August 2010

01/08/2010 - 19:32 by Mike Saville

A Year in Bass - Week 1

If you've read my post on the forums you'll already know what this project is about. I'm going back to basics to learn the bass guitar. I want to find out how effective music practice can help a complete beginner.

This video is an introduction (better quality and sound next time!! Tired )

If you have any thoughts please leave them either in the comments below this video or in the forums.

Maybe some of you might like to join me in learning something new . . Cool

01/08/2010 - 19:38 by Mike Saville

Practice Tips, Learning to Stay Motivated, Bass Runs & Fills

02/08/2010 - 08:59 by Mike Saville

Artistic Learning

Once you have learned the notes to a piece it's time to make music and to express your own musicality.

Consider the 3 drawings below:

Musical Note Shapes

Each of these is a note. How do you think each note will sound?

Here is another shape:

Drawing of a musical phrase

What do you think this music might sound like?<1--break-->

This shape has yet more differences. Try to imagine in detail the sounds this might make:  Read more . . .

02/08/2010 - 16:34 by saxwall

Saxwall

03/08/2010 - 02:45 by MusiKLEE

Hello!!

03/08/2010 - 09:36 by Mike Saville

A Change of Emphasis

It's often difficult to find new ways of playing a piece, especially if it's a very well known piece of music.

Consider this well known piece of Piano music by Mozart:
Changing Emphasis in a Musical Phrase

This has been played milllions of times by pianists all over the world. How then do you take this, or any other piece of music, and give it your own interpretation?

Here's where the emphasis method comes in. When played with a standard interpretation the emphasis will fall on the red note as follows:
Changing Emphasis in a Musical Phrase  Read more . . .

03/08/2010 - 19:18 by Mike Saville

Kenny G Talks about Music Practice

Kenny G is one of those 'love him' or 'hate him' kind of players. Whichever side of the fence you sit on you have to admit that he has had enormous success. In this videos he discusses the music business and also makes some important points about music practice.

04/08/2010 - 09:24 by Mike Saville

The Music Teacher's Handbook

Music Teachers HandbookDo you want to practice music better? Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

'the complete resource for all instrumental and singing teachers', said the subtitle. Rubbing my hands together with glee I pressed the order button.

What arrived was a book, A4 in size, that wasn't really a book. It's more a collection of musings by different teachers and educators, all of whom have some sort of affiliation with the Trinity Guildhall examination board. Nonetheless the topics on offer are very pertinent:

  • the best way to get a beginner started
  • a complete guide to planning lessons
  • top tips for practising
  • exam preparation
  • integrated learning
  • tips for memorable teaching
  • etc, etc

A really good variety of topics for us practising musicians.  Read more . . .

04/08/2010 - 15:09 by HTP Keith

The challenging students!

As teachers we all have them from time to time, the students who otherwise are pleasant to teach and show good potential to becoming capable musicians. However, they lack one thing, motivation and despite the encouraging words they just go through the motions and do the minimum. I have one of these and he's a good solid player but has started to drift and I am keen not to put him off playing but need some inspiration. Has anyone got any tips?

04/08/2010 - 15:13 by gmuguy

Main

04/08/2010 - 20:29 by Mike Saville

Mozart on Rollerblades

Don't ask me how you practice this - I have no idea!! Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud

05/08/2010 - 08:08 by Mike Saville

Two Modes of Music Practice

64Be aware of the difference between playing and practice.

Playing is unthinking time with the instrument and you may not get better - you might even get worse.

Practice is where you improve. Try to spend most of the time with your instrument in practice mode.

06/08/2010 - 08:42 by Mike Saville

Complete Beginners Guide to Music Practice Imminent

Complete Beginners Guide to PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

Our upcoming book, The Complete Beginners Guide To Practice, has just entered it's final draft. We're really excited about he prospect of getting it out there online.

The guide will be full of useful information that you can take and apply directly to YOUR practice. Among the topics covered are:

  • What is practice?
  • Why should you practice?
  • The process of practice
  • Self Assessment
  • Do's and Don'ts
  • Tips
  • Goals
  • Charts, templates and plans

. . . in fact everything you need to practice more effectively!  Read more . . .

06/08/2010 - 19:10 by Mike Saville

The Music Teacher's Handbook

The Music Teacher's Handbook, Stringer, Mark, Mackworth-Young Lucinda, Beach Nick, Bunting Philippa, Cross Rosie, Young Simon, Keyworth Nicholas, Hawes Trevor, Shaw Sara, Stubbs Nigel, et al. , London, p.96, (2005)
06/08/2010 - 19:14 by Mike Saville

Performance Strategies for Musicians

Performance Strategies for Musicians, Buswell, David , Stansted Abbotts, p.237, (2006)
06/08/2010 - 19:17 by Mike Saville

Maximizing Your Studio's Potential

Maximizing Your Studio's Potential, Patton, Julie , Tucson, p.978-0976290209, (2003)
06/08/2010 - 19:20 by Mike Saville

Practice Is A Dirty Word

Practice Is A Dirty Word, Bonetti, Ruth , The Gap, Queensland, p.118, (2002)
06/08/2010 - 19:22 by Mike Saville

Improve Your Teaching

Improve Your Teaching, Harris, Paul , London, p.63, (2008)
06/08/2010 - 19:25 by Mike Saville

The Art of Practice

The Art of Practice, Snell, Howard , London, p.135, (2006)
06/08/2010 - 19:28 by Mike Saville

Promoting Your Teaching Studio

Promoting Your Teaching Studio, Johnston, Philip , Pearce, p.243, (2004)
06/08/2010 - 20:23 by Mike Saville

How would you describe your typical music practice session?

07/08/2010 - 13:09 by Mike Saville

A Year in Bass - Week 2

It's been an interesting first week learning the bass. Watch the vid below to find out more Cool

Show Notes

The fretting hand exercises I have been doing can be found on active bass - look for lesson 12692 - Playing Melodic Metal.

Over the coming week I'm going to use the speed from accuracy, creeping metronome and moments notice methods.  Read more . . .

07/08/2010 - 13:35 by Ceciliadlibitum

Cecilia ad libitum

09/08/2010 - 10:13 by Mike Saville

How to listen during music practice

4 ways to listen
Make sure you don't miss out on the Complete Beginners Guide to Practice. Signup and subscribe to our newsletter to be first to hear about it.

Good listening is the cornerstone of effective music practice.

If you can't hear what is wrong you can't correct it. It is therefore vital that you are aware of how you listen and learn to do it as well as you can.

There are four types of listening that musicians generally do. These are inactive, neutral, active and focused.

Inactive

Think muzak. Think lift music. Think about what you hear when you are walking around the supermarket. If you stop and think about it we do a vast amount of inactive listening everyday. As more and more background music has appeared so our brains have got better at filtering it out.

This type of listening is of little use to the practising musician. It won't help you improve as a player.  Read more . . .

09/08/2010 - 13:28 by emmas76

emmas76 Profile Page

10/08/2010 - 06:59 by Mike Saville

A Question of Timing

Would you like to be the subject of a future practice clinic? Contact us with any practice problems and we'd be happy to help.

Like many students taking their first steps in learning an instrument today's subject has problems with rhythm.

I would like to play with better with timing and rhythm. Counting and using the metronome correctly.

Our reply:

It's great to see someone of your age committed to learning the piano. It's even more heartening to see you dedicating a regular time everyday to practice. It might not seem like it at times but you will be improving - just stick with it. The rewards of being able to play the piano are definitely worth it.   Read more . . .

10/08/2010 - 14:59 by Mike Saville

Not Until You've Done Your Practice

Not Until You've Done Your Practice, Johnston, Philip , Pearce, p.119, (1990)
10/08/2010 - 15:02 by Mike Saville

Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter, Whykes, Susan , Bloomington, p.77, (2007)
11/08/2010 - 07:16 by chelsea

Hi

Just wanted to pop my head in the door and say hello :Cool

11/08/2010 - 08:45 by Mike Saville

Pareto Practice

Using the 80 20 rule in your music practice PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) argues that 80% of the rewards come from 20% of the efforts.

Think about this for a moment in terms of your music practice. This means that 80% of your time could effectively be wasted. Awareness of this fact is the first part of the cure for practising musicians.

For this practice method you are going to ensure that not only do you use all of your time as well as you can, but you also use the most productive time to work at the weakest things.

Firstly you are going to split your weaknesses down into 5 easy chunks. Have a think about what the 5 weakest areas of your playing are. Is it scales? Tone? Fingering? Reading? Embouchure? Write these 5 things down in order of weakness.  Read more . . .

12/08/2010 - 11:06 by Mike Saville

Beware Inattention

65If you don't pay attention during music practice mistakes can creep in.

Be sure not to compound the mistake by ignoring it. Fix it properly.

13/08/2010 - 08:28 by Mike Saville

Speaking and Music Comparison

There is a direct parallel in the way that we speak, with natural variations of pitch and volume that give full meaning to our words. This is what is missing in the words on the page of a book, and the notes on the score.

— Howard Snell

Snell, Howard., The Art of Practice (Pen Press, 2006), p.35

13/08/2010 - 10:06 by Mike Saville

Simple Scales Crossword

We want to help you practice better. Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

Use the clues below to work out the note names for each scale in the crossword. Each scale has eight notes and begins and ends on the tonic. For example C Major would be C D E F G A B C. Any minor scales are natural so you should just follow the key signature.

Answers next Friday Grade
Music Scales Practice Crossword  Read more . . .

  1. Relative Minor of F Major
14/08/2010 - 11:39 by Mike Saville

A Year in Bass - Week 3

This week I discuss the importance of time in music practice.

If you are just beginning to learn or would like to take on a project like this I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Apologies for the quality of the bass recording - I will resolve this for next time Wink

Show Notes

The fretting hand exercises I have been doing can be found on active bass - look for lesson 12692 - Playing Melodic Metal.

For the scales/exercises I have been doing I've set some daily metronome speed targets as well.  Read more . . .

16/08/2010 - 09:45 by Mike Saville

20 ways to practice with your metronome

20 ways to use a metronome in your music practiceWe want to help you practice better. Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

Most musicians realise that using a metronome during music practice is a good idea. It's great preparation for playing with others and also gives you a solid way to measure your improvement.

What is often missing is an appreciation of the many ways that a metronome can help you. Below is a list of 20 ways in which you can use a metronome during your practice.

1. Count Out Loud

Say the beats of your music out loud. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2 . . . . make sure to speak exactly in time with the metronome. If you feel confident with this move on to saying the off beats. 1 and 2 and 3 and . . . . .Saying the rhythm or pulse will really help internalise it.

2. A notch a day

This is how most people use their metronome. Set a speed. Play. Move the speed a bit faster. The trouble here is that most people move the speed to quickly and try to play fast before they are ready. For more on this see creeping metronome  Read more . . .

16/08/2010 - 16:10 by guitarbooth

New group for guitars?

I see that there's two groups. One for teachers and one for students. How about some groups for instruments. I think it would be really useful to talk about practice for your instrument. I join lots of other forums but they talk about a lot of other stuff. Would be kinda nice to just talk about practice here.

16/08/2010 - 20:10 by Fuzz2873

Fuzz2873

17/08/2010 - 09:25 by Mike Saville

How To Practice Jazz - The free book

The Red Book How To Practice JazzWe want to help you practice better. Click here to receive regular advice or here for help on your current problems.

Anyone interested in improving their jazz playing should be aware of the Jamey Aebersold series of play-along books. These books cover all styles of jazz and give you the chance to practice your improvisation along with some great musicians.

A particular favourite of mine is the very first one How to play jazz and improvise.

Perhaps less well known is the website Jazzbooks.com that is the online home for this series of books.  Read more . . .

18/08/2010 - 06:48 by Mike Saville

How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education

How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education, Green, Lucy , London, p.250, (2002)
18/08/2010 - 06:55 by Mike Saville

Teaching Music

Teaching Music, Spruce, Gary , Open University Postgraduate Certificate in Education Course Readers, p.284, (1995)
18/08/2010 - 07:00 by Mike Saville

How women become musicians

How women become musicians, Bayton, Mavis , On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, London, p.201-220, (1990)
18/08/2010 - 07:03 by Mike Saville

On Becoming A Rock Musician

On Becoming A Rock Musician, Bennett, Stith , Massachusetts, p.272, (1980)
18/08/2010 - 08:28 by Mike Saville

How Popular Musicians Learn

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

This is not the style of book I would normally choose to read. It's academic background is clear from the start. Most obviously through the writing which is much more verbose than most other books on practice reviewed here. It is not an easy read. However it is definitely worth the perseverance to complete.

The book is based on research conducted in 1998, comprising a series of interviews with 'popular' musicians. Each of these musicians is at varying stages of development - some in their early teens and others who have had notable performing careers.

One of the main thrusts throughout the book is the difference between formal and informal learning approaches. Formal practices include structured instrumental lessons, regular practice and use of sheet music, what we would traditionally call classical lessons. The informal approach is made up from self-teaching, copying, choosing music that is liked and irregular practice.  Read more . . .

18/08/2010 - 15:11 by Mike Saville

Countdown to CBGP is on!

Complete Beginners Guide to Music PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

The countdown to the release of the Complete Beginners Guide to Practice is now well and truly on!

Next week we will be announcing how and where you can download your copy. We are releasing it under a creative commons licence so that you can use, print and share as you want.

To be sure that you don't miss out make sure you are registered with the site and that you are subscribed to our newsletter (both free). The download details will appear there first Smile

18/08/2010 - 19:38 by HTP Keith

Practice Break Vol. 1 Issue 2. Sep 2010

Beginners Guide | Pro Interview | iPractice
Regulars | Don't Forget

Hello all and welcome to this months newsletter.

Firstly we would like to say a big thank you to the large number of members who downloaded the last newsletter issue. We hope that you found it both informative and entertaining.  Read more . . .

19/08/2010 - 08:41 by Mike Saville

Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter

You will receive a confirmation email shortly containing further instructions on how to complete your subscription.

19/08/2010 - 09:08 by Mike Saville

Don't let perfect prevent progress

66In other fields it's known as analysis paralysis. In music practice it's called perfectionism. Believed by most to be a good thing it can at times be harmful. Evil

Make sure you don't get stuck on any one thing aiming for unreachable perfection. Sometimes good is good enough. Move on to something new and keep progressing.

The Complete Beginners Guide To Practice

19/08/2010 - 15:06 by How To Practice

Complete Beginners Guide to Music PracticeThe Complete Beginners Guide to Practice is the How To Practice guide to getting started with music practice.

With over 50 pages packed full of advice it is the perfect way to improve your practice.

Registered site members can download the guide for free by clicking the link below. If you are not already a member of our site then you can join for free.

If you would like to discuss anything you have read in the guide or ask any questions or get help with your practice then you can do so in our forums.

We wish everyone the best of luck with improving your playing and most of all. . . . . .

enjoy your practice!

22/08/2010 - 10:42 by How To Practice

Registration Issues resolved

Over the last couple of days some site users have reported errors when trying to register with the site. We have now resolved these and you should be able to register without any problems.

If you do try to register again and you get a message that your username is already taken then please contact us and we will resolve this issue for you.

We apologise for this slight glitch and hope that it doesn't stop you enjoying your practice! Smile Smile

22/08/2010 - 20:48 by Mike Saville

Practice Talk - 001 - Enjoy yourself

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24/08/2010 - 10:21 by Mike Saville

A Year in Bass - Week 4

I've just learnt first hand the usefulness of scales. I've been practising scales and arpeggios over the past few weeks. This week I've been learning Midnight Hour and have been able to apply this learning directly to this piece.

If you are just beginning to learn or would like to take on a project like this I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.  Read more . . .

24/08/2010 - 10:53 by How To Practice

Money, money, money

Would you like to be the subject of a future practice clinic? Contact us with any practice problems and we'd be happy to help.

No, not an Abba song but a question submitted to the Practice Clinic by a young and enthusiastic musician:

Can you tell me how to earn money as a musician?

Our reply:

Wow, you're very keen and obviously committed to a career as a musician. That's fantastic to hear and you should certainly go for it if that's what you want.  Read more . . .

24/08/2010 - 18:14 by Mike Saville

Why Student's Don't Learn What We Think We Teach

A very interesting lecture by music educator Robert Duke. Particularly pertinent for me were his comments on the difference between what teachers view as important and the fact that this is rarely conveyed to students.

25/08/2010 - 10:26 by Mike Saville

20 Music Practice Links 25th August 2010

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

It's time once again for our regular look at what's new in the world of music practice. Here we have the latest and best articles on music practice from the web.

I'm sure there are hundreds more sites out there with great information to help us practicers! So if you run a piano blog, guitar tab resource or any other site that has some practice related information then we'd love to hear about it..  Read more . . .

  1. Ruthless Practice - Classical Guitar Blog
  2. The Holy Grail of Piano Teaching - Piano Pedagogy Page
  3. Music Training Helps Learning & Memory - Psychology Today
  4. How (not) to Learn a Piece of Music - Elissa Milne
  5. Error Detection in Ensemble Music Performances - Thomas J West
  6. The Art of Concentration - Guide to Online Schools
  7. Music Practice Tip: Unstack Your Music - Thomas J West
26/08/2010 - 09:13 by Mike Saville

Rhythmic Feeling

67Being able to count a pulse or rhythm out loud is one thing. It's quite another to feel it . Make sure you really internalise rhythms by singing, tapping, clapping and most of all feeling them.
27/08/2010 - 09:05 by Mike Saville

Preemptive apology for perfectionism

[perfectionism leads to] a tendency to apologize preemptively for one's efforts, knowing from experience that there's sure to be something wrong with them.

— William Westney

Westney, William., The Perfect Wrong Note (Amadeus Press, 2003), p.132

28/08/2010 - 09:24 by How To Practice

It's here! The Complete Beginners Guide To Practice

Complete Beginners Guide to Music PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

We're so excited to announce the release of the Complete Beginners Guide to Practice just in time for the new term. Newsletter subscribers have already been downloading the free book in their hundreds and from today all registered site members will be able to get their own free copy Smile

The guide is stuffed full of ideas, tips, templates and advice to help you get more from your practice time. Registration for our site is also free so signup now to get your copy.

There is no restriction on using, sharing or copying the book so feel free to tell all your friends about it.

This is just the start of the free guides that we will have on offer. Coming in the next few weeks we also have a practice guide aimed specifically at younger learners so stay tuned for that.

As always we'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below.

Enjoy your practice!

Download the Complete Beginners Guide to Practice Here

28/08/2010 - 16:57 by Mike Saville

A Year in Bass - Week 5 - Problem Patterns

This week has been the first that I've not really made quick progress. I know I'm still improving but it has been slowed. As I explain in the vid I need to take a fresh approach to scales.

To the experienced bass players out there - if you notice me doing anything stupid - just shout Smile I'd appreciate it.

Show Notes

Bass recording is again much better thanks to an M-Audio Fast Track USB Audio Interface.  Read more . . .

30/08/2010 - 03:27 by piano88

piano88

30/08/2010 - 08:21 by Mike Saville

Interview with Mr Rodney Mack

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Rodney Mack has worked under the guidance of world renowned conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gerard Schwarz, James DePreist, John Williams, Jesus Lopez- Cobos and Christopher Hogwood. He was awarded a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center where he was invited to return for a second summer during which he was awarded the Seiji Ozawa Award for outstanding musicianship.

Mr. Mack was born in New Orleans, Louisiana where he began his musical studies at the age of six. When he was eleven years of age, he began taking classical trumpet lessons with his cousin, Wynton Marsalis. Referred to as a "trumpet prodigy" Rodney Mack's solo debut was at the age of fifteen with the New Orleans Symphony. After having won various solo competitions, he received national attention at the age of nineteen performing as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He has also performed as soloist with the San Diego Symphony, the Tenerife Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and many orchestras throughout the United States and Europe.  Read more . . .

31/08/2010 - 11:54 by Mike Saville

Unfamiliar Scales

How To Practice Unfamiliar Scales Practice MethodWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Does it take you a long time to learn a new scale or pattern of notes? Use this method and you will know them in no time at all!

There are 7 steps you need to complete:

1. Sing the scale

Use a good full voice and sing all the notes of your scale. Do this until you can really hear the notes inside your head before you sing them. Aim to sing the precise notes. It can be useful to use a piano to get you started with this.

2. Sing and name the intervals

Having got all the notes into your ears this next step will help make you aware of the gaps between the notes. For each step in your scale sing the two notes and then name the step between them. It could be a major or minor second or a whole or half tone if you prefer. Do this until you are confident of all the intervals up and down your scale.  Read more . . .