How – Page 42 – The Practice of Practice

Forget Perfection (or, No Fear)

Flight is our usual response when we come up against these fears in practice. We skim over all we have to do because there is so much. We fly through routines and exercises and try to cram as much as possible in our half hour of practice (or whatever amount) because we’re running to keep up with our desire to get better as fast as possible. This is NOT the way to go about practice because what you do learn will be of a surface nature, will not stick with you, and will probably be riddled with mistakes.

A more proper response to this fear is to recognize it, and not fall back on the flight response, but tap into the fight response. Fight it by …

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast (Audacity tutorial)

This post will give you a quick tutorial on how to slow down a fast tune with Audacity so you can learn it by ear more easily.

If you’ve listened to any Clifford Brown, the fantastic jazz trumpeter, you’ll know he’s able to play tasty, tasty licks at burning speeds. The first CB solo I tried to learn was from his tune, Blues Walk (click to hear a snippet of the solo), but it was way too fast. I imported the whole tune to Audacity, edited it so only his solo remained, then slowed it down (sometimes by as much as 50%!). After nailing it at a slow tempo, I’d gradually speed up until I could play it at full speed. This will work for anything you want to learn by ear, a skill that too many students don’t have in their tool belt because our current music education system has tied them to the notes on the page. This is a handicap. Use your ears. Please!

Improv = Improve

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…

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…

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…

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…

Book Review: Outliers: The Story of Success

No, it [excellence] doesn’t start with talent, it starts with love. —Malcolm Gladwell on Jimmy Kimmel Live (1-13-09) Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. —Langston Coleman The zeitgeist in the world of practice is the 10,000 hour rule, a fact that first appeared in Ericsson’s research into excellence….

Ass Power!

Learn what Quincy Jones meant when he said one of the reasons for Michal Jackson’s success was that he had ass power. It’s not what you might think. Ass power will certainly help your own music practice. Learn about it.

Mirror, Mirror in the Brain; or Monkey See, Monkey Do

“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” George Bernard Shaw Pretend that you’re a budding jazz guitar player. You’ve been practicing for a year or two so you’re beginning to have an idea of how it’s done and what you need to do to…

Creative Practice

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. Arthur Koestler Some thinkers about creativity identify two different types: Creativity and creativity, or “Big C” and “Little c.” Some believe that “true” creativity is only that which contributes to changes in the way we think or…

Thoreau Was Right

What do you think they found?

Turns out that the students who read the directions written with the simple font were much more open to exercising and thought the regime would take less time and be more fluid and easy and were willing to make exercise a regular part of the day.