You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - How to Maximize LONG Practice Sessions

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

Peter and Adam have talked about how to get the most out of brief practice sessions, but what happens when you have all day at your disposal?We're very excited to announce that You'll Hear It has reached 1,000,000 downloads! We want to thank each and every listener for your support of this podcast, whether you've been with us from the beginning or just recently discovered us. Here's to another million! Want to add some Brazilian flair to your own playing? The Samba Pack is now available from Open Studio! Featuring 7 curated lessons from our roster of Brazilian artists (including Helio Alves, Edu Ribeiro, and Romero Lubambo), the Samba Pack is also our lowest-price course ever from Open Studio.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 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Hey. If you had five hours today to practice the piano, what would you play? Ooh. Oh. Don't give me a big open palette like that big guy. I don't know what I can do. This is the problem.

And here's the solution. With a Z. I'm Adam Amos. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear podcast. Daily music advice coming at you. We're getting so arty with our intros. Like they're getting kind of, it's like a black and white film in the 70s.

Grainy. Yeah, it's like it's where they're just getting to this like absurdist point where what we say. They're like ultra introspective, right? You have to like kind of read between the words of what we're trying. Not really. Well, you're making it sound so much more sophisticated than it may be because I read a recent description in the YouTube comments that our intros were more like Jim Halpert and Michael Scott from the office. And I don't, I don't know who was who, but you're looking at the camera. It's not on today.

But I don't know which one of us is which. I'm hoping I'm Jim Halpert. I guess he's a little cooler, but I'm a little fearful that I might be Michael Scott. I mean, you do have a mug that says world's best podcaster. Well, that's my mug.

Hello. I thought everyone had one. So today we're talking, we're just going to avoid that all together. Today we're talking about how to maximize long practice sessions. We had an episode a couple of weeks ago about what to do if you had 10 or 15 minutes.

Yeah. And I thought, you know what we've never really talked about is what if you have two hours or three hours or four hours or five hours, like you can mess that up too. Oh yeah. I've messed up both. Come on now. You know what? There's a, I've heard this thing the other day about like, you know, we often say that time is our most valuable resource, but actually, that's not true. Because how many times- Money is our most valuable? Oh, no, sorry. How many times have we carved out an hour and completely wasted it by putting our attention

on the wrong thing or just squandering our attention. Our attention to what we're doing is the most valuable resource we have because then we can do with no matter if it's 10 minutes or 10 hours, we can get the most out of it. That's right. And just like any form of time, it is definitely a non-renewable resource. And that doesn't mean you don't have more. You do. Every day you have the opportunity to practice 15 minutes or five hours or none.

You've got 24 hours. How are you going to carve that up? But then within that when you carve up if it's five hours or 15 minutes, how is that time going to be spent? Yeah. And I think, you know, it's important first that we talk about as you would going into a five hour. Is that what our kind of standard for long practice? No, I mean, I was thinking like, for me, a long practice session these days is two hours. If I have two hours to spend to the piano, just practicing a piano, that's a huge luxury that maybe happens a few times a year at this point.

Yeah, so we could say hours. Yeah, hours. Basically at this point. Yeah. Yeah. So how do we take, you know, the intensity that we talked about in the 15-minute sessions and the efficiency that comes by the, you know, necessary intensity, translate that into a longer thing without it just becoming a, oh, what am I doing? Of course, I don't, what we can't do in a two-hour session is eight 15-minute intensive practice sessions. That's probably not the thing to do, right?

No, and eventually you're going to burn out doing something that intense. So I think for me, when I think about when I get to practice in long stretches, it's usually I get to kind of like, it's almost like, what is that called, the kind of like elementary school stuff where they like, the students kind of dictate what's going on.

Montessori. Monosori, right? It's like Montessori. Like, so like I'll start with, maybe I'm starting with like scales. You practice in the Montessori method. I didn't not realize that.

No, but this is, I think this is what naturally happens. And so I'll find something. Like I'm practicing the scales. I'll be like, there's a technical glitch there in that key or when I try to do that. you know, articulation.

Right. And so I might then go into that for 30 minutes or however, however long it takes me until I'm feeling like my attention is wavering. I'm sort of being burnt out on this subject or I've, or I've got it and it's time to move on. I think that could be like kind of my first way of going at a long practice session is sort of be open. Like have a plan to start, but kind of be open when things draw you away.

Like what, what is it that you're hearing that you're like, I don't like that? Or I wish I had more of that. Well, it's like we always say, have a plan and abandon it. No, wait, no wait. What do we say? No, I mean, I think having a strict plan is a great idea. To write out what you would like to accomplish, that's always a great idea. But I feel like with a long practice session, it really is an opportunity to be like,

oh, I have time that I can kind of go in a direction that I feel out. And that can be an efficient way to practice because your attention is there, right? You have motivation to work on that. Well, I think that's important. So, I mean, I'm joking, but it's actually, I was trying to bring up a point. Like, you still have a plan. It's like, as you said, it's not a strict plan. Right.

And that's something that I think really conducive to long stretches is like, you don't want to be like, oh, I've got so much time. I don't have to get anything accomplished. I can just be totally free form. No, but you, what your plan is it's sculpted around the amount of available time. So it's the same like if, you know, if you're going to go in your backyard and build, you have to build a fence. and let's say that you have one day to do it or else some wild boar is going to come onto your property the next day.

So it's a different mentality than I have a month to make this fence. So if you have a month, you might, you still have a plan, but you've got a couple of days of like, let's go around for inspiration, let's look at the different materials available. Let's look online. Let's plan.

And then let's start to, you know, blah, blah, blah. I'm a fence. I'm a bridge builder among people, but I'm not a fence builder physically, to tell you the truth. Yeah. I know, I think that's great. I think coming up with just like generally like four to five topics that you can cover,

no matter how long. If it's five hours, then maybe you have an hour set aside for each topic. But I think, you know, my point was just like if you're getting into something and you hear something that you don't like or you hear something that you do like that you wish you could, you know, expound upon, follow that. Because that your motivation for that is going to be very pure and very engaged in that. And build that into your plan. For sure.

And I think the way to do that is just to have. And look, the more you do different length practice sessions, the more experience, the more this kind of becomes intuitive. So it doesn't have to be like, oh, from 515 until 518, be free to follow, you know, maybe at the beginning you have to think that. But it's more thinking about like just, you know, opening up the amount of time, being a little bit more liberal with what you're allocating that part of your practice too. So that if you do, you're not forcing yourself to go off on a tangent. But if you do, you've got it built in without being like, oh, I have to stick to the plan. which is a necessity of a short thing. You don't have time for creativity and fooling around.

They used to call Tom Foolery. You familiar with that? I am fully. I feel familiar with time and Tom. Tom and Time Foolery. So another tip, I think, for long practice sessions that helps me is even I think you have to take frequent breaks. Yes, potty breaks, breathing breaks, meditative, many kinds of breaks we must take. Many kind of breaks.

But one break, I don't think that you should take. is a screen break. Like, I don't think you should check your phone. No. If you can't help it, like, please don't open up your Facebook and start. Because that's just the rabbit hole that can waste half an hour, an hour. And you had two hours, and now you have 15 minutes because you've just wasted it. Like, what you're doing right now?

Like, what's going on? Oh, sorry. No, I have a text coming. I haven't checked. I'm not bad. That was a joke. That was working in. We had the video be better.

No, but go, like, go make some tea or go for, like, a brief walk around the block. or get some food or something. Clear your head. You need that time away from the instrument while you're in these long stretches. But don't turn on the TV or check your phone

or open your laptop. See if you can just keep off of the trappings that take our attention away from what we need to be doing. You have plenty of time the rest of the day to do it. That's right.

And you know you'll do it all for the rest of the day. So just these sacred two hours, three hours that you have on the instrument keep off of those devices. Well, and you, that, tip right there that's worth the price of admission to this podcast here you'll hear it no really i mean

a lot of people can be like no no get me to the like what do you practice but pay attention to that that's one of the biggest barriers for modern humans i think in developing in in music and in any kind of endeavor that requires a certain kind of mindset of creativity is that we have to have a break and to breathe and and and and now we have a thing where you never have to have a break there is no like I'm bored or let me let my mind be clear so that something hopefully creative might drift into it because we have these devices that are so easy to like, I mean, a lot of people just, and I mean, I've been, you know, guilty of this. I've just gotten a lot more mindful about my use. I mean, that's what it takes. You've got to be mindful and I don't mean to hijack us off of the practice

thing. But it's important. Drop down and give me some mindfulness today, son. Lovely. No, but it's like, you have to be mindful about how you use these devices or you're going to lose the ability, even when you go back, and shift back to the practice to really get fully done what you can get done. And when you've got these bigger stretches, that's where the creativity, that's where the magic can happen.

That's where the Montessori playing around can come to fruition. But if you leave this and don't go to a clear mind and are going, you see, because people feel like, oh, when I go to the device, I'm just zoning out, I'm just checking.

No, you're not. You're zoning into something else. You're making your mind work in a different way. They've spent literally billions of dollars on these apps that make you, like, to grab your attention.

How's it paying off for them? I think it's okay. It's pretty good. But for us, it's killing our minds. They're good at it. And yeah, for your attention, it sucks. Yeah. So if you can help it, you know, don't include your screens in your practice session.

It's hard because people use their phones and their computers and their practice sessions. But if you can stay off of social media trappings, it really, really helps. Another thing I'd like to suggest is we talk about keeping a practice journal about, like, having a plan in the journal. But in these long practice sessions, it helps to keep track of what you're doing. Yes. You know, because you're doing so much. And the longer periods of time where you have focused practice,

the more things you can discover. Yeah. And you can discover maybe five, ten things in a two-hour practice session, and you could forget one of those things. Like, you need to really track what you're discovering. Yeah.

What your, these are when ideas tend to flourish. So don't let those drop. Keep a detailed practice journal about what you're hitting. Yeah, maybe a little journaling as you go. Could we call it that? You could, yeah. I mean, you could.

Mindfulness journal. For sure. It never helps to kind of just take a step back and, like, reflect on how you're feeling about what's going on or what's actually happening in your, like, physically or mentally or musically with what you're working on. Like, that's great to look back a week later and be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you think you're going to remember. And, like, I almost see this leading to a thing that I used to do where it would be like, I'd have a plan. And I started this when I was practicing a lot of classical music because it was a little bit, there was a sort of built-in, um, regimen to it in terms of like I was working on maybe three different pieces, specific things, and then certain technical exercises. But then there was ways that I wanted to practice. And like I kind of had a plan from my teacher too and some notes from that. So as I would go, I would make a just a general plan at the beginning, but then I would just make a little bit of notes on what happened. And I remember this is before bullet journals in mind. I was ahead of my time. I was actually using a script, you know, like and a parchment paper. No, I wasn't that far. This guy.

No, but it was like, I would make... Telegraphing. I was making notes on like... Ding, ding, ding. Stop. Ding, ding, ding. Yeah. I was making notes on like, you know, learn 17 bars was hoping to get the whole section.

But, you know, just things like that. But then occasionally, and so that's more just sort of tactical, but occasionally it would get into like, you know, it was really feeling good. This was really flowing then. And then, you know, maybe even like a star by it, yes. And on that exercise and then, nah, not really or whatever. And so that's the stuff that you go back, even later that day or the next day. And as you're planning.

your next day can really be beneficial. Man, I think it's just so important. So, so important. So that's it. Those are our tips for how to maximize your long practice sessions. You know, it is different than having 15 minutes. Having two hours takes a different mindset and you're about to go deep on stuff. So.

Try these and also experiment. Yeah, for sure. Let us know what you do. And that's one of the beauties of being able to practice longer as you can afford to experiment. I know we talked about in the 15 minute practice session, you know, out of necessity in order to, I mean, look, with all these things is if you get one micro-brate, in a day you're ahead of the game. For sure.

Because there's been plenty of days when you practice, it's like, man, I'm getting worse. I mean, eventually you might go three days backwards and then one day forwards, that's good too. But if you can get just one kind of edifying thing happening. So when you're in 15 minutes, the pressure's on. When you're in two hours, relax, experiments, see where the flow goes.

You still want to get something done, so you're being mindful about it. But that should be the fun and the joy of the journey. Yes. So I'm going to do you a service here. So we've gotten a few new review. new reviews and I'm going to read one. Can we still get those? Well, we have to because we made a commitment. You made a commitment. I made a commitment. I'm helping you out here. We got to collect the royal we made that

commitment. You know, we got a 12 star review. Come on. 12 star. How did you allow that to happen? That's seven too many. Title of the review. Great Public Service. This is from Ben in the U.S. Just Discover this. We're going to call him Sir Ben. Sir Ben. 12 stars. That might be the most stars. See if you can outstar Ben. Just discovered this podcast a month ago and I'm completely hooked to the only The only downside is I'm much less informed about the world because every free moment I'm cramming in the next golden nugget of wisdom these two impart. I mean, aren't we informing you about the world? What's wrong, Ben?

We should do a podcast on world events. Yes, that would be depressing. Yeah, really. And we'd actually be terrible. We're super uninformed too about most things, but jazz piano. I can't believe how humble. Did you hear Barack Obama was just elected as our new president? Am I laid on that one?

I just got all the feels at once. It's inspiring to hear that. them discuss their own musical challenges and how they overcome them. They have a knack for keeping the aspiring pianist in mind when doing, when doling out advice and they provide invaluable insight into the ultimate question that vexes amateurs such as myself, what exactly should I be practicing? For two hours. Keep up the great work, Peter and Adam, thanks for all you do. Thank you, Ben. That was super nice. We appreciate any ratings and reviews. We appreciate it because it helps get the podcast

out there. And we are seeing a bit of uptick in the amount of people. So we appreciate the ratings We do. Our fans are super great about this. Like, we have the most engaged, like, loyal jazz nerds that you could possibly have. Exactly. It's our people. We're proud to count ourselves among you. This is a safe space.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Did you know that we recently passed, this is a rhetorical question, because I know you know it. We texted each other at 3 a.m. when the news came in. We recently passed one million downloads. I know. I've been impossible to work with. This little, well, because you're always wearing that same dirty t-shirt around one million.

A million. A million. Yeah, no, thank you everybody for helping us reach that milestone. Amazing. That's right. Did you think that when you walked in

that Tuesday morning, like we're starting a daily podcast that we'd reach a million downloads? I knew it. You knew it. I knew it. I didn't think of what happens it was going to take so long,

but it happened. I mean, I didn't mean it was going to be so fast. Now, obviously, we weren't thinking about that at all. And in fact, to the point of when Andrew, our producer and editor

and much of the brawn behind this podcast, young Andrew Kitchen, who's not as young as he used to be as are none of us. later, yeah. But when he informed us about this, I actually was, and you might have been like closer tabs. If he had said we just hit 500,000, I would be like, oh my God, that's awesome. That's such, I just didn't know. But now I check daily. So that's right. Yep. Until tomorrow, you'll hear it.