You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - A 5-Part Framework to Practicing Effectively

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

Peter dives into new ideas on reinvigorating and energizing your practice routine with this 5-part framework. Hint: It starts with practicing EVERYDAY!Have a question? Leave us a SpeakPipeWatch Live: YHI LIVE Mondays at 4pm ET on YouTubeWant more of Adam and Peter? Check out Open Studio Pro hereWoosh or No Woosh? Hit us up on Twitter and let us know which team you are onSupport the pod by spreading the word with the link youllhearit.com 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.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

What's up everybody? Coming to you today with something brand new, our first ever, You'll Hear at Mini, Y-H-I-Mini, shorter episodes coming to you solo style, and we're going to start it off today with a five-part framework to practicing effectively. I mean, listen, we're talking about practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game, we're talking about practice. What's up, everybody? I'm Peter Martin.

This is the You'll hear at podcast. podcast, many music advice and inspiration coming to you in smaller bite-sized portions. Hope everybody's doing well. And we're going to jump right into today's topic, which is practice, which is something that we love to talk about here. And hopefully I can give you some ideas for some new ways to enliven your practicing. We're kind of coming in the northern hemisphere up on late summer, new school year, new work year, maybe for some folks change of the season.

So this is a great time to kind of introduce some new elements to give you some new energy into your practice routine because it's so important. So let's jump right into it because this is a mini episode. We ain't got time for idle chit-chat and Adam Manus and all that stuff. Okay. So let's talk about some practice. So five-part framework.

The first part, first theme is consistency. So important to practice every day. Now, I know that's not. sounds a little bit harsh because a lot of folks grew up like with their teachers telling them, practice five days a week if possible. Practice three days a week if possible. Just do as much as you can. Now, we're talking about every day, okay?

We're talking about getting this to be part of your routine as much as possible as, you know, waking up, having breakfast, having lunch, breathing, that kind of a thing. Wouldn't that be cool if it became that kind of an automatic thing? So how do we get to that kind of consistency? Because we've talked about this before, and a lot of folks have asked me, well, you know, I just don't have time. I got to do this.

I got to do that. So I'm not going to be able to solve all your scheduling problems, but I will say this. Just try to practice a couple days in a row. See if you can create a streak. So that would mean practice today and then practice tomorrow.

Don't worry about practicing 50 days in a row. Don't even worry about practicing seven days in a row. Just think about the day that's in front of you. So maybe in the evening, before you prepare for the next day, hopefully you've already practiced that day, but you'll kind of plan out and carve out that time for the next day. And try to make it early in the day. I find that that works because then even if the day starts to get away from you,

you've already gotten that priority activity, that practice in earlier. You can always come back and do more. And I would say, you know, 10 minutes a day minimum, and that should be an absolute minimum. I mean, if you're practicing 10 minutes a day over and over again, it's going to be hard to make progress. But if your smallest practice day, the least amount of time that you hit, say, in a month is 10 minutes,

that's okay. And that's better than missing a bunch of days and practicing six, eight hours on particular days because we want to really hit that consistency. So try to create a streak and just make it a two-day streak. Practice today and then try to practice tomorrow. And then tomorrow say the same thing. I'm going to practice the next day.

And just commit to doing that, carve out that time, honor that time, at the night before and you'll be amazed at how that streak just starts to build it build on itself all right number two um develop a routine so hopefully from getting that consistency and creating a streak in your day by day practicing every day um that'll start to emboldened you to be able to say well you know what i know i'm going to be practicing today so then it becomes what am i going to be practicing that's where that routine is so important So you want to create and develop a routine, but don't let it become routine because that's going to be boring.

We're going to talk about that a little bit later with creative practice, but develop a routine. So that's like a framework for your actual daily practice. So that could say at a minimum, you know, include some technical practice to start out with, maybe a little bit of warm up depending on your instrument. It could be pretty much for any instrument warming up is good. But that could go right into your technical practice. and then into say something very creative, be it composition, learning a solo, learning a tune,

but that's kind of the middle part. That's the routine part of your practice in the middle. And then at the end would be practicing performing. Okay. So that could be your daily routine. And then as you have time, you could add different other things into that, be it site reading, you know, transposition,

you know, learning several different types. of tunes, different styles, you know, a number of different things that we talk about. But having that framework of a routine of things that you are kind of your go-to things so that if you don't want to think about, what am I going to practice today? What is the flow of my practice? You've got that general routine. That combined with number one with that consistent daily practice will really start to give you some serious developmental rewards, things that you feel within just a couple of weeks in terms of your relationship with the instrument. and most importantly, your ability to develop quickly and continually, you know, making progress, which is such a great feeling that we all want to have.

All right. Number three in our brand new five-part framework for practicing effectively is to practice the right stuff. Okay. Everybody's like, of course I'm going to practice the right stuff, but what is the right stuff? Well, that's different all the time, right? Right. Having that routine from number two is going to guide us in the right direction. But we have to be very conscious of what we're practicing because from day to day, practicing the right stuff is not the same at another time.

I'll give you an example. If you've learned a solo and you've learned it really well, you learn it by ear and you've gone through it. You can play it with the recording. You can, you know, you maybe analyzed it some, maybe even taken out. some specific phrases or licks and worked on those, maybe even taking them through some different keys. That's all the right stuff to practice. But then after you've got that solo,

if you keep just practicing it, just sort of playing it over and over again without thinking, now it's become not the right thing to practice because you're not giving yourself a chance to absorb the deeper lessons of learning that solo. It's not necessarily wrong, but it's not right to practice that. So you're not going to really be making any progress with it. You're better off taking some time away from it, practicing something else, starting to learn another solo, and then coming back and reviewing it.

It will become the right thing to practice again later, but everything is correct in its season, right? So you have to really sort of pay attention to that. Same with technical practice. Once you've mastered a certain scale, say in all keys and you've really got the fingerings down if you're a pianist or trumpeter or whatever, and you've got that down, you need to move on to other things and don't practice that. just come back and review it, refresh it from different times. But that becomes not practicing the right stuff. So you've got to really focus on things that you don't know how to do, that hard stuff, being uncomfortable.

That's actually the right stuff to be practicing, you know. It doesn't have to be 100% of your practice routine, but you want a good 75 to 80%. Uncle Peter is going to say 75 to 80% for that, where you're practicing the right stuff. You're being challenged. You're not able to just fly through it. If you're able to fly through it with ease, you know, it's just like going to the gym.

If you're just using weights and doing exercises that are easing, you're not challenging your body, causing your muscles to stretch and all that kind of stuff. It's going to be the same thing with your practice. Okay. All right. We're moving along here. Number four, creativity. Okay.

You've got to be creative with your practice. And the reason for this is you've got to make it fun and you've got to keep it fun. And I've found there's a number of different ways. for practice to be fun. The biggest is probably when it's really beneficial practice that you're making progress. That's fun. Everybody wants to get better.

Everybody wants to be a great player, okay? But the actual process of practicing, it can become too routine. You can start to do it by road. It can be too much hard work and it can just be, you know, demoralizing. So how do we keep it fun? Creativity.

So we have to have creative practice. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy all the time. and easier two different things. Okay. It can't be easy most of the time. It can be easy just a little bit of the time, 10 to 20%. But if it's easy, 80% of the time, you're not going to be making progress. Same thing like going to the gym.

If you're lifting weights that are easy for you, you are not going to be gaining very much muscle. At best, you're going to be maintaining. So it can be fun, but it can't always be easy. So the key to that is being creative with your practice. And that's by practicing things differently. Okay. And so if you're playing a tune, playing it in different keys, playing it with different grooves, different keys, different grooves, playing it at different tempos. So many different ways to change up music just based on the fundamental elements of music, melody, harmony, and rhythm. And you have to bring a creative mindset to your practice in order to keep it and make it fun and to keep it fun. Okay. I mean, some of the easiest stuff, and I do this still to this day. I was just doing it this morning, is to take like a ballad, say, that you're working on. And, you know, maybe it's a beautiful ballad, say, you know, Ruby, My Dear, by Thelonious Monk.

If that isn't fun to practice, you've got a problem, but it's not the tune's fault because it's a great tune. It's not even necessarily your fault. You just keep doing it the same way, and you're not making progress, so you're not feeling great about it, and you're just getting frustrated. So do it a little bit differently. So maybe put like a Bossa Nova groove on it. Maybe play it as a mid-tempo swing. D-do-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-do-wee be-de-da-do. Wee-bop-scoo-da.

Bid-du-bo-bop. And that'll challenge you to phrase it in a different way, to voice it in a different way, just to approach it and to hear it in a different way. And then you're having fun. You're challenging yourself. You're working on your ears. You're looking through it through a different lens, a different prism. Okay?

So you've got to stay creative. You've got to change things up. You don't have to be doing it all the time on every segment of your practice. You could just pick and choose your places. But anytime you're starting to get bored or you're feeling like stuck or in a rut, just get creative. We're creative souls. That's the whole reason that we're artists and trying to play this music, you know. So channel that creativity, just like you would into your improvisation, channel that into your practice routine as well.

All right. Now, this brings us to number five. So number five is to enjoy the process. And this is number five because it's the most important. And it's the most important because this is the energy source of this framework that's going to keep you going. It's going to keep you smiling. It's going to keep you progressing. And it's going to make all this worthwhile.

And this is mostly about thinking about how you practice away from your instruments. So if you practice an hour a day, then you practice. this number five enjoying the process, you're developing that 23 hours a day when you're not practicing. Well, I guess you got to sleep for a few hours. So you can minus out your seven to nine hours or whatever asleep. But the time away from practicing is when you have to really work on this. Okay. And so what that means is you're not dreading when you have to practice. You're looking forward to it. You're trying to carve out that time to practice. You're trying to push other stuff out the way. Oh, such and such called and they want to hang out. Oh, I was going to

practice. Well, I don't really want to hang out with them, even though that's my best friend. And I love them. And they're great and they're hilarious. But you enjoy the process of practicing so much that you're willing to sacrifice everything for that. Now, don't sacrifice your family and that kind of thing. You got your work. You got your obligations. But in terms of like recreation, like practicing can be so fun if you allow yourself to enjoy the process. Now, I realize it's not that easy of just saying, okay, I'll allow myself to enjoy the process because Peter Martin told me that. I started practicing my scales and I still hate it and I'm still messing up and they still don't sound good. So allowing yourself to enjoy the process is just the

first step. But if you go through these earlier steps, especially practicing the right stuff, number three and especially number four, practicing creatively, then you really can start to enjoy the process. And it's not just about, you know, kind of where you're going. Because where you're going is a continually moving target, right? You're trying to progress. You're trying to get better in all these different ways, aspects of your musicianship, of your ability to play your chosen instrument, of your ability to be able to hear things, to be able to discern music,

become a better, you know, a company. I mean, so many different elements. But you're getting better and better, and that never ends. So you don't want to look at the goal, the top of the mountain, as the only enjoyable thing about it. Just think about a great hiker. And I don't even mean like a world champion athletic hiker. I mean, just somebody who loves to hike.

They enjoy the process of hiking, putting one foot in front of the other. But it's not just, and it's not just about getting to that top and that beautiful view. They enjoy the view along the way. They enjoy the way their lungs feel as they're putting that work in. And so a lot of that is mentality and going into it with that kind of mental model of like, I'm going to enjoy this process. So you have to find the things that are enjoyable. Maybe that's that practicing, performing at the end of your practice routine.

Maybe that's in scales where you never were able to enjoy the process. But you say, you know what? I'm going to slow these scales down so much that I'm going to make them every single note into a musical masterpiece. I'm going to be playing it so slow. I'm going to be in such great control that it's not even going to be a challenge technically. It's going to be a musical challenge. So you've gotten some creativity in your practice there.

You've given yourself the ability to enjoy the process. You're slowing those scales down. It's almost becomes a meditation, you know. And, you know, remember, a lot of these things, it's just like meditation. You know, some people can't stand that when they first start doing it and never give themselves the allowance to enjoy that. They're like, that sounds so boring. I want to watch TV. I want to look at my social media feed because that's giving me dopamine and showing me stuff.

Meditation is the opposite of that. It's just silence. That sucks. You know, practicing. Just playing a scale. slowly, yuck. But if you allow yourself, you know, a time period of adjustment to get into that, allow yourself the inkling that maybe you can enjoy that process. Be creative with that practice. Slow things down or maybe speed them up. That's another creative way. But just try some different

things. Enjoy the process. Then practice becomes fun. Then it becomes something that you want to do. And again, it doesn't become easy or at least not always easy. But it doesn't always become comfortable. either and it shouldn't always be comfortable. But you can enjoy that process, just like you can enjoy that hike up the mountain. And you'll really enjoy that view when you get to the top, you know. All right. That's the five-part framework to practicing effectively coming at you. I hope you guys enjoyed this.

This is the first ever you'll hear it mini. We're going to call them Y-H-I minis. Is that any easier than you'll hear it mini? I don't know. We'll try them both out. Actually, I'd love to hear what you guys think about this new format. You can tweet at me at, I am on the Twitters, in the Twitter sphere, at I am Peter Martin. There you go.

I am Peter Martin. And let me know what you think of this new mini format. Let's see what else do we have here. That's it. We're going to be back with some other stuff. Of course, a big shout out to Adam Manus, my co-host, my erstwhile, co-host. My erstwhile co-host. We both have a little bit of kind of vacation in an.

out here so there'll be some more minis if you guys enjoy these and we'll be back with the regular episodes and the youtube lives you can subscribe to the channel open studio on youtube of course please subscribe hey maybe leave us a rating and review wherever you're enjoying this audio podcast that would always be wonderful um and our sponsor as always is open studio jazz go to open studio jazz com. In particular, I would direct you to openstudiojazz.com slash pro, P-R-O. Talking about practice, Adam Maness is practicing with some folks five days a week there live via Zoom to a very select group of Open Studio Pro members.

These are not pro players or pro-level necessarily. They're actually all different levels, but it's folks that love to get together and do some of their practice together. You got a great teacher there and Adam Manus to guide you through monthly concepts. And so I believe in September, there will be the next. cohort opening up but there's always some people that kind of come and go so you might be able to sneak in but you can go learn more about our open studio pro program at open studio jazz dot com slash pro let's see what else do we have our theme music is emotion emotion written by yours truly

peter martin um until next time you'll hear many