1.19.2012
How fast should I play this (How many times do I get asked this question?)? You need to see learning speeds as a continuum, moving from slow to fast. Slowest would be you’re bored to death and your mind is wandering, it’s hard to focus on this, it’s so easy to do. Somewhat faster would be you can comfortably play and you are sufficiently in control that it doesn’t take all of your CPU’s output and you start thinking of new ways to do something - you are creative because this is easy, maybe too easy, to do. Next, somewhat faster, is where your abilities and the demands placed upon them meet; there’s no extra effort required to play or sing this, but also it’s not so easy that you can let your mind wander. Next speed up is you can play/sing this with concentration and effort, it’s not kicking your butt, but it’s taking all your attention to do this correctly. Faster still, your butt is indeed being somewhat kicked. You are missing some notes, some concepts. Lastly and most fastly – Your butt is being thoroughly kicked and you can barely keep up or you can’t keep up. The music is beyond your ability to perform. These speed levels are how you should view practice speeds; usually not in absolute terms (metronome at 100, at 120, etc), but fitting these speed levels to the particular thing you’re performing to achieve the results you want from this practice. And the actual speed to meet the various levels changes for each thing you do, because each scale, song, arpeggio, exercise that you do reaches these levels at different speeds. Also, these levels, oddly enough, are probably no more than 5 or 10% apart – increasing the speed on a song 25% is usually a BIG jump. And – hey, this assumes you’re using a metronome or drum machine to in your practice. Get serious man, and be awesome. Next time we’ll talk about using these speed levels for your practice.
A short cut to becoming your best musically: understanding how your personality affects your musicianship, with strengths and weaknesses.
Listen to the complexity of this sweet guitar work. For learning guitarists, this amazing skill display is still just rhythm guitar, that is, it’s to accompany a voice, and that voice – John Mayer, Neon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bZFAnLzjs . I've listed the acoustic version so you can hear the guitar work - solo, even. Imagine the dexterity and coordination required to play that guitar and still sing and sing well. Beats chewing gum and walking any day. So when you criticize John musically, you better be able to play like this first.
1.16.2012
You are usually working on a particular song to be able to transfer that learning to a thousand songs. Try to understand what you do at that level. How would I do this same thing in a different key or in a different style or rhythm? Learning just one song for its own sake is not very effective, especially when a little effort on your part will spread your learning a long way.
Think about 1/8th notes or 16th notes (cutting the beat in half) to make songs funky, choppy, rhythmically dynamic, exciting.
Here’s a super funky song (in this case pronounced “fownky”, as it is extremely funky). Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMPTXAc9aJ0. The group is gone now but the groove remains. Also, normally I think we should listen to music without regard to the accompanying videos, but this is a cool video as well.
1.10.2012
If you’re having trouble, haven’t practiced, have been sick, are feeling discouraged - go to performing songs, playing through lots songs, just adlibbing to lots of music you like – things that are fun and real and within your abilities today. Everybody has times where they just need to consolidate and have fun.
What can I say, it’s the 70’s and here’s the greatest song, “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” by King Harvest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR47TZdJg64, the sweetest blend of beauty and rock. It’s gotta be that Fender Rhodes.
The sensor that tells you’re going flat is the same targeting sensor that will tell you to support and listen and get it right. It’s your ear.
12.9.2011
As far as I’m concerned, this is the definitive version of “The Christmas Waltz” by Nancy Wilson. Most versions are so fast as to be waltzes in name only, the speed Nancy does it lets the song breath and groove, capturing the key words of the title, “Christmas” and “Waltz”. Musicians take note that just because you can play something fast doesn’t mean you should.
12.4.2011
Here’s one of the most beautiful songs of the season, James Taylor singing “In the Bleak Mid-winter”. This specific version is about the only one that works for me, James having pretty radically modified the original into something much more modern and accessible. For singers, notice how his voice is always infused with truthfulness and sincerity – everything he sings sounds like he’s singing from utter conviction, no matter the words. For the Christian the last verse is about the heaviest sentence uttered in song. As the writer contrasts different gifts for the Christ child, she (Christina Rossetti) finally concludes “what then can I give Him, I must give my heart”. Merry Christmas, all.
11.10.2011
Playing through the song, not stopping for mistakes is 30% of practice. This is performing, keeping the macro-rhythm constant. It’s like Chuck Norris in a Vietnam rescue movie, we’ve got to get these people from point A to point B and whatever we lose to get there is just going to have to be OK. If you make a mistake, miss a measure, it’s like the character who gets hit and says, “Go on without me, Jim. You’ve got to get those kids to safety”. Keep playing, keep moving, rescue the performance.
Ho-Ho-HoHo. Well, it’s Christmas time as far as I’m concerned and for all you Grinches out there, the next 6 weeks songs will be Christmas ones. So here an amazingly JOLLY song, Must be Santa, sung by Mitch Miller’s Gang. We used to sit around as little kids and Sing along with Mitch each week – a whole show of people around the nation singing karaoke, following a bouncing ball over the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. How fun. For those of you old enough to remember, I bet you didn’t know that Mitch Miller was a classically trained oboist with a degree from the Eastman School of Music and he played under Stokowski in the CBS Symphony. Kinda like me (except for the Eastman, CBS, and Stokowski part).
Think about the ½ note (2 beats) to slow down, when you’re rushing, when you feel harassed, or to smooth the song out.
11.8.2011
A great sense of writing is developed by listening to and reading great writing. It’s the same for music. Some of the learning is by imitation, but also by absorbing the perspective of the great by osmosis. No one teaches a child it’s native language, it’s learned by the time the child goes to school and children with parents that speak well and creatively speak the same themselves. Study, absorb, bathe in the masters of the music you love.
One of the great rock groups of all time, Chicago, lays down one of the saddest songs of all time, Wishing you were here. By opening with the Major V chord at the beginning of the vocal “Sleepless hours and dreamless nights and” the listener is deceived into thinking there is a hopeful path available for the song, but the dm on “far aways” says NO and when the harmonies come in “Ooooo, wishing you were here”, the deal is sealed – notice it’s not angry, not bitter, just deeply melancholy and sad.
All music, classical, rock, written & improvised, is a balance of creating tension & resolving it – through many dimensions & facets.
11.4.2011
Think on this for a perspective on the purpose of excellence in music and the relative importance of your own skill: most excellent music schools require composition majors to become a virtuoso on an instrument as a part of their compositional studies. The particular instrument doesn’t matter, but without mastery of some instrument (or voice) these schools deem the composer doesn’t really understand what’s possible from great musicians – and what the potentials are for great music. Think about how the view from the perspective of great skill would affect your own concept of music as a whole.
Here’s an awesome modern rock song, Something in the way that you are by The Reign of Kindo. Very smooth and jazz influenced, it reminds me of Todd Rundgren. I love to drift off in the emotions of the chord changes – but my wife thinks it’s too long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N3D21YFd4
If you’re going to write songs, learn to play piano or guitar. Otherwise other people will determine half of how all your songs sound.
10.27.2011
Deciding who your audience is may be the very most important decision facing a musician. If it’s anyone other than yourself, you must do all musical things well AND adjust what you’re doing to match and excite your listeners, whether that’s 10 or 10,000 people. I won’t play the same songs or sing the same way when I visit my Dad at Thanksgiving as when I’m playing songs alone. If the audience is only you, as an artist you need to learn your craft, but you are freer to follow your inclination where it leads, including to oblivion ‘cause no one likes it.
Check out this utterly sneaky and weird 2nd movement from Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. Listen to how the poly tonality (several keys at once) make the song seem normal and strange at the same time. Awesome.
Your fingers are like rebellious teens, squabbling and fighting one another & you. Use metronome & drum machine to get them together
10.24.2011
Don’t mistake excitement or interesting arrangements for a good song. Good songs sound great in the simplest arrangements as well as when intricately arranged (arrangement being the specifics of how the song is presented, solo piano, big band, a capella choir, etc.). Bad songs are frequently hidden behind massive arrangements. A good or great song fits it’s intent, it’s meaning down to the ground and seems authentic.
Rock your socks off with this Brazilian hit from 1966, Mas Que Nada , the very definition of cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHxOkLN6XqE
‘Cliché ‘is a matter of perspective. There has to be a ‘norm’ for there to be an ‘unusual’. That means know the norm for your music styles.
10.19.2011
For pianists, the idea of always and forever having to work a piece by separately practicing the right and left hands is absurd. What excellent pianist have you ever seen sight-reading first the right and then the left hand? The skilled player uses both hands at once. Separating the hands is a function of your overall piano abilities – as a beginner you may separate many or most pieces, as an intermediate you’ll separate some pieces, and as an advanced player (and always) you may need to separate sections of a piece. However think of each hand like gluing two pieces of wood together – you put glue on both sides and let glue dry to “tacky” and then clamp the wood together. If you let the glue dry completely, the pieces won’t join. So don’t perfect long sections of a piece in the right hand and then the left hand; the hands will become almost unrelated to one another. The piano is a – duh – two handed instrument. Rather, when each hand has moderate skill glue them together while they still need each other. And use speed (slow it down) as another way to make passages come within your abilities.
Allowing slight mistakes of time & note while you perform pieces (in practice) gives enough wiggle room to bring a song into your abilities.
10.17.2011
Mark Black’s distinction between a science, an art, and a craft: an art is a discipline that can be described only in broad principles which, while correct in themselves, are useful guidelines, not unbreakable truths. There can be no formula for great art or great music, only principles to which a majority of great music adheres. There are great songs that break every rule and a great song seems to be one that has strengths in several areas, not one with perfect 10s across the board. There can be no statement: do these 6 things and you will have a hit song! Learning to be a great musician, we ponder these artistic ideals and assimilate them, but we are a good musician long before we perfect these truths in our playing and singing, as the tenets of musicianship and art direct our thinking, creating, and growth.
If your songs can't be critiqued, please go on to heaven to leave more room for mortals. Songs are a work in progress, even after published.
10.11.2011
Your growth as a musician is an upward angle as you reach forward to learn more and play and sing faster and better. Periodically, though we have performances and then we cease trying to grow (other than as a better performer, a better communicator of our music) and step back in to what we do well. Your performance is perceived as excellent when you play in the top third of your ability (but completely within that ability). So, take an assessment of your ability in that window of time just before your performance, consolidate into what you can do dramatically and well, and max out your performance by making music you have a good expectation of nailing. And when it’s over, pick up your pack and head back out on the trail of musical excellence, ever upward.
Move fingers only. Use finger muscles to push keys or strings down; try to leave the hands as motionless as possible. Isolate muscle motion.
9.28.2011
One of the most important days in your musical life is the day you decide to put something aside, a video game, a TV show, a meeting, sleep, etc., so you can get in the amount of practice you need to become great. It sets you apart and clears the path in front of you towards the mastery of music. And yet there’s another day that I think is as least as important for us musicians, and that’s the day you compromise your “perfect” practice arrangement to conform with life’s demands, the day you have to cut some things out, just for today mind you, so that you can get in what practice you can and still function in the real world. In a sense this may be the day you are able to fit being a great musician in with living in the real world. I only know of two kinds of people who are able to practice 3 or more hours a day for years at a time (when neither in music school nor a professional musician): the unemployed (and/or drug addicts) and people with wealthy or successful relatives, usually spouses. While the latter is fine (nice work if you can get it), most people don’t have this option – they’ve got to get in the practice and performing and playing when they can. They’ve got to MAKE the time, carve out the time, not just hope it’ll happen. And on the days or weeks when it can’t be made to happen, they figure out how to make the most of the time they have and make the time they DO have count. Welcome to the real world of music, my friends. It’s a good life.
Music’s 3 Ps: practicing (repetition), performing (like for an audience), playing (make music in unplaned ways with new, unexpected people)
9.15.2011
In yet another foray in to describing the two types of effort needed to master music the most quickly, consider a car race. There are 2 people involved, a car, and the race. The race is being a good and great musician. The car is the song, the exercise, your entire musical effort. When you rehearse you need to be two people, two people in a race. Part of your time (2/3rds) you are the mechanic. You pull the car apart, you work on the transmission, you tinker with the carburetor to get a better response, you polish and fiddle and tweak to get that car the very best it can be. But suddenly the race car driver comes up (he’s you) and he says, “Well, that’s great, but we’ve got a race to run, so you’ve got to put this baby back together so I can drive it”. And then you, as the driver, get in that car and get it on the track, and whatever happens, you’ve got to make the best of it to do your best to win that race. That’s 1/3 of your practice time. The part of your time as the mechanic is when you, whether on a song or an exercise, repeat and become mister nit-picky to get it absolutely perfect. And you as the driver is the part of your time where you perform the song straight through no matter what happens.
Read ahead, keep your eyes a measure ahead of where you play. Don't just stare where you're playing, it's just a crutch. Makes U 2x as good.
9.112011
Shout outs to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Thank you God for freedom and all that it means. Thank you God for the greatest, most free nation on earth, which has the military and economic power to crush the globe, yet gives more than any other. Thanks to the men and women who protect this nation from its enemies, you are my heroes. Artists and musicians should be the first to be aware that only a free and prosperous society provides sufficient discretionary, extra income to provide for non-essentials such as art and music. There are no full-time musicians in the Amazon basin or the deserts of Morocco. And when the enemies of freedom take over, artists, musicians, and intellectuals are the first to go. So wise up, grow a backbone, and be an American if you’re blessed enough to be one. Never forget 9.11, that freedom isn’t free, that our society has enemies that would enslave us, that sitting on the fence is taking a position of defeat, and that it takes guts to defend this land, whether that’s with your life (the US military, RESPECT!), or with your words.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Long may she wave.
9.7.2011
In the Matrix Neo and Morpheus talk about the “residual self image”, which (in the story) is a person’s own internal picture of themselves. Morpheus explains to Neo this residual self image is why Neo sees himself as he sees himself while in the Matrix – the picture Neo has of himself in his mind. You, as a musician, have a residual self image of your music, a “residual musical image” of how one should play, and how one should sound, the correct timbre of your voice or instrument, of the number and type of licks and ornaments adlibbing should have, of many or few articulations, or dynamics – you have a picture inside of you of every aspect possible in music. Of course, some of those pictures are blank (you haven’t a clue), some are vague, some are wrong. But you judge your success or failure in the many areas of music based on this residual musical image. This image is based on all the music you’ve listened to and liked, and paid attention to. This image is like a big pot where you’ve dumped all that music and it’s what you internally refer to as to what you should be doing. Now my point here is that you can change that image by what you listen to. If you want more “soul” in your sound, or you want to add more licks to your singing, listen to music and people that do this. If you want a rougher timbre, or smoother one, listen to people and music that have these sounds. It’ll get dumped in the “residual musical image” pot inside you and you will slowly start moving towards that new image, that new standard inside of you. This includes EXCELLENCE, SPEED, and ACCURACY. Listen to the musicians you want to become and you will move towards them despite yourself.
Focus on a different facet of music each week: dynamics, range, timbre, articulation, accuracy, flow. Concentrate on it to internalize it.
8.31.2011
Playing is practicing, although a comparatively inefficient form of practicing. Practicing focuses on an area and masters it, playing puts everything together all at once, focusing on the product, and not the details. When a good or great player says "I never practice" - may be, but he definitely plays and plays a lot. No one sits in a closet never lifting their instrument or voice for a moment and is then called upon to perform a masterful concert and does so. There are lots of ways to use this truth, one of them is hey, if you're discouraged or bored with practicing, try playing a lot. Play with friends, play with records, play alone, but playing will get you progressing, certainly a lot more than just sitting there.
When a passage is particularly fast or difficult, hear the correct notes simultaneously with your playing, like listening to a record.
8.28.2011
Groove is the perfect word for the rhythmic flow of a song. A groove holds something in place, and it keeps you from going left or right, too fast or too slow. It directs you, helps you stay where you should be. Listen for the groove, establish a groove, stay in the groove.
If you're practicing, the week you feel is the worst may be your best cause you're actually taking in new abilities, not rehashing old ones.
8.19.2011
For an audience to love your music, you must first and foremost establish a steady rhythmic flow, a continuous, even pulse. This allows them to relax and be able to anticipate the next measure and beat with reliability and they quit worrying about whether you're going to mess up and start to enjoy the music. When they are unable to anticipate your next beat, you lose them. Micro-pauses, little one beat and half beat pauses as you get from one little difficult part to the next, destroy the flow, adding up to no groove and blank stares from your friends. Don't think it's just funk tunes or Khachaturian that demand rhythmic consistency. "Happy Birthday" will flop if there's an extra beat or pause every 3 t0 6 beats. This error is not what we talked about in the last post; in fact it proves the point of the last post - that is, if the listener can anticipate that 1, 2, 3, and 4 are going to arrive on time, they'll forgive some rushing or slowing down on the notes in between (which is also why rubato works).
A comet is an image of your musicianship. The head is the cutting edge, what you're learning; the tail behind is what you can do naturally.
8.17.2011
OK, here's one of the most essential (and weird and true) uses of making mistakes. Most awesome, amazingly fast players and singers get there by slobbing their notes and aiming for the downbeat and even just hitting the first beat of each measure. That is, in a 4 beat measure, they are playing 16, 24, and even 32 notes, but those 16, 24, and 32 notes are not perfectly in time; each note is not exactly 1/16th or 1/24th of the measure, rather some of the notes are early, late, too long or too short. But by concentrating on arriving at the downbeat of each pulse (and again, lots of times that's actually just the 1st beat of a measure and each of the other 2 or 3 beats weren't perfect) the unity of their awesome solo is provided. It's like an optical illusion, but it's an aural illusion - like the eye tries to make everything it sees logical and fit into a pattern, the ear does the same. In this amazing solo, scale, pattern, exercise, arpeggio the ear hears these slightly late or short notes, but because the soloist arrives consistent on 1, the ear says - yo, I'm cool wi' dat. And allowing themselves those 1/16th and 1/32nd note errors of time lets great musicians cross the bounds of their current abilities and achieve new heights of amazing, blazing speed. Try this in your practicing and soloing and check out some of your favorite shredding and otherwise superfast heros and see if you don't hear them doing that sometimes, probably even frequently.
No tension. Position your body so there is no tension in the neck, head, chest, or body. Chest high, shoulders back, dropped, and relaxed.
8.11.2011
Another idea on using mistakes to grow is learning to quantify your mistakes. If you were to take a test and get a 97 or 98, you would think you were pretty awesome and had a great mastery of your subject, wouldn't you?. Of course you would. But musicians let one mistake ruin a song or exercise for them. When you're working on scales and technique, one exercise may contain 500 notes. I have an exercise for working the guitar neck that has 3500 notes, and that's not that unusual. A practicing musician may easily play 50,000-100,000 notes in a day. So (I hate to be this meticulous, but) measure the number of notes in your exercises and allow yourself 2% error without penalty, without holding yourself back for mistakes. That means in that big guitar exercise I allow myself to make 70 mistakes (wrong notes, fingerings, broken rhythm) without penalizing myself or holding myself back from upping the speed. The idea here is to balance mistakes with what you're doing right and address the speed versus accuracy fight. This is useful for all but especially necessary for nit-picky types. You can always tighten up to 100% perfection for a performance.
Concentrate your emotions into the message of your music. Let the listener, not the looker, learn the most from your performance.
8.4.2011
As much as I'm always talking about accuracy, taking the time to get it right, I want to talk about how important making mistakes is. First off, know that speed and accuracy are mortal enemies. They constantly battle for supremacy in each musician, for both the entire output of a musician's life and for the progress of each individual piece. Lean too far towards getting each note correct and you'll learn 4 pieces a year. Focus on playing as fast as possible and you'll play 200 songs a year, poorly. But many musicians get stuck worrying constantly about being accurate and slow down and thus never develop the speed they are capable of. And that's because you care about getting it right and want to fix your mistakes and that's correct and admirable. But if you find yourself stuck in terms of speed and only learn a few pieces a year, try introducing playing 5% of the time (scales, arpeggios, exercises, pieces) where you allow yourself to make more mistakes. And for all musicians I recommend you take a look at yourself and see which way you lean, Accurate Man or Sloppy Sam.
Concentrate while you practice; imagine you are auditioning for a scholarship or an orchestral position, imagine you are making an album.
8.1.2011
Knowledge vs. mastery. Just because you know a scale or a chord or a song doesn't mean you do it well. Just because you can do it well doesn't mean you can do it perfectly. Just because you can do it perfectly doesn't mean you can do it perfectly, with feeling and passion. Just because you can do it perfectly with feeling and passion at home doesn't mean you can do it perfectly with feeling and passion before a crowd. As you learn something, you're trying to move it from bare knowledge (I understand it) to functionality (I can do it) to proficiency (I can do it well) to mastery (I can do it whenever and however I want to). Some techniques and ideas may take 6 months work (or more) before they become natural.
To have an awesome band, each member needs to be a strong, dynamic player, blending, but not depending on the others to get things right.
7.30.2011
When you are learning, the newest thing that you're presented with seems like the best, the crème de la crème. It's harder, a new sound to you and thus intriguing, and you can't quite do it yet so it's somewhat tantalizing. And that's as it should be. But as you learn most of the harder, different ways to play and sing, you'll discover that the older, simpler ways of doing things have their place and indeed are the preferred choice in varied circumstances. Sometimes the dm11 is the best choice, sometimes just good ole dm. Sometimes Spanish Phrygian, sometimes natural minor. The point here is not que sera sera, or be simplistic, return to your roots and the innocence of youth, RATHER, that there's probably a perfect place for everything you've ever learned musically, if you'll listen for it. And also if you end up jamming everything you ever learned into every song, they'll be too dense to enjoy.
Vocalists, concentrate & make low notes crisp, light, clear, and distinct. Don't depress the larynx to make them sound deeper than they are.
7.28.2011
Continuing, all musicians will benefit from being able to play FROM notes, but not all instruments and styles require that skill for success. For instruments like the piano and strings, each note is so like the next (just keys on the piano, black and white, and a featureless neck for strings) that about the only way people can make sense of the complexity that is music on these instruments is to add the structure of reading notes, which defines and separates all these very similar notes. Adding in the most common styles of music for these instruments and you must learn to read. And on instruments like sax, trumpet, flute each note is made very distinctly, with different complicated combinations of fingers for each note - exactly opposite the piano and unfretted strings. But surprisingly here again reading notes makes keeping track what's what much easier. I personally think it's fascinating how various factors affect how often different instruments are played.
In design, form follows function. But the kind of music played by an instrument is defined by how it makes sound (function follows form).
7.26.2011
All musicians should learn music theory, that is the details of how music works. The 3 ways people learn music is by ear, by feel (muscle memory), and by brain. Obviously anyone will learn music more quickly if they use all 3 ways together. All of our students learn to read music and to understand scales, keys, and chords, to speak the language of music. But not all musicians need to read FROM music, that is, the primary way they are succeeding in making music is by reading dots on a staff. Many factors affect this issue, like the kind of music and the instrument you play. The voice, for example, is pretty thoroughly designed for use by anyone. Everybody sings "Happy Birthday" at the party, but almost no one who sang it knows the notes or the key it was sung in. All notes in the voice are made the same way, and for most people the notes are made "naturally". Instruments where all the notes are played about the same way (piano, guitar, bass, strings, etc.) have a harder time keeping track of what notes are being played - because they all look alike. For the vocalist, guitarist, bassist, you should learn to read music and understand music, but you will only need to read FROM music if you A) like and want to do classical music, B) love jazz and/or progressive rock, and/or C) want to be a studio musician. Otherwise, reading FROM music is not usually called for - that is, 90% of all the music you think is awesome is done by musicians who aren't reading FROM music. More on this next time.
Play all notes no faster than you can play correctly. Practice makes permanent, so don't practice mistakes. Don't be impatient.
7.22.2011
I want to expand on the idea of the easy way versus the correct way. The way you play and sing right now is what's natural, automatic, and feels right. Most new techniques will require you to do something different, which will likely seem unnatural, forced, and awkward. You need wisdom and frequently good advice (insert awesome teacher here) on whether a particular thing you're trying to do is right, because it can be hard to tell whether a particular technique or way of doing something is right based on "ease" and "nature" alone - because you can't necessarily see the outcome of it. While it's very, very true that in many areas of music technique we want what is natural, ergonomically right for the physical mechanism involved, often what is "easy" - that is natural right now, in our inexperienced present, is not what's best in the long run.
Perform in present tense, what you do well, rehearse to make it so. Practice in future tense, what you will become, reach out to perfection.
7.21.2011
Sooner or later, when you're learning a new technique or song you will come to a cross-roads of whether you will do things the "correct" way (and we mean genuinely more effective and useful, not traditional or formal) or the easy way. Now I know that sounds like a setup for me to say you should take the high, lonely path to excellence and always do things the correct way - and I am - but I want you to see the point and issues here. Thousands of excellent musicians do things "the easy way" and it works fine for them. They play with two fingers instead of 4, they do vibrato with their jaw instead of their diaphragm, they only play in 4 keys. Making the choice for the "correct" way is about laying a broader foundation for yourself and maximizing your own personal chances of success. Seen 2 years from now, because you played with 4 fingers you can play this b9 chord with ease, because you used diaphragmatic vibrato you are always in tune, now that you've developed a love for jazz or black gospel you discover you can easily move through the changes because you worked in all keys. In the short term you will frequently need to choose the easy way to get the job done at the moment, but keep your eye on the horizon of what you can be, by making the BEST way natural.
Use long tones in songs to discover resonance and roundness in your voice. Experiment with vowel placement for the perfect tone.
7.18.2011
I know I've said this before and it sounds hokey, but it is so true - you personally can learn to be a great musician and/or vocalist - and that is so encouraging to know. 99% of people can do this if they'll work and listen and learn from others, and that means you're probably one of the ones who can. You may not necessarily be the world's greatest concert pianist or sing the highest notes ever heard from a human voice, but the odds are highly in your favor to be able to make the music you love well. Be aware that many teachers and musicians think that it's only about talent and God-given ability, but 50% of any list of good and great musicians is people who mostly worked hard. Get away from those people who hold you down, people who say you will always stink. I'm not saying you don't stink right now, I'm saying you don't have to stink forever. That includes you adults and middle aged and even older - there's probably still time for you. It may take you a long time and a lot of time in a day and you have to ask yourself if you're willing to make that commitment, but the odds are good you don't really have to ask yourself if you can accomplish that (the goal of playing/singing very well). You just have to ask yourself if it's worth the effort to yourself personally.
Metronomes & rhythm machines both help your playing tremendously. Use metronomes for precision, rhythm machines for fun and encouragement.
7.14.2011
Use the tension in your hands, fingers, throat, neck - any tension - to tell you where to practice. Although many times you must push yourself to play or sing faster than is comfortable, most of the time you are to be physically relaxed. I don't mean emotionally relaxed, calm; I mean that there is no stiffness in your body. The physical places where there is tension and the things that you do that cause tension are the targets for repetition to create muscle memory and comfort in the physical mechanism - and that in turn produces great speed and skill. Look at your favorite amazing musician and notice how effortless their music looks.
A targeting sensor: vocally, the same sensor that makes you flat (this is hard, high) will tell you to support, listen and get it right.
7.13.2011
Somehow you've got to motivate yourself to practice. We've talked about seeing practicing as repetition to develop muscle memory (which it is), to develop freedom (which it does), to develop confidence (which it creates). Practice to become famous, to become awesome, to be diligent, to amaze your friends and impress chicks (baby chickens). Some of the greatest performers (not musicians, or composers necessarily, but very physically skilled performers) never see practicing as practicing, they see it as playing, performing. Not investing or sacrificing, not diligence or preparation - just doing. They may be working 9 hours in a practice room, but when they emerge from that room, they feel like they were having fun the whole time. The further you can remove the repetition involved in mastering your instrument or voice from the drudgery of p.....e, the better. But motivated, visionary, diligent or not, if you don't p.....e, you won't get better.
When tuning, if you can tell you're off but not if you're flat or sharp, lower your pitch until you know you're flat and come up from there.
6.22.2011
The majority of bands fail because they don't recognize this: playing, practicing, laboring over a song makes you intimately connected and invested with that music. You know the ins and outs, how long it's taken to learn, all the changes and cool chords. Soon you have a 2 hour set of personalized labors of love. But your audience doesn't know that. When you are the audience, YOU only give a group or song about 60 seconds to decide if you like it or not, and so does your own audience. This means you tilt your songs and performances towards easy assimilation by the audience, especially at the beginning of a set so they buy into you and are more open for the less usual things you're doing.
IV/V is a smoother modulation than V7. EX:F/G smoother than G7 to get to key of C or a C chord. G F A C. It's actually a G11 chord.
6.10.2011
As you learn a style, discover what makes it unique and authentic. Play or sing it as it is normally performed, not as a stereotype. If you play the style as a caricature you reveal that you either don't know it or don't really like it, or both. How do people actually sing the blues or play those metal riffs? What is unique and excellent in this style? And all the cool things you learn will effect all your music for the better.
Even the fastest song should sound relaxed and in-control. This is about your skill level, establishing a groove, and playing in the pocket.
6.9.2011
You need to plan your performance to match your audience, even if it's only one song. Especially if it's only one song, so the audience gets that you're awesome. There are different dynamics of performances, usually moving between the opposing poles of deep personal expression (I'm just here singin' my songs, telling it like it is, opening my heart and O, look there's an audience here, I guess you guys can stay - think Sarah McGlaughlin, John Mayer, Debussy) versus We are rockin' the house TONIGHT, step back and get down! - think Garth Brooks, Lady Gaga, Beethoven). Think of the age and interests of the people you're playing for. Honestly, this is pretty important just playing for friends or family. Your grandmother isn't going to be able to relate too well to your Korn songs, but she'll think you're cool if you play a song closer to where she's coming from. Think about how your performance meshes with your audience.
You can only take your audience one or two clicks further than where they are right now without losing them.
6.8.2011
Ponder the song you're working on. What is its essence, what makes it important, special? It's really sad, or jams, or uses amazing range or speed. Whatever defines it, think about how to make it even more so. There will be musical AND psychological, attitudinal elements to this - for example, a song that's core principle is sincerity, earnestness will usually have a simple chord structure, not a lot of licks in the melody or a busy bass line, etc. In working on this song, you should think about it both ways - Psychologically first and what are the implications of that (Song is sad so how can I create that even better? I'll put lots of dynamic contrast in, lots of connection between notes - but letting the idea of sadness lead). And then Technically - this song is fast and technically amazing - I guess it's sort of Jammin' and up-in-my-face. I'll think about playing like that. Use the psychological synopsis of the song to give you inform your playing.
There are several million good songs. Only learn great, important, and special ones, pieces you love.
5.18.2011
The internal image you are judging yourself by, the normal situation you want to succeed in and see yourself in is performing in public, not playing or singing alone at home in your room. That is the exception, the unusual situation that you appreciate, but don't plan for, being at home. Replace that internal picture of sitting at home on your bed to making your music on a stage and 300 people listening. I don't mean that so much as being "big time", rather that you are performing at that intensity and effort level.
Be an apologist for styles you love by being excellent and understanding where others are coming from; make it easy to like your music.
5.13.2011
In learning music one thing to consider is how much you should work on a particular composer's, artist's, or group's songs. If you are trying to maximize your variety and breadth of learning, then work on pieces by many different composer's, artist's, and groups. You'll get lots of varied input, approaches, techniques, and ideas as you work out their songs. If you work on 2 or 3 songs in a row by the same author, though, you are narrowing your variety and creating depth of learning. You're now becoming skilled at this particular musician's approach. It's not wrong to focus; it's a great tool for in-depth learning. But unless you're trying to master a particular artist or group (or you want become a clone), don't do more than 1 song by a certain author before you do 4 of 5 by others.
If you play it more than twice, you're not sight-reading, you're practicing. Working sight-reading = play much music, but only 2xs through.
5.5.2011
Whenever you are having problems with a passage with many steady, fast notes, concentrate on getting the first of the group on the beat - and the others will follow. This is an example of the macro-rhythm concept. So if you were playing a sixteenth note passage, say with 4 measures of 16th notes, and it was too fast, messy, not fitting in the time you've got, concentrate on getting the first of each group of four on the beat each time. This will get you in the ballpark as the other notes get into place.
Complex chord structure creates musical sophistication. Yet the opposite is not true - simple chords = sincerity, not simplicity.
5.4.2011
When you begin many new exercises the issue is information, knowledge, how do I do this, what are the notes. Usually within a few weeks or days, however, the point of the exercise becomes skill and speed, how well do I do this, how quickly can I do this. Many people miss the transition phase, where the usefulness of the exercise moves from information to skill. Thus they may plod along for months doing an exercise slowly, at the same speed week after week - and never develop the skill that was the ultimate purpose of their work.
Exercises are the tent pole raising up all of your playing ability. As they come up, everything else comes up, too.
5.3.2011
Micro-rhythm is my term for the detailed rhythm going on at the specific beat or rhythm figure you're trying to play in a song; macro-rhythm is the 1, 2, 3, 4 going on under all that detail. I'm coming to believe mastery of the macro-rhythm (consistent beats at the measure level) is what lets many master musicians develop their amazing speed, precision, and creativity. The ability to go for something hard, or blazing fast, or weird and unusual, miss it, and still keep the over-all time (not mess up the song) gives performers the confidence to keep trying that thing, keep sticking it in until they really do master it. It's like driving, yes, you have to keep between the lines, but there's room for a little imperfection. If driving had to be perfect (not an inch off!), no one could drive - you could never start learning because too much precision would be needed just to begin. Playing along with others, but probably especially CDs, recordings that are right and keeping a constant time is a good way to establish the macro concept and help you jump in with imperfect playing NOW instead of waiting until everything's perfect.
Some professional orchestral musicians never play a difficult part to speed until the performance. Hmmm. Ponder "Practice makes Permanent".
4.29.2011
Make yourself sing/play aggressive/fast/hard songs so you become comfortable with them. Many people will avoid them their entire lives, but you can learn to do them great, just as you do more emotive, slower songs. This ability will help all you songs become more personalized and artistic - because you could play this song twice as fast as you're playing it now, you're able to see more details and possibilities, and make them realities.
Listen to music outside of your favorite styles and instruments to develop new concepts and to feed your creativity.
4.28.2011
One's general musicianship, physical skill, artistic depth, rhythmic mastery, ear-skills are like a cushion upon which specific songs and performances rest. The better, the deeper one's musical abilities are, the more of a cushion is there, the more room to recover from for errors, problems, or flexibility in changing circumstances.
Performing is not stopping no matter what.
4.27.2011
Exercises and theory are the floor, the foundation of your technique. It's frequently hard to be energized by this repetitive work that requires long term attention and produces results in the future. But by practicing hard on them, making them excellent, and demanding they improve dramatically and consistently, that floor becomes an elevator for all of your musical efforts.
Practice is isolation and repetition.
4.26.2011
The long-term goal for all player/singer applications that don't REQUIRE reading is develop your ear to the point that "playing by ear" is incredibly accurate for you and supplies all the information you need to succeed with your songs. To effortlessly pick up subtleties and fundamentals through what you hear is an awesome blessing. To achieve this goal, though, I think you need to spend the first few years playing with music. A chart, words and chords, just the words on a sheet for vocalists. Don't be without that chart as you work on your music. People who aren't working with charts in the beginning, before they know a lot about music and chords and inversions and scales, tend to try and memorize everything and amass too many details to retain. If they're having any success at all with their music, this quickly becomes hundreds of songs to be memorized. Using a chart, which you amend and notate with the greatest of ease, allows you to customize and mark difficult sections immediately and quickly INTERNALIZE the musical issues you are facing. It seems to allow you to work more toward organic development of principles of musical excellence rather than slaving over the details for this exact piece. I think that's because you'll quickly see you're making the same notes over time and you gradually internalize these things. So, paradoxes of music - work with a chart to develop your ear. Go figure.
Keep your eyes on the page, not your hands. If you can play it, looking or not, you are 75% of the way towards not having to look at all.
4.25.2011
Your ear is like a genius musician and music theoretician from Russia, who knows absolutely everything about music, can play every instrument and style, but can't speak a word of English. He knows just what to do, knows exactly what's wrong, what should be done but can't communicate it to you. You've got to learn to communicate with HIM, your ear. It hears everything correctly, and you know instantly when there's a wrong note or something is off in the music you listen to, without being told. You already have preferences and styles, groups you love and hate, and that's all about ear knowledge. You have an ally that's a great comfort and resource for you, your mighty ear. Now we've just got to learn to speak EAR. Without ear-training and music theory you'll spend about one year of learning to speak EAR and get one year of benefit - a 1 to 1 ratio of learning - and not very efficient. But study those and work on your ear and you will reap a harvest from the treasure trove you already have - your ear. You'll be prying all the secrets from our hypothetical Russian master musician, and riding on the information your ear has been gathering since you were knee high to a horned toad. Invest in learning to speak EAR.
Swing time is the sound a horse makes when moving at a canter.
4.22.2011
In performance (which you need to practice everyday) learning to let notes that you've missed go and keep on going (performance button, keeping the macro-rhythm steady, one third of your playing) is crucial. Learn to let those mistakes go, don't let them infect the rest of the song. It's like the character in a scary movie, or like Lord of the Rings, etc. The orcs are coming and this kid is holding on to a bunch of stuff and they drop something, their teddy bear, and everyone says forget it, let it go, but the kid turns back for that one thing and GETS EATEN BY THE ORCS, HA! When you miss a note or make a mistake IN PERFORMANCE, let it go, it's already gone. Don't let it mess anything else in the song up by worrying about it or trying to fix it. After the performance you can go back, work on it 1000 times and fix it.
In practicing, first it becomes correct, then you develop muscle memory (becomes natural), then you add passion, excitement (becomes art).
4.21.2011
Rhythm and pitch are the primary axes of music and are mostly identified by the beginning musician with "correctness". Only as these are mastered can dimensions such as dynamics, phrasing, and articulation be added and artistry begin to emerge. This is a great reason to practice.
For your brain: One day is flat day, next day is sharp day.
4.20.2011
Performance demand: Mark Black's term for the overarching imperative to play something, anything, no matter how flawed, when an audience is listening, just so you don't sound lame. That's an audience of even just one or just yourself. Performance demand can work for your or against you. "For you" would be helping you continue when you make a mistake or have a place you're unsure about - you try to keep going and cover up or ignore mistakes. But there is a negative element to it, especially when you are working in a group or working toward a performance. You can easily miss or never work out important details, changing the unique, vital aspects of a song into something you can DO, right now. And again, lots of times that's a good thing, like when you're trying to put together songs quickly for something - you rely on your experience and musicianship to get them together as soon as possible. But if you're trying to learn from a song, catch the essence of an artist or style, absorb the song as quickly as possible - you've got to slow down the learning process to catch those details. In fact, you WILL miss important details as you play with others and the song get "OK" and your sights start to move to other places in the song or other songs in the group. It's good enough, so let's go on. UNLESS...you make yourself stop being pressured by yourself or the group, your buddy...and hear and workout those precious details. Performance demand. Make it work for you and be aware of it.
Make scales seamless, regardless of changing voices or strings, crossing fingers over. Accent different notes in the group (2nd, 3rd, etc).
4.19.2011
OK, here's a change of pace. If you're practicing scales, chords, progressions - anything - through all twelve keys, you have to decide how much time you have to spend a day practicing that thing and how many times in a week you want to get through all the keys. Here's a handy chart or mnemonic ideas to get starting notes to go through exercises in all keys in varying lengths of days:
If you can only do one of the exercise a day, use the notes of a chromatic scale as your starting note. C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B. It'll take you 2 weeks to play every key.
Doing 2 exercises a day, use the notes of a tritone (augmented 4th or diminished 5th) = C-Gb//C#-G//D-Ab//D#-A//E-Bb//F-B//F#-C. You'll do 2 a day and finish all keys in 1 week.
To do 3 exercises a day, use the notes of an augmented chord as your starting tones = A-C#-F///Bb-D=F#///B-D#-G///C-E-G# = you'll get through all keys 1 and ½ times a week.
For 4 a day = use fully diminished 7 chord = c-eb-gb-Bbb(A)///c#-e-g-bb///d-f-ab-b = you'll be completing all the exercises 2 times a week.
6 in a day = use a whole tone scale = C-D-E-F#-G#-Bb///Db-Eb-F-G-A-B = completing the exercise in all keys 3 times a week.
There are tens of thousands of exercises, too many to do. You have to decide which ones work the best and are the most necessary for you.
4.18.2011
For every 20 minutes of practice time on a song, you should be working on the amount of material (in that song) that you can physically play through in 2 to 4 minutes. As a percentage of practice, you are spending 30 to 50% of your practice working on what you can actually play in 5% of your practice time. This should lead you to A) practice more and B) concentrate more time on less material. (Caveat - This is why playing in a group or with a few friends is great, too. Makes you do lots of stuff without being able to pour over it so much)
You are learning one certain song to transfer what is learned there to a thousand songs. See how what's in this piece applies to others.
4.7.2011
Hey, guys. Back from an unintentional break in posting. In summation, use these single performance (performances separated by a significant amount of time - say 2 or 3 months at least) as milestones, navigation points on your journey as a musician. Enjoy performing and be proud of what you did. Look at your mistakes, caused by both physical issues and nervousness issues, and decide how to address them. See what you could do next time to engage and reach the audience more. And look at this performance and determine where it puts you towards your long term goals and adjust accordingly. Now, start planning your next big gig!
Some students like genres (rock, jazz, metal), others like ways of playing, or emotions evoked, or degrees of complexity - crossing genres.
3.31.2011
Lastly, think about what should come next, i.e., what now? Did you like the song and style you did? Are you doing too many of this kind of song or do you need to explore this area more? Was the piece too much for you or too easy, too high, too fast, too comfortable? Where did this performance put you towards your long-term goals, the musician you want to be, and the music you want to play. Based on how you did, (Dare I say it?) are you practicing enough? Look at what you did and consider if you're progressing at the rate you want, if you were to extrapolate it out over the next several years.
Improvising makes you more in touch with your instrument and voice, regardless of the style. Many classical composers were great improvisers.
3.30.2011
Next after your performance, do you think your audience was moved? How effective were you in reaching them? Were they noticing your music or worrying about whether you'd make it through or if you'd make a mistake? What can you do differently to make more of the music come through? Being a great performer is like being a great chef: we all know the food is awesome because of, and mostly because of the chef. But what we're excited about is the food. Grateful to the chef, but consuming the food. So, you, performer, singer, musician, are the reason the evening rocked, but your music is the thing people are partaking of. Did they get enough?
Studious, knowledgeable musicians and musicians who just play can both become amazing. But usually those who study get there 5xs faster.
3.29.2011
Next, notice your mistakes and why you made them. Did you make mistakes you weren't expecting, or were they in places you expected, places that had been giving you difficulty? Just because you made mistakes in places you were having trouble with doesn't mean that such mistakes are inevitable, rather that you should start to learn how much practice it will take to overcome a known difficulty. If some mistakes were unexpected, frequently this comes from your mind wandering as you perform your song; practicing concentration while performing is actually quite difficult - but it can be done. If you were nervous, now did much it effect your performance, to what degree? In each of these areas, I'm saying you can learn to gage how long and how thoroughly you need to master a song and its pieces to successfully perform it. You can use this information to prepare next time (in both time and method). As an example, most people speed up their songs when they're nervous. If you did this, once you know it, you can remember that next time and try to keep the right tempo as you perform. Also , because of this examination you may come up with new areas you should be working on that the performance brought up.
Complete a song each month; 2 months if complicated. Choose difficulty of pieces accordingly. Pieces offer new abilities so get through many.
3.28.2011
DEBRIEF: OK, so now that you had that performance, what should you do? Be glad you're still alive? Seriously, first, congratulate yourself on what you did and take pride and courage from it. 99% of people will never do that, never get up there and put themselves up front as you did. That's awesome and for most people, it's the biggest turning point in their journey towards being a musician. Good on ya', mate! And, as hard as you were working and thinking, trying to do your best, striving to make it work - I hope you ENJOYED what you did up on stage. That's what all music is about, soaking up the exhilaration and essence of the gift of music, awesome when listened to, but sublime and eternal when it's coming out of YOU: even for ole red-neck pickers like me. We'll talk next about more things to get from your performance.
Dealing with mistakes is more important than perfection, because it leads to perfection. Knowing how to fix mistakes makes you invincible.
3.25.2011
Whoa Nelly! Practice once a day setting the tempo deliberately too fast - at a speed you know will cause mistakes. It'll help make problem sections seem slower and more comfortable (after you slow it back down, of course) and will s - t - r - e - t - c - h out the song more, giving you a more relaxed feeling with the song - afterwards when you bring the speed back to normal. Once a day.
Day before the concert: focus on solid, natural, what works. Slow problems down til they feel natural. Perform. Remove problems from piece.
3.24.2011
Spooks - if you get stuck on a place in the song, and mentally/psychologically freak out at a spot or several spots in a song, play/sing through the spot(s) slowly, always perfectly, just as slow as you need to get it right! Speed is not the issue if this is your type of problem; it is smoothing out the anticipation of a mess up. So, we're trying to get your confidence back so that you can do that part right!
2 weeks before the performance play/sing the song just once, once each 2 hours. Don't practice; just do the song once. Go about your day.
3.11.2011
1st thing in every practice, last thing in every practice, 1st thing in every lesson: play/sing the song straight through without breaks. Don't stop and restart for mistakes or weak places. Keep the rhythm exactly correct, whatever the number of measures in the song, when you've counted that many measures, the song should be over. Stop. This is how performing really is, so practice this way (but not only this way). 1/3 of your practice time on the song should be done this way.
It is a wonderful and momentous thing when you play or sing and you realize you're actually doing it, you're really making music.
3.9.2011
Make up. Actors on TV and in the movies, even news reporters and politicians, wear make up on screen or stage. Why? Because from a distance, without that extra color and contrast on their faces, you can't see them well, they don't make much of an impression. In the same way, ON STAGE you need to exaggerate the emotions, dynamics, power, passion, etc., of your music to get your audience into what you're doing. Try to over-do it. Go for it. You might feel like you're being fake and ‘just acting', but usually what comes out, to the audience, is just a powerful, convincing performance, not the over-done version you may feel you're doing on stage. Remember the ‘psychological distance' between you and them will blur some of what you're doing, so really get into it. No, we don't care if you wear make-up.
In the beginning it takes a lot of work to develop the muscle memory needed for mastery. Be patient with yourself.
3.8.2011
Here are some ideas from our recital handout to get you ready for that single performance. Ping-Pong balls. Once a day get someone to try and distract you while you play and/or sing. They can do anything at all except physically obstruct you from performing. So, they can throw ping-pong balls at you, or get really close and stare at you, or try to make you laugh. Learning to ignore them and play/sing your music great at the same time will help you learn to concentrate and focus during the performance.
Swallow the Egg. Don't just get your piece in half way - internalize it, make it a part of yourself. Master it. Make the song your own.
3.2.2011
2/5th of students are focused on details, perfection. 2/5th are focused on getting all the way through the song, creating emotion. Which are you - because there are strengths and weaknesses for these two views.
Any place in a piece that's spooked you, so you're making mistakes just cause you missed it before; SLOW DOWN, only play it perfectly.
3.1.2011
The most important part of any performance is the psych, the mood-casting, pulling the listener into the world of the music being performed. You as the artist are the conjurer, the magician creating the illusion that this music is truth and not a parlor trick. Perfection and skill and artistry are all simply servants of this goal. All music from classical to metal produces emotions in the listener. That's why it's so important to not stop when you make mistakes (MACRO-rhythm error), and why most pitch mistakes aren't that serious. Most pitch mistakes don't destroy the edifice you are creating in the listener's mind, but more rhythm mistakes say the creation isn't real, they war against your creation. If you don't feel adequate for the role of musical vision-caster - DO NOT DESPAIR! You can learn to do this just like you are learning the other parts of music. And you can check to see if what I said is true by looking at the music and musicians you love to listen to now. The reason you love each of them is because of what they make you feel and think as you listen. You are learning to produce those feelings and thoughts in your listeners right now. Congratulations!
Are the emotional implications of music, varying beat to measure to phrase, cultural or intrinsic? Regardless, musicians must live in it.
2.28.2011
Despite all I'm saying on working to make your performance great, this is not a test. This is the reason you got into music. Music is a performing art, so enjoy this and every performance. Yes, a part of your brain is dedicated to monitoring what you're doing, how you sing and play, stay in tune, in time, on target. But an equal part of you is to enjoy getting to sing and play. How wonderful for you - to get to make music and have people listen!.
Warming up is great, but spend regular time trying to get to 100% performance level with no preparation. Be instantly on.
2.23.2011
As you're learning your pieces, take time to soak them up correctly and thoroughly. Like a new-born duck, you are imprinting the song on your brain the first times you play it and hear it, so be sure you learn it right in the beginning. Take your time and make sure you've got it right. It'll be harder to even notice places that sound correct but are actually not right as time goes by, so go slowly in the beginning, especially for classical songs (because with most pop songs, you're listening to the original frequently). Next, as you are working on the song, be aware of performance demand, the pressure during any performance to just get through the song in one piece, abandoning artistry, dynamics, articulations, emotion - all the things that make music out of what you're doing. Pressure during performance will squeeze the life out of your song - in this case I don't mean nervousness per se, rather the imperative to simply get from beginning to end and hang the details. But it's those details that make your music wonderful. So press back against performance demand and hold onto and develop the uniqueness of your songs.
Christopher Parkening has said play a passage perfectly 7 times before considering it mastered. I don't know if it has to be 7, but it's close.
2.22.2011
Next, for any live performance, consider this. When you perform live you are communicating in 2 media, aural AND guess what - visual. You're all focused on sounding great and all the difficulties of your piece and practicing and fixing mistakes, and you look like a dead fish up on stage. Your visual message must match your aural message, the sounds coming from you. You can't look scared or expressionless and have a great impact on your listeners. There are many styles of stage performance: sincere, involved, stage maniac, but they all have in common the fact that they are convincing. You must convince your audience you believe in your music. If you're not comfortable with this visual aspect, it's perfectly fine to "practice" it like you would any other part of your music. Think about your favorite performers, what do they do on stage? Pick some of those things and try doing them, you can even devote several performances a day in your practice to focusing on the visual performance. You're trying to make your live performance succeed 2 ways: if we could only hear you (as in listening on the radio) we'd buy your album. If we could only see you, we'd want to buy the album too, because you look so convincing, it must be awesome music!
When working a difficult piece, start practice some in the middle or the last page. Skip around so you know the piece equally to the end.
2.21.2011
So a normal practice session is 60/40 technique-theory to songs. But as we approach a single performance we will adjust our practicing schedule. NOTE: as a musician becomes better and better, performing pieces, even amazing pieces, becomes easier and easier. Excellent musicians will need to adjust their schedules only slightly (if at all) for performances, as their skill level easily includes performing difficult pieces in public. You adjust your practice to the degree the pieces you play and performing itself seem difficult and a challenge. OK, so as you come close to the performance, you should spend more and more of your time performing your piece(s) and less on technique and theory. Remember we made the comparison of technique and theory with research and development and performing songs with production and distribution. As the performance gets closer, quit working so much on research and more on the product soon to be released in your concert. To the point sometimes you are only playing enough exercises to warm up and then get to your songs. This is OK as long as this is only a season in your musical journey as you approach an important performance, not the new standard for your musical practice. You'll go back to 60/40 in a few weeks. NOTE the second - MANY professionals quit growing as they become successful and are performing more and more. Their practice becomes simply a time to work on songs and they are no longer breaking new ground or growing in their musicianship. And I'm saying that's a real challenge to not do that. The most dedicated professionals struggle to find progressive practice time when they're touring or gigging.
Technique, exercises, theory, ear-training are investing in the future. Performing pieces is the present. Future and present are necessary.
2.17.2011
Now spend 60 percent of your time on the song isolating those mistakes and trying to perfect them one measure at a time. Some songs are so difficult you may have to go 1 beat at a time - but GOOD NEWS, you're investing your time here, not just spending your time. Every minute you spend untangling your technique, learning new licks and fingerings, eliminating breaks in tone is making hundreds of pieces in your future better. The more you do this, the less you'll have to do it in other songs. So think about that to encourage yourself to spend the time, and remember, you're not losing the time, you're investing it. When one measure sounds pretty good, go to the next problem area or measure. Skip areas where you don't have problems. When you feel about 70 percent of your time on this song is over (remember, you performed it straight though once already), stop working on the hard sections and repeating problems and now perform the entire song (that's the good sections + the 60 seconds you've been working on). Do this several times in a row, concentrating now not on fixing mistakes but on keeping the MACRO rhythm, which means not stopping no matter what and keeping the correct number of even beats in each measure. Now you have successfully covered the big picture (not stopping for mistakes, learning to handle mistakes without losing Macro-rhythm, performing) and the little picture (worked at perfection, eliminating errors). You have worked on the song as the mechanic (details) and the race car driver (performing) and squeezed out the highest learning curve you can for yourself. That should be your normal practicing regimen. And how to change it as the performance comes up? Next time.
You can ace a math or history test with 100% intellect. But intellect will only take you to the gate, not through it, in music.
2.16.2011
To wrap up discussion of normal practicing, when working on your songs, in the practice section (60%) you are trying to work on about as much of a song as you play through at a C+ grade in 60 seconds. The part(s) of the song you have no trouble with do not count in this total. As an example, if the song is 4 minutes long and you can do the first 2 minutes fairly well, you're focused on perfecting the next 60 seconds, and each time you perform the song, you'd do the first 3 minutes. The next day or several days later, you might be doing 3 minutes of the song well and now are focused on the last 60 seconds of the song. The 60 seconds of your daily work on a piece could be 2 pages or 4 measures depending on the difficulty. I hope you're all getting the idea. Now, a good plan on working this song or section of a song is perform the song (good parts + 60 seconds worth of hard parts) straight though, no stops, noting or remembering the mistakes and difficulties you're having. Remember that any place that gives you difficulties, even if it doesn't sound bad, is a potential mistake in a real performance. When you finish your performance, mark (circle, make a note on) all the places that are giving you trouble, even just a little trouble.
When you like a song, you actually only know only about 20% of the song. To perform it you must increase into the 80% and above.
2.15.2011
Alright, now that you're coming closer to the date of your performance and you're thinking about consolidating your gains, it's a good time to mention how you should be practicing. Your normal practice time should be spent doing about 40% performance (songs, pieces, adlibbing, etc) and 60% technique and theory. This means you're investing 40% of your time in actually making music and 60% of your time breaking music down into smaller, digestible pieces and learning more about how music works, becoming a better musician, etc. Or you could look at it as 40% production and distribution and 60% research and development. That same ratio is to be applied normally to your time performing - 60% of that time (the time actually working on your songs) should be spent on breaking the song into manageable pieces (2 beats, 2 measures, 6 notes repeated again and again until perfect and natural) and 40% going straight through the piece, without stopping no matter what happens - practicing performing (remember, practicing is repeating and performing is not repeating. More on this next time
Add techniques and dimensions to your music, but subtly so we never notice what you did. We feel it, experience it, not notice it.
2.11.2011
Cutting off the forward growth allows you to internalize the piece (as directed towards a single performance), making it a part of you. It's like you quit trying to go higher so you can go deeper. This makes your performance masterful and creative. You want most of your performance to be automatic, natural, organic, not something you are striving for and having to remember. The fluid grace of a baseball pitch; this is why you practice, this is how you should think of your practice - as taking as much of your music as possible and making it a natural, flowing part of you. This is what impresses an audience, the perception that what you're doing is real.
Creativity and boredom are brothers. You start thinking of new things to do when you've worked something enough to start being bored.
2.8.2011
For your performance to be perceived as great, you have to be performing the top 30% of your abilities, but solidly within that ability. That's really all you have to do. Music, as a performing art, is perceived subjectively, not objectively. The audience doesn't pull out their metronomes and measure how fast you're playing or whip out their tuner to see exactly what note is being sung. They groove to the flow, baby, classical, jazz, it doesn't matter. So a performer who is going for it and nailing everything they do will be perceived as better than another performer singing higher, playing faster, who misses some of what they're attempting. That's why when preparing for a single performance you should cut off improving the piece at a point where you have plenty of time to consolidate your gains.
Progression of issues for the vocalist: first ear, then vocal, next musical, last artistry. As you master one you work on the next.
2.7.2011
Well, we're back from Ice Week here in Dallas. Probably the next important thing in preparing for a single performance is deciding when you are going to end your development of your piece, your continuing exploration of a song, the research and development section of working on a song. At some point you need to decide to cut off doing the piece better and better (faster, higher) and work what you've got into confident, expressive excellence. Quit trying to hit that high note and change it to a note you can nail. Quit trying to play the elusive 2 measures of that solo and just change it to something you can play well. Quit trying to play it at 160 and play it at 145. Many people are working on perfecting a song until 10 minutes before performing. This is a pretty sure way to give a stilted performance. And with this cut off, decide exactly the form, key, verses, etc., so you know what you're working with. And this doesn't mean we're abandoning doing this piece at to it's ultimate potential, we'll come back and perfect it after this amazing performance.
A musician's growth is not steadily upward. It is more correctly: progress then consolidation, progress, consolidation.
1.28.2011
The only thing that I've ever seen produce consistent, quick results is publically performing as many times as you can, as close together as you can, until you become used to the fact that people are listening to you and paying attention. Until you've made all your mistakes in front of an audience and gotten back up there. The good news is the audience can be an audience of one and the performance can be in your living room - as long as you feel under pressure to perform well. That means playing for friends, family, neighbors, in the park, at the mall, at school, absolutely any place you can find someone to listen to you. And there it won't matter if you mess up in front of some guy you barely know or your band director or Aunt Carol. Keep performing as many times as you can and you'll get used to people hearing you, used to the pressure, and soon the cycle will turn, you'll start having some good public performances, and the next thing you know, as you start to play or sing you'll be remembering how you did well the last several time you performed. You can't practice your way to confidence, you can't think your way to confidence, you can only perform your way to confidence. Next time, the 2nd most important thing for your performance.
I've seen both Bob Dylan and Stevie Ray Vaughan performing as nervous as cats and sweating up a storm. Anyone can get nervous.
1.27.2011
How do you overcome being nervous in public performing? This comes from feeling inadequate and like you're fixing to make a fool out of yourself in public. Nobody wants to mess up in front of a lot of strangers. Many teachers and performers have proposed lots of ideas and written lots of articles, all trying to help. Most aspiring musicians feel that by practicing and practicing they'll eventually get good enough to be ready and relaxed on stage. While being prepared and skilled enough to have a reasonable expectation of a good performance is important, in my experience with thousands of students it doesn't really solve the inner issue - most students never really feel good ENOUGH if this external avenue is all they pursue. Some teachers focus on learning to relax and focus, clear the mind, positive self-image and belief in their personal worth or ability, and I'm sure if we each took a trip to heaven and God gave us a big hug and told us He loved and believed in us that we'd be able to relax and go for it, but that's probably not something we can count on happening. While these internal approaches may help, their effects take years, even decades to bear fruit.
Each week try taking a different aspect of music (dynamics, articulation, breath control, phrasing, rhythmic accuracy) and focus on it.
1.26.2011
As our studios approach recitals in 5 weeks, it's appropriate to discuss performing. There are 2 kinds of performances; we are going to talk about preparing for single performances, spaced a month or more apart. For almost everyone this is the way one begins, performing occasionally at recitals, festivals, talent shows, single gigs, etc., rather than touring or frequent gigs. By far the most important issue to address in preparing for a performance is........stage fright, being nervous and under pressure; NOT the quality of your singing or playing. For 75% of students, the quality of their performance is drastically effected by the thought and then reality of people watching you as you perform, for many people to the point of ruining an otherwise excellent performance. In my experience, only the most extreme extraverts and introverts are unaffected by public performance, extraverts because they don't care if you see them mess up and introverts because they don't notice that you are there. The weird thing is that this pressure is usually coming from the performer themself, not the audience. The country bar scene in Blues Brothers notwithstanding, usually the audience is for the performer or at least neutral. So it's a big problem. And how do we fix it? Tune in next time.
Correct is not yet natural. Repeat problem areas until they flow naturally, comfortably, instinctively. Think of this as a substitute for "practicing".
1.24.2011
Like an actor, a musician is trying to be as dramatic as possible without breaking the spell by being melodramatic, that is, overly dramatic. We want to make our music convincing and powerful, full of emotion. That means louds are louder, crescendos are larger, staccatos are staccato-ier. That means stretching every dimension of music to its' extreme, since most people have a hard time with this and have to really push to not just be adequate. Remember, we don't own any "adequate" "accurate" albums or downloads - we only personally buy music that's awesome to us - so we've got to become awesome and puissant. Two tricks that work for many people are first, try pretending you're someone else, Kelly Clarkson, Eddie Van Halen (any great musician). This is known as a stage persona, a way you act just on stage that gets the job done. Second, try amplifying what's inside. If you feel happy, act ecstatic. If you feel puzzled, act confounded. Over do it. And be aware it IS possible to really over do it, to be so dramatic and emotional that people quit believing your music - the spell is broken. For most people all of this is a stage of learning to place the proper amount of emotion and drama to put in your performance; as this is internalized, you can leave these stages behind - but it usually takes several years to find the right balance. Also, practice being instantly full throttle, instantly making a dramatic performance; not having to "get in the mood" or perform the song 6 times before you're ready to add the emotion. Teach yourself to be instantly, immediately fully performing. Check out www.dallasmusiclessons.com for more information about music and lessons and click "Mark's Posts" for more music discussions.
The better the musician, the smaller number of people like them. More difficult music, smaller audience. That's not necessarily bad.
1.14.2011
Great cartoons and movies have subplots and back stories that make them seem more substantial, more engaging. Bugs Bunny cartoons always had gags directed at both adults and kids. The awesome first Star Wars, as an example, had R2D2 and C3PO in a desert, passing by a gigantic skeleton, must have been 200 feet long. No explanation, we never hear about it again, but it made the movie feel deep, substantive, as if there were a thousand stories to tell about this universe and we're only getting to hear one. In music, adding more skillful, musical dimensions (as discussed in 1.9.11) bring depth and interest to our music - any kind of music and regardless of the knowledge of the listener. So a country music lover will boot-scoot to a song with dramatic dynamics and an interesting bass line more than one without. Pop lovers will bop to a song with more interesting chords and a well-crafted form. But like using a spice, don't overdo it - UNLESS you don't mind losing some of your audience - remember, they usually just want to jam out, relax after a hard day, etc., not become better people because of your erudite creation. There is a real tension for a musician between getting better and keeping the "common touch", to where regular folks like their music. And I like common people, normal people, I'm interested in communicating with and relating to those people (being one myself). So I don't want to lose them. But again, it's a challenge to not disappear in to Lake Music-is-awesome-and-you-should-like-what-I-like. I think many musicians lose that challenge and (as I mentioned before) no longer love the music they loved as teens. And lose the touch of the common listener. And speaking of skeletons, you wouldn't believe the number of bands that have died trying to convince their audience that they're dumb unless they appreciate the band's unfathomable depth. So, the trick is to add as much musical depth and excellence as you can without alienating your audience. Next time - Drama in music.
Don't get stuck working on just the pieces-little licks, 2 measures. These are the blocks, but not the house. Put the sucker together.
1.13.2011
As you work on your music and get better, your tastes change and grow. You know that your solo stinks and that so-and-so song used a progression a child could have written. Since you can play and sing many licks, styles, and chords you start caring about and noticing the music you perform. And that's a good, good thing. That's why there are "musician's musicians", "guitarist's guitarists", and "singer's singers" - people that professionals love and respect. But guess what, like we mentioned earlier, the better the musican, the less people there are that like them. And again there's nothing wrong with that, it's just the way people are. Does that mean we should all just write "Achy Breaky Heart" and never do anything difficult so we don't alienate our audience - The ANSWER - next time.
All music is ultimately by ear. Even classical only starts as written notes, it ends as sound. The listener knows no notes, only sounds.
1.11.2011
Most people do not want to be challenged in their music listening. They just want to enjoy sounds and be lightly entertained as they go about life, and that's fine. I don't want to be a horticulturalist; I just want my lawn to look good. I don't want to be a computer scientist; I just want my PC to work. So it's reasonable that most people don't want to know a lot about music, they want it to entertain them in life. As a result the more complicated and challenging music is, the smaller the number of people who like it. It's like tooooo much information. The most popular styles of music (rap, country, rock, pop) are the simplest. The most difficult kind of music, classical, is the least popular and the most difficult pop music (jazz), is next in smallness of audience. And each of the more popular styles has a sub-set within that style that is more complicated, is more demanding and that has a smaller audience. Country has bluegrass, rock has progressive rock, etc. This is something to think about if you're a songwriter or in a band - do we want to be super popular or write challenging music? The answer will affect the size of your audience. Next time, in relation to difficult and simple music, what happens to your tastes as you study music and play and sing better? .
Your music is a Humvee, not a crystal vase. Things go wrong, you mess up, but you pull it together and make it work. Not 1 error breaks it.
1.9.2011
There are many parts, aspects, dimensions of music. Pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre are the starting points, then as further differentiations we could add harmonic complexity, both vertical and horizontal, melody, range, lyrics, articulations, rhymes (or not), emotional implications (calm/frenetic, elegance/base), speed, contrast in each of these areas or none, etc., the list goes on and on. It's interesting that much music that we think of as challenging is actually only complicated in one or two dimensions. For all the pyrotechnics of Funk or Metal, and the excitement of groups like Yes or a Brad Paisley guitar solo (for that matter, absolute music from the Classical era <1750-1825>) - most of what's going on is melodic and many of the other dimensions are untapped (and just because it's hard to play or sing doesn't mean it's complex musically). This is not a negative comment on these styles or songs; rather it's an indication how easy it is to make great, fun music - and that's also very interesting. You'd think all great music would have to be really complicated and use each of 15 dimensions well. But great musicians are constantly flummoxed by songs succeeding that are pretty loser musically (and of course, lots of professional musicians look down now on the music they loved as teenagers). But what's really going on is that great music is like filling up a bucket: you may not have great lyrics or a good hook, not very exciting chords, but if enough other things in the song ARE good you get a total that makes the music succeed. The bucket fills up, but with uneven parts. Next time: What do most people want in their music?
Practice requires diligence, but don't equate practice with faithfulness. Practice doesn't make you a better person, just a better musician.
1.7.2011
Most people's musical interest is focused on styles, rock, country, classical, jazz, etc. But it's interesting that some students (and thus musicians) interest cuts across styles and focuses on ability or difficulty. Some people like only music (and all music) that is relaxed and non-challenging. And some musicians prefer music that is hard and skillful, almost regardless of the style. And often it's these students, attracted to skillful music, that have a hard time finding songs they like, because their teacher's thinking, even their own thinking, is focused on finding a style they love, when there really is no style they love, it's skill. Tomorrow we'll talk about aspects of what makes songs complicated or not.
Practicing=repetition, repeating, building muscle memory-that means getting comfortable with what you're playing. Not just straight through.
1.6.2011
When you buy a great album or go to a concert with a group you love, you have a performance expectation – you anticipate that this will be GREAT! and so that band is starting at about 50% in terms of how much you will like their music. That is, depending on how much you like them, they can do almost nothing that great and the audience will love it, all because of their anticipation that the music and experience will be awesome. Another example of this is found in comedy. When you start laughing and everyone is laughing, almost anything is funny. Milton Berle made a point of demonstrating this intentionally on the Ed Sullivan show by saying “On Tuesday” in the middle of a routine where everyone was cracking up. It was completely meaningless but everybody laughed because they expected Milton to be funny. The same for a famous band. When you as an unknown get up to play or sing, there is no such anticipation and you have to build that expectation of excellence from scratch. To survive this, first you have to be ready for the “vacuum” coming from the audience, not being intimidated or surprised by it – you knew it would be this way. Secondly, show them as quickly as possible that you are the master, the bomb, that this will be the most awesome performance they’ve ever experienced. Then you can ride and expand on the positive feedback and energy coming from our audience (10 to 1000) and you can all have a great time.
Average ability + strong energy = great performance. Great ability + minimal excitement = poor performance.
1.3.2011
I've known a total of 4 musicians who practice like we think a musician should - that is, 4 to 10 hours a day forever (3 of them have spouses with lucrative jobs to support them). But what the normal excellent musician does is grabs practice time whenever they can, an hour here, 2 hours there. And there are days, weeks, even months when they don't practice, can't practice. So grab your practice time when you can and hang in there. Don't get discouraged when you miss a day or a week and give up. Keep working and growing and you'll make it.
It's very important to push yourself and try hard pieces, fast tempos, high notes - extremes. It pulls your abilities forward.
12.18.2010
For good or ill, music by-passes the brain and speaks directly to the heart. Think of songs where you detest the lyric, but love the music.
You've never downloaded a single song or bought an album because you thought "Man, that guy is accurate". "Wow, this group is so correct!" These are not reasons we love music. All personalities are drawn to music because of its passion, emotion, power - including emotions like purity, simplicity, gentleness, sadness. So, making music is like taking a test where you have to get a grade of 130 to succeed - 100% accuracy is only the starting point - then we must add the passion that makes music the force it is.
12.17.2010
For good or ill, music by-passes the brain and speaks directly to the heart. Think of songs where you detest the lyric, but love the music.
You've never downloaded a single song or bought an album because you thought "Man, that guy is accurate". "Wow, this group is so correct!" These are not reasons we love music. All personalities are drawn to music because of its passion, emotion, power - including emotions like purity, simplicity, gentleness, sadness. So, making music is like taking a test where you have to get a grade of 130 to succeed - 100% accuracy is only the starting point - then we must add the passion that makes music the force it is.
12.16.2010
People learn music 3 ways, by ear, by brain, and by muscle memory. Ear - it sounds good, feels right. Brain - I see it, Key of Ab, 3/4 time. Muscles - scales, exercises, patterns. Classical and classical leaning musicians tend to use brain and muscles (readers), pop musicians tend to use ear and muscles (hearers). But you'll learn the quickest if you train and rely upon all 3.
Christmas music is the best - the most amazing blend of joy, majesty, fun, power, and deepest beauty. Make some this week.
12.15.2010
The most awesome musicians in all the world have songs, licks, and solos they mess up on, that they can't play or sing well - that they're developing. But guess what: you never hear them messing up on an album or concert. Why? Because they leave the stuff they can't do off the recording and simplify the solo or change the key at the concert to something they can do. Classical musicians take the edge off the tempo, leave a section. That doesn't mean these amazing musicians are losers, it means they understand that their job is to make a performance that's at the top of their successful ability, something they can nail. You'll never hear the stuff they can't do. That what all audiences consider great, a performance at the top of your ability , but well done. So that means it's right and normal for you to make these kinds of adjustments to your music to bring the piece well into your abilities, so you can knock it out of the park. So make changes in the short term to your pieces to bring your performance up to excellent, 110% AS you work on growing your abilities in the long term, so you can add the things you took out.
Great instruments and equipment are very inspiring. When you're discouraged, go get something new for your music. It'll encourage you.
12.14.2010
There are many positives to getting in a ensemble, a group - A BAND! In looking at students tonight in one of our bands, I can see 3 members noticeably improved in just 5 weeks BECAUSE they have to keep going; they can't stop and examine their mistakes, they have to keep playing and keep up with the group. Being in an ensemble (group) makes you develop your MACRO-rhythm, the larger issue of keeping the measures intact even though you make a pitch mistake or flub some short term rhythm. And you don't have to be great or even that good to be in a band, that's one of the beauties of it - your part is less crucial than when you're a soloist and there are other people to take up your slack. When you mess up, 2 or 3 other people aren't messing up, so the group sounds good even though you make a mistake or two (and they'll make a mistake in a minute, too). So, for fun's sake, or if you stop every 4 measure when you play alone (Macro-rhythm problem), get in a band.
Parents of the World-your kids have to practice to enjoy their music! Even little kids! 20 minutes/5 days at least. Even if just for fun!
12.13.2010
I know it sounds simplistic, but any serious musician needs to work to play equally well in all keys. And oddly enough, each instrument has keys they like to play in. Guitars, Sax, Trumpets, Clarinets...sharp keys. Flutes, Oboes, Low Brass, Pianos...flats. Why? Because beginning bands and orchestras work in Concert F, Bb, C so nobody has too many accidentals. That means Ob, Fl, low brass are in flat keys, others in sharps. Guitars because open chords are easier to play and that make the CAGED keys easiest. Pianos - flats because starting with the key of Bb you keep your hands in the key bed instead of coming in and out for a single sharp here or there. You can almost tell who wrote the song (guitarist or pianist) by what key it's in. So, you, as an awesome musician, want to master all keys, so they are equal to you. So practice them all. At first do chromatic up. Jazz guys (which I am a) think the circle of 5ths is the bee's knees. But you get comfortable with whatever you do a lot so you've got to keep tricking your mind and fingers. The ultimate method is a 6 day rotation: chromatic up, P5 up, Whole Up (with a 1/2 slide after 5 whole steps), chromatic down, P4 up, and Whole down (with 1/2 slide at 5 whole steps). So when you're trying to master your instrument, work on all keys. (And vocalists, no telling what feedback will come with this, but there is no "good key" for you until you cross it with a specific song. The human voice can sing equally well in any key (or no key) until you stick it in a certain song, which then defines the high and low notes necessary. So "A is my key" really means "Lots of songs I like work in A for me", but the right sentence is "I like to sing Misty in A".)
It's amazing how much time can be lost in a rehearsal if people aren't serious. Makes you wonder what they're there for.
12.12.2010
Music is so huge, so many styles, so much music. You could spend your entire life just on one genre - classical, rock, country - and never even play/sing every piece once. Therefore, a great starting place for songs/pieces is doing WHAT YOU LOVE. Play and sing what you love at first so you're inspired and excited about all your music. It'll carry you a long way.
Most teachers don't care about your progress; they've got a few favorites and other students are just income. Find someone who's for you.
12.10.2010
All musicians and songwriters can benefit greatly from listening to the bass line of songs, just when listening to music for fun. The bass line is second in importance only to the melody. It defines the chords, the ear tracks it as a contrasting part, and it rhythmically links you to the drums. It will connect you to music better and adding exciting bass lines to your playing adds tremendously to your playing.
In performing if you're going to make a mistake, make a big one. We'll never know if you if you got it unless you go for it.
12.9.2010
As much as we want to progress, 90% of your songs (vocal and instrumental) need to be pieces you can already mostly do, with only a few problem areas, especially at first. You're to move from a position of strength and establish a firm foundation that you really CAN play as you develop fundamentals.
Books, seminars, articles on songwriting are awesome and useful. But the starting point is the song in your ear and heart. Don't reverse it.
12.6.2010
Musicians tend to be focused on details, pieces of a song or the whole song. If they let themselves, detail people can work 4 weeks on 2 measures of a song and never even get to the 150 measures they're not touching. Conversely, whole song people may get through 6 songs in the same period and not fix the many mistakes inside the songs they're covering. Check your natural inclinations and whichever one you are, watch out for your "temperamental" musical negatives.
Your teacher isn't omniscient (shocking, I know). Constantly communicate dislikes, problems, & issues, without waiting for revelation to hit
12.4.2010
Only 15 percent of musicians are naturally comfortable performing in public. If you're not one of those fortunate few, you'll need to practice performing. Look at it like 250 public performances will make you relaxed and the quicker you can get those 250 done, the better. For our purposes, "public" is a performance for any one who makes you nervous, makes you want to do well. Parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, church members, enemies - anyone at all except those people with whom you are completely comfortable. Take every opportunity you can get to play/sing in front of others, at home, at school, anywhere to get your 250 performances out of the way as soon as possible, when it doesn't really matter if you mess up. Then when it matters, you'll be rock-solid.
You've got to complete some songs to be a musician. Don't just keep playing 100 licks and excepts - regularly play entire pieces.
11.20.2010
When you are practicing, much of what you're really doing is building muscle memory - that is, the repetitive motion conditions the muscles to do the various combinations required easily, without thought. When you're discouraged about "practicing", try thinking about building muscle memory and ease of motion. It might encourage you to keep working on your music.
To be in tune, you've got to listen to yourself with one ear and your accompaniment (guitar, band, CD) with the other. Hear both at once.
11.19.2010
Strange as it seems, a person's basic personality affects how they learn music and how they play. That's why we give our students personality tests. In the Myers-Briggs temperment sorter, Sensory Judgers (SJ) are about 2/5 of the population. About 1/3 of our students are this personality. A characteristic of this type in playing music is that they are good with noticing and mastering details in their songs. A weakness, though, is that they have trouble holding long notes and long rests. Isn't that weird?!? But it's true. So the problem is that as this type of musician hits a long note or rest, they tend to cut it short and skip beats - it's as if they can't wait around for that darn note to complete; let's hurry up and get on with it. If you have this problem, you're probably an SJ. AND, to fix it you just need to start noticing these long notes and rests and stick in your head to hold them their full length. And ALL personality types have various strengths and weaknesses.
Instrumentalists: keep your fingers directly over the frets or the keys - your fingers naturally bunch together, but for speed, spread 'em.
11.18.2010
It really blesses me to see students work to overcome their weaknesses and not give up. Those people succeed in making music.
To grow, it's crucial for musicians to be willing to make mistakes, I mean, play and sing wrong notes. Perfection wars against performance.
