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This is a musical concept that is important to practice. As an aspiring musician, it is imperative to master this concept and the only way to do this is through effective, diligent and focused practice.Tips:Don’t feel as if you need to know every key all at once

Start with C major and work through the major scale in one octave...

One great way to become more flexible on your instrument which is often overlooked is to learn melodies in all twelve keys.  While this may seem like a daunting task for some, I assure you that it is not.  I have successfully taught fifth graders how to play certain tunes in all keys.  If you know all your scales, even in just one octave and even if they’re not all perfect, you’re ready to start transposing.  Budget about 5-10 minutes a day of your practice time for this endeavor.  Start with an easy tune like “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and go through every key in the order of the circle of fourths.  This may take several days or even weeks if you’ve never done it before.  By the time you get through 10 or 20 tunes, you will probably find that it only takes you one day to learn a tune.  By the time you learn 40-50, you’re probably doing several every day.  The ultimate goal is for transposing to simply be a natural skill you posses, that as soon as a melody is learned you can easily transpose it to any key. 
Why should you do this? This ability will do wonders for your ears, your technique in “unfriendly” keys, and your theoretical knowledge.  It will put you in the top 5% of instrumentalists, and will make you that much more marketable. I have to pick tunes out of the...

Whether you are a professional musician, an amateur hobbyist or listener/aficionado, your listening experience can be made more enjoyable by sensitizing your ears to the music you are hearing. Listening is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice. The following tricks and games are designed to help you improve your listening skills. With these improved skills, you can absorb more music through fewer listenings. The more you absorb, the more you can appreciate.
1) Basic musical concepts
Try to figure out what time signature the piece is in. Is it in major or minor? How many measures long is the chorus or the tune? Are there verses? Interludes? Introductions and/or codas? If it is a piece of classical music, what type of form is it? Rondo? Theme and variations? Sonata-allegro? If it is a jazz tune, is it AABA, ABAB, 12-bar blues, or something else? How many instruments and vocalists are present, and which instruments or voice ranges are these? First try and answer as many of these basic questions as you can. That may involve a bit of homework if terms like Sonata-allergro are confusing to you.
2) Isolation
Try this experiment: listen to a piece of music, focusing only on one instrument - the bass, for example. Listen to the bass, focusing on it until everything else sounds like background music. Imagine yourself standing directly beside the bass player during the recording session for this piece. Start with something simple, like a pop or rock tune. After...

Nearly all of us have been listening to music since before we were born. Try to think of a day that you heard absolutely no music. Even on those few days most likely you at least sang or hummed to yourself. We are surrounded by music everywhere. It’s in movies, and on television. It’s played at restaurants and in stores, in your car, at work, and at sporting events. We are all constantly bombarded by music everyday. Our brains have been hardwired from before our birth with music. We all have an understanding of music theory built into us. You may not think you have any of this understanding, but lets take a closer listen. Think of a time when you heard someone sing something horribly off key.  Maybe at karaoke or on American Idol, or maybe out at a venue to see your brother’s...