Day, a little-known but much-needed celebration that honors those who lay down the low end. Celebrate by hugging a bassist, obviously, but also by getting to know Berklee Online’s four bass instructors—each as essential as the four strings on a standard bass guitar.

After Chris LaRosa heard a live orchestra performing one of the scores he wrote for an assignment in the Composing the Orchestral Film Score course, he decided to enter the composition in the European Recording Orchestra’s Call for Scores Contest. He placed as one of the top five finalists.