I believe the information in The Practice of Practice is valuable and helpful, so I’ve decided to give attendees the Kindle edition of that as well as the Kindle edition of my bestseller: Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music (4th ed.). You can get one even if you’re not there! Just click on the image below to get one. They’re only available for December 18th and 19th. Please share this information with your students, parents, and on social media, and thanks!
Category: How
From Rock to Bach: THE Book for Any Musician On Your List
Until The Practice of Practice, there hasn’t been a book on practice written for musicians who aren’t interested in the school musics (band, choir, and orchestra). The good news is that this book is also valuable for those folks, too. It’s useful whether you’re into Bach, Rock, or any other kind of music.
Boost Your Skills: Adopt a New Instrument. Maybe This Trippy Yaybahar?
Adopting a new instrument can push your musical awareness of pitch, rhythm, timbre, melody, and harmony to new and useful places. A new and unfamiliar instrument can also add a spark to your practice if you’re bored with the same-old same-old. Here’s a fascinating new acoustic instrument, the Yaybahar, made and played by Görkem Şen. What a great sound!
Louis Armstrong + Dancing Skeleton = Happy Halloween!
Louis Armstrong performs “Skeleton in the Closet,” complete with a dancing skeleton, from the 1936 movie Pennies From Heaven.
How Does Posture Affect Your Sound?
Posture is vital not only to a good sound, but will also help you avoid injury. Jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen gives a superb lesson about posture, why it matters, and how to do it. Listen and learn from Ingrid in the video below:
There Are Just Three Rules of Music Practice….
There are just 3 rules of music practice, and nobody knows what they are. This is good news.
Take a Free Songwriting Course. Open Now! (10-14-14)
Just a quick heads-up about a free songwriting course over at Coursera, taught by Pat Pattison, from Berklee College of Music.
Calling All Wind Musicians: Do This NOW (Please)
Without intonation, music doesn’t resonate, and if things are really out of tune, it can be a painful experience. Jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen gives an excellent example of how to play in tune. Here’s Ingrid in a video from JALC’s Jazz Academy to tell you more about playing with drones:
Great Classical Resource! Musaic Intro from Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas introduces a new service on Musaic for orchestral musicians and anyone interested in learning more, like what a concertmaster actually does, or videos on trumpet, cello, flute, violin, piano, but not so much on saxophone, as you might expect. You can find players, like Yo-Yo Ma, and some very cool videos of composers pieces like the one for Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. Below is a talk by Thomas that’s pretty entertaining, and might introduce you to a new way to relate to classical music. Check it out:
How to Manipulate Your Audience and Make Them Love It
Jazz and popular music of today owes a huge debt to Africa where the driving steady rhythm, swing, and accenting beats 2 and 4 come from. Most audiences in the US don’t know this, and don’t feel that kind of beat. Because of this, audiences frequently end up clapping on beats 1 and 3, as they’re doing in the clip below. Harry Connick Jr. knows better, and he also knows how to turn the beat around so he can help the audience clap on 2 and 4 (that happens around the :39 mark in the video below). His drummer is happy about it and gives a double-fist pump right after Connick makes the switch. Notice how much more hip the sound is!
Cover Yourself: Why You Should Copy Your Musical Heroes
Music, like many things, is best learned through imitation. By recreating the sounds you love, you’re literally embodying that knowledge. Owning it. It doesn’t matter if it’s Bach, Beastie Boys, or Benny Golson, figuring out and recreating your favorite tunes is what every single one of the best musicians you’ve heard do in the quest to become a great musician.
Our brains are literally wired for imitation. I’m talking about the mirror neuron system a topic that’s covered in detail in The Practice of Practice.
Here are a few performances by Kawehi, covering Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box, Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel, and a couple others interesting musical inventions.
100 Days of Art – Day 28: The Roberts McFerrin
Originally posted on The Artists' Sanctum:
Many of you have probably heard of Bobby McFerrin, below, noted singer, musician, and one-man voicechestra/multi-octave singer, beat-boxer, and, conductor. However, did you know that he’s actually Robert McFerrin, Jr. and his father was noted baritone Robert McFerrin (1921-2006)? Robert Keith “Bobby” McFerrin, Jr. Robert Keith McFerrin, Sr. No,…
The Practice of Practice 