​Here is one profile of a successful student who thrives on boundaries, discipline, and competition.

Mei diligently practices the following activities:

• She listens daily to professional recordings of her pieces. She knows every part by heart!
• She diligently prioritizes her time so that she can practice her etudes, repertoire, theory, sight-reading, ear training, and technique.
• She uses the metronome when sight-reading and practicing her technique. She has learned to count aloud and play at the same time.
• She records herself regularly for quick feedback.
• She participates in recitals, competitions, and piano exams. Her friends do the same. In fact, she has made many of those friends at the competitions.
• She explores topics related to her studies on YouTube searching for alternative perspectives.
• She attends piano concerts.
• She has a favorite YouTube piano influencer.

​If I can help your Mei; please give me a call.

​David

     I recently attended the Louisville Jazz Workshop at the University of Louisville in Louisville in Kentucky. The legendary bassist Rufus Reid gave a stunning solo recital. His playing was exciting, imaginative, dynamic, and colourful. Later that day he shared his practice tips with the audience of jazz students. He stressed that no matter how long our practice session might be students need to include the following:

• Technique. Practice the basics and get on top of your instrument. Make sure you can keep the beat, the count, and the groove. 
• Style. Practice producing a “good sound”. Play your instrument in "a nice way". Be creative with your approach. 
• Repertoire. Learn the jazz standards by heart. Listen to the jazz canon, and then play along with these recordings.
• Patience. He stressed being reasonable with yourself by not pushing past your actual ability. It takes time to learn to play both your instrument and the jazz idiom well. 
 
Thank you to Frank for the note outline.

Here is my top 10 list of skills to work on ahead of camp. You don't need to be an expert, but you will need some familiarity with the following skills and activities.​

1. Comping and voice leading chords.
2. Practice sightreading simple chord charts like blues in Bb and F, Summertime, Killer Joe, etc. Click out the Aebersold picture for some suggestions. By clicking on the image, you will go to a product page. I don't take a commission. ​
3. Play along with recordings. 
4. Record yourself and listen back. 
5. Practice playing louder because drums are loud.
6. Practice your right-hand broken chords for every tune on the Aebersold list.
7. Use a metronome on everything you play and practice.
8. Learn to clap and count aloud eighth note jazz rhythms.
9. Listen to jazz daily.
10. Sign up early to camp because piano spots go quickly.

What tunes should you practice?

If I can help you, call me. I've attended a dozen jazz camps over the years as a pianist and drummer. 

David

​Do you have enough time to take piano lessons?

Given the demands of overscheduled lives, most adults will have to give up some activity to make room for a new one.  Google "how many hours does the average adult spend surfing on their phones?" Cutting that in half will free up enough time to learn piano.

Call me when you are ready.
​
David
Revised August 2022

Some days and weeks are going to be difficult. Life will get in the way. Here are some suggestions I gave one adult beginner to help relieve his practice room blues. 

1. Start on a high note by playing pieces you know. Reviewing old favorites is good for the soul.
2. Next play your assigned scales five times each.
3. Review your assigned chords five times each.
4. Mess around on your DAW.
5. Work on 4 measures of your new piece. Clap the rhythm while counting aloud, then play hands separately, then hands together. Record yourself, listen back. Repeat as needed. Stick with it until the short section of music is completed and secure. Remember to start slowly.
6. Finish with a favorite piece. 

If I can help you, call me. 

David

Revised August 2022

One of my adult students was asking tonight for some help planning his practice time. He is preparing for his Grade 8 piano exam. He is an engineer, a spreadsheet kind of guy. I'm sympathetic. Here is what we discussed. 
 
Warmup with sight reading. Use a metronome! Get into the zone.
 
Now start practicing
 
Technique with a 2-minute timer. Switch activities every 2 minutes = 15 minutes

• 1 scale
• 1 tonic chord played solid and broken
• V7 chord solid and broken
• I and V7 arpeggio

Practice one short section to perfection =15 minutes

Theory =10 minutes

Ear Training = 10 minutes

Review completed piece or pieces 10 minutes 

BOOM! one hour of accomplishment

This may work for you. 
​
David

Revised August 2022

Please excuse this short story in which I’m the hero.

I’m learning to play the jazz xylophone. I started at Christmas 2021. I practice every day with my 100-year-old textbook, a stack of tunes that I want to learn, my video recorder and oodles of desire. Here is the process I usually follow.

1. I have all my materials ready at hand.
2. I decide on the goal of today’s practice. The goal is rarely more than a single minute of music. In other words, I don’t try to practice everything.
3. I start the video recorder.
4. I start slow and work out the stickings.
5. I experiment with the stickings, dynamics, phrasing, licks, rolls etc.
6. I slowly speed up the repetitions.
7. I try out another set of approaches.
8. I occasionally bang the sticks in frustration.
9. I keep at it until I’ve got something I’m proud to post online.
10. I’m done for the day.

The video below is an unedited version. Notice it took just a brief period of time to accomplish something because I didn’t try to do everything at once.
 
David
Revised August 2022

​Level 1: Fun is guaranteed in level 1 by just showing up and playing. Playing in a community concert band or at the family Christmas party would be an example. On the lesson front, level 1 is leisurely and steady.  

Level 2: You are going to perspire. Lessons will be intense. You may be getting ready to audition to play in a high-level community group. Or you may be preparing for an exam. Regardless, the musical standards are high. Daily deliberate practice of an hour or more will be required. Success is a near certainty given enough grit and time. 

Level 3 is going to hurt, tears will be shed. But you are all in. Your daily focus is piano. You dream of Carnegie Hall. You have multiple lines of attack. You put yourself out there. You are preparing to be an Olympian. Many dream, few make it. But this doesn't deter you. Large amount of time and money will be spent. Results not guaranteed. 

Athletic parallels
Level 1: Weekend running group. 
Level 2: Marathon preparation. It's going to hurt, but you will live to tell the tale. 
Level 3: Extreme endurance running. You might die.

Let me know where you stand. 

David
Revised August 2022

I spent the summer of 2001 making music on the Mediterranean near Santa Pola, Spain in a small apartment overlooking the sea. I fondly remember the sun, the heat, the paella, the wine, the flowers, and the nightly walks along the seaside promenade. 

Now to the story.

I had had big plans of dragging my portable piano to Spain. At the check-in counter in Toronto the agent promptly rejected the piano in the lovely crate I had built. The airline won’t let me check it as baggage because they said it was as big and heavy as a coffin. Dejected I sent it home in an in-law’s car trunk. As luck would have it, I had another in-law in Spain with an old unused Casio keyboard of sixty-five keys, one pedal, a stand, and books of Bach and Chopin.

I set up that keyboard in a window with the ocean view. Then I started playing during the long afternoon siestas. Bach, Chopin, and I quickly fell in love. Apparently so did my new neighbors who, unbeknownst to me, heard me practicing hours on end through that open window.

Back in Canada I started asking about for a “Classical” piano teacher. A professor from McMaster University recommended Leon Karan. I set up a lesson. It didn’t go well. I banged through some scales and thumped out my Bach. Though I was embarrased and humiliated, Leon was kind. After I recovered, he said, “you are of course going to do your ARCT?” “I am?” Five thousand hours later I earned an ARCT diploma in piano pedagogy and won a national scholarship. Thank you, Leon, for your patience. You changed my life.

David

Revised August 2022

Preparing to succeed is the first step. Here are some things successful student do to prepare.

​1. They understand how to use Zoom. They have set up the camera so that I can see their hands. The screen is set up so that they can see me as well. Some students use more than one camera. (Most students set up the laptop on a table to the side of the piano.)
2. They have created a realistic practice schedule. They understand that learning to play the piano to a level of proficiency takes time.
3. They have created an organized practice space for productive work.
4. They understand the costs involved.
5. They have told their significant others of their plans and their need for emotional support and encouragement.
6. They understand that they need to lean on their strengths when the going gets tough.  
 
If I can help you get started, please call me. 
 
David
Revised August 2022

1. Listening every day to the recordings, supplied with your books, prepares your ears for the task ahead. (Students often play a wrong note for an entire week, because they don't fully know how the music sounds.) As the Bugs Bunny Theme song “This is it” says, “We know every part by heart.”
2. Record yourself playing. Video is best. Play, watch, make notes on what did and didn't work. This helps you avoid mindless repetition, also known as grinding. 
3. Play your scales, chords, and arpeggios with a metronome. In modern music performance and production, the ability to play with a metronome is imperative. Try these suggestions if you are having difficulty: Use a comfortable tempo. Count aloud, starting with one note per click. Later, when you are comfortable, try two notes per click. Make a note of the tempo played by date. Incrementally increase the tempo.
4. Memorise your pieces and technique at your earliest convenience. In the theater, rehearsals get serious when the actors are “off the book.” 
5. Spend one-third of your time on theory, ear training, and sight reading. These are the pillars of musical understanding, interpretation, and memorization.

If I can help you, call me.
 
David 
Revised August 2022

I'm learning to play the xylophone. 

What have I learned?

• Xylophone is a happy instrument.
  
• Practice works.
• Video feedback is quite helpful.
• Practicing until I get something I would post on social media really helps to focus my practice sessions. The goal is clear. Is it good enough to post? 
• Jazz is rhythm first, notes second.
• Articulation and dynamics are key to expressive performance.
• You can't fake it. 

Best, 

David 
Revised August 2022

The internet is full of hucksters telling you that learning to play the piano is easy. It's not, but it is fun. Every day I watch my students grow; the days turn into years. And, inch by inch, progress is made. 

If I can help you on your journey, call me. 

David
Revised August 2022

When I was a naïve overconfident young man Dr. Hugo Norden, professor emeritus Boston Conservatory, coached me in Baroque counterpoint and harmony. He was a wise man who knew how to handle characters like me. 

A restatement of the "law of association" to which I’ve spent forty plus years considering. I've reached several conclusions starting with who and what we listen to and how that normalizes our expectations of how music should sound and be presented. These associations show us possibilities. But who we “hang with” will be the greatest influence on our musical progress. Jazz musicians hang with Jazz musicians, Classical musicians hang with Classical musicians and so on. 

To whom are you listening? Do your listening habits support your music studies or distract? Do you associate with other like-minded individuals such as fellow students, or concert goers?

If I can help, call me.
​
David
revised August 2022

Here are my thoughts the acquisition of jazz chops.
  
1. Learn and memorize tunes by ear. Generations of Jazz musicians have taken this route. If playing by ear is difficult, call me for ear training lessons.
2. Join a band and play as much as possible. A young musician asked Art Blakey how he could improve. "Play every night" was his response.
3. Transcribe like crazy. If this is difficult, I teach music theory. 
4. Record everything you do. Recording yourself is the best feedback you have between lessons. 
5. Learn more tunes. "The musician with the largest repertoire wins".
6. Practice your technique, at various tempos, with a metronome. All great musicians have a deep sense of time. 
7. Play Bach, Debussy, and Faure. Jazz piano is notoriously diminishing of our left-hand skills. I practice classical music to maintain my left-hand piano skills. 
8. Keep up your lessons. I’ve been taking lessons for over 50 years.
9. Join a second band that plays only original music. Playing original music solidifies the skills and knowledge of composition, theory, history, leadership, notation, and more.
10. Write original music for solo piano. 

Bonus. Read and explore the history of jazz prior to heading to jazz school. 
 ​
If I can help you call me. 

​David
Revised August 2022

What should I practice at the piano?
  
What to practice is the perennial question? Here are some of the thoughts gleaned from decades of personal practice and observing countless students. 

1. Know why you are practicing. What goals did the teacher outline in their notes for you? What did they indicate to work on? 
2. Know how to prepare for practice by getting your materials in order: music, metronome, pencil, audio recorder, ear buds, professional recordings of your work. 
3. Know what to practice. 
   Scales, chords, and arpeggios which are like doing pushups, once is never enough. 
   Sight reading skills facilitate quicker learning and bring more fun when just fooling around.  
   Ear training exercises, so that over time you can play what you hear in your head. 
   Repertoire is why we signed up in the first place. Work on problem spots first after listening to the recordings.
   Theory is often overlooked. This is unfortunate. Theory connects our hands, ear, head, and eyes to work together with some understanding. And theory facilitates communication with the teacher. 
   Etudes to develop our hands in specific techniques.   
4. Learn how to practice. If there is one overriding rule, it is this: Never play through a mistake. Stop and reason it out. Is the problem the notes, rhythm, fingering, dynamics, articulations, tempo? Consult your professional recording of the piece again for clues. Listen back to your own recording of the passage. What do you hear? 
5. Learn to thrive on practice. 

If I can help, call me. 
​
David 
revised August 2022

What is practice math? Kim practices 10 minutes a day and Rachel puts in 60 minutes a day.

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 holistic approach to playing music. 
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
Revised September 2022

The pandemic appears to be waning. We have all enjoyed the extra practice time lockdowns gave us. Extra time was an unexpected consequence during these tragic times.

How will be hold on to this extra time when things move back to more normal times? Good question.

Here is some of the things I’m considering. Perhaps it will be helpful for your situation too.

1. I’ve rethought my priorities. A lot of activities where not missed during the lockdowns, so I will do my best to avoid restarting them. Draw up your own list perhaps?
2. I’ve once again put practice time in my daily schedule. Once that is done, I will book my students around these blocks of time.
3. I will continue my own studies in drums and piano online, saving a few hours a week of travel time.

​Best regards,
 
David

Sometimes we all need a break. Maintaining focused attention for the years it will take to master an instrument can be overwhelming.
How do I deal with it?
I take some time off to rest, contemplate and recommit to the project. My project is drumming, yours is piano. I seek out time for deep listening, exploring new perspectives, and solitary practice.
My solitary practices this summer is to master the work from the last year of lessons.
-------
I have rediscovered the joy of piano practice with my daily “breakfast piano minute” video series posts.
I am reading some novels, reconnecting with friends in our post Covid environment, and takings walks in the woods.
Some similar activities may help you too stay on top of things.
​
David

​ 

1. Sight reading new material. Step outside your normal area of focus. Explore some new corners of Jazz and Classical music.
2. Written piano music, short pieces. 1-2 pages. Work up a few to performance standard. Builds discipline and focus. 
3. Listening to music in a focused way. Ask yourself, “what’s going on here?” Read a book on music jazz appreciation.
4. Jamming with friends is an ideal activity.
5. Reading about jazz. Downbeat magazine. Track down on YouTube the folks you read about in Downbeat. 
6. Start memorising your core repertoire. Using play along software, play the melodies with the app piano, then play the chords without the app piano, then add the hands together. 
   1. C jam blues
   2. Autumn leaves
   3. Killer joe
   4. Blue bossa
   5. Satin doll
   6. Summertime 
   7. Mac the knife

 
Autumn leaves: walking in 2 with iReal pro playing the piano chords and drums. You play the bass and the melody along.
 
See you in September.
 
David

Tomorrow Part 2. Learn more about Gary's jazz journey. 
​David