637 GB of (free) Classic Jazz (1921-1991)

  Want to hear what Billie Holiday sounded like when she just started out? Ooo, are you in for a treat. There’s a bit Ms. Holiday’s tough history before the music starts. Have a listen. There’s way more music and history in this archive, but this is a great place to start. You can download or stream any…

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The Great Udini: Renato Martins

Brazillian percussionist Renato Martins plays the udini, a smaller version of the udu, sometimes known as “water udus” (see the vid below to find out why “water” is in the title).

Losing Your Marbles: Wintergatan’s Wondrous Musical Machine

I don’t have the words to describe how wondrous I found this, but I’ll just show you the sequence of videos and see if you agree. This is a real device, made by the musician, who I believe to be Martin “MacGuyver” Molin, but am still checking on that one. The set of skills he has in the woodshop is amazing all by itself. See the “making of” videos below for more on that.

Sax With Nozzle

What? You don’t have a sax mouthpiece for your bass saxophone? No problem. Here. Take this tuba mouthpiece.

How to Play A Wooden Plank Like a Boss

To practice is human, to play, devine. We all practice something. The focus of this blog is music practice. In the coming months, I’ll be posting interesting videos of people making music, showing the fruits of long hours of practice. Little (or no) commentary from me. The music will, I hope, speak for itself. That’s what music does…

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What if Feels Like to Learn a New Instrument

Destin over at Smarter Every Day creates such fun, informative videos. This one has nothing to do with music, but everything to do with learning (and unlearning) a complex motor neuron task, like playing an instrument. Think you could ride this bike? I bet you can’t.

No Instrument? No Excuse.

Instruments are expensive, especially the good ones. A bow for an upright bass or a violin can easily be found for $40,000 or more. A freaking bow.

Still, not having an instrument shouldn’t stop you from making music. Check out these guys playing on a broom guitar, and shovel bass.

Finding Flow in Practice: Glenn Gould

There’s a lot to like about the video of pianist Glenn Gould below. Three things happen in the video that show Gould’s flow state in practice (see clips below).

3 Free Books: Jumpstart Your Music

Happy New Year! I hope your music skills get a big boost this year. Here’s a gift of 3 great books to help make it happen. Click on the cover to get the free Kindle edition. Two of them are frequently #1 bestsellers in their category on Amazon.