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"Feed your ears sounds" Hal Galper

9/25/2018

What to practice? Hal has some great thoughts. Twelve minutes of wisdom from a modern master.

If you are a classical artist, substitute classical sounds for jazz sounds. It's all the same.

"art is supposed to teach yourself something about yourself you didn't know" Hal Galper

Best.

David

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Podcasts for music students reviewed

9/23/2018

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My go to podcasts. I listen in the car on my way to classes. One reason I bounce through the door on arrival.

Drummers Resource by Nick Ruffini 500+ podcasts, I've listened to them all. Many more than once. My favs? Michael Carvin #55 and #159 How to practice. Benny Greb #52 How to practice: funny and informative. His description of his one hour practice technique is priceless. Kenny Washington #204 Explores his deep knowledge of jazz history. And finally the irrepressible John Ramsay #254 "approaching music as a lifelong endeavour". Find it all here: http://www.drummersresource.com/podcasts/
You'll hear it by Open studio "Jazz musicians Peter Martin & Adam Maness give you daily tips on how to develop as a jazz player. Listen for a combo of actionable advice and occasional humor" I met Peter a couple of years while attending the Roma Summer Jazz Workshop, he was teaching piano. Great guy, knows what he is doing. Some of my favorite episodes are the episodes on how to learn, how to practice, how to improve your ears. Searchable here: https://www.openstudionetwork.com/podcast/
"Crushing Classical podcast is an ongoing series of provocative interviews with musicians who are pioneering a new path in the classical music genre." Fireside chat #40 explores the relationship between behaviour and goal attainment. Helpful advice and stories for us all.

Best,

David Story

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Listening is practicing

9/19/2018

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Listening is practicing. A bold statement I'll stick to. Try the following immersive listening exercise.

Make a cup of tea or coffee.
Grab your tablet or phone, find your headphones and head for a quiet room.
Open YouTube and find a professional performance of a favourite piece. Maybe a piece you'd like to secretly play.
Listen while doing nothing else.
Listen again and pay attention to a single detail. If you play Classical music, try tapping along to the beat and notice how it ebbs and flows. On the second listen notice how the dynamics ebb and flow? Is there a relationship between dynamic changes and tempo changes? If you play Jazz, make a note of the solo order of instruments. Do you they play the same amount of choruses? These are great places to start.

This is just the beginning of learning to listen like a musician. As a musician I ask myself when listening, "what is going on here?"

Enjoy,

David

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learning to improvise at the piano

9/9/2018

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Learning to improvise at the piano is not difficult, though it might take a small mind shift on your part. Consider the following. Until the mid 19th c. it was customary for classical musicians to improvise on stage. Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart were all know for their improvising prowess. You can find more inf. and links here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_improvisation

Musicians wrote books on how to improvise. Click on this for more.

http://johnmortensen.com/site/improvisation/

Have fun. More to come.

David

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"Feed your ears sounds" Hal Galper

Podcasts for music students reviewed

Listening is practicing

learning to improvise at the piano

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