We all want to get better, which means we’re all on the same path. When you see someone whose music blows you away, the tips below are part of what they did to get there. No matter how impossible it seems, you can do it, too. Follow these 7 guidelines:
Category: When
From Bad to Good
Music is abstract and fleeting. You can’t see it, and except for the past 100 years, music isn’t preserved, at least not in the way visual art is preserved. This makes it tough (or impossible) to see how musicians progress. There is however, a lot of evidence of how visual artists progress. It’s yet one…
Are You Past-, Present-, or Future-Oriented? It Matters.
I’ve been intrigued by animated talks from the great peeps at RSAnimate. This one is a talk by Philip Zimbardo called, The Secret Powers of Time. According to over 30 years of research, Zambardo says we have discovered that the way we think about time has a profound impact on our behavior, including the behavior of music practice.
Time, Practice, and Parker
I can’t see where there’s anything fantastic about it at all. I put quite a bit of study into the horn, that’s true…. I used to put in at least from 11 to 15 hours a day…over three or four years. –Charlie Parker Stay tuned for more frequent blog posts. Interviews have been and…
Where do you Waste Time?
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. ~William Penn
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If you’re like me, it’s easy to get sucked into certain activities that siphon off valuable practice time. I’ve begun to get a better handle on my use of the computer by using a bit of free software (I will always try to bring you free software….). It’s called Rescue Time and is a program that tracks your use of time while you use the computer. It’ll give you an overview so you can see what you’ve done and where you might be able to carve some extra practice time. Check it out.
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…
Practical Practice Tactics
“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all…
The Practice of Practice 