how to practice music – Page 3 – The Practice of Practice

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…

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.

Meklit Hadero: Finding Musical Inspiration In Everyday Sounds

Here’s Hadero’s short talk about finding inspirational sounds in the most ordinary places. She hints at the creative kind of practice mentioned in the last blog post, and covered more deeply in The Practice of Practice and Practice Like This: Songwriting as practice. It’s a particularly powerful form of practice because you own what you’re doing, it’s exploratory, and best of all, it’s fun and can make time fly.

Frustrated With Practice? Listen Boston Brass’s Lance LaDuke’s Talk

Watch, listen and learn. Lance LaDuke talks about overcoming frustration with practice, what to focus on in practice, and how to think about (and do) practice.

The Importance of Patience in Practice

In a Skype talk with a colleague in Bratislava (ain’t technology grand?), the topic of how to teach patience arose. Today, this talk came across the wire, addressing that very topic. Because there are an infinite number of things that need attention in our quest to improve, it can be a challenge for beginners–or anyone,…

The Obstacle IS the Path: Guitarist and Inventor Les Paul

The Obstacle IS the Path: Interview with Guitarist and Inventor, Les Paul http://wp.me/ppJKy-1di

Boost Your Music Skills: Practice Book 81% Off

A quick shoutout for a one-year-anniversary discount on The Practice of Practice (Kindle edition) running for a week, from Thursday, June 11 to Thursday June 18, 2015. The discount starts at 81% ($1.99). Learn more. Reviews.

In Praise of Never Being Good Enough

Music is endless, and there’s always more to practice, more to learn, more to do. The limitlessness can be intimidating, especially to beginners, or to those stuck in the “conscious incompetence” phase (one of four phases of musicianship/practice described in The Practice of Practice). But once you realize the fact, and make peace with it, having endless horizons to explore is liberating. Exciting, even. Then you just have to get started. Check out these great vids from veteran explorer Dizzy Gillespie.