You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - My Practice Routine Isn't Working-HELP! - #35

Episode Date: October 12, 2018

In this episode, Peter and Adam discuss some ways to kick start a stalled practice routine. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yeah, what's up, Adam? You know, we record a string of these things, you know, a carboload. Yeah, you're eating my trail mix again, buddy. Yeah, sorry about that one. I'm Adam Ennis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. Daily Jazz advice coming after you.

Brought to you by Open Studio. Man, I feel so much better. Thank you for sharing that trail mix with me. No problem, man. It's a little snacks with a Z. It trends sweet that trail mix. It does trend sweet. But that's not the sweet.

That one does not have actual Milky Way bars in it. Some of them. I like the ones with like Reese's pieces. I like, almonds, chocolates and more chocolates. It's really like the most calories you can get for the weight if you are a professional hiker. That's right. However, I said it a piano all day.

That's right. It's all good. So what are we talking about today? What are we talking about today? Today we are talking about help. Help! My practice routine isn't working. Right.

So, yeah, I think this is going to be a little bit of a self-help, maybe a bit of a motivational episode of the You'll Hear It podcast. You can do it. You can do it. Yeah. You are somebody. If your practice routine is stalling out, you know, what are some techniques, what are some tips we can give to maybe help get you back on track?

Yeah. Has this ever happened to you? I'm sure it does. Yes, it has. In fact, I was just going to say, I think that this cry for help has happened to every jazz player. Yeah, frequently probably. Yeah.

And certainly the frequency can be there. And so I think that's maybe the first thing when you feel like that, like, like, Like what I'm thinking about with this is, you know, maybe you put in a new routine or you've got a routine going and it's working and then all of a sudden it's not working. Or maybe it just doesn't work from when you start. Either one can happen. And what that is is, I think the practice routine. And that's why, you know, well, I'll just say, like a practice routine has to be fluid. Like it's certainly maybe you get lucky and you have a certain routine and that works for six months, exactly like it is.

That would be a long time. That would be a long time. But even like how you evaluate and monitor its effectiveness, that has to be fluid. And you have to be very attentive to that so that you can make. I don't think it's a matter of like totally redoing things if you're paying attention. It's like readjusting, having different things that you can pull in and out is the key. Because you never want to get to that help. My whole routine doesn't work.

Maybe it's like help. I'm missing out on this or whatever. But there are times when you just have to kind of do a wholesale, let's redo it. Let's break everything down. and let's whiteboard up a whole new thing. Absolutely. You know, we get asked a lot about, like, how do I know when to move on? Or how do I know if I've learned it right?

Or, you know, and this kind of falls to me in the same category as this help my practice routine isn't working. Because the answer is, and you would mention you kind of like you listen to your body, you know. Like, have you ever, and I'm sure you haven't, but have you ever like gotten a little, maybe you're out on the road, you're eating a little too much, like decadent food. You're maybe having one too. I'm a habit. It's literally my daily routine on the road. You have one too many cocktails at night. And then eventually, you know, if you keep that up for like, you know, 10, 14, 35 nights at a row.

Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, oh, yeah. No, your body starts giving you signs. Not if you're 22. Not if you're 22. But if you're 42, yes. But your body will start kind of giving you clues that like, yo, I can't do this. Right. You know, this is not me. I'm still alive. Yeah. And so that that idea of paying attention. to your body in that regard. But I think on the practice routine is paying attention to your mind, paying attention to your creative mind,

also to your body. Your body can definitely go through stress if you're doing the same thing repetitively. Yep. But really, if you feel like you are not absorbing things, if you're not connecting to the things you're practicing, to me that's the first red flag of like, all right, it's time to switch something up.

Yeah. You know, whatever that is. Well, this is great because I just realized from what you said, the answer to this number one can be, listen, which we always love to do that. Listen, yeah, yeah, yeah. We haven't done a number one listen in a while.

We had a while, actually, but yeah. So like listen to your body, listen to your mind, listen to what sounds are coming out of your instrument as you practice. But I think like if you're to that point of help my practice routine isn't working and you've kind of checked to make sure, wait, wait, are you sure it's not working? Because we've got to remember, too, that having an effective practice routine does not mean that every day you're going to get better. Right.

Or at least that you're going to feel like. you're getting better. I think every day you should feel like you're making progress, but there's inevitable, you know, hill, you know, what are they called? Valleys and Valleys and Hills. Peeks and valleys. Peaks and valleys, those too, you know. And so sometimes, you know, as you get more attuned to what your development is and how you respond to things, and it's basically as you get older. Yeah. Like you get a better assessment of that because sometimes when you're younger, you can actually be making progress and not realize that you are because you don't have the patience. That's right. So we want to first make sure that the health.

help is a real help, you know, because to me, there's always some level of like progress, even if it's kind of a maintenance or reviewing kind of stage, that's still progress in some ways. But if you evaluate it in terms of can I do something that I couldn't have done at the beginning of the day, maybe not. Doesn't mean it's an ineffective practice day or practice routine. But you want to be checking. Now, as weeks go by, you should be making progress in specific areas, but most of these areas, especially as you get better, the grading gets very small. So you have to have that patience to kind of push through that and not get that feedback from yourself.

But if you are working on something specific or you have a practice routine, you've been working, and maybe you've tried switching it up, there are some things you might consider trying to see if it can be more effective. And hey, listen, we're always trying to optimize everything we're doing with any of this stuff. So, you know, and the first is, I think, is a little bit of reflection. right to maybe like make an account of am I not am I actually not making progress because you like you said you might be and you don't even you just don't see it you know so maybe like do a little bit of a of a numbers crunch on you know can I do this can I do this in this key

can I do this at this tempo and if you can do that again better in a few weeks then your routine is working right right yeah it might not be able to be measured on a daily or certainly hourly basis yeah and with our you know current society it's like everything has to happen right away and this music hasn't really changed like how we access it makes it feel like it's changed and like what it takes to play it because of the technology that's available what we can hear the knowledge and information we can get from all around the world immediately it's like wow everything can be sped up but the reality of it is the whole 10,000 hours thing which you know I

don't necessarily believe in totally but the concept that it takes a lot of hard work and experience and grit to get through that and that process is actually what builds you into an interesting and potentially great improviser. That's right. There's not really a shortcut for that. So the better, now, having said that, if you're like, help, my practice routine isn't working, if you're using as kind of your metrics that I want to become a great player, I am patient, then, and you're measuring it by those things, and that's fine, make the adjustments to make

sure that's happening. But remember, that process and that grit and that ear training and all these things that you acquire in the process, that's where it's at. that's where the magic's at. And so it's not going to be like, man, I did all the things that you said to do, and I still can't play fast. It's like, okay, no, these elements that we recommend have to be put together. They have to be practiced thoughtfully.

And then they have to be repeated and practice a shit ton of times. That's right. Years and years. I mean, there is no getting around that. So if you're feeling like, oh, I'm not making progress and that's frustrating you, I would say then a couple of things is really try to switch it up. Like really, really. Like, I've been working on technique for the past month or so.

I've been really, like, going at scales and arpeggios in different ways to do it pretty hard. And I hit a wall. And as I've done dozens, if not scores of times in my career here. And so, like, this week, I'm just like, you know what? I'm doing all transcribing this week, all ear training. I'm just bringing my headphones with me wherever I go. I'm getting this solo. I'm getting this orchestration that I want to learn.

That's smart. You know what I mean? And then I'll come back to the technique stuff in a couple weeks. It'll be fresh. It's so smart. And so like you kind of had, then what you, I didn't realize I recently helped my practice routine as a working moment. I just was feeling like I wasn't as, for me, when I, when I pay attention to my sort of flow with this, if I'm not able to concentrate, if I'm not, if I'm not excited about what I'm practicing, if I'm not like coming out with good feelings and good ideas, it might be time for me to, it might be just getting stale. And then I'll see diminished returns because I'm not focused as I should be.

I love practicing the diminished returns, man. The diminished returns are very much more scale. But you know what I'm saying, where it's like switching it up can sometimes really kick you into. I think that's really smart. I think once you get to a high level like you're at, you can, I would say for a beginner or even intermediate, you have to be a little bit careful because there's still important elements that you're just kind of have to do to work through and that you can't totally let go of. But once you've got all the essential stuff, I mean, not to say that you're not trying to still work on things and progress,

but you can afford to kind of abandon technique, but like put that to the side. And I think that's a smart way to, because you're going to be so much more effective, efficient, and happier in your practice when you're doing something that you feeling good about. And that's that adjustment. Help. What do I? My routine. Change up the routine. Totally.

Change up the routine. And there's enough things we need to work on. And you have the advantage. I mean, yeah, ideally we're working on every, you know, element of music, the five elements or whatever we've identified exactly 20% each day. But that's not the way our minds. I mean, there might be one day out of the month when your mind works like that. Yeah. But the other days, it's not working like that.

I think that's a great routine, the five, you know, the five that are, that's great for like an intermediate player. Right. I think to hit those things because you can progress on all of them fairly quickly. And you need to. I mean, you kind of need to, like, to get those elements better to fit in the pieces. But once you have them, it's more like refinement. I think this kind of really focused practice. And that's also why, and I think that, you know, we've stayed pretty true to this, we're much more regimented at the beginner level and then still some at the intermediate level. And look, there's, you know, certainly big grade.

areas as far as when you're moving in and out of these and less so with the advanced in terms of what we preach about a practice routine. Yeah. And we're a lot more about the like get into the flow state when you're at the advanced level because we've seen individually and we've seen in others like rapid progress when you're doing that. And that's what an effective practice routine is about. Yeah, you get to a point where you can be regimented in the session. Yeah. And then you're kind of day to day can be where you're feeling it a little more when you get the more advanced you get. But you know, what's funny to about this is, you know, I'm day one into, you know, this ear training week that I'm going to do. And I was transcribing the solo and I already

unlocked a technique thing. Yeah. You know what I mean? That I'm going to take with me in a couple weeks when I go back to it that I was like, oh, that's that sound that I... And you can make a note of it. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think, too, that what you're going to see is, you know, I've definitely experienced this and I'll forget and then remember the next time it happens is if you do an intensive, you know, technique thing, ear training, vocation. vocabulary, whatever it is, you're concentrating, then you're like almost burnt out on it or about to be. And that's another key is like you start to learn before you get to that help might, you know, like right before, because you know it's coming, you know, and then you can make that adjustment.

That's that kind of mature practicing. But your gains will continue technically because now you've got time for it to marinate, like when you're sleeping. And, you know, it's like you're thinking about things and you're like, oh, I got to write that down. But there's certain things you think about, I don't know. For me, I'm just like, I don't even have to write it down. Like that's so smart or not smart, but like, like someone will say somewhere, I'll read something. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm not even going to write that.

I'm like, I know, even with all the other crap, that'll come back. Yep. And so I think like certain things, especially practicing technique or whatever. Or it's like, you know, you go to the gym and work out and then you look at your muscles, you're like, ugh, they're not really bigger. But you wake up the next morning, you're like, ba-b-bao. Totally. That's after that steroids.

Yeah. No, but I mean, you know, as you're sleeping, you're growing. You're growing. And it's happening. And then as you're doing your ear training, the technique stuff is starting to have its chance to manifest. itself in actual music now. So those gains continue. You never stop and just evaluate yourself there,

and it's a static thing. We're always moving forward. Yeah, and I think another kind of cure for burnout, and this is one you have to be careful with, but that's to take some time off. I mean, if you're really feeling like you're not able to make any progress, you're beating your head against the wall, getting very frustrated, step away from the instrument for a while.

A couple days, even a week if you have to, like, you know, you don't want to get in the habit of not being connected to your instrument, I think. Right. I mean, I remember when I first started taking some time off from the instrument when I was, like when I was really got into playing and I was a kid, the only time would be when we take like a road trip or something with my family. And even then, I was so obsessed with it, like, we would stop and I'd go to like some church

and practice or play or whatever. But like, I remember for like a couple days being away from the piano or a week and then coming back and I was like, kind of like, wow. But I had this, the instrument felt different, like, in a, you know, a, such a unique way than when you're hitting it every day. It's true. It's like you really, I mean, that's an example of your mind's kind of taking over some other elements, you know, things that you're working on. You don't lose, I mean, you lose a little bit of, you know, agility maybe, but I mean, definitely more at the beginner level.

That's why it's always like to do a little bit each day. But what you gain in terms of insight and perspective and freshness coming to the instrument is great. So true. Yeah. Well, this is great, man. Help! I like the title. Do we save them?

I don't think so, but hopefully we gave you some fresh ideas. Hopefully we threw you a little musical life wrap. That's right. Ways to switch it up and maybe break through that wall if you're trying to get. Now, we haven't talked about something in a few days. Well, officially we're not big on the ratings reviews anymore. We're not? No, we heard it from up top at Open Studio.

Stop with all the yearning for the adulation. Wait, wait, wait, aren't you up top at Open Studio? Well, no, apparently not. I thought I was because I would have kept doing it. But as it turns out, we do care. We care deeply. Not about us. It's not about us.

It's about our lovely listeners. But we get in a little international love, which is always fun. Because we see the stats. We know folks are out there, but for some reason, you know, I mean, USA is our highest listenership, but we have a lot. We're in like a bunch of other countries, 40-something countries, I believe, right? Yeah, we're in, no, we're in more than that. Oh, we're more than that.

Yeah. Podcast? Yeah, we're in like 50-something? Okay. I don't know. Yo, yo, we go worldwide. I don't have the numbers in front of me, boss. Jorgensen.

Jorgensen, give me those numbers. But so we got a little love from the UK. That's awesome. This was a review on iTunes, and the title is plus another seven stars from the UK. Love listening to this on my commute to work in the morning, and then an emoji of, what do you call that, a okay sound? Okay, yeah. A-O-K. A-K.

Used cars. by Villa Barani from UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Yeah, yeah. So that was cool. That was kind of our last one. Five stars, but seven stars in the title. We love that. Thank you very much.

Makes this feeling more important. We do ask, if we're going to talk ratings and reviews, we do ask for at least seven stars. Now, this is impossible, as we all know. Well, you say it's impossible, yet I keep seeing it. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, okay. You know, leave it in the subject, the title of the review and the review itself.

We've had as money as 10 and a half. We've had infinite once, but that's just kind of, that's... So you're saying week seven, but I don't think you should be so dictatorial. I think that we ask. We ask. No, but that's if they like it. They don't like it, do six. That's fine.

No problem. We can take constructive criticism. Not a problem. Six stars. So we had one more, a couple days before. I love the name of this person. It's from do-do-do-stick. I love that one, too.

Yeah, do-do-stick. Do-do stick. I'm thinking, like, the Duky stick. I'm hoping, right? Fun and informative, five stars, I really like, come on, five stars, really? Okay, it's all good. I really like this podcast. It's a great way to learn new ways of approaching jazz performance and discover new to me music,

and it helps make my commute to work pleasurable. Hey, everyone's commuting out here. I like that. We commute. You listen to a podcast when you commute? I listen to sometimes I listen to this podcast. You know what? I'm ashamed to say I do too.

I just want to check the quality more than anything. I like to be entertained. I'm kind of entertained by it. I'm not going to lie. But my commute is my number one podcast. absorption time. Why? You know,

I like a lot to like comedy podcasts, murder mystery podcasts. My man, you're classy. Well, class it up, man,

I'm madden. Hashty classy. Well, hashtag you'll hear it.