You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Best of: 7 Best Tips for the Practice Room

Episode Date: October 25, 2019

Peter's off traveling the world, so this week we'll be bringing you some of our favorite moments from YHI Season 4. Today, it's more tips on how to get the most out of your practice sessions.Like those You'll Hear It shirts Peter shows off on the podcast? Want some YHI swag of your own? Take a visit to our store! Just go to https://teespring.com/stores/open-studioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel and leave a comment.Interested in more jazz advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram at:https://www.facebook.com/heyopenstudiohttps://twitter.com/heyopenstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/heyopenstudio See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

But anyway, time boxing. So, like, you're really just being very specific with the amount of time and what you're going to do. And so how this can supercharge your practice routine is that if you pick the right thing and you're like at a very focused time, you can make rapid progress with this. So I like doing this with technical exercises, specific classical things, transcription. So you might say, I'm going to spend 55 minutes transcribing this solo. And, you know, my goal is to get X number of bars. So you're not like, oh, let me check out the vote. on this or whatever, drifting around.

This is like specific tactical, like, I'm getting beep done. What's so good about this is it takes away this idea of like, oh, well, I have to have, I have to reach my goal of being able to play this perfectly by the end of my practice routine. That's a horrible cycle to get into. Really, it's just about putting in the time, putting in the reps, you know, and you don't have to achieve anything except for I achieve that I reach that time goal. That's perfect, man.

Yeah, I love it. The most important thing about a practice routine is. is time at your instrument, time holding your instrument, time, you know, yes, of course,

you want to be doing the right thing and that will come. Like, you have to have faith. Like, that's what I was talking about at the very beginning. Like,

once you've done this a lot, it becomes easy to optimize and like do the right thing that you need to do at the time because you're just kind of in the habit. It's like if you go to the gym all the time, you sort of know, just because you know your body so well today,

I got to do shoulders. You don't have to think about it and have an app to tell you all that. You just know, but at the beginning you've got to kind of be told that. But regardless, running thing. People are like, what equipment. Like everyone wants to get all these impediments to actually just being out there running.

Time on the road, man. Just go out there barefoot. You know, I mean, you suck. So it doesn't really matter what kind of shoes you have. You're not Elliott Kipchogi. You got to have the best shoes anyway. Wait for that. You know, like, so time at the instrument is the most important.

So that should give you kind of a little bit of a relaxed thing. Like the routine is just being like you're in the routine of being at your instrument every day. And then look. And then I think the other part that is more important. than any of this other stuff is don't let two days go because then you start that's when it gets to be easy i've found to lose a routine agreed you know um you know one day things are going to happen and try not to even let one day go but if one day does don't get down in the dumps or be like i'm throwing everything out i got to go read a new book before i can get back going no no get back on the horse the next day so number two and i'll just kind of this segues right in because i was also thinking about listening to recordings and stuff and so taking that to Number two is to transcribe. Transcribe other solos.

This is really, you know, one of the quickest ways to improve your soloing is by understanding and taking the knowledge from somebody else that can already do it better than you. And so I would just say to emphasize, you know, we've talked about this at length before we've done whole shows about transcribing. But for this purpose, I would just want to emphasize it's like learn the solo and then really think about applying concepts that you learn from that solo. Bigger picture things than just licks and phrases. You'll get those two, of course, but to really improve your soloing,

especially in the short term, I believe, because sometimes, like, the vocabulary and stuff has to kind of seep into your playing over time, but we're talking about ways to improve your solowing now, is like maybe even take a concept of a solo that you've transcribed already and see if you can apply it to your playing. So a lot of times I like to think about structural concepts

and constructs of a solo. For sure. And then, because you can apply that to any kind of solo. Like, if you're trying to apply, like, how Charlie Parker plays the B-Bop scale, or if he does, over a B-flat blues, you can only take that to B-flat blues. It's very specific. It's so specific. Yeah, yeah.

But the big, the great things, there's so many things you can get from transcribing, but the great thing is, I think, these big-picture ideas that you can take. And, I mean, an example is just sort of a general flow and arc of a solo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And not just the obvious one as far as build up and then climax and then at the end. But like maybe you transcribe a solo that has multiple climaxes or climaxes early and then comes down and then goes really low or whatever it is. And see how you can apply that to anything that you're soloing, you know? For sure.

Because there will be places you can. And you can simplify and isolate this concept as well because you can pick just one thing. Like let's say I just want to pick the negative space of this great solo, right? And just try to copy, you know, the soloist's use of space. I hate going negative, though, but you're right. You know what I mean, though, like paying attention to how long between phrases happen and how it shortens or lengthens or whatever they're doing. Or maybe the range.

Like sometimes I'll be inspired when I hear someone start a solo in a surprising range and then work their way up or down at a certain point. And I'm like, wow, they went like way down into like the low baritone range during the peak of this solo. That's crazy. That's great idea, you know. Stuff like that. It could be anything, dynamics, whatever. Pick one thing and see if you can ape that.

Yep. Good stuff. Okay, don't do this, if you want to sound, have a great sound. Practice at the same dynamic level all the time. Yeah. Don't do it. Yeah. Play, you need to.

Oh, man. I just like to stay in a nice mezzo forte. Mezzo forte, you're killing me. So, yeah, just because you can play with a great sound of mezzo forte, what happens when you need to, like, you know, play with some phrasing and bring out a line and go up and down and play quietly. It can sound like dutty on the ground. That's right.

And the technique that is required to play. with a great sound at different volume levels, at the piano is not just as easy as pushing harder. That's like basic level. So they have to be all to be practiced. They have to be controlled. And it's just as important. It's like, I mean, think about trumpet players or saxophone players

or vocalists, how much time they spend at different volume levels trying to develop their sound and how different the technique is. It's the same thing with the piano, different technique, but it's actually just as challenging. And just as important. And again, I think because there's this myth that playing the piano is just like button pushing. Right. You know, that we think we can get away with.

with this, that if we know enough... I am a computer. Right, that if we gather enough information will be good, but that's not how it works at all. You have to work on... Info-in equals sound out. And we get a lot of emails just like that about, like, if I just acquire enough information,

how I play it isn't as important, but it's actually way more important than you're giving credit to you. Learn how to play with dynamics and practice that. When you're practicing scales, practice your scales at pianissimo. Right. Practicing as softly as you can get them. Practice them as loudly as you can make them.

That's right. All that's important. Number three, learn tunes and phrases in different keys or even whole solos. This is crucial part of growth. You can't really play something unless you can play it in all keys. Right. Forward to backwards. Retrograde in foreign language.

No, no, we don't think it that far. Not that far, but I mean, I think it really is, it's not overstated that it's an important part of the process of being an improviser because there are just situations every single set that require something. from most keys. You know, maybe you're not playing a tune in B, but there's going to be a moment in every gig or every set where you've got to deal with the key of B some way. So you've got to get

that there, you know. And I think that you know, this is the one that you can improve your ear training, which always improves your soloing. I mean, when you combine this one with like the listening and transcribe, now you're going to be able to start to play these

ideas and these concepts that you're beginning to understand and actually apply them to your to your solo. Sometimes we can hear things and be like, wow, I want to play that. But there's the technical side of it, of course, you know, that you have to be able to execute on your instrument. But then there's the even more difficult thing, I would say, which is the ear training and having big ears, as we say, in really good ears. And, you know, practicing anything in different keys is one of the quickest ways to improve it. Okay. So luckily, the geniuses who invented the keyboard, you might notice that there's two different

sort of levels of the keyboard here. There's depth in it, right? And they even color-coded it for us. Yeah, the black keys are short and the white keys are long. Henceforth, your outer fingers, your thumb and your pinky,

you should really try to avoid black keys on those. And that's not saying that you always will. I play black keys on my thumb and my pinky every single time I play. I'm sure I do. Depending on what county you're in and state, right?

You've got to be careful about that. But in general, it's not going to be, you're going to have to reach, you're going to have to get a little bit, especially for your thumb. You're going to have to get out of position. You know, if you do anything in G flat, if you try to do like an E flat minor pentatonic scale. Right. You see how much that pushes you out of position, kind of push you forward into the keyboard a little bit.

But you can also, that's important moving the wrist up. Right. A important part of fingering is like getting into that position. I actually find that one easier than something that's more like that you're having to go in and out. In and out. Right, exactly. That's why I mentioned the E flat minor or pentatonic scale is because you can really get a sense of where comfortable feels with your thumb on a black key is actually way forward.

Then if you try to do like a C minor pentatonic and put a B flat on your thumb, try that right now if you don't mind. I didn't even know how you do this. Do a C minor pentatonic and try to put the B flat on your thumb. Oh, that's not legal, man. What are you talking about?

I'm saying. I physically can't do it. It's hard, right? A B flat on the thumb. A couple of things that I think are really important and we talk about before, but I think is important enough to reiterate. Don't practice just things that you know really well.

You know? Don't ever practice them. Don't ever practice things. No, practice things. Unless you just want to stay the same. Right. The only way to get better is to practice things that you're not good at. You have to push yourself to a place where you're not comfortable,

and that's where you eventually get comfortable with things you're not good at. And that's the only way to get better. So always make sure that you have your eye on the price as far as, like, I'm practicing things that I can't do quite yet. That it's just out of reach. Not super, super hard. Like not like, like, don't put it like the proclute number, whatever and expect like, oh, can't do it. Yeah, yeah.

Do something that's just out of reach. Right. It's still within your grasp, but you've got to reach for it. A tune. And, but it can be a technique too. A technique. You could be practicing major scales and you might be like, well, I already know those, so I don't need to practice them. Practice them with a certain attention to your sound or to your dexterity or to your articulation.

There's all, like, that's one area where I think people don't go enough back to the basics, because they're like, I know that, and you're saying practice stuff that challenges me. Challenge yourself over a major scale. Practice over five octaves. Contrary. Can I get an amen from the choir? Andrew, are you in church? Okay.

Okay, he's not there. This was rolling into my next thing, which was like those things that you are just out of reach. Those who teach, preach. Those concepts that you can't quite do yet don't have to be super fast, blah, blah, blah. They could be fundamentals and should be fundamentals. You know, like, take a cue from professional athletes. The best professional athletes in the world still practice fundamentals every day. They're just trying to get as close to perfect with them as they can.

Because they're mental. They're putting the fun in the mentors. Come on, man.