“It’s very gratifying to improvise in front of people. I feel I’m including them in what I’m doing, taking them someplace they might like to go and haven’t been before.” -Jim Hall, guitarist The Musician’s Way, p. 102 Improvisation is the most playful way that we can...
“It’s better to do 30 minutes of high-quality work than to spin your wheels for hours.” The Musician’s Way, p. 312 Although we musicians strive to maintain regular practice schedules, we all confront periodic obstacles that prevent us from working as...
“Ten dubious repetitions plus a single accurate one don’t equal security.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 52 Naïve practicers might repeat a passage profusely and make error after error. Then, on the eleventh try, when it finally comes out right, they say, “There, I’ve got...
“Whatever music you play or sing, your aim is to express musical ideas, not spew out notes.” The Musician’s Way, p. 24 Many years ago I had lunch with two veteran music teachers who advocated what I call the “notes first” practice method. In their estimation, students...
“Collaborative music making is one of life’s true joys.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 114 It’s difficult to describe the feeling of synchronized, communal music making. Suffice it to say that when we make music together, we ascend to loftier planes. But to...
“There can be so much to cover in a practice session that it can seem overwhelming.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 6 Even for professional musicians, it isn’t easy to manage large numbers of practice tasks. But whatever our level of musical development, all of our...
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