Yo-Yo Ma is a world treasure, and his perspective, playfulness, artistry, and educational inclinations make him one of my absolute favorite musicians. His Silk Road Project creates some of the most interesting musical collaborations I’ve ever heard. Check out the video below. I think you’ll agree. Below the video is a link to a wonderful interview with Yo-Yo Ma in which he talks about a wide range of topics, including–you guessed it–practice.
Tag: practice
Do YOU Know the Muffin Man? Imitation in Music Practice
Jimmy Fallon and Adam Levine of Maroon 5, spar in a hilarious (and impressive!) with musical impressions of Frank Sinatra (Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes), Bob Dylan (Rude), Michael Jackson (Sesame Street Theme Song), Iggy Azalea (Old MacDonald Had a Farm), and Eddie Vedder (The Muffin Man). All serious musicians do it on the road to getting better. Find great tools to imitate below….
Michel Blows a Serpent (Practice Playing In Tune)
Want to learn to play in tune? You should. Read on. Playing in tune is a skill often overlooked in practice. Here’s a great example of playing in tune: Michel Godard playing a serpent. The serpent is an ancient low-voiced instrument similar to the Medieval cornetto, and it produces a mesmerizing sound in the hands of a master like Godard (see the vid below or listen to the mp3).
Playing With Yourself: Practice Gadgets
I’m always looking for examples of musicians doing cool things with loops; people like Andrew Bird. A friend turned me on to this video by Mike Love that’s one of the best examples I’ve come across. Especially impressive is the looping that starts around 4:20.
Practice Like a Chef
When you sit down to practice, adopt this attitude:
Nicholas Barron: Performance As Practice
Chicago singer-songwriter Nicholas Barron is another musician who told me, "I never practice." What he meant was that he didn't do conventional kinds of practice, the kind required by classical and band music. Check out how he got so good….
Stare With Your Ears
Hardenberger is working with young trumpeter Elizabeth Fitzpatrick. First, notice the difference in tone and musicality between Ms. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Hardenberger. Pretty amazing. But what’s really helpful is what Hardenberger tells her about listening.
Jazz Guitarist Bobby Broom Talks Practice
It was mainly about the music and just wanting to get it right. ~ Bobby Broom ~ I’ve done a lot of interviews with stellar musicians like Bobby Broom about music practice, but this was one of the coolest, not only because I’m a big fan of his, and not because he speaks so eloquently and…
Want to Practice Better? Forget About “Natural” Ability.
One of the most important chapters in The Practice of Practice–chapter 6–has nothing to do with practice directly, it has to do with what you think about musical talent. Is musical ability “natural,” a gift of genetics? Is it something you’re born with? Something you either have or you don’t? Or is musical talent earned through exposure and effort? Your answer will have a profound impact on your practice: your motivation to practice, how you approach practice, whether you persist in the face of challenges, and how deeply you learn when you do practice.
Goals as Fractals and Guerrilla Practice
Hans Jørgen Jensen is an affable cello teacher from whose studio have come cello players who win in international cello competitions and garner spots in top orchestras around the world. He’s a wonderful teacher and an interesting, busy man. There were many gems to admire when he spoke with me about practice, but the one that sticks in my mind, the one that was powerful enough to make it a chapter in The Practice of Practice was the power of goals. Another chapter covers what I’ve called Guerrilla Practice: snatching a tiny fragment of practice when you can, either once a day or, ideally, throughout the day. Both are covered briefly below.
Feeling Stuck in Your Practice (and Getting Unstuck)
Sting talks below about overcoming writer’s block. When we see these luminaries of music, it often appears they have no struggles, that music simply flows from them. But that’s not the case, most of the time. Music is work. A labor of love, to be sure, but still, a labor. A labor fraught with error and the necessary correction; a labor fraught with being (or feeling) “stuck.” Listening to Sting talking about being “stuck,” I thought of the Beethoven’s Opus 69 manuscript below and what every professional musician I’ve interviewed has said about being stuck…
“There is No Magic Trick, You Just Have to Do It” (Stephane Wrembel on Practice)
Stephane Wrembel was one of 20 stellar professional musicians who shared his take on practice with me, and one thing he said sticks out more than anything else. He stressed that there is no magic trick, no gimmick, no special technique to practice. He said, “You just have to do it.” Even after talking to so many people about practice, it’s not clear to me whether learning to practice can be taught. Everybody I spoke with said that, for the most part, they just had to figure out how to practice. It’s an intensely personal exploration. Still, I do believe that the more information you have while you’re learning, the better.
The Practice of Practice 