New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp Part 2 The place was full of happy and not so happy amateur jazz musicians. There were 26 performing groups at the big finale making a joyous noise. I loved it. Everyone knocked on themselves and apologized for the tiny imperfections in their performances. Too bad, 90%+ was the average when it came to playing the right notes, staying in place and blowing a solo. Just being there and participating is a triumph too. If I have been asked to give feedback to the group, this is what I would have said. "Master the basics of your instrument" Given that most of them are wealthy retirees, they have time. The basics include the following.
Love you all, it was a real honor to play with you all. David revised August 2022
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I'm just back from a week in New Orleans studying and being coached on the great music of pre 1930 Jazz. I went as a drummer. I concur with the instructors that the key to mastering this music is to spend 80% to 90% of your practice time listening and playing along with recordings. Forget the books, go to YouTube, and start copying. Second, find musicians to play with and start playing. You can find the chords online easily enough. Now the other 10% to 20% of your time should be spent on the techniques of instrument proficiency: ear training, theory, scales, chords, arpeggios, sight-reading, written repertoire, and jazz history. Lastly, get in front of expert musicians occasionally for inspiration and feedback. Cheers, David updated August 2022 I start with 10 to 15 minutes watching some exceptional performances on the internet to get myself calmed down and in the zone. Then I'd do a few gentle stretch's and breathing exercises to prepare the body. Now to the piano.
Hello scales, chords, and arpeggios. I'd play them in sequence slow, then quicker, then slower again listening carefully for evenness of time and tone. A metronome would be used for some of it. I know mastering this is a cornerstone of my ambitions and one leg of the table. Now for a review of an old favourite. I'd vary this from day to day. A good opportunity to keep repertoire in my hands and remind myself that I do know how to play the piano. Next up: sight-reading, another leg of the table. A great chance to explore some new repertoire. Now for the main course, the new repertoire assigned by the teacher. First up, I'd listen while watching the score to the recording. Next I'd decide which small section to tackle first. I'd play really slowly with the correct fingering, good dynamics and careful attention to articulation. I'd record myself and listen back. I'd finish up with my etudes. -------------------------- Other days I would add and subtract activities to complete all of the assignments required by class. best regards, David Nearly all students start with the best of intentions. Somewhere along the way things go off the rails. It is a discouraging moment. Life has gotten in the way. Or, you are bored. What to do?
Some solutions from my students:
Now for a story. I have a 12-year-old student. She loves piano, she respects me, she is cheerful in class, but she hasn't been practicing for some time. I was thinking she was about to age out. (If you are an adult restarting or parent of former students you know what I'm speaking about.) So last week I gave her an instrumental pop piano piece of Andrea Dow. Yesterday, at lessons she plays it through with only minor bumps. Hmmm... We next try some pop lead sheet exercises from the same composer. She plays them right away. I say, "I need to speak with your mother". She looks worried. I say, "don't worry I want to say something nice about your work this week". Mom comes bounding in the room and before I can say a thing happily asks me what did I do last week in lessons? Her daughter has been practicing 45 minutes every day! The question answers itself. As we age, we change, our motivations and musical preferences change. So, we need to change our repertoire to reignite desire and fun in the practice room. best ![]() Take some time off. Enjoy some alternate pursuits: your garden, fishing, watching baseball. Anything that will refresh the mind. If you are heavy practicer, your body and mind need a rest. If you are a casual player, a change of focus may help keep it fun. Me, I’m going fishing, biking, and hiking. Then… I will ramp up the piano practice after resetting my goals, organizing my practice space by reducing the clutter accumulated over the winter. And, getting busy. Cheers, David Another student piano recital has come and gone. My reflections.
It’s all about the basics. Any compromise with that will affect the outcome every time. What are the basics of learning the piano? Here are some ideas to get us started.
David Sitting for a piano exam is likely the bravest thing an adult piano student will ever do. Exam season is next month, how do we control the anxiety and panic?
A short personal story if I may. I have sat for 2 formal piano exams in my life. Grade 10 at 45 and ARCT at 47. Musically it was the most exciting thing I've done at the piano. The day of my Grade 10 I drove to the exam centre and walked around the parking lot for 10 minutes contemplating running away to the south seas to hide the shame for fleeing. I went in. Two years later I walked in again. By this time I'd invested 5,000 hours of practice over 4 years, I was ready for it to be over. I didn't give a hoot about what was about to take place. It went well. My teacher Leon knew what he was doing: preparation is the first step. Knowing you are prepared reduces anxiety around fears of competency. Secondly, he gave me permission to make mistakes. That really helped. As a piano examiner I can confidently say nobody gets 100%. You won't either. So the question is "what will you do when you make your error?" I say forgive yourself. Keep moving. You are a champion for being there and the examiner is on your side. BTW, no adult piano student of mine has ever failed an exam. As an examiner, students do fail, but I never failed an adult. Cheers and good luck. David ps Check this out. 89 Year old pianist passes his grade 3 piano exam. I'm ten years in as a drum student. I've thought long and hard on this subject. I've written extensively on this journey. More here: The aging musician. In the meantime enjoy the following videos. Video one suggest classic ideas around staying motivated.
The second video is done in the style of classic motivation videos that litter the internet, complete with a ridiculous up lifting soundtrack. (Any moment I expect Tony Robbins to bounce into frame.) It's fun, you'll laugh, and it will help you to stop reading this and get back to the piano bench. cheers, David Yesterday a young student played Bach’s invention in F for me. It went well, he had spent enough time practicing. But it lacked a certain “joie de vivre”. With few words from me, we had a listen to Andras Schiff’s performance on YouTube. Viola, his performance took on a completely new sense of maturity, fun, and liveliness. We all noticed the transformation, including his proud parents. Next up was his new assignment for the week a review of Chopin Waltz in A minor. We had a listen to 2 contrasting performances on YouTube for guidance. He preferred a different performance than me. That’s ok, we have different sensibilities. With our access to world class performances at our fingertips, this is often an untapped resource. Centuries ago CPE Bach himself said and I paraphrase, “listen to great musicians”. Best, David A former student came by today of a lesson after a one-year absence. He played some stride piano. He sounded so much better than I remember. So, I start asking some questions about what he has been up to in the practice room.
He said:
Yeah student! Cheers, David Playing the piano is a physical activity where the possibility of overuse injuries is a real and frequent problem. According to a CBC article from 2017 it is the number one cause of young students dropping out of university music programs.
https://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/18039/musician-injuries-health-awareness-music-schools Burnout is common as well with adult music students who are driven and overly enthusiastic. Consider the cautionary tale of the middle-aged golfer Dan and his “Dan plan.” His plan? Follow the 10,000-hour rule on the links to become an expert. http://www.golfwrx.com/437894/what-happened-to-the-dan-plan/ So, what you do you do if you recognise yourself in these stories?
Cheers, David Revised 2024 "Find an environment that supports your goals" A great privilege is to be born in an environment that supports our dreams and aspirations. An environment that presents us with role models worthy of emulation. And a situation rich in love, time, and resources both financial and educational.
When parents ask me, "how can I inspire my child to practice?". Or, an adult says, "I'm losing enthusiasm". I say let's think about these things first.
best, David You've heard it all before, but for old times sake here it is again.
Best Regards, David Story What to practice and why
Finally, if you would like a copy of the poster above to print and post near your piano click below. Best, David Story ![]()
How to practice with less stress?
More great tips here: https://www.pianistmagazine.com/blogs/5-tips-on-how-to-stay-focused-during-practice/ Best, David. Yaron explores this idea. The space and tension between intention and success.
Cheers, David ![]() Ten hours plus a week on your instrument. Is this possible? Yes, maybe. There are some adults and many teenagers who log more than 10 hours a week.
They are united by an intense desire to learn and achieve. Their lives are organized around practice. They take lessons, they take responsibility, and they persevere through thick and thin. Some final thoughts. If you want to ramp it up, do it slowly to avoid injury. Add a 10% to your practice time each week. Be sure to ask advice from your instructors. Best David Story How does one get the most value from your investment in music lessons?
Clarity is having a specific goal. Here are some examples.
Application is another name for work.
Feedback is essential for effective learning.
Patience is needed, this will take a while Best, David Story A famous truism of music accomplishment is, "we are who we listen to".
Try this experiment.
David book of the week: more on this book in another blog. The Psychology of Performance Memorisation will set you free. Free to play, to explore, to create. In acting one of the first actions an actor takes is to “get off the book”. Why? For the very reasons stated above. Therefore, examining boards require memorisation: to set you free. Free to discover and play with the composer’s intentions. This is difficult to do if you have your head buried in a score. The following video of Dr. Mortensen explores various methods of memorisation. Practice room memorisation and it's dangers. Theory Improvisation He explores in depth these topics.
David Story “If you are looking, you’re not listening” Hal Galper Reading and playing is another form of multi-tasking. The myth of multi-tasking has been explored and debunked by many reputable researchers. As we all know, it is an activity that has been found to be less effective than single minded focus. A memorised tune means you’ve internalised the changes to the point you don’t really have to think about too much. This enables us to fully contribute to the jazz conversation on stage. So… when learning a new tune play it for an hour or two. Play it fast/slow, loud/soft, transposed in a few keys. Take a simple lick and transpose it over each chord or ii-V pattern in the piece. This was Monk’s method. “The better you know them (the changes), the freer you are” Hal Galper. Galper suggests checking out the multiple recordings of the same piece that Miles Davis and Monk made over the years. Listen to the development and evolving sophistication of the performances. Happy Practicing, David PS, if you'd like to work with me, please call and get your name on my waiting list. There is an answer to that important question. First what is your specific measurable goal? How much time can you devote to learning? Here are some achievable goals from my students.
best, David Story ![]() Some thoughts
David Story, piano teacher, drum student since 2011 Why theory? Memorisation. Instead of trying to memorise a long series of notes, trained musicians remember a shorter series of larger patterns. They understand how the various patterns related to each other. It is important to understand that notes don't move at random. Each style of music has conventions that composers understand and work with. Check this out:
I could go on. Now ear training. Ultimately we all play be ear. Training your ear will shorten the time it takes to get there. You don't need perfect pitch but you do need good relative pitch. You need to be able to hear nuance in the professional performances you are listening to. Check this out. Jazz students
Cheers, David Story Remember I give online lessons, now is four countries. “The most important practice session of the week isn’t the one right before your lesson; it’s the one right after.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 296 I agree, flip open the music as soon as you get home and dive right in. Please have a look at this article: https://www.musiciansway.com/blog/2011/01/the-most-important-practice-session/ Better yet buy the book by Gerald Klickstein. Sign up for his Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. Here is some feedback from a reader: Simon Horsey … I am forever reminding my students that by playing through everything covered in their lesson, reading through my notes and planning their practice sessions for the week they can actually lessen the practice time required to meet their targets for the week..." Have fun. David Story |
You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail. AuthorI'm a professional pianist and music educator in West Toronto Ontario. I'm also a devoted percussionist and drum teacher. Categories
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