You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Tips To Help You FOCUS

Episode Date: September 17, 2020

It's never been easier than now to be surrounded by distractions - that's why Peter and Adam are here to focus on focusing today.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.7 Tips To Help You Focus:Plan your practiceGet into the right mindsetRemove distractionsWork on one primary thing per dayStay disciplined and execute on your planKeep a practice journal (like this one from Open Studio!)Don't panicBONUSThursday's Open Studio Live Events:1:00 PM - Adam's Daily Guided Practice Session (for Members Only)3:00 PM - Piano Office Hours with Peter and Adam for Members OnlyFor the rest of this week's calendar, follow this linkLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey Adam. Adam, Adam, over here. Focus. Focus. We're doing a podcast. Oh, were you talking to? This is a daily podcast, buddy. Have you seen this new, wait, what are we doing?

Come on, focus. You know what? You're going to learn something today. Stick around. Okay. I'm Adam, and I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the U-Hare podcast. Daily music advice coming at you.

Welcome to the Daily guy to practice session. Oh, wait, I got to focus. Let's let the room fill up. Let's let the podcast room. fill up. Hey, I'm Peter Martin. Welcome to the jazz piano method. No, that's not even me. Yeah, we're excited to be back daily. I mean, it's only been a couple days now, so we don't want to get too cocky about it. That was the easiest convincing I've ever done in my life. I was like, let's go back daily. You're like, okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, big shout out to Joe M. down to Houston because he's been prodding us and needling us a little bit on the Twitters. I don't know if you know about that.

Yeah, my back hurts from all the needling. Yeah, about that nobody listened when we put it out there that we were going to leave. I made a mistake. I kind of said, you know, nobody complained, and Joe did complain. He's complained every time. And Joe is somebody. So we're going to go back. And a couple other people did not complain to tell you the truth. But it did feel like, it feels like the right thing.

So we're going to try it out. It's a free podcast. It's a free podcast. At this point, we have hundreds of episodes. That's right. But although you can't actually, you know, you can only go back a certain to a certain point. That's true. I believe.

I don't know why. Yeah. But there's plenty of stuff to. There's plenty of stuff. Anyway. So today. Today, this is exciting because we were joking at the beginning. But today, we're going to give you seven tips to help you focus.

Oh, man. Okay? You know, this is right in my wheelhouse right now. It's in my wheelhouse too. And this is like, you know, it's an interesting time, this pause period, as we've become calling it. Because I don't even like to call it the pandemic or the corona. I mean, that's fine. That's, that it is what it is.

But I also like to look at it a little bit, not just from a terrified standpoint. We need to be careful. and we are. It's hard some days. It's hard some days. Well, I'm looking at you through a big piece of plexiglass. I have to yell to get around it. And you can't get in this room unless you take your temperature. That's right. So I mean, there is a certain amount of terror, of course. But I also like to look at it. I mean, look, we're in this for the long haul, even if that's for a few more months or a year, whatever the hell it's going to be. So, you know, we're in a pause period. So this is actually potentially a time, not even potentially, people have realized this already,

you amongst them, Adam, a period for a possibility of extreme personal development, musical development at an accelerated pace. Oh man, we know so many people that are doing that. Absolutely. Learning a language, learning how to make sourdough bread. How many people do we know that are? If I hear one more person tell me about their damn sourdough starter. I go on walks every day.

A lot of people really into their lawns these days too. Yes. We have vegetable gardens. A lot of people walking. A lot of people walking. I'm out there every day. Yeah, yeah. And so I think it's a good thing to think about focusing because all these different things,

if you want to really make some rapid progress and you have the time to focus, then, you know, let's do it. But it doesn't come automatically. It's not just because like, oh, I'm working from home or I'm not traveling on the road or my regular job or my kids aren't, you know, just because things change doesn't automatically give you focus, you know. Yeah. Sometimes, but it does take sometimes like, you know, the power going out. oh wow I can focus I got to read I can't play with my device I can't do whatever but we actually have the power within us to control most of these things we don't have to just wait for life and the world to happen to us and to push us into something but because we are we all or mostly kind of globally pushed into this situation we think about as musicians the biggest change if you're a professional or amateur musician is you're not doing much performing right so your balance of practice versus performing is a little bit out of whack but we can

make that out of whackness, I think, in our benefit, if we learn how to focus. That's right. And for me, you know, that not performing, it's not even that it was taking up so much time, which it was for sure. But it's really that you start getting on these paths, right, as you're performing and as you have, you know, my writing deadlines and all that stuff. Once that starts to go away, like the direction that you were just kind of automatically on career-wise, right? Once you have a little bit of time to think about that, you can kind of readjust, which is what I know I've been doing. I hear from so many people that that's what they're doing as well,

professional musician friends of mine who are like, I have this time and I really want to think like, well, what can I get out of this time to, you know, make me better at me, me better at being the musician. I want to be me better at playing the music I want to play.

And that does take focus, but I've actually been using this time to focus on my focus. Like how can I be better focused, right? How can I, and this, I'm so happy you're talking about this. How can I learn, learn better. How can I absorb things quicker? How can I be more me?

Right. That's the work that this pandemic has really actually been, if there's any silver lining to the storm clouds, that's for me. That's what it's been. Well, and it's, I mean, it's ultimately going to be up to each of us individually and collectively as communities and as the global community and, you know, as musicians and the music community. It's going to be up to us to create these silver linings. I think that that's, And regardless of the different directions we want to go, focus is going to help get us there easier and more efficiently. You mean our leadership hasn't been providing silver lining? Well, I'm, you know, you got, I'm an optimist, but yeah, I'm not quite seeing it yet.

Not quite. Yeah, because there hasn't been a lot of focus. I don't know if you noticed that. Yeah. Oh, that's a great point. It's been jumping around a little bit, the leadership. So let's get to our list here. We have seven tips.

Well, and I'm excited because actually I just counted. And in fact, we have eight. So I just made a bonus. So we're going to have a bonus at the end. Oh, yeah, a little bonus, Jonas. A little bonus Jonas. So number one, plan your practice, maybe even the night before, but certainly before. That's a ways out sometimes.

That is a ways out. But this is the thing. I mean, and look, when we're talking about focusing as musicians during this time, practice is going to be our, you know, probably our most optimal activity in which we can develop at our instrument practicing, you know, old school practice. Like there's no app for that. know, well, there is an app. It's called the Daily Guided Practice Session app. That's right.

I was going to say Open Studio makes an app for that. But I mean, just in terms of like you've got to put, and this is only one element, but it's probably the main element. But when we think about that practice time as potentially the most beneficial for your development, how do you focus during that time? A lot of people think, okay, once I get in there and start practicing, I got to really focus on. Or once I'm, you know, cooking that Italian meal, I got to focus on everything.

If you're just starting to think about how you're going to focus once you get into that, you know, that very important activity, you're kind of behind the eight ball already. That's right. So I like thinking of it the night before because even though often I'll alter my plan, like if I kind of plot out, and this could be a practice session, it could be a performance, it could be, you know, a meeting, a conversation you need to have that's important with somebody. But I find that if I plan it out the night before, even if that's just in my mind, even better, you know, maybe a little written down in your boojo or your poojo or practice journal,

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get it down on paper a little bit. It enables you overnight to let the old subconscious. Oh, look at you. Or is that the unconscious? I guess it's more the unconscious. I think it's the unconscious. You know, can kind of marinate on that.

And sometimes you'll wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning with some ideas on that, some clarity. And even if you don't, and it turns out your plan was sound, then when you go into that practice session, you're going to be able to focus right away because you've got a plan. That's right. Then you're going into execution. You don't have to use brain space to plan it out as you're going or keep yourself on it. It's already been decided what's going to happen in the session. And you're going to show up in that session. You're going to be like a North Korean firing squad.

You're going to be executing with precision. So here at Open. Oh my gosh. Wow. So here at Open Studio, though, this is why both the Daily Guide of Practice session and the Pujo, the practice journal, are really popular products for us. Yes. Is because we kind of plan your practice for you.

With the Pujo, you can, there's a calendar. are in there where you can like, like, I love to do this where I plan my week out. Here's what I'm going to practice Monday. Here's what I'm practice Monday. And for the day they got a practice session, that's literally what I'm doing for you. Yeah. As you're practicing, I'm telling you, I've already planned out our practice session for you. And you just have to do what I tell you.

And for a lot of people, they love that because they don't, you know, but you can do that for yourself. Because then you're putting all your energy into a focus on the actual activity. You're not having to focus on the plan. Exactly. Right. And I mean, you are focusing on the plan, but before. Right. as a separate kind of,

and you can do this right before you practice too. I'm not saying you have to do it the night before. Yeah, yeah. But I would say try it, though. I love the idea of night before. It's a bit of like prepping, like meal prep for your week, right? Yeah, yeah. You're trying to like shed some pounds, right?

And, you know, very much like that, we do want to keep in mind that, like, once you hit a certain level of, you know, being able to execute on any activity, if you're good enough at it and basically if you have the experience, you don't need to do this. It can still be helpful. Yeah.

But you can, like, just kind of, just like a great cook does not need to plan out or look at a recipe or anything. Right. But they still do sometimes, you know, and that can give them. But, I mean, once you've trained yourself to be able to focus, but, I mean, think about somebody who can just like immediately, bam, you go right into like a very highly skilled athlete, very highly skilled musician. Like it could be a number of different skills, but the mindset is sort of the same.

Like you've trained your brain to be able to immediately focus. And I think some of these other things are going to help to go along with that. Absolutely. So number two is to get into the right mindset for practice. Gotta get your mind right. Gotta get your mind right, bro. Come on. And for that, you need an open mind.

You need to, this is why it's so great actually for number one to have a plan before you go into it. So that you can have an open mind about how it is you want to, for me, I think about evaluation as I'm practicing and getting in the mindset of really trying to hear the sounds that I'm playing. Right. So if I'm trying to execute something, the mindset I'm going in. on is really listening, right? Listening to the music in my mind. How does this sound? Where is the discrepancy, excuse me,

between how it sounds in my mind and how it sounds as I'm playing? That's why I'm usually practicing something, because there's a big gap between how it sounds when like, you know, Chick Korea or Brad Meldow plays it, and then how it sounds when I actually go to execute it, which is usually like it's not happening.

Like, it's not even an idea that's happening. You know what I'm saying? But if I work, on it, I mind that gap and I really can smooth that over. So that's the mindset I'm going in with with, and I'm also going in with as it's happening, I'm not going to be super critical of myself. I'm going to notice when it's not right. That's the only thing. Yeah. Is this doesn't sound how it sounds in my mind. That's the only thing I'm noticing. That's not bad and that's not good when it sounds correct. I'm just trying to notice that gap. It's almost like equanimity, you know.

It's big time. You know, and it's very much just like, you know, objectivity and very much just like I'm going to accurately assess the situation. Right. And then make actionable, in a focused way, make actionable, you know, gains to remedy or to improve or to alter things the way that I want to. That's great. For number two to really work, you have to, I think, be very diligent about number three. Yes.

Which is. Well, number three, remove distractions. Yeah. And so this one is another one of those things. This is kind of like, you know, practice stuff in all. keys. Everyone's like, oh, I know that already. I know, I know, I know. But this is just so important. And you got to be just totally diligent about this. And there's no excuses for this. Because a lot of times people will say, like, we have to be the masters of our domain, at least to the

point that we can, you know. And we do possibly have a little bit more time to focus. So let's do this in a way that as we focus, we don't make it easy for outside forces to come in. So This could be people around you. You got to let them know. Look, I got to practice during this time. I have to do it undisturbed. That means you got to get up early. Stay up late.

Go somewhere. Lock a door. Get a divorce. Just kidding. Don't do that. But you know, whatever you got to do. If you want to do it, you know, like this is something that's in your control. So that means, you know, you go to airplane mode.

You turn your notifications off. But I hear so many people, it's like, oh, it's so hard in this world today because there's so many distractions. No, there's only as many as you let in. You know, we have to remember. that we're in control of all this stuff. No, but you have to be available. Why? Why?

You can't take an hour. You can't, then do it in another time. Like if you have to be there for somebody else. You're not that. Well, no, no, no. Some people might have a child or something that they got there. You know. You probably.

But I mean, find the time. Do whatever you have to do. Make that commitment and then remove the distractions. And this is really the easy part of the way. Like being able to really achieve something artistically in your practice can be hit or miss sometimes. And, you know, some days you don't make the progress you want to. But you can turn. off your notifications come on come on man I love your your number five here work on one

primary thing per day slash days and I actually have taken this to I don't know if you've heard about my flash card system that I have here but I will take this to another level where I'll work on one primary thing and I'll have which is one flash card yeah right where I'll have this is my daily primary yeah and they'll have another set of flashcards of like three to five secondary things I work on with that primary thing. I love that. Right. So if I'm thinking about like, okay, I want to work on pentatonics, that's my primary thing. My secondary thing is as I'm doing this, I might do it over a minor blues, and then I'll do that pentatonic's over a minor blues, and I'll change the

flash card after like five minutes, right, or 10 minutes. And then I'll do like, okay, I'm going to work on left hand soloing. So I'm still doing maybe even a minor blues, and I'm still doing pentatonics, but I'm working on it with my left hand, or maybe the next one is, you know, locked hands voicings, but I'm doing pentatonics still, right? So I have. So I have a lot of it. So I have, have my primary practice focus and then I have like some secondary filters right that I can use and they're all practical things that I'm going to need on the gig yeah you know and that's just the way to go about it so if you have like a primary thing like okay I need to work on my time well what the hell does that mean right well I have my time and maybe I work on it over giant steps and

maybe fast tempos first and then maybe comping right and like these or bass lines whatever could be a whole different concept but it's all being filtered through I'm working on my time Right, right, right. Oh, that's fantastic. And I think it's, it's a great way to stay organized, but leave some flexibility to, you know, because if we just work on one thing, some days, that's all it's going to be. But we can get into these other areas for sure. So it's, I love that. You know, I love having those options because then you can, you have the possibility of being able to kind of go with the flow of how your, your day unfolds. Like, we never want to be like so. you know, robotic that the night before I plan out what I'm going to do and then I execute on it because that can work really well and that can keep you focused, but you won't be able to take advantage of the serendipity of that day's practice session. For sure. You know, you might have an inspiration to compose something that you didn't think about

the night before. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that. You should go with that. You know, that becomes your primary thing perhaps. So it's got to be that combination of discipline, but knowing that also discipline can take the form of many different pathways as you climb up that mountain. Speaking of discipline.

Yes. What do you got? Drop down and give you some discipline. Let's get back to that. Stay disciplined and execute on your plan. Okay. And this is now you got me a little off. You said four or five.

We don't know what we're at. This is number five. This is number five. Stay disciplined and execute on your plan. You have to commit to not getting sidetracked. Okay. So now this is going to sound a little counterintuitive because of what I was just talking about. But you know what?

I'm a complex guy, man. I can, you know what I mean? At the end of the day, just accept whatever's happening. Yeah. Contradictions at all. Yeah. Well, but this is, I think we're talking about the little bit bigger plan. Yeah, that might be, we're not talking about what you're doing, say, in your practice, but like if you say I'm going to practice from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Yeah, that's the discipline we're talking about. You're going to, you have to execute that. I mean, unless your house is on fire or your kid is starving or something, you know, emergency. But this also works very much in removing distractions. If you remove the distractions, you're going to be able to have a better chance on executing. Unless you get discouraged. Even just sticking to the plan of like, I'm going to use this time for growth. That's a plan that needs to be stuck to.

And that takes discipline for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And discipline is such an important part of developing as a musician that I think we don't realize how much it's intertwined with the artistic model, the artistic mindset. It's so easy to be like, oh, artists are just, you know, drug-induced, crazy womanizing, manizing, you know, freaks of nature. No. I mean, yes, that's part of our personality, but that's only a small part of it. Certainly.

Yeah, but I mean, you know, the discipline you would, you would associate with, say, a Charlie Parker that, you know, gets a little bit lost in the romanticization of his life and different, like you don't get to that level without just an extreme level of discipline. So you have to just have that part of your mindset. You have to get in the habit of that. And the only way to get in the habit of being disciplined is to be disciplined. Yeah, passion doesn't mean you're just lazy. No.

Passion means that you are passionate. Yeah. But every great artist that I know is actually pretty well organized in their art with how they work on. Exactly. The rest of their life, uttering disaster. Yeah, it could. Actually, that's true. Their car could be like full of just fast food wrappers.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And rappers. Right. And rappers partying was fantastic. Exactly. Just passed out on the floor on the floorboards. But their practice routine is pretty disciplined.

Well, speaking of practice routines, I know this one is, you've already mentioned it so we can just whiz through this. one but number six is one very near and dear to your heart. The practice journal. The Pujo. Keep a practice. And you've created the, you are the originator of the founder of the Open Studio, the award winning Open Studio Practice Journal. The Open Studio Practice Journal. We will try to drop a link if Andrew's listening. We'll know if will drop a link. Is that available again? I know there's a more efficient

way to let Andrew know. Andrew, are you listening? Our intrepid producer. Yeah. So, yeah, keep a practice journal. And look, you don't have to get the Open Studio one if you don't want it. Maybe you don't deserve it. But you can keep this in a number of different ways. Yeah, I still use like a blank moleskin for a lot of my practice. I use an open studio.

Oh, do you keep a moleskin? I use an Open Studio one for the Daily Guide of Practice session, and I use it moleskin one. And I do use a moleskin. Yeah. It's blue and it's beautiful. But get a poogho, some kind of pooho. I have a couple, actually. And this is great for your focus, too, because it's, yeah, it's a little bit

backwards looking, but it's also forwards looking as we talked before. I'm sorry. You can plan out your week. Exactly. You plan out. But I'm saying the backwards part is good too to look back on when you were able to better focus. And look, you're not, and we're going to get to this, but you're not always going to be

an optimal focus mindset, you know. Well, one of the things we do with the day that I'm a practice session is, you know, that I've learned from the amazing book called Make It Stick about how to lock some things in, right? Yeah. Is to actually do a little bit of reflection on your practice. after you practice. So after your session,

if you can write down some challenges that you had in your own words, if you could write down some light ball moments, some aha moments from your session in your own words,

science, not just me, science has shown that it helps you remember things deeper. Number seven, what do you got? This is number seven, and we do have a bonus

because I miscounted. Bonus, so please stick around for the bonus. Like and subscribe. Give rating and review. Okay, yeah, number seven, don't panic.

Keep the big picture in mind. This is a marathon, not a sprint. That's right. So learning to focus, I know we talk about executing and removing distractions and some things that you can do immediately. But this is just like any kind of high level habit. It takes time. And it takes that 1% better every day.

And it's, you know, mountains and mole hills. And, you know, it's very much, if you do get into meditation or mindfulness, this can be very helpful for this because it's very much like there's no such thing as a perfect. meditation session where you've removed everything, just like there's no such thing as a perfect focus practice session. But what do you do when you start to lose your focus? Do you panic or do you say, ah, Adam and Peter were stupid. They didn't know what they were talking about. Or I'm just, I'm not more likely. Folks will say like, I'm not cut out for this. I'm not. I can't focus. You know, so no, when you can't focus for a second, take a breath, go for a quick walk. There's many different

things you can do. But the main thing that you don't do is panic or say like, this isn't for me. And if you miss a session, don't panic. Don't think like, well, I've- But beat yourself up. Oh, no, no, don't beat yourself. Well, no, don't panic. Don't say, like, well, I've missed a session. I guess I'll just quit now.

You know, I think a lot of people get in the mindset. I mean, it's just human nature to be like, oh, I just want to be 50 pounds lighter now. Right. You know, or I just want to be, you know, Keith Jarrett now. Like, why can't I just practice for two weeks? It's going to take you at least a month to be-chare. Listen, if you're a musician, you're a musician for life. This is a lifelong pursuit.

And you know what? Keith Jarrett still works on his shit. Every day. Exactly. Like even after he was already Keith Jarrett, and that's what you have to do too. You just have to accept that practice is the gig. The gig is not just to be, I'm just great, and there it is. The gig is to work on your stuff.

That's right. It's the process. Fall in love with the process. Get up and make art every day. That's all you got to do. Yeah. And I mean, you know, most people when they're practicing, no matter what level they're at until they really start to understand how this works, they, you know, people are more likely to overestimate.

what they can get done accomplished in a week in their practice and vastly underestimate what they can get done in a year. Listen to that. Say that again. Say that again. So they overestimate what you can do in a week. Because, you know,

from the vantage point of one week, even if you follow all these tips, stay focused. I think that you will progress, but it's very hard to see it at that week. You can't tell the difference week to week, but. And you can, especially when you're young,

you can hardly think a year off. Yeah. Like, I get excited about a year. Now I'm like a year. That's coming. Yeah. Because I've seen some years. It's happening fast.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, but it's true. But then if you look back over, if you stay consistent, right, and you're able to focus and you look back a year later, you're going to see a difference. Right. It's going to be huge, right? Should we tell people the full disclosure on this episode?

Yeah. Go ahead. Well, the fact that you, because of the time of day, I guess, you and I have been like checking our tax. We've been like super unfocused. But we just wanted to prove how focused we could be, how much we could talk about focus, even while, executing on a certain lack of focus. Hey, we're pros at this. We're so good.

So speaking of focus, that was number seven. Let's go back on our list here. Oh, you'd like me exposing that. I don't like being, this makes me uncomfortable, Peter. This is an honest podcast. Come on, man. It is. It's an honesty competition.

I haven't been texting each other, I think. I don't know. No, so let's just recap and then we'll do our bonus Jonas. So number one is to plan your practice, maybe the night before. Yep. Number two is to get into the right mindset. Get your mind right, son. Number three is to remove distractions, Peter.

Yes. Number four is to work on one primary thing, and you might even work on some secondary filters around that primary thing. What is it? Secondary and tertiary, isn't there? Tertiary. No, that's not right. That's not even a word.

Number five is to stay disciplined and execute your plan. Like a North Korean firing squad. Oh my gosh, buddy. I think that's offensive. Number six is keep a practice journal or Pujo. Poojo. Number seven is don't panic. Keep the big picture in mind.

It's a marathon, not a spread. That's right. And our bonus Jonas. bonus don't beat yourself up we all fall short of the glory of perfect focus in our practice i'll even take it one step further be kind to yourself be kind to yourself especially in this time you know what i mean like there's you know we're all dealing with with varying degrees of mental health issues let's be honest you know i'm checking my phone every five minutes um so just know just know that any progress in in the realm of focus is going to be richly rewarded to you so some

days, if you make just a tiny bit of, like if you're able to focus for five minutes in your practice, that's great. There will come a time when it's two hours, five hours maybe, whatever. But don't beat yourself up from when you're not focusing. Just try to think about the concrete things that you can do. And hopefully some of these were helpful we gave you today so that tomorrow will be a more focused day. That's right. Tomorrow, tomorrow. And I'll focus tomorrow. Until tomorrow. It's only a day away. You'll hear it. Oh wait You'll really hear it