About learning to play an instrument John Stevens says: Improvisation is the basis of learning to play a musical instrument. But what usually happens? You decide you want a certain instrument. You buy the instrument and then think to yourself, “I’ll go and find a teacher, and who knows, in seven or 8 years’ time…
Author: Jonathan Harnum
Hi, I'm Jon Harnum, author, publisher, teacher, musician, and scholar. If you'd like to learn more about music or how to publish books, come check out my web sites and online courses. Lots of freebies so you can try before you buy. See you online!
Book Review: The Music Lesson, by Victor Wooten
Ever heard of Victor Wooten? He’s a bass player best known for his amazing work with banjo master (yes, that’s right, banjo master) Bela Fleck. Wooten has written a book about music called “The Music Lesson,” but before we get to a review of the book, you may be wondering about Mr. Wooten’s credentials if you don’t know of him already. Watch beyond the first 50 seconds of the following vid and you might be amazed (you could well be amazed before that, too):
Question Limitations
Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities. – Terry Josephson …… The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse. -Helen Keller…
Rafael Mendez, master of circular breathing
Rafael Mendez on Practice Had to post this great example of a Master. His thoughts on practice are pithy. And the advice for swimming underwater is great! Makes me think of surfers walking on the sandy bottom, holding rocks to keep them down. His examples of circular breathing and musicianship are phenomenal. Want to learn…
Slow Time
It seems necessary to riff on aspects of time lately, so here I go again. In an earlier post I mentioned the benefits of taking the Long Now approach to time, seeing yourself playing in the future, simply sticking with it. If four year olds and marshmallows rings a bell, you’ll remember from another post…
Video Posts
Hi All- I’m trying to make this a more interesting place to visit, and toward that end, I’ll be periodically posting videos of interesting music, interesting musicians, and other related visual/audio clips. If necessary I’ll say a little something about them, but mostly they’ll probably be related to recent topics, for example: The rhythmically chanted…
Time Is On Your Side
Music is the art that defines one’s relationship to Time. –Stravinsky Time is one of the fundamental underpinnings of music. Without time, music has no space in which to unfold. Within the space of a piece of music, the sounds can be measured and regular and cyclical, like most music, or it can be more…
Musical Osmosis
The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge. Elbert Hubbard (American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915) I often meet people who say they don’t know anything about music, or have the mistaken believe they aren’t “musical” at all. Such conversations make me think that we should expand…
Practice Links
Today’s blog will be a simple listing of some other sites where you can find more information on and/or tools for practice: Want to learn more about the best ways to practice? Get an e-mail with a discount code when The Practice of Practice is published (June, 2014). To learn more about the book, check…
When in Doubt, Leave it Out
Try to put well into practice what you already know. In so doing, you will, in good time, discover the hidden things you now inquire about. —Remy de Gourmont (French novelist/poet/playwright/philosopher, 1858-1915) ________________ It seems that I tend to write and think about abstract notions of practice and discipline and motivation and these don’t easily…
The Long Now
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. –Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch. –John F. Kennedy (1917…
Signal to Noise
This–among other things–helps the brain grow myelin, the substance that helps neurons fire more efficiently, making you better at whatever it is you’re practicing. The best example Coyle gives is futsal, a game very much like futbol (American soccer), but in a smaller field, with a smaller and heavier ball, and much quicker. Major players in world soccer (esp. if they’re Brazilian), have used the greater intensity of the signal in futsal to improve their soccer skills. It’s also a great example of how playing a game might actually be furthering your goals. Some think playing games are a waste of time, and video games can be a great example. But what is time-wasting, really? It’s noise. And noise depends on your definitions, your context.
The Practice of Practice 