1. Have an artistic impression of the piece before you start.
   1. I listen to the greats play my pieces because I know that the music is not in the black dots on the page.
2. Never play through a mistake because mistakes are difficult to correct.
3. Fingering counts, therefore, try to practice slow enough to minimise mistakes.
4. Practice dynamically on the first reading to avoid having to relearn the piece later.
5. Practice articulations on the first reading to avoid having to relearn the piece later.
6. Practice in small musically significant chunks. Stitch it together later.
   1. Some days practice will be restricted to one or two tricky bits.
7. Pros practice the difficult parts bits first because ready or not the performance is in 3 days.
8. I never practice what I can sight read, period.
9. Finally slow practice = faster progress

1. I’ve set July 2026 as my completion date. At my current skill level, that gives me plenty of time.
2. I’m learning the tunes by ear. Of the 50 on my list, I’ve already learned about 30.
3. I’m focusing only on the keyboard parts.
4. I’ve scored 30 pieces because it helps me remember them—I have a strong ear and visual memory. However, at a blues jam, like in jazz, reading music is verbatim.
5. Starting this month, I’ll begin attending blues jams to explore the scene, learn who I’d like to play with, and who to avoid.
6. I practice piano separately to maintain and restore my keyboard skills. Teaching piano all day isn’t conducive to keeping professional-level chops.
7. I’m watching YouTube videos on blues organ technique to learn about drawbars, the volume pedal, and Leslie speaker effects. Blues piano and I are old friends; authentic blues organ playing, not so much.
8. I listen to a lot of blues recordings.
9. I focus on learning “feel” before virtuosity—feel wins every time.
10. I’m learning Green Onions using a combination of score and ear. So far, it’s the only piece I’m reading.
11. I’m doing this for fun.
12. I bought a portable keyboard that (1) fits in a backpack and (2) has the necessary sounds for this project.

Limehouse Blues. An early attempt during the lockdown. 

The Blues Are Calling

How could you use these steps in your own musical journey?

• Sheet music
  
• Pencils
  
• Reading glasses
  
• Recorder
  
• Metronome
  

• Jazz Standards: I’m working on memorizing Beatrice by Sam Rivers and My Ideal by Chet Baker. I start by listening, then reconstruct the tunes by ear using the chord changes.
  
• Classical Repertoire: Sightreading Haydn’s Sonata in C helps me maintain touch and stylistic fluency in classical music.
  

• Technical Etude
  
• Twelve Major Scales
  
• Sixty Broken Jazz Chords
  
• Twelve ii–V–I Rootless Voicings (4 mallets)
  
• Perform Beatrice and My Ideal on the MalletKAT
  

• 10-Minute Warm-Up
  
• Record One Wilcoxen Etude. These etudes bring tone, phrasing, and musicality to my playing. 
  
• Practice Drum Solo Vocabulary because my drums solo suck.
  
• Two Pages from Rick Dior’s Drum Book
  

1. Quarter Notes – One Octave Start simple. Play one octave up and down in steady quarter notes.
2. Eighth Notes – Two Octaves Increase the range and speed. Two octaves in eighth notes builds fluidity.
3. Triplets – Three Octaves Add rhythmic complexity. Triplets across three octaves challenge coordination and phrasing.
4. Eighth + Sixteenth Triplets – Four Octaves Finish with a flourish. This combination across four octaves pushes your control and stamina.