Author: musicalitywrld

What we have for you today is something a bit different and in a minute I’m going to disappear, and I will not be involved in the episode at all, because what we have is a team episode of the show. We’ve got the Musical U team together, and what we’re doing is it kind of came out of happenstance where we had a few weeks in a row where on our team call, one of the members of the Musical U team randomly mentioned they listened to an old episode of the musicality podcast and learn something really cool, or they particularly enjoyed something. After that happened a few weeks in a row I was like “this is kind of cool we should do something with this”.

So what I did was I corralled Adam Liette, our Communications Manager, to get the team together for kind of a “show and tell” episode where each of them would bring along an old episode of the Musicality Podcast, an old interview we did with a musicality expert, and share a little bit about what resonated with them or what they learned, or their own opinions and insights on that topic.

So that’s what they did. The team got together, that’s Stewart Hilton, Andrew Bishko, Adam Liette and Anastasia Voitinskaia, joined with our latest recruit Zac Bailey. They all got together, each bringing an episode to the table to share what they enjoyed about that episode. It turned out fantastic. They themed it all around practicing, and a little bit of performing stuff crept in there too.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening back to the recording afterwards, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. It certainly inspired me to go back and listen again to some of those past interviews.

So, that’s it from me I’m going to leave you in Adam’s capable hands in just a moment. Last thing to say it’s just, if you do enjoy this episode, please hit us up on social media and let the team know. You can go to Facebook or Twitter or Instagram you’ll find us under Musical U, and I would love for you to just show the team some love, show them some support. Tell them what you enjoyed about this episode, and hopefully we can tempt them back to do this again another time. That’s it for me – enjoy the episode.

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• What Your Voice Can Do, with Jeremy Fisher
• About Hacking Habituation
• Emotion and Efficiency, with Marc Gelfo
• Learning to Rock the Stage, with Kevin Richards
• Top Musicality Tools and Tech, with Katie Wardrobe
• Making Music Learning a Picnic, with Ruth Power

Transcript

Adam: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Musicality Podcast, my name is Adam Liette, Communications Manager for Musical U, and I’m joined with the entire Musical U team for this special episode. And after so many episodes of The Musicality Podcast, here at the team we’re always amazed at just how many incredible guests that we’ve had, and some of the interesting tidbits and tips and tricks that they offered, that they’ve learned throughout their musical journey.

So we wanted to round up together and get the entire team to talk about some of our favorite episodes of The Musicality Podcast, and some things that we’ve been able to take from the show, into the practice room, and into our musical performances.

So I’m joined by the team, I’d just like to introduce them. We have Andrew Bishko, and Andrew, why don’t you take a moment to introduce yourself.

Andrew: Hi Adam, I’m Andrew Bishko, I am the Product Manager at Musical U, so I’m responsible for supervising and writing new educational modules, for fixing broken ones, for creating new products, I’m also on the customer service team with Stew, our Community Conductor, and I’m talking quite a bit to our members, and helping them out through their journey. I’m also the Content Manager for our blog and our publications.

Adam: Thank you Andrew. We also have Stewart Hilton with us. Stewart, why don’t you introduce yourself.

Stewart: Hello, I am Stewart Hilton, and on the site you probably know me as GuitarStew777, and I am the Community Conductor. So, I am there to help you with any issues you’re having, creating a nice community environment, and be a general social butterfly for the website.

Adam: And Anastasia.

Anastasia: Hi there, my name is Anastasia Voitinskaia, I’m the Content Editor here Musical U, and a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and singer.

Adam: And finally, the newest member of the Musical team, Zac Bailey.

Zac: Hi I’m Zac Bailey, Zsonic is my DJ name, and also my name on the Musical U website, so if you’re looking for me, @Zsonic. I’m a community assistant, I love encouraging and helping the other members. I love seeing what they’re doing and what they’re practicing. I also work on the social media side of Musical U, and that’s pretty fun. I’m a DJ, rapper, I’m learning to play the keyboard, learning to sing, so I can write music and compose, and do a lot of cool stuff, and Musical U has been an amazing experience helping me with that, and I love helping other people doing similar things.

Adam: Fantastic. So one thing that we hear a lot from the members of Musical U, is how to take all of the things that they’re learning within Musical U, and they’re learning in their music education, and how to actually apply it their instrument. And for most musicians, that means in the practice room. How are we applying all these skills in practice, so that we can then go and perform, or continue to play, or experiment with different musical sounds. All of this comes down to how we’re actually applying things that we’re learning, to our instrument.

So we’d like to focus this first episode, really just talking about music practice. And different tips and tricks that we’ve learned throughout all of the episodes of The Musicality Podcast. So each member of the team has picked a certain episode that really touched them, that really appealed to them and spoke to them, and they were able to use that in their own music practice. We’re gonna share those with all … Edit. And we’d like to share those with all of you, and so that you can revisit old episodes of the podcast, and continue to apply these things in your music practice.

And I’d like to start with an episode that we did with Jeremy Fisher. This was in episode 76 of the podcast. Now, Jeremy’s a vocalist, and although I’m not a vocalist, there were so many great things in this episode, that really spoke to me, and things that I was able to begin using, almost immediately as I was learning new things on my instrument. So I’d like to first share this brief sound clip from that episode.

Jeremy Fisher: You’re not trying to take in something that you couldn’t possibly deal with, ’cause there are 15 things wrong with it, that’s not the way that you learn or that’s just the way you get depressed. The way that you learn is to focus on one thing and work it, and just going right back to what we were talking about earlier about being a side reader, one of the things that when I’m learning new pieces, and I’m learning a lot of complicated stuff at the moment, I don’t focus on: I need to be able to play all the chords, and I need to be able to do this, and I need to do all that. I don’t do that. I do, there are certain and specific things that I do, and it makes me an expert practicer.

So I will do one run at super slow speed, much, much slower than you would normally play it. But my focus is not to stop, so I will get through that piece really, really slowly, but I will not stop anywhere. And if I do stop or I stumble, I just make a mental note of that’s the place I need to work, and if it’s a note, I’ll get to that note, and I’ll get two back from it, and practice that. So I’ll go two notes back, and then two notes past it, so I’m working five notes, or and then, I’ll go five notes back. So I’m always working that note, but I’m working across the period, I’m working across the phrase, so I’m not just practicing the notes, I’m practicing the approach and the release.

Adam: What I love about this process that Jeremy laid out was, we think about how to learn music, and we think about different techniques that we’re learning, but we’re actually applying it a piece of music, it’s so tempting to just to wanna run through a song from beginning to end, over and over again. But is that really the way that we’re learning individual pieces of music? Because there’s always those little motifs, those little sections, that give you difficulties, they give you the most problems. And if we’re just playing an entire song, over and over again, we’re not really focusing on the parts where we’re stumbling. And I love his method of just slowing it down, and then adding to that piece of music, bit by bit, until you’re able to play it comfortably and competently.

I’ve used this in my own practice, I’ve used it when teaching my children now, and I can think of so many different ways that just this really simple way just starting with the section that gave you problems, and then moving back a little bit. So that what working on is not only the section, but the approach, and then the conclusion. I love this approach that he used, and I continue to use it in my music practice, and it’s helped make me a better music practicer.

Does anyone from the team have anyone else to add about that clip?

Zac: I love the episode with Jeremy Fisher, that’s something I do all the time, with everything I practice. I call it, taking a microscope to your weaknesses. So you practice something slow like he said, and then when you get to that part where you stumble, that’s your weakness, and you focused right in on that. And then, yeah, you run through that, and then I’ll actually go through that same part until I can do it way faster than I would normally play the rest of the song, and I try to get it faster, and then slow it back down so I can play it really clean and smooth, the original tempo. Once I get that sticking point faster than the speed that is my goal, then I know that I got it down enough to play in the whole piece.

Adam: And Andrew?

Andrew: Yes. First of all, I really thought it was that you said you weren’t a vocalist, because Adam’s a great singer. He’s fantastic. But getting back to the subject at hand, that’s something that I’ve done for a long time with my practicing, working over this little exact column, in my teaching I call them wrinkles, we take the wrinkle and you iron right on the wrinkle, but if you stick the iron on the wrinkle and it’s only there, then you get a big burn mark and you gotta iron around the wrinkle, and iron around until you iron the whole shirt. I think a lot of our listeners probably don’t even know what an iron is, but I’m old, what are you gonna say?

Anyway … but one thing I found for myself, is that I get too focused on doing those kind of things, and like focusing on the wrinkles and then right around the surrounds, and I haven’t been practicing my pieces all the way through enough, where I get a feeling, okay I’m beginning and make it all the way to the end, and that’s why I like what he said in the beginning. Where, I’m gonna practice it slow, I’m gonna go from the beginning, the end, and not stop, and that’s something I wanna do more of.

Adam: That’s tremendous Andrew. Andrew, why don’t you take it from here, what was your clip?

Andrew: My clip was from episode number 151, which is hacking habituation, these were excerpts from a masterclass that we did with the neuro-symphonic horn player, Marc Gelfo, and I’m not gonna explain that. But I’ve had this general desire to become unstuck in all the stuck places in my life, and specifically in music, where there are certain things I’ve been trying to do that have been quite difficult. I’m playing … I’ve been doing mariachi arrangements for the accordion, where I’m playing all the different parts, the bass part on one side, then trumpets and violin parts on the other side, because we don’t have a full band, and there’s a lot of poly rhythms going on between the two sides, a lot of coordination, and it’s very new.

I found that I have an intention of what I wanna do, but somehow it just doesn’t happen, I would practice it over and over and over and over again. And I had the experience recently, where we had a gig coming up, and I working really intensely with the other band members, with this guitarist and the violinist, and to have them feel really comfortable and confident and ready for this gig. And we were practicing, and every practice for a few months for this one gig, I was sitting down. In the last two practices I thought, “Oh, I’m going to be playing standing up, I better stand up.” It was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m not ready.” And I had just been learning everything in this one position.

So the podcast from Marc Gelfo, in this first clip that you’re going to hear, he talks about this idea of changing location, and it’s so important. Like even if you’re in a little tiny room, and you just rotate around the room. Anyway, well let’s listen, and then I’ll talk more about it.

Marc Gelfo: One simple, do it for the rest of your life tip that will really change things around is to change location in your practice room. So, you’re looking forward, you’ve got 360 degrees of rotation, just rotate yourself 90 degrees in between reps. If you play four different scales, play them facing north, south, east and west, and what that will do is give you a different environmental context, and avoid habituating.

Andrew: Okay. So here, here I’ll do the next part of the podcast like this, and then like this. Okay, back to facing forward, so the rotating is great, I’m blessed you know, I’m a grown up and I have a house, and I can walk around my house, and I could go look out my window, and I can look at the socks that my boys left on the floor, and all kinds of things. And move around, and there was one part, this one thing I was trying to get, and I was practicing it over and over and over again, and I couldn’t figure out why the right hand part wasn’t coming through. I said, “Well there’s something going on with my bellows.” I was playing the accordion, and something going on with the bellows, where I wasn’t getting enough power in my bellows.

And so, I started walking around, I started moving around, I tried standing still, I tried moving with the music, I faced different directions, and all of a sudden I realized that it was not what was going on with my right hand, it was left hand having to make a big jump at the same time as right hand playing this line. And I had this insight of this thing I’ve been knocking my head against, for literally months, and was able to just change the whole thing. Just by moving around the whole room, giving myself a fresh perspective. And I’m going to be really be doing a lot of that, and of course using that with my students as well.

So another thing that I was inspired to do by this podcast, is not repeat things until I was bored, but that this was counterproductive to my learning. I grew up on that whole thing where it’s like, you gotta play it a thousand million times, over and over again until you have it right. I’ve been letting myself play it a few times, and then say, “Okay well that wasn’t perfect, but too bad, I’m gonna move on. Do it later.” And then go and do something else, and doing something else is called interleave practice. And then coming back to that thing and doing it a few times, but not so much that I’m gonna get frustrated, it’s really important for me not to become frustrated, because there is no learning when I’m frustrated.

And so, just having a good time with it, and then saying, “Okay, well this is good enough for today. I’m gonna come back to it tomorrow.” It’s amazing how much more progress I make, than if I’m really pushing myself to do lots of reps. I’ve been using this a lot with my teaching, where it’s like, I’m not gonna sit there now and make a student do it over and over and over and over again. It’s like, okay, if they do it for a while, and it’s like let’s do something else. And it actually helps more.

So this next clip is related, and it’s the idea, not just the outer environment changing, but the inner environment. Let’s listen to that.

Marc Gelfo: Just give up. Look, your environment is so rich, the inner environment is one place where you can do that too, and one way that I hack habituation is to change my inner environment, especially on Thursdays, which is the emotion practice days for me. On Thursdays, I have a whole inventory of emotions, like anger, joy, calm, resentment, and I will, like an actor, I will go, I play like emotion bingo, and I’ll just land on one, and oh okay, peace. And I’ll play the scale peacefully. And that I flush the inner environment, and then okay, shame. Like what would this sound like if I’m feeling incredibly ashamed? And that trains a certain resilience. I learned this-

Andrew: That was a really insightful thing, because I’m always working really hard to keep my emotions positive, and it’s not always very successful, especially when I’m performing. If I’m performing, and I mess up, it’s like then all of the flood of the inner critic comes in, and it’s just awful, and I’m just fighting this battle. But here he’s saying, practice the negative emotions too, and I’m realizing by practicing the negative emotions by just putting them on and taking them off, I realize I can put on and take off any emotion that I want. So I’m learning to be able to change the emotions, which of course I can use in terms of putting the emotion into my music, but also if it so happens that I hit a land mine while I’m playing something in a performance, and I start to feel that flood of negative emotion, I have the power, because I have practiced to switch from one emotion to another, to be able to switch those emotions. I’m looking to do a lot of practicing with that idea.

Adam: You know, I’m sitting here wondering, Anastasia you’re a composer. Is this something that you have practiced as well?

Anastasia: I take a very emotions-based approach to composition for sure. But, I don’t really practice as if I’m putting on a face that I’m, I don’t know like peaceful or angry or ashamed, because a lot of my writing tends to be like, quite autobiographical, which I think a lot songwriters can attest to. And so, it really does depend on what I’m feeling in the moment, and I think powerful emotions are of course, a great, great source of inspiration in music. But, that’s really an interesting thing to try, kind of write a song as if you’re feeling peaceful, but I don’t know, I never considered it before, because I sort of write precisely what I’m feeling in the moment.

Again, a lot of my songs are story-based, or at least have like a lose-narrative arc. So yeah, but it’s a really interesting tip, and if can say something else about Andrew’s clip, I really, really liked the point that he made in the first clip about just changing your surroundings. Because as anyone who has ever had to take some sort of exam or do a recital can attest to, it makes such a huge difference to your brain, where you are, what instrument you’re playing on, what kind of natural light is in the room, who’s watching you, et cetera.

So things like, I’m not suggesting you drag a baby grand around your room, and make it point north, east, west, south whatever, but yeah changing up where you’re practicing, practicing on different instruments, facing a certain way, practicing in a different room if your instrument is portable, makes such a big difference, and I think it makes you so much more confident when you do go to an examination or go perform in front of others. Because you’re just like, I have practiced this piece, in these 11 different contexts, of course I can do it here, and I think that’s really valuable. Yeah.

Adam: Yeah, absolutely. And I know Stew, you had something you wanted to add here.

Stewart: Yeah it actually, it kind of combines with the stuff you talked about with Jeremy. Zac mentioned being under a microscope, I always find being live and playing live, tends to turn the microscope into a really large TV set. And that kinda goes with all of what Andrew just talked about and moving around. The two groups I play with, one we do have rehearsals, we have band rehearsals, and we work on things, and that doesn’t always mean that … still live always brings out the possible issue areas in a song. And I have found that I need to stand a lot. Like if I’m working out a part, I may work it out sitting down, but man, when you go live, suddenly it’s like that little part you had nailed when you were sitting down, suddenly you’re like, “What’s going on? What, what, oops.” And then, but not you’re playing it in front of 50 people. But then that also goes into the inner side, which means now I have to get over what I just completely train wrecked on stage, and move forward from that.

But that also … the other guy I play for, the tribute guy, there is no rehearsals before we play. So when I first played with him, I literally kinda set up a downstairs concert area, and had the stereo going, my amp, and stood up and just kinda walked around while I was playing because I just needed to get used to some of what I was gonna go through. It didn’t solve every issue, but it definitely I think, got me a little more used to doing the music standing up, and I’m still working on certain things. Even in the country band we have a song where there’s … I swear I’ve worked the guitar solo parts out a few times, and then I get live, and I’m like, what happened, my brain just totally shut down.

So yeah, doing all that is a huge help though, because it gets better every time. And it’s kinda like that inner thing, it’s like, “Okay I messed that up, you know what? I’m gonna get it the next time.” And it’s kind of interesting, a band you love Adam, Metallica, I happened to run over a huge clip of Metallica fails on stage. And we all think of these big bands as being like, they have it perfect every time, they don’t. All of them, they make some pretty big blunders on stage, and the thing that I liked watching is they kinda look at each other, laugh and kinda smile about it, and then just get back on the horse and keep going. It just happened, it’s all right, I’ve played this song probably 2,000 times this, something’s bound to happen at some point, we’re human.

Adam: Yeah, absolutely. For sure, if you perform live, if you perform anywhere, you’re going to make mistakes. So that’s a healthy mindset to have as you’re doing any kind of performing art.

Stew, why don’t you take over, and tell us about your clip.

Stewart: Okay, well my kinda goes into the whole performing thing again. It was with Kevin Richards, and it was episode 126, and he hit something that I notice a lot when you’re on stage, something I always tend to think about is what the audience is seeing on stage, and if they’re being entertained or not. So I’ll let you play the clip and then talk about what I was thinking.

Kevin Richards: Because I had to be, I now had to talk to a room full of people I didn’t know. And the first thing I did, is I kind of I watched a lot of other performers local to my area who are really good at it, and I kinda took a lot of pointers. I asked some of them, like how are you really good at talking an audience. And I particular guy give me a really good idea, he goes, “I write everything down. I write everything down I’m gonna say between songs, and I learn it like a script, and I say it, and I kind of repeat it like an actor talking to … I kind of have a set … I know I have a set thing to say and I have certain cues for the band. When I say this, click the song in, and boom we’re right on.” So there’s a flow to the show.

Now, that’s a really good idea, so I started to come up with … and we use to rehearse this with the band, I’m gonna say this, this, this and this. And then you go right into the song. It helped me not have to try to improvise in front of people.

Stewart: Yeah, so that hit something like when I go out and see bands, and even when I’m thinking about what I’m doing … especially the country band that I play with, the country rock band. And that is what’s going on in between, ’cause I have gone and seen local bands, and I think it’s probably the most uncomfortable when they get done with one song, and then they all stare at each other and have these like intermingling conversations. Yeah, what Andrew just did, they kinda look, what’s next? And you’re kinda sitting there as the audience like, can we move on? But that’s something that … it’s one of those things that as you’re learning music, and you’re learning to play, and the thing, you know with music is, you wanna be able to share this love that you have with others.

Some of those little things that you don’t think about when you’re learning all that, suddenly take place as soon as you get on front of a stage, like, “Oh I just finished a song, now what do I do?” Yeah, you can go in, and you can start putting a bunch of songs together, but at some point you’re gonna have to talk. I’ve seen some interesting things. Luckily we have a singer in this current group, and he is great, he’s kind of filled with way too much energy. He’s kind of on a normal basis, acts like he’s had two Monster Energy drinks on stage, and he hasn’t had any. But I’ve also played in bands where I’ve had a singer who doesn’t like to talk a lot, and then you’re in between and he’s kinda staring at the ground, and you’re like, “Oh this is bad.”

So hearing this, it was good listening to him talking about actually practicing what you’re going to do on the stage, and have these scripts, and have these different things. And I even heard that on an old … it was before we were doing the podcast, I can’t remember the guy, but he talked about that, and he talked about having these scripts and even doing like little comedy routines just to keep the audience engaged. If you’re talking to one another on the stage, they’re not engaged to you, they’re just kinda watching going, are they confused, did somebody just have a moment and have a nervous breakdown on stage, what’s going on? So performing it, and practicing that is I think a pretty important part, and I’m learning that the longer I am. And here I am now in my fifties, but you’re still learning all this stuff.

Adam: It’s funny, I accidentally incorporated some of that very early in my gigging days, and it was all well and good until the other band members like, caught onto the fact that we play this song and Adam says the same thing every night. And so they started making fun of me for it, and it’s like they jumped to the microphone before I could get to it. I was like, “Wait a minute, that’s my line, you can’t take that from me.” So it became a running joke. I stopped doing it because they would just make fun of me, but they never let it go, two years later they were still doing it at the same time in the show every night.

Stewart: Yep. Well the tribute artist I play for, it’s kind of funny, the drummer and I will look at each other at certain points of the show, and know that he’s gonna say a certain thing about how great the food is in the place we’re at, but he’s got it and he does a great job at it, so we just kinda smile and go, “This is good.” So, yeah.

Adam: Zac, I have to imagine that’s something that happens in the DJ world as well, some of those cues. Is there anything you can add to this?

Zac: Yeah, that happens all the time. I was actually talking to some of my DJ friends recently about how an MC is super underused at a DJ show, and doesn’t necessarily mean a rapper, just someone who talks to during lulls. Sometimes it’s hard for a DJ to keep the crowd interested the whole time. It is a continuous wall of music, there’s not really breaks in the music, but there might be breaks in the attention of the audience. So it is important to get on the mic and say some things to crowd. I’ve never scripted anything, I’ve done a lot of improv in my day, I used to do a lot of improv acting classes. I’m very comfortable, I like to speak to someone specifically in the audience, that’s a DJ tip. If you play to one single person in the audience, like if there’s a cute girl dancing in the front, play for her, get on the mic, talk to her, just talk to a specific person, and I just like to say some clever jokes.

But I really like the idea of having something scripted, I never thought of that, I think that is definitely a valuable tool.

Adam: Anastasia, I know you had something that you wanted to add as well.

Anastasia: I did, yeah. I really like that clip. I’ve never scripted anything myself. A lot of my between song talking is entirely improvised, which has actually resulted in a lot of personal funny anecdotes being told, which I don’t mind, but then listening back to it on a recording and stuff, can be cringe-inducing at points. But I just wanted to say, I don’t know, there’s I think good stage banter is greatly underestimated, and I’ve seen certain bands kind of take on a dual role as comedians, and say some really hilarious brilliant stuff. Similar to an MC, it can really hype the crowd up, it can really add energy when it’s needed. It’s nice to feel it’s more of an interaction, it’s nice to feel like it’s not just someone playing at you. But music has always been and will always be a conversation, and it’s nice for the performing musicians to acknowledge that and kind of interact with the audience a little bit, so I think that’s wonderful.

Adam: Absolutely. Yeah it’s such a dynamic environment when we’re on stage, and yeah it doesn’t just have to be the music, it can be everything else that you are doing during the performance.

Anastasia, why don’t you tell us about your clip.

Anastasia: Sure, I’d love to. So as someone who was pretty much brought up by technology, I’m part of that generation, and also someone who has kind of put a guitar and piano and some of the more acoustic instruments I play, to the side a little bit, and instead shifted my focus to DJing and to making electronic music, I’m forever very much fascinated by what kind of tools and technology is available to me to make the process of making electronic music or DJing easier and more intuitive and more interesting. And there’s a lot out there from digital audio workstations to software apps, and a guest on our podcast honed in on a really, really interesting tool that I had never heard of before. I think it’s really brilliant in its simplicity.

So the guest for episode 37 of The Musicality Podcast was Katie Wardrobe, and she’s the creator of a site called Midnight Music, which is a website that I spend quite a bit of time on, and it’s an absolute goldmine for learning about the latest and greatest in music tech, and how it can make your practice and your music teaching, if you’re a teacher, more creative and inspired, and engaging. So yeah, the information on her website is great, it’s presented really in such a clear and accessible way, and there is just so much fantastic interviews on her own podcast, and tutorials, and just general tips on how to make music technology work for you. Which is something that I’m the most interested in right now in my own musical life.

So for the purposes of this installation of my favorite episode, I chose a snippet from our interview episode with her, it’s called, Top Musicality Tools and Tech, in which she discusses one of her favorite practice tools, which has since become one of favorite songwriting tools. So here it is, here’s the clip.

Katie Wardrobe: Tools for, particularly for teachers and students to use, but they’re great for everyone, so one of theirs is called Groove Pizza and it’s one of these online drum sequencer tools, and it doesn’t test you on anything but its a great place for you to build up a drum pattern and I love these for just either exploring rhythm yourself — it’s a great way to do it. So you can do that thing where you build up a pattern with a kick drum and a snare drum and it’s only got three parts so you’re limited, which is good, but I love to suggest to people, use that as your accompaniment for when you’re playing scales, you know? Just put a really basic drum pattern on and instead of playing scales or modes along to a metronome, which is tick-tock, tick-tock all the time, you can have some funky rhythm going and so I often suggest that and you can make the tempo really slow and then, increase it over time, and you can even export those little drum patterns from that website.

You get an MP3 and/or a wave file, and therefore you can save them somewhere. You could save them on your laptop or put them on to your device and take them with you. There’s all-

Anastasia: Yeah, Groove Pizza, great name, absolutely magical tool as I said before. Really just so elegant in its simplicity, I think it’s perfect for everyone from beginners to rhythm, to advanced percussionists. So, as Katie kind of touched on in that clip, also I have to say I love her accent. Groove Pizza kind of can serve a dual purpose for you. The first one being it’s a great tool for practicing repetitive exercises and drills over, for anyone who’s ever had to play scales over a metronome, that it gets very dull, very fast. But playing scales over a four/four groove that you’ve just created on the spot with Groove Pizza is far more fun.

And again, earlier in this episode, I was talking about playing the same musical piece or thing under different contexts, and I think this is another really, really great way to do that. And you can basically make those repetitive practice drills different every time, and apart from scales, use it to practice chord progressions over, or little riffs or melodies, or whatever. It’s great for all that, and not only does it make you a more versatile musician, but you have a lot more fun with it, and of course your confidence also goes up, because you can play the same thing under slight different circumstances. And I think that’s really, really important.

The second thing that Katie said about Groove Pizza, and that really resonated with me, was it’s used for just taking some time to just sit and explore rhythm. This I found to be particularly fantastic because again I’m a songwriter, so when I sit down and practice, I’m actually, I’m writing music, I’m rewriting my music, I’m perfecting it, and then I’m practicing my own creations. Many musicians really, myself included, I think pay too much attention to melody and harmony, and perhaps not enough to rhythm, and Groove Pizza kind of makes you pay more attention to just rhythm, because it’s isolated. You have three drum parts at your disposal, you the kick, you have the snare, and you have the hi-hat, just three parts.

So that means we talk a lot about the idea of playgrounds, where you put kind of limits or constraints on yourself, and then you kind of play around with these quite limited possibilities to actually bring out your creativity, and it works because you can actually do so much with so little, right? And that’s kind of exactly what Groove Pizza does, I played around with it a lot. It gives you a great little playground for rhythm, it’s so easy to just build up rhythms on there, you can easily take away and add elements, you can play around with emphasis, you can add back beats and off beat high-hats, and even swing rhythms if you want. And you can see what kind of stuff you can make.

Yeah, so I think that’s just such a powerful tool for songwriting, because kind of this experimentation and play can open up your ears to a lot rhythmic possibilities that you just wouldn’t consider otherwise. It’s great.

Andrew: You know, I was thinking about that, ’cause we were just playing around with that article this week that talks about Groove Pizza, and they have some awesome sounds, their kick drum sound, it’s just really very real. And there’s a lot of drum machines, and a lot of drum things you can play, and the pads, and all kinds of stuff. But when you break it down to just those three elements, the snare, the hi-hat and the kick, and you have really good sounds to go with it? You can really get to the fundamentals of it, and it’s manageable, where you really figure out what you’re doing and what the basics … what the fundamental groove is, that you’re working on. You can always add stuff later with whatever DAW you’re on.

I think that’s really important that you bring up the idea of rhythm being a neglected aspect in songwriting. Because so many people, as a songwriter myself, and a former songwriting instructor, they don’t think about it at all, they don’t give it a thought, and they come up with the same rhythms as everybody else. And if you really take some time to put some attention on it, you can get very creative with rhythm and make a big difference, because that is the big difference. When you’re moving from a verse to a chorus, you wanna change up that rhythm, and so many beginning songwriters, they just plow through the same rhythmic concepts, and the song falls flat. So having radical changes in rhythm, if you listen to master songwriters, they radically change the rhythm going from one section to another, the vocal rhythm as well. That’s a great tool for sensitizing yourself to the rhythm.

And I know we’re getting a little off the topic on practicing, so getting back to practicing. It’s just so much more fun and it gets back to what we were talking about with the outer environment changing the environment of what you’re playing. Here we’re changing the sonic environment of what you’re doing, and that’s really important as well. I know that one thing I love to do, what Adam was talk about practicing passages, is when I have a passage and that I’m stuck on, change the rhythm of it. Put longer notes and shorter notes, syncopate it, take something that’s written in groups of four notes, and play it in triplets instead, change the articulation on it, really change it up or like maybe you ought to just throw whole note bombs, like in the middle some things, where all of a sudden it will just stop on a note.

And that really helps with passages, and with our practicing as to focus that attention on rhythm where normally we’d be thinking about, all about the pitches and the fingerings, to put more attention back on the rhythm, it’s a great concept for practicing.

Stewart: I was gonna say, it reminded me of a way I will work on leads in different things in the band. There’s a website called backtracks or actually it’s karaokeversion.com, but they have backtracks that are pretty cheap, and you can actually go in there and remix the song, take all the electric guitar out, take out as much as you want until it’s just a basic track. And then, you’re doing the rhythm, you’re doing the lead, so for me it actually helps if there’s a certain melody in a lead that I need to make sure I got, I can do that. But I can also improvise with it a little bit, and make it my own. But that does help, and you’ve got that rhythm going so you know you’re in with the song, ’cause there’s a huge difference of playing along with the actual song from someone you’re playing. Like from the actual performer, a lot of us do that, and then we’ll work on the lead by ourselves with nothing there.

But to take it and actually be the person doing that with a backtracks going, it gets you to think of a little bit different ’cause now you’ve got that rhythm, and you gotta make sure you’re right with it, and you’re not only just playing notes of a solo, you’re being rhythmical with it. And also pushes you into a little improvisation if you like to spread your wings a little.

Zac: I love rhythm, it’s kind of interesting for me to hear this stuff, because I come from like making hip-hop and dance music and scratching, scratching drum patterns. So everything I’ve ever done has been 100% rhythm, it’s only been two or three years that I’ve actually been learning about melody and everything. But I will say that practicing different rhythms, say you’re practicing a scale and you’re trying to get your scale down, practicing different rhythms with it, makes it … gets you down way better. Like, I’ll run through quarter notes, then I’ll run through eighth notes, then triplets and sixteenth notes, then I’ll get into some different rhythms.

Like the T, ticka ticka, just different, I got flash cards, like this one is Ti, Ka-ti, ka-ti, ka-ti, ka-ti, anytime you have a straight section of a song, especially in a solo that’s like straight sixteenth notes, or straight scale, if you break it up into these weird rhythms, especially weird groups of rhythms, like fives, like you get things down so much faster just by experimenting with different rhythms. I love it, I love rhythms, I apply it to everything [inaudible 00:49:54].

Adam: Absolutely, thank you for sharing that Zac. And I know Zac, you selected an episode that was very powerful to you, why don’t you go ahead and share that with us.

Zac: Yeah, I selected episode 152 with Ruth Power, it was very inspiring for me. Her passion and her attitude towards the piano, it was just a lot of fun, it really just, I can’t think of the word, but it’s just like it pumped me up, it got me excited to wanna practice more. So let’s go ahead and listen to our clip, and then I’ll explain.

Ruth Power: Measure the scales, you can … there’s so many cool apps and backing tracks within the school year, and within … I do backing tracks as well, that you can use to play your scales. So you’re playing scales, but you’re playing along to like a funky blues track or something, so it’s not as boring as this kinda da, da, da. You know? You can make it into something cool. And then once you’ve played, you can reward yourself once you’ve played the scale perfectly, then you can just jam on the backing track for a while or whatever you wanna do.

Zac: Yeah, so that’s a really simple thing, but it never occurred to me, I never did it before. I actually hadn’t … Well, prior to listening to that podcast, I hadn’t practiced piano very much for a couple of months. I was just really, just like blah about it. I for like two years, I basically practiced scales to a metronome, and like penta-scales, and then some chords, always to a metronome, and that got super boring. So I got burnt out on that, and I didn’t practice for a couple of months, really maybe a few minutes a day here and there, but it was really like nothing. And then I heard that from Ruth, and the whole podcast is amazing, her whole attitude it’s just so positive and inspiring, I loved it.

But that simple thing, right there just helped me. I got a Boss RC505 loop station last Christmas, which has a bunch of drum loops on it, and then you can make your own loops over it, or you can put your own drumming … put whatever you want in there. So what I’ve been doing is, I’ll start with the drum loop that it’s got in there, then I’ll play some chords on the piano, then I’ll play a bass line on the piano, and then I’ll like run through a scale, kinda like she’s talking about, and if I get the scale nice, then I’ll improve a little bit, and it’s just been a whole lot more fun. I do other things than that now too, I’ve practicing way more, I’ve been practicing every day for at least an hour ever since hearing that, and it’s been incredible. It’s so much fun.

And that’s what I really wanna do, I wanna do a live performance where I play the piano and make loops and scratch, and all that stuff as well. So I’m actually practicing the thing that I wanna do musically. So that is very rewarding and it’s super fun. I love Ruth for that, thank you.

Adam: Well that’s wonderful, thank you so much for sharing that Zac. Overall, I think one of the things that we see the most in all of these clips, is not only how to make practice more effective, but how to make it more fun, ’cause music practice doesn’t have to be boring, music practice is part of who we are, it’s part of what we do as musicians, and some of these very simple tricks and tips are gonna help you enjoy your process in the practice room much more.

This is Adam from The Musical U team, have a great day.

The post Rewind: Practicing appeared first on Musical U.

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• Big Picture Vision episode: Hey! Where Are You Going?

Transcript

At Musical U we talk a lot about your Big Picture Vision and getting clear on the things you’re most excited about achieving in your musical life if everything went perfectly. Your ideal musical future.

This is a powerful idea – but there’s a big barrier that often holds people back. I’m going to tell you what that barrier is and how you can stop it from holding you back from your true musical potential.

First though, why is that idea of a “big picture vision” potentially powerful?

It’s powerful for three reasons:
1. It defines our “true North” and makes sure all our efforts are aligned with what we truly care most about
2. It sets an ambitious target that brings out the best in us.
3. It motivates us! If you can get past the barrier I’m going to talk about in a moment then this ambitious vision becomes a powerful motivating force to keep you consistent and enthusiastic in all your music learning.

So what’s the big barrier that holds people back from these three big benefits of setting an ambitious future vision or goal to aim for?

It’s the tendency to flinch back from it, and set our sights lower.

When we ask our audience and members at Musical U about their musical aspirations, often the reply comes in two parts…

See if you can spot them in each of these examples:

“I want to be able to play anything I hear! / Actually, just managing a simple melody would be okay.”

Someone talked about jamming and said they want to be “able to hold my own and create some interest in what I m playing. / Actually I’m not too bothered about creating the interest as long as I was doing the other stuff reasonably well I would be happy ”

“I want to learn to improvise. / I don’t want to be a professional or anything”

All too often people share their true aspiration, their real dream – and then immediately they back down from that. They flinch back from the scale of their true goal and substitute an “okay” or a “good enough” alternative.

This may seem harmless – and it’s certainly understandable – but it’s a massive barrier to actually achieving the results you care most about.

It’s a natural and understandable reaction, so don’t feel bad if you’ve done this. But let’s look at where it comes from.

There are two things:
1. We are humble and don’t want to be too boastful about our own potential.

Humility is admirable – but not if it holds you back from doing all you’re capable of in this world.

And in this case we’re not talking about shouting from the rooftops that you’re going to conquer the world because you’re the best! We’re talking about setting goals and aspirations purely for yourself, for your own guidance and motivation – so actually pride and humility don’t really come into it.

So you can safely bring unlimited ambition to your goals without feeling any guilt or shame about aiming high.

2. Our ego wants to protect us.

You can see it as two sides of your mind: the optimistic, ambitious mind which dreams up the things which excite you – and the rational, conservative egoic mind that says “That’s unrealistic, don’t try to do that”

It’s easy to resent that rational voice – but it’s just trying to protect you. As adults we fear failure and so our ego wants to steer us clear of any situations where we might fail.

It’s looking out for us – but it’s too narrow-minded and too literal to realise that sometimes you need to risk failure to achieve your greatest success.

As the famous author Norman Vincent Peale put it: Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

So we need to hear that doubting voice and say “Hey, I hear you, thanks for looking out for me – but I’m going to go ahead and do this anyway. I see the risk and it’s small and I choose to take it because I care more about the potential gain on the other side than the tiny amount of discomfort that would come from not achieving it.”

So that’s where it’s coming from. An admirable intention to stay humble and an understandable sense of self-defence. But neither is actually serving you.

And the good news is, just by understanding what’s going on you’re actually immediately equipped to overcome them.

You don’t need to do complicated exercises or a ton of psychotherapy.

You just need to take this idea on board: You are doing yourself a massive disservice if you flinch back from your true musical goals.

It takes a bit of courage to stand up and say “I’m going for this big, exciting thing” – even if it’s only to yourself. But it’s also incredibly empowering, exciting – and impactful.

So next time you’re setting a goal or defining your Big Picture Vision in music don’t flinch back. Stand up straight, be honest about what you truly want most – and then go for it.

Because once you cast aside any misplaced concern about pride and you shake off that (well-intended but unhelpful) egoic voice – then there’s nothing holding you back.

If you haven’t yet set a Big Picture Vision for your musical life then you’re going to want to grab the free worksheet we’ve put together that guides you through it step by step. Click the link or check the shownotes at musicalitypodcast.com to your copy for free, today.

The post Forget Being Realistic – Do This Instead appeared first on Musical U.

If so, you might have found yourself in the situation many of us do: our skills are up to scratch but we’re still not ready. Emotionally, mentally, psychologically, we just have some kind of barrier that stops us from taking the plunge.

Today on the show we have a returning guest, our friend Brent Vaartstra from the Learn Jazz Standards podcast, and his new show, Passive Income Musician.

When Brent was with us before, we talked mostly about jazz and improvisation, but today we wanted to dig into something different with him: what it’s like to be a gigging musician. From the practicalities to the juicy mindset stuff that can make the difference between sitting alone at home practicing by yourself for the rest of your life – and getting out there and sharing your music with the world confidently in a variety of musical situations.

Brent shares some really valuable insights and actionable tips, including:

• The number one most important thing to do in advance of a session or gig
• How to handle a new and intimidating performance situation, especially as an introvert
• And we talk about “Imposter Syndrome” – that psychological phenomenon where you continually worry you’ll be found out as a fraud – even when you are actually good enough for what you’re doing – and Brent shares his six tips for overcoming it.

We loved having this opportunity to draw on Brent’s expertise and wisdom beyond the world of jazz, and we know you’re going to find a ton of valuable stuff here, especially if performing is part of your musical life – or you wish it would be!

Listen to the episode:

Links and Resources

• Learn Jazz Standards
• Learn Jazz Standards podcast
• Passive Income Musician podcast
• Getting Over “Imposter Syndrome” as an Online Music Educator – podcast episode

Transcript

Brent: This is Brent Vaartstra from Learn Jazz Standards and the Passive Income Musician and this is the Musicality Podcast.

Christopher: Welcome to the show, Brent. Thanks for joining us today.

Brent: Thanks for having me, Christopher. Excited to be here.

Christopher: Yeah, I should say welcome back to the show, really, because you are one of just a select few who is a returning guest on the show. I’m psyched to have you back on.

Brent: Thanks for having me back, man. I was worried you wouldn’t ask me back.

Christopher: Well, it was a recent episode of your new podcast, the Passive Income Musician Podcast, that prompted me to reach out and get you back on the show because you were talking about something super interesting there, which we’re going to cover later but before we dive into all of that, if people haven’t heard your previous interview on the Musicality Podcast, can you give them the nutshell summary of who is Brent Vaartstra and what are you up to?

Brent: Yes. So I am a music educator. Specifically, I’m a jazz educator. I have a jazz education website called learnjazzstandards.com and that’s where most people know me. I live here in New York City and I do play some gigs around, still, but I’m, I write books, I have podcasts, I make educational videos. I am an online educator, for sure. So that’s kind of my main gig. I also have a newer podcast called, “Passive Income Musician Podcast, which is basically where I just have a passion for teaching other musicians how to make a living teaching music online like I do so I just share all of my tips and tricks over there.

Christopher: It’s a terrific show and I was listening and it made me realize that last time you were on we talked a lot about jazz and about improv and about ear training and had a fantastic conversation about all of those things but I think we barely touched on the fact that you are also a performing musician and you made reference to this and talked about some really interesting stuff on that new show that made me want to have you back on and talk about that particularly because I know that a lot of people who listen or watch this podcast are at the stage where they have got pretty good at their instrument, you know, in terms of technique and ability they’ve reached at least an intermediate level for a lot of them but in a lot of cases they’re still quite nervous to go out and perform for whatever reason so they might not be gigging even though they have the technical chops to do so.

They might have always wanted to join a band or get some paid gigs but they haven’t really made that leap and, you know, we love on this show to talk about the inner skills of music and the psychology that goes into being a confident, expressive musician and so I just wanted to bring you on, kind of, with your “New York gigging musician” hat on, as it were, to talk a little bit about this, and, in particular, what does it take to go out there and perform the way you do that maybe someone who’s only playing at home for themselves wouldn’t have learned to do?

Brent: Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, I think it’s just important to, you know, think about what scenarios might this be happening at? Like, for me, you know, jazz jam sessions are something that’s really big in the jazz world so there’s lots of those. Maybe it’s an open mic for you and you know, you’re thinking about going and performing some of your original music and you want to go to an open mic.

Maybe you’re auditioning for a rock band or it could be any number of situations and, I think, ultimately what we’re talking about is going into a social musical situation where it’s not just you in the practice room any more. It’s you going out and being with others and creating music with others, which I think is ultimately the way music should be. It should be a social thing. It shouldn’t be something that we just keep to ourselves in our room somewhere and just practice. We want to go out and we want to play, whether that means gigging, which, to me, gigging means you are making money in exchange for playing for your services or it’s just a jam session where you might be going for free and just networking and playing for other musicians.

It could be a blues jam session, could be a jazz jam, it could be any kind. It could be an Irish folk music jam session, right? Whatever kind of music you’re really interested in. And, obviously, for all these different styles, the very first place you have to start is make sure that you know the music, right?

That sounds like an obvious thing but maybe what that means is that you might want to, especially if you’re feeling a little nervous, maybe you want to actually go to that jam session or maybe you want to go to a specific venue that you would like to get a gig at and kind of observe someone else doing it, maybe, let’s use the example of a blues jam, okay? So you might go to a blues jam and maybe you sit there and you’re not going there to play at first. You’re going there just to observe. What kind of songs are being called there? Maybe I should learn some of these songs. Maybe there’s a lot of songs you don’t know so maybe you’d feel more comfortable if you felt more prepared. I think that’s where a lot of nerves come in is the unexpected, not really knowing if they’re going to be ready for the situation.

So, you know, knowing the music is important. So that would be something to think about is, you know, go in and kind of sit down and be a fly on the wall, see what’s happening. Observe the way the musicians are interacting with each other. Again, this is a jam session situation, here. So know the music, just, and that goes along with the second point I would make with that is do your homework. Acknowledge that if you show up to this jam session or this open mic and you haven’t done your homework, like, you haven’t really spent some time working on your instrument, that, you know, you could be mindful that you might be disrespectful to some musicians there that really are doing their homework.

And I don’t mean to say that to intimidate you or anybody who’s thinking, “I don’t know if I’m good enough to play the music,” I don’t want anyone to worry about that but you have to just ask yourself, “Have I done my homework? ” It doesn’t mean, do I have to have reached a certain level in my musicianship, it just means you have to evaluate yourself and say, “Hey, am I able to play these songs with these people?” If you don’t feel like you’re able to do it then maybe you shouldn’t be going up to the jam and playing.

You know, that, again, that’s not to put a club-like mentality to it. That’s just simply to say, “Hey, these are just the basics, here. Just, know some tunes. Make sure you’re prepared to technically perform those tunes and maybe just sit back and observe what’s going on. Does that sound good so far?

Christopher: Yeah. Fantastic. And I think you touched on something there which was front of mind for me which is musicians can be funny… Like, musicians are not always that friendly! And I know that for me, the first time I went along to a jam session I didn’t intend to go there and just watch but I did just go there and watch because they were all so relaxed. They were chatting, they were exchanging banter, teasing each other.

I felt super excluded and intimidated because it was just, it was outside my comfort zone and I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about that kind of social side of things, like, assuming the music was all fine, what do you need to be prepared for? If we take two contexts, maybe one is the local blues jam but the other is a paid gig where you’ve been called on, last minute, to come sit in with a band. Are there any pointers you can give or examples you can give from your own experience, maybe, of how to handle that if you’re not used to doing it week in, week, out?

Brent: Yeah. Well, first of all, just realized that musicians are some of the most insecure human beings that have ever graced the planet. They, it’s sort of like, you know, they’re more scared of you than you’re scared of them, almost sort of a situation and, you know, this is just basic human behavior. It doesn’t just happen in music but you definitely see this play out in live performing situations where every walks into the door with their ego and maybe there’s a new guy and they don’t really want to invite them in. Maybe they want to stay with their little, their little clique, their little, you know, band that they put together. You know, and so there’s all kinds of weird social dynamics, like you have alluded to, going on in live performing situations.

My biggest tip is to be yourself, to be honest to who you are and some people might give you tips otherwise from that, you know, how to be hip, how to be, you know, how to, the right things to say, maybe you should, you know, if you’re an introvert, no, you have to be an extrovert and I don’t think that’s really what is going to win for you in the end. I think that whether it’s a gig, whether it’s a jam session, whatever the social musical situation it is, just be true to yourself, be honest with yourself.

You don’t have to be anyone else you’re not. If you aren’t someone that likes chatting up everybody and, you know, having small talk to see if you can score another gig with that other person and, “Hey, man, give me your phone number,” and “Hey, let’s hang out some time,” if that feels fake to you then don’t be that person, you know. Just be who you are.

think that’s the best way not only to feel comfortable yourself going into situations like this but to just show others that you’re real and people see that and people will want to call you for a gig if you’re being genuine. If you’re being fake, people will, you know, they’ll see right through that. If you’re going to be fake, you better be a really amazing musician who is just so unbelievably talented, which I’m not, that you have to, you know, you have to, people will call you no matter what, you know what I’m saying? So I think as far as going into these situations, you relax. Don’t take it so seriously. Don’t worry about what everybody’s thinking about you. Be who you are. I think by just starting off that way, I mean, you’re going to set yourself up for success in the long haul.

Christopher: Terrific, and you talked a bit, there, about preparing musically and, as you pointed out, like, we don’t want people to feel like they need to be rock-solid, utterly perfect before they ever step out there…

Brent: Yes.

Christopher: …but I think when it’s your first time it’s really hard to know where that level is. Do you have any guidance on how to know how good enough is good enough?

Brent: That’s where coming in and, just, going to, again, if it’s, we’re going back to the jam session scenario, just going in and checking it out for a second and, just, really evaluating, like, “Oh,” —

Christopher: I can see that.

Brent: — yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely, and not being, like, “Oh, I’m going to be, I have to be as good as the people that are playing.” And, usually at jam sessions, by the way, whatever jam it is, there are levels, an array of different skill levels so I don’t think that’s something to necessarily worry about. I think it’s, just, simply evaluate those basics that I talked about, you know, to make sure that when you go up there you, I guess the reason I say that is I have seen some people that maybe just aren’t aware and they show up and they literally can’t play and so if that’s you, maybe you should think, “Okay there’s a few things I need to get together before going in,” you know?

Maybe if you really don’t know the songs you shouldn’t be going up and playing them, right? You know, so that seems obvious but then again I’ve seen people, you know, kind of, not realize that that social, you know, it’s not necessarily socially acceptable, right, to show up. Everybody else knows the songs, everybody else has practiced and then if you go up and you haven’t done your homework, right, that just sort of makes the whole playing situation not as much fun.

So I don’t think there’s a possible way to measure. It’s really actually a low barrier to entry. It’s, can I do what I’m seeing happening, not can I be the best at it, not will I be the best, it’s just, that’s all. It’s, just, it’s not too, don’t let it intimidate you, but, you know, there’s just, those basics, I think, that you need to have together.

Christopher: Great. And one another slightly painful scenario I’ve seen play out is where someone I think goes too far in the direction of preparation and they get up on stage and they perform their part but it looks like they have no idea there are other people on stage with them. They’re off in their own world. Could you talk a bit about that and what people can do to transition from that world of just playing by yourself or with a backing track to the fact that you’re now surrounded by other human beings who are doing music alongside you.

Brent: Yes. And this is a really important thing that we’re talking about here and this deals more with being or thinking more like a professional musician. How to make, and this is what I always say to everybody, when it comes to playing with others and especially if you’re doing this for a job, it is not about you. It is not about how well you play. We should all do our best to leave the ego at the door. When you get up and you play a gig and you’re performing it becomes about how do I serve the music the best way possible? What’s going to make everybody in the band sound the best?

I’ll give an example that’s not with, with the scenario of a gig. It’s actually with a jam session. This was, I don’t know, six or seven years ago and I was at a jam session in Manhattan and I got a up to play and I’m a guitar player and there was a piano player and there was five horn players and there was, like, you know, everybody’s up playing this song and, you know, I wanted keep playing the whole time. I wanted to keep comping and all of a sudden, it’s, the piano player started playing and there was me in my own world. I was just comping, I was just doing my thing, thinking I was all cool, and then I was doing cool things and the piano player would dig it and all of a sudden I hear the piano player yell at me.

He’s, like, “Hey, stop playing!” and, you know, I was, like, “Aagh!” And then I realized, yeah, what I was doing was, I was stepping on the piano player’s toes, you know? I was filling up all these chords and, you know, the piano player’s playing chords. It just sounded muddy. So the right thing to do there would have been to forget about what I’m playing and just listen to how can I serve the music? How can I make the music sound the best? How can I make the other band members sound really good? If everybody in the band is thinking that way, if everybody’s thinking, “Hey, how do I make Brent sound good? How do I make Karen sound good? How do I make Christopher sound good? ” if we do that whole thing, I don’t know where Karen came from. I just said my name and your name, but Karen, Karen’s there. She’s playing the bass, right? How do I make all of them sound good? And if they’re thinking the same about you, man, you’re going to have a great, I mean, I’ve had some musical experiences where at the end of it I was, like, “I didn’t even know this was possible. Like, we went into some other dimension that I didn’t even know existed. I didn’t know I had that talent.”

I didn’t know that we could, like, somehow our brains just went, (click) together and the music came out and you know it when it happens and when it happens it’s the most magical experience I think, and I think music beats us up so much. It’s such a, you know, there’s ups and there’s downs and it’s an emotional roller coaster but the reason we all keep doing it is because we remember those moments where it was, like, cloud nine. I didn’t even know. It transcended the possibilities. So, yes, you can go into a gig, and especially for a gig I think this is important, you can go into a gig and, you know, have overprepared and are playing the coolest new voicings on your instrument, the new lines that you’ve learned and completely ignore the fact that there’s other musicians you’re playing with but if you set all that aside and have that serve-the-music-first mentality, oh, man, some magical stuff can really happen.

Christopher: Terrific. I love that. I love the way you described that and that you touched on that kind of flow situation, there, at the end, which I guess is kind of the polar opposite of being off in your own world, just, playing robotically. I was talking about this just this week with Andrew from the Musical U team. We’re developing a new module about playing with expression and getting into that feeling of really playing what you intend to and playing it in a musical way and I don’t think we’ve really explored that collaborative aspect of it where you’re playing with other musicians and it clicks and I love the way you talked about that there because I think that’s what inspires people to get up and jam, isn’t it? It’s that spirit of being together as a band performing as one.

Brent: Yes, yes. Music is a communal experience, right? It’s something that isn’t quite complete if it’s only by yourself or if it’s not at least performed in front of somebody else. There’s always going to be some part missing from it. So all this stuff we’re talking about is important. It is important to talk about how do we conduct ourselves, you know? How do we deal with all this stuff, because it can lead to a great musical experience. It can lead to a bad one.

Christopher: So one thing that people might be wondering about is how much it matters what kind of jam session they’re going along to. Like, you’ve clearly emphasized a particular performing situation is a big component of what you need to know and how you need to prepare. But can you talk a little about, maybe jazz in particular, since that’s your domain? What would be different about a jazz gig versus, say, a rock gig?

Brent: Yeah, well, I think with jazz there is, kind of the way jazz works is, like yeah, there are bands. Like, people do form bands and play together, like that, but the kinds of gigs that exist in the jazz world are lots of what we call “casual” so, like, it might be just playing at a bar. It might just be playing at a restaurant. It could just be playing at someone’s cocktail hour for their wedding, you know, or it could be a corporate thing. I’ve played at funerals before.

I mean, there’s so many different things that a jazz musician could do because it’s kind of considered more background music, conducive to that, so the social atmosphere with jazz is a lot of different musicians play together so, you know, I might have a gig that I got and, you know, it’s going to be at this event and I might say, “Well, okay, the budget is for three people. I’ll choose this person on bass, this person on piano and this person on saxophone,” right? So I might think of it that way and it just could be any random different musicians that I want to play with. There’s definitely more of a network aspect in jazz.

When we think about rock, in, I can only speak so much as I am involved in the rock scene but when we think about rock, we think more about band culture, more about actual solidified groups and I have played in rock bands before and where, you know, you show up every single week and you work with each other specifically and that’s more of a situation where you’re actually getting to really know people’s personalities and how they behave. You sort of become family as much as you let it become and so you have to learn, just like any family, how to put up with each other, how to deal with people’s inconsistencies, so, you know, they’re they the same thing. I just think there’s more variety in the jazz scene where you’re just constantly switching to other people and if you want to get gigs in the jazz world networking is especially important where truly the more people that you meet, the more people you play with, the more people you make a positive connection with the more likely that they might think of you to call for a gig.

Christopher: Fantastic. And you shared one really great insight, there, in your own journey where realized that you couldn’t just be off in your own world playing all the time.

Brent: Right.

Christopher: Were there any other, kind of, moments of enlightenment along the way, where you were, like, “Oh, I get how this works now.”?

Brent: Man, there are so many different moments. There are, I think, I don’t know if there’s moments where I was so embarrassed that, you know, or, well, there was moments where I got really embarrassed. Like, there was moments where I didn’t do my homework and I showed up to a gig and I could not play that music very well and I embarrassed myself and that’s why I say the homework thing is important. You know, you should do your homework, make sure that you can actually perform the music. It doesn’t mean that you have to be the best at music, ever, but if you show up to a gig or even a jam session and you’re not prepared and I’ve had moments like that where when I was up there I was sweating bullets and I was feeling ashamed of myself because I didn’t sit down and do the work for it. So I don’t know if I have any, like, very specific experiences like that other than the small realizations here and there, which is pretty much why I’ve concluded these little tips that I’m giving, is, just, these little mini experiences of, like, “Oh, that piano player yelled at me. That’s not good,” or “I didn’t know that music very well. That’s not very good,” You know, you learn certain things about yourself and what you need to improve on as you go along.

Christopher: Any other little tidbits or words of encouragement or advice for the people watching or listening?

Brent: Yes. Yes. Just do it. I’ve had lots of people, particularly, I have a course called, “Thirty Steps to Better Jazz Playing” where I have a bunch of students in there in a community and a lot of people, well, one question we ask in the beginning of the course is, we have this goal sheet that you fill out for the course and the first question asked is, “What’s your transformation?” and a lot of people put their transformation as being, “I want to finally be able to go to that jazz jam,” and that’s a great transformation and the stuff that they’re doing in that course are things that are going to help them be able to learn the music, that are going to help them do their homework to get them prepared to do it but at the same time, once you’ve reached that point, even a little bit, just go do it. That’s where the real education happens is when we get out there and actually do it. You know, there’s things that you just can’t learn by yourself in the practice room. You have to go out there and play and that’s where the real education starts. I went rock climbing this last week, well, just wall-climbing, me and my wife and another couple, and, you know, I work out. I keep fit. I felt, like, “I’m going to have no problem with this.” The next day, there were muscles that were sore I had no idea even existed in my body and that’s what happens when you go up to perform, as well. There is certain muscles that you didn’t know were there that you need to work on and you can’t learn that in the practice room. So just go do it. Just get up there, get rid of those fears and dive in.

Christopher: Fantastic, yeah, I would second that. I would encourage everyone to give it a try, but not to dwell on the negative or the discouraging but when we were talking earlier in this conversation it was clear there’s a big psychological factor at play and even when you’ve done your homework and even if you feel like, socially, you’ve kind of got the hang of things when it comes time to actually step up there and perform there can be that little voice in your head saying, “You didn’t do enough homework,” or “You’re not good enough for this gig,” and this was where I loved an episode of yours on the Passive Income Musician podcast where you were talking about this kind of inner critic and voice of self-doubt. Can you talk about that in a bit more detail?

Brent: Yes, and this is a good point because I think that performing music is, or even just playing music is, I like to think is over 50% psychological and so this is a real big thing and I think all musicians can relate to this idea of feeling like they’re not good enough. You know, yes, stage fright but even beyond stage fright, just, literally feeling anxious and, like, you know, every musician has gone through that, including myself, and on my Passive Income Musician podcast I was really talking a lot about music entrepreneurship and some of what I call impostor syndrome and all these things directly relate to performing music as well so in order to combat that we really have to start changing our mindset and this is something that I’m not going to claim that I have mastery over but I think I can share things that I do and I do practice actively because ultimately that’s the only way you get over this, is by shifting your mindset. So let me go over, you know, it’s supposed to be a little methodical about this. I’ll go over six tips and feel free to ask any questions along the way.

Christopher: Maybe just before we dive in let’s just get everyone very clear on what is impostor syndrome, like, as opposed to the more vague, general descriptions of self-doubt and that kind of thing.

Brent: Yes. Impostor syndrome is when you go into a certain, any kind of, situation and you feel like you don’t belong there, that you’re not qualified enough, you’re not good enough, you know, you may go to a gig or a jam session and there are musicians that are, you know, multiple levels in your mind better than you, have more skill level, and it’s that feeling you get when you’re in that situation and you feel almost embarrassed, you feel scared, you feel anxious about performing because a lot of it has to do with your social anxiety, essentially, of what people think about you. That’s really mostly what impostor syndrome is all about.

Christopher: Cool, and I’m, I’ll just say very directly, like, I 100% have felt this. I think every musician or music educator I’ve spoken to has felt this at some time. This is not something just for the beginners or just for the people who don’t have what it takes.

Brent: Yes.

Christopher: This is something all of us go through at some point, feeling like a fraud, feeling like we’re not as good as people are expecting us to be. So, yeah, Brent, please dive into the six tips, because I know how valuable this is going to be for people.

Brent: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So the first one, number one, let’s say, is just to remind yourself of your qualifications and that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have some really great list of qualifications. It just means you simply remind yourself of anything that you feel, like, makes you qualified to be at that gig.

I mean, if you got called for a gig, it means you’re already somewhat qualified. You would not have been called for the gig if it wasn’t you. You would not have just gotten the gig by yourself if it’d mean that you weren’t qualified at all. There is some qualification you have. Maybe it could be just reminding yourself of one great performance that you had in the past. Maybe it could, you know, anything that qualifies you.

Maybe it’s something that you’ve actually accomplished, like, you know, maybe you’ve gotten a new student and you’re teaching someone music so then why, if you’re able to teach someone how to play music, why can’t you go out and perform it? You know what I mean? So that’s a good starting point. Number one is just, remind yourself of what your actual qualifications are, whether they’re big, whether they’re small, there’s something. There’s something there.

Christopher: Yeah, I love that you’ve broadened it, beyond, kind of, official qualifications. I think anyone who’s watched or listened to this show for awhile knows we don’t discount the value of, say, exam grades in an instrument but really what being musical is all about and being a good musician is all about isn’t something you get a certificate for. So I love that you’ve clarified that qualifications just means anything that demonstrates you are of the standard expected.

Brent: Yeah. It doesn’t have to be, “I’ve got a bachelor’s degree.” It doesn’t have to be, “I wrote a book.” It doesn’t have to be, I did this or I did that or I got an award. None of that. It just has to be something that makes you qualified, even if it’s small, okay?

Number two is just to remind yourself of why you play music and this is something that I do often as I’m taking the train or, I have a car now, so the stupid New Yorker who buys a car driving to the gig and I’m trying to think to myself, “What am I trying to do when I play this gig? Why do I play music in the first place?” I play music because of those moments I was talking about earlier, those cloud nine moments where everything’s happening and those moments give me a lot of joy. The creativity that I get from music, I would not have gone this far in my music education if I did not love music so my goal when I’m going to a gig is, I’m thinking to myself, “Why am I doing this gig? Why am I going to this jam session?” I am going to have fun and if at any point it becomes not fun and that means I’m clearly off track somewhere so my goal is to go to a gig and have some great moment that I can be, like, wow. I can point back to that and be, like, “That was a great moment where I did that one thing. That was cool. I had a lot of fun doing that.”

As soon as it’s not fun, I don’t know if you’re a professional musician like me, then it’s not worth it anymore. So that’s number two, is just to remind yourself of why you play music.

Number three is just to be honest with yourself about where you’re at, okay? Just be honest and with yourself and with others. You don’t have to pretend to be a skill level that you’re not. One thing that a mentor of mine told me once, is, “Brent, just play from where you’re at and be cool with that.” Right? He didn’t mean that you shouldn’t be improving. Of course he wanted me to keep improving but what he meant was that I was so anxious and overthinking and overinvolved and just, I want to be, I know what I should sound like and I know I’m not there yet so I’m not happy but I think it’s important to just be honest with yourself. “This is where I’m at. This is where I’m at in my playing and it’s okay because, it’s like, it’s this growth mindset of, “I’m always going to be improving. There’s, I don’t have to be there tomorrow. I can be here today.”

So be honest with yourself. Be honest with other people. This is where the social stuff comes in. Don’t talk to your bandmates or people at the jam session as if you’re, you know, some big stuff if you’re not. Just be okay. Be okay with who you are musically, right? So that’s number three. Just be honest with yourself where you’re at in your playing.

Brent: And number four is just to keep a record, remind yourself of all of the positive feedback you’ve gotten. I think sometimes we’re over-involved in thinking about all of the negative things that we tell ourselves or maybe someone has told us something negative. Maybe there was some vibey jerk musician that said something to us, like, “Hey, you’re not doing this very well,” and we tend to latch onto those things and not all the positive things that people have said.

So it’s a good idea just to remind yourself or keep a record of those positive moments, those positive things that you’ve felt you’ve done and maybe that others have said to you.

Number five is to realize that mistakes don’t make you a failure. This is one I’ve heard you say before, Christopher. Mistakes don’t make you a failure. You can make a mistake and no one’s going to die. There’s not, an earthquake is not going to happen afterwards. A national tragedy isn’t going to ensue. You just played a quote-end-quote, wrong note which of course, if you want, you can fix it to make it not even sound wrong or you just have to play a bunch of other great notes after that so that everybody else forgets about that wrong note. It doesn’t make you a failure. Even if you bomb a song and you can’t even finish the song and you have to walk off the stage and go home and everybody’s staring at you, you’re still not a failure, right? It’s just a situation you can learn from.

All this sound good so far, Christopher?

Christopher: Yeah, absolutely. I just want to underline both of those last two because I think that once people can really identity with and, in my experience, it can be helpful for people to know that for all of us one negative comment takes about ten positive comments to balance it out, right? I think I’ve heard you talk about that before, Brent, about entrepreneurship and product feedback and that kind of thing.

You know, for whatever reason we take those negative comments to heart and we take those mistakes or those failures to heart so deeply and it genuinely does take an avalanche of positive stuff to balance that out and so you do need to be proactive about making sure you focus on the good, not the bad, because even if you’re getting a lot more positive feedback if you’re only paying attention to the negative it’s not going to feel like it.

Brent: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. The last one is, I guess we can call it a bonus that you can try out and that is to keep a journal, like, actually journal about your music performances, like, how you actually felt and what went right, what went wrong. This is something I picked up doing a little bit of therapy is journaling. And at first I didn’t really think it was going to be that useful to me. It is useful to actually get what’s in your head out on a piece of paper and so maybe you can make that a habit of just keeping a journal after a gig and just, being, like, hey, how did that go? What happened? And more importantly, what was your feeling? Because we’re trying to change our mindset, here. We’re not trying to write about, “Well, you need to practice your scales,” or “You need to practice your arpeggios,” whatever it is. That’s not what we’re doing. We’re talking about how did I actually feel about what happened, there? So those are some of the things that I do to tackle Impostor Syndrome.

Christopher: Tremendous. I think those are all powerful tips and I love that you mentioned journaling at the end, there. If anyone listening or watching is a member of Musical U, you’ll know we’re always harping on our progress journal system where we encourage you to post updates every week or so and it’s because of the value of that objectivity, the ability to step back and be, like, “Where was I six months ago? How did I feel about that before, and how do I feel about it now?” And unless you capture it in writing we just have such a poor memory for this kind of thing, you know, we remember things wrong or we don’t remember the right things and, like we talked about before, the balance of positive and negative feedback can get totally out of whack in your memory and you’re absolutely right, Brent, that that journaling thing may not come naturally to you. You might have to do it because someone expert like Brent told you it was a good idea but when you try it you quickly realize, “Oh, this is actually adding something to my self-awareness and my ability to be objective and see the opportunities that I never really had before when I was just all in my head.”

Bruce: Yeah, absolutely. 100 percent. Yep.

Christopher: Wonderful. Well, Brent, thank you so much for coming on. I kind of asked you to come on and drop the same value bomb on our show that you did on your own so I want to make sure we wrap up by telling people where they can go if they want to know more about Learn Jazz Standards or your Passive Income Musician Podcast. Can you tell people what are the audiences for those two? How would they know that one of those was right for them and where they can go to learn more?

Brent: Yeah, absolutely. So, Learn Jazz Standards, that’s my jazz education blog. If you’re interested — blog podcast videos. If you’re interested in learning about jazz, how to improvise, learning jazz repertoire, all that stuff, that’s where I really cover that stuff. You can check that out at learnjazzstandards.com and if you happen to be a musician who is thinking about entrepreneurship, I basically teach how I make a leaving online through teaching music through what I call passive income streams at passiveincomemusician.com or you can find it on iTunes if you listen to your podcast there.

Christopher: Fantastic. Thank you, Brent. Well, we’ll have all of those linked up in the show notes for this episode. I just want to say thank you again for coming on the show because, I think, I was kind of kicking myself when I listened to that episode of your podcast being, like, “How did I miss this whole area of Brent’s wisdom when I interviewed him before?” And it’s one that is so important and powerful and front-of-mind for a lot of our audience and our members at Musical U is this whole area of starting to perform and getting into that scene, whatever their local music scene is and I love the way you’ve talked about it today and the very practical advice you’ve given both in terms of the, kind of, fundamental music preparation but also the psychology and the social aspect so I know that people are going to go away feeling much better equipped both in terms of technique and preparation and in terms of that, kind of, impostor syndrome, voice of self-doubt, psychological self-coaching that we need to go through to prepare for that first gig. So a big thank you for joining us again, Brent.

Brent: Thanks, Christopher. I appreciate you having me on and it was a pleasure.

The post How to Stop Doubting and Start Performing, with Brent Vaartstra appeared first on Musical U.