Many students who lack confidence in class would sound move confident by simply playing louder. Try 10% louder to start. Another take on fake it to 'til you make it.

Secondly, crescendo when the melody rises and diminuendo when it falls, unless the composer or arranger says otherwise.

This should help shed some of the timidity in your playing.

Have fun.

David

Yesterday fourteen music students got together and played jazz. What a blast!

Lessons learned:

1. You cannot over prepare. 
2. Bring legible charts on brilliant white paper, lighting and/or print size is always an issue in a jazz club. 
3. Workshops and your cohort of fellow students is a good place to learn to deal with your nerves.
4. Keep it simple until you gain some experience. 
5. Play from memory for security on stage.
6. It was fun! 

Next up February, Covid willing. 

David

Breakfast piano minute is back for another round of videos. Please enjoy the peaceful daily postings. 

Self assessment is nearly impossible. Our mind can play tricks on us. Research Dunning-Kruger effect for the science. 

Here is a partial solution for music students.  

1. Listen to professional recordings of your pieces. Frequently. You should know them as well as you know "happy birthday".
2. Record yourself and listen back to your efforts. Many students find this very difficult. I understand, but, push through the resistance. It is your best self assessment tool that you have. 
3. Take lessons. Professional feedback is priceless. 

If I can help you, please call me. 

David

Jamey Aebersold gave a great demonstration, which was so revealing to me as a jazz teacher.
He assembled the students in the auditorium at University of Louisville. He would pluck one “lucky contestant” from the crowd to join him on stage. Jamey would then hand the musician a microphone and instruct them to sing/scat/hauler a jazz solo along with the chords he would randomly play on the piano.

Guess what?

Everyone could scat, some very well, others so so. But the consensus was that the “singers” could scat better than they could play. Hmmm. So, the problem isn’t in the head, it’s in the hands.

Conclusion 1: Jamey was encouraging everyone to improve their general musicianship skills on and off the instrument.
Conclusion 2: If you are a pianist or guitarist, sing and play at the same time.
 
Jamey's second reveal.

​One morning he asks the musicians, “How many of you can play 50 jazz standards from memory?” I enthusiastically raise my hand. Looking around the room of 250+ there were very few hands joining me.
How many can play 25?
10?
Any?
Overwhelming the answer was zero.

Conclusion #3 It’s hard to play freely when your head is in a book.
Conclusion #4 These musicians didn’t trust themselves to play without a book/sheet/app in front of them. He was happy to sell them another book. 

I hope this helps you begin to think through what may be holding you back.
 
David

Jazz is primarily about rhythm and articulations, those tricky bits that are impossible to notate. Harmony is like math, fun for many and much easier to get your head around for most. Or so beginners believe. But when the moment of truth arrives at a jam session theory goes mostly out the window and instinct kicks in. Adam Maness explores this theme in his video "Why do I still suck". 

Jorge Mabarak, on Facebook, puts it well, theory is a tool. I propose that rhythm is the key. And ear training is the secret to unlocking the mystery.

Here is a practice time breakdown that may work for you:

• Fifty percent time spent improving your instrumental skills. Find a skilled teacher. Put in the work. To paraphrase Wynton, "learn to play your d#%$@# instrument".
• Twenty-five percent time working on ear training: transcriptions and memorizing tunes. How many tunes can you play from memory? Ten would be a good start and realistic goal for most jazz beginners. Can you sing the melodies of the tunes you are trying to memorize? Can you sing the chord roots, in time and in pitch, of these tunes? Can you sing the arpeggiated 7th chords found in these tunes?
• Twenty percent jamming with a least one other musician. This is a key component of learning jazz. Jazz is a team sport. For instance, if you are a pianist, call a jazz guitar teacher, they have students who need to jam with others too. Set up a session. Don't be shy. As Adam Maness emphasizes "time for jazz swagger".
• Five percent jazz theory

 
If I can help, please call me. 

David

All I can add is this. Say and do these things long before they are teens. Set and normalize these healthy behaviors/patterns when they are young. 

Good luck

David

Ten things to do when learning a new piece of music that will simplify the process. 
​

1. Listen to a professional recording while following the score. It is much simpler to read a score when you know what it is supposed to sound like. The music is not fully represented by the notation.
2. Listen some more. “How do I get the sound in my head out of these black dots” is much easier than, “I wonder what this sounds like?” Notice the deviations from the score that the professionals present. Mark in any nuances with dynamics and phrasing you might hear.
3. Observe the fingering suggestions in your score. I would only change the fingering in the cases of obvious error or small hands.
4. Practice slowly at first.
5. If the rhythms are difficult. Clap and count aloud the difficult passages.
6. Explore the score further, marking the form and cadences. Notice how the professionals play a cadence. You will want to do the same. If this step is new to you call me, I can help.
7. Practice with dynamics from the first reading. That way you avoid having to relearn the piece later. In my experience as a piano examiner, under stress candidates abandon the dynamic plan and resort to their pre-dynamic performance. I know this because I had the teachers score in front of us. Dynamics were underlined, high-lighted, and punctuated in these scores coast to coast. The more frantic and emphatic the marking the less chance the candidate would execute them.
8. Practice in small chunks. That is phrase by phrase, or if the passage is particularly difficult, measure by measure. Consider:
   1. Fingering
   2. The required movement to realize your artistic impression: slur gestures, arm weight, rotation, and so on.
   3. Dynamics
   4. Balance
   5. Flow
9. Record yourself. Many students find this uncomfortable. I say fight the resistance. The feedback one gets from hearing immediately your progress or lack thereof, will save you years of wasted effort. Step one above helps prepare us to evaluate our playing.
10. Take breaks. My attention span is short, yours is likely to be short too. So, prepare a number of activities when practicing.
    1. Practice the scales and chords required for your piece.
    2. Listen some more to the recordings.
    3. Jump back in.

If I can help, call me.
 
David

Playing the piano well is not easy, but it is possible with time, effort, and focus. Click on the photo to enjoy the whole story. 

​David

After the demonstration, I break it down. So....hang in there.

​David

• I have no talent.
• My hands are too small.
• I tried teaching myself, that was a bust.
• I have no rhythm. 

Let me address excuse number 2 first. The doctor’s assistant told me today that her hands were too small. “See she said” as she extended her hand. (It was the same size as mine.) “How do you play with those hands?” “Easy, a teacher showed me.”

Number 3 is the saddest. “I tried teaching myself “. Trying to teach yourself from YouTube or a half-baked app is like trying to teach yourself to drive a car from YouTube. Let that sink in for a moment. A teacher will make you a plan, sequence the material for you, respond to your concerns, and inspire you.

Number 1 and 4? " I have no talent, I have no rhythm." I take ballroom dance classes with my wife. She is a natural and trained dancer. I’ve no talent or rhythm. But, I’m having fun every week. Nobody cares, not even my wife/dance partner. We are having way too much fun together to worry about my lack rhythm or talent.

If I can help your overcome the resistance, call me.

David Story

1. Effective Practicing For Musician By Benny Greb. Practical steps with humorous stories. I love this book. 
2. The Musician's Way by Gerald Klickstein. For serious studious students with big ambitions. I love this book.
3. The Art Of Practicing by Madeline Bruser. A gentle wholistic approach
4. Technique Of Percussion By George Lawrence Stone. Classic Old School. Stories back to the US Civil War Era to the 1960's. 
5. On Piano Playing by Gyorgy Sandor. A classic out of print book on specific piano techniques for advanced students and teachers. I've a well worn copy.
6. The drummer's Lifeline by Peter Erskine and Dave Black. I usually avoid material with the words "quick fixes, hacks" etc. But I've made an exception for this fine book. 

David

My first demonstration of pedaling using the Midiculous software.

Mark Pritchard is with Patricia Pritchard.
5 September at 10:20  ·
 
"One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kid to play the piano”? Well I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my kid to play the piano. Personally, I couldn't care less about what instrument they play.
So, what am I paying for?
- I pay for those moments when my kid becomes so tired they want to quit but don't.
- I pay for those days when my kid comes home from school and is "too tired" to do to their lesson but they go anyway.
- I pay for my kid to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
- I pay for my kid to learn to take care of her body and instrument.
- I pay for my kid to learn to work with others and to be a good teammate, gracious in failure, and humble in success.
- I pay for my kid to learn to deal with disappointment when she doesn’t get that recognition she’d hoped for, but still she goes back week after week giving it her best shot.
- I pay for my kid to learn to make and accomplish goals.
- I pay for my kid to respect, not only themselves, but their teachers and fellow young musicians.
- I pay for my kid to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to play beautifully and that success does not happen overnight.
- I pay for my kid to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
- I pay for the opportunity my kid has and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of her achievements as I am.
- I pay so that my kid can be creating something beautiful instead of sitting in front of a screen...
...I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for piano playing; I pay for the opportunities that learning to play provides my kid with to develop attributes that will serve her well throughout her life and give her the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!"

Here is the sport's version: “Why do you pay so much money for your kids to do all their sports”? – Wisconsin Wrestling Online (wiwrestling.com)

Interesting thoughts. 

​David

Keeping your positive attitude on your ability to learn the piano

• Good attitudes are maintained through focused effort and disciplined study in alignment with your goals and values.
• Good attitude is easier to maintain if you are sharing this journey with other people. Now that concerts are returning, consider meeting other adult piano students at professional piano recitals. Strike up a conversation with the person sitting beside you. Chances are good that only pianists and former pianists attend piano recitals and they'd be happy to chat about it.

David

I practice piano and drums daily, except Sundays when I rest. This summer I'm practicing bass. My student Barb asked me, "how do you practice?" This is what I said. 

1. I prepare to practice. My music and instruments are at hand and ready to go. As is my metronome, recordings, recorder, and pencils.
2. I listen to the reference recording before commencing if the piece is new.
3. I plan out how I will play the piece. I consider fingering, dynamics, articulations, and the appropriate motions required to realise this vision.
4. I warm up and stretch.
5. I use a metronome most of the time. All the time if I’m on the drum kit.
6. I record myself section by section. And, then listen back and adjust as required before moving on.
7. I practice piano technique and drum rudiments.
8. I listen attentively to music. No distractions. I ask myself, “what’s going on here?” I often write out what I hear. To date of transcribed 100+ drum pieces alone. And, countless piano excerpts. 
9. I practice slowly with the all the dynamics and articulations in order. I don’t add this later.
10. I’m patient. That being said, if you follow the 9 steps above, you may not need to test your patience. 

Have Fun. 
​
David Story