You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Peter & Adam's New Years Resolutions

Episode Date: December 13, 2019

New Year's Eve might still be a couple of weeks away, but Peter and Adam still decide to fill you in on some things they want to accomplish in 2020.Peter & Adam's New Year's ResolutionsListenSay "no" more oftenMore composingFollow my own narrativeSeek beautyPractice every voicing I already know in every keyInnovateWant every Open Studio course for free? That's right - over 300 hours and 1200 lessons can be yours with free lifetime access! All you have to do is enter Open Studio's 2019 Holiday Giveaway. Go to https://learn.openstudiojazz.com/giveaway/, or watch this video of Peter for more info: https://youtu.be/KsdhVXE5ovILet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.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.

Hey, Adam. Yeah. Have you ever heard the word no moquito? Nomokito. It sounds like my nightmare. Sounds like Fad Adam's dream, though. Fatum. I'm Adamannis.

And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast. Daily jazz advice coming at you. Coming at you. Today, sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open StudioJadio.com to check out all of our courses. We've got courses by pretty much every instrument, but more than anything, we have piano courses.

Right. So if you're jazz pianists, go there. There's a couple of instruments that are, I mean, we can talk about courses, instruments that we have, but let's talk about courses on instruments we don't have. What do you know about an ocarina? You know what that is? I know that... Or ocarina.

It's an ocarina. The ocarina of time is a famous video game, and it's a small, shell-shaped whistle that hippies wear around their neck so that they can annoy anybody anywhere. That's so oddly specific. Hippies and John Ellis. John Ellis usually has an ocarina. What do you mean hippies? So hippies.

Oh. Got it. Whoa. Big shout out to John Ellis. Yes, you're correct. We do not have any courses. I do own an ocarina, though. And I'm not really a hippie.

You would not call me a hippie. I've never seen you wearing your ocarina. Okay, well, I don't know what wearing? Does that mean playing your necklace? Like a necklace. Mine is too big to wear as a necklace. Can you stop time with it? Mine is like a...

I can stop a dog. It's like a dog whistle with that thing for humans when I play it, man. It stops all joy. But, yeah, so we have many courses. but not on the Ocarina. You have to go elsewhere for that. That was a 90-second long Aquarina riff, by the way.

Shababab-pap. Well, this is good because we're already today. We're kind of, we don't know what's going to happen in this episode because we're one past what you wanted to do today. I am. I mean, is this one's my old granddad?

What's going on? You're semi-checked out on this one. But then we pulled you back in when it because your pearly blues did start to twinkle when I said, let's do this on our New Year's resolutions. So that made me realize. You're a little bit.

Resolute. You've got some ideas for the New Year, don't you? You know, I'm not a huge resolution guy because I'm a, you know, I don't know if you know what this is me, but I like to work on things. I like to have a checklist at all times of the year. Yeah. I'm a doer. Yeah. I feel like. Yeah. So. You're not a talk. You're not one of those guys that let's talk about the New Year's resolution. I'm not sitting around in December being like, okay, when January comes. But that's exactly what you're about to do, actually. I know, no, but I do like to, what I do like to do. And I think it's important, even if you are a regular doer with lots of checklist that you have to get done. is to take stock of where you are on the regular and then where you want to be.

And there's no better time to do it in the new year because it feels fresh. I mean, we're in a new decade, not technically, but by all intents and purposes. There's now a two instead of a one. So I know Andrew's going to say, like, it's not a real decade until 20 and 21. You just typed it. I saw it.

It's true. Yeah. But we will consider a new decade. We're in the 20s. Right. And that feels like we should be doing. According to Andrew's logic, we're technically still in the 1900s then because we haven't gotten to 2100 yet.

Right? No, that's not right. The millennium started in 2001. Is that right, Andrew? Yeah. Well, both of you are millennial, so I trust you on that. So that's all good. You're a young one and you're an old.

I'm a cusp. Okay, cool. So we're going to just talk about kind of our New Year's resolutions, and these are very off the cuff. I mean, we just came up with them. We were a little early, but we do like, we both, you know, kind of agree that we do like to kind of be more conceptual as opposed to, like, specific things.

So hopefully these will fit in with that concept. And really, we decided to take off any of the ones that had nothing to do with music. Are we agreed on that? Yeah. Yeah. Like lose that extra 15 pounds or whatever. Yeah, we're not anything that has to do with music. I mean, unless it's lose that 15 pounds so I can reach the piano better, it's not going to make the list.

So number one. Better prepare the podcast? Oh, no. Oh, that's... Oh, that is number one. How did that happen? Okay. Number one is...

Listen. Oh, come on now. Now, listen. This is always number one for a reason. Right. So why would we have to have a resolution for? Well, just to remind ourselves that there's nothing more important. That's right. It's a reaffirmation. It's when you look yourself in the, I mean, this is really

should be a mantra. That's why we keep saying it so much. But it's always at the top of my list for music. And a lot of times my resolutions have been kind of based around, you know, practice routines that I want to implement that really support kind of what those musical resolutions. And I always have listening as a part of that. And I love it because this is one of those New Year's resolutions that's easy and fun. Yeah. You know, like, you know, go on the keto diet or lose 15 pounds, that's, that can be fun when you get to the end result, but that's work. You know, this is, yeah, I guess you could call listening work, but it's joyous work. This is like saying, eat healthy, but you've got like a private chef that's cooking you

the healthiest food, and it's just placed, and it's delightful for you to eat. That's what listening is. That's great, man. It's both good for your body and fun. I love listening to music so much. Yeah. Number two is, this is one I put on there, because I don't know if you know this about me, but I do think that there are 60 hours in a day.

Yes. And then I can do so much. Yeah. And I can't. You're a yes man. I'm a yes man. You're a yes man. And I like to do things.

But you're very, you're very yes to good things. I like to think that I can. You're discerning and you're a yes man. Well, I'm not as discerning as I like to be, which is why my New Year resolution is to say no more often. Okay.

Just limit how much I'm doing. You know what I mean? Because I tend to be like, yeah, I can do that. I can do it. I'm going to test you on it right now. Like when Pete came in and said, let's do a daily podcast. I was like,

I was going to say, How about starting next year? Would you like to do a daily podcast with me? No. Are you going to do it, though? Yes. All right, so we can check that one off as failed. Oh, man.

No, but I think that this is one that really can be hit at a number of different levels within music. We mentioned the other day about play half what you hear. How about saying no more often to things that you want to play in your solo? I'm not pointing the finger at you. No, it's so true. I am pointing a finger at you, but I mean, how about everybody? Like, let's say no to overplaying. Let's say no to playing out of time.

There's so many things we can say no to. I'd say saying no to playing tunes that you don't actually like. How many times are you going to call? There's no greater love, even though you hate that tune. Come on, you know. Say no more. No more. No mas if you're south of the border.

Good. Okay. Number three, I have as one of my resolutions, and this one's kind of specific to this year. So I'm going to kind of put a stake in the ground and ask you all to be my accountability partners. You can be as well, but I'm looking out. There's a lot of people out there listening and watching.

And this is to do more composing. What's been happening over the last few years for me is just the composing that I want to do always gets kind of pushed behind, like, arranging that I need to do, or composing for other people, or working on a project, or working on an open studio. Great stuff, fun stuff. But in terms of, like, my musical development and how I want to spend my time, I've never looked back and be like, oh, I spent too much time composing. It's always like, wow. And I've always done some. I've never stopped doing that. It's just kind of part of who I am.

but I want to do more this year. And I think that's where resolutions can be fun is when you kind of put a stake in the ground and say, look, this is my plan for next year. It's not just about like, okay, I'm going to do 30 minutes of this or whatever. It's like, no, part of my life next year is going to be spent more time composing.

I love it. Yeah. Number four. And not arranging. Don't let me throw that in there. Be like, well, let's do an arrangement. That's not comp- It's not the same thing. It's not your sound.

It's not your sound, but it's not your voice. Number four is follow my own narrative. You put this one in, but this applies for me, too. I was actually, as you put this one in, I was typing something like, be as much me as I can be. Yeah. You know, which is something that I'd say to myself

as I'm losing myself. Well, and this goes good with your say no more often. Right. That enables more time for something to happen, but most likely being able to follow your own narrative, you know, follow your plan when you're saying no to others' plans. And the thing is where I think people get tripped up with this is like you're saying yes to good things

and people have like great ideas and their cool projects and everything. It's just not necessarily always turning. And you can see yourself how like you'd be good in that and you're going to bring something to the table. But then it's like maybe if it is not part of your narrative, that's kind of what becomes the barometer to whether or not you say yes or no.

Nice. Yeah. Okay. Number five, seek beauty. So this is something that one of my YouTubers that's actually not even into music kind of says a lot. And I love it because it really goes along with number one, listen. But it's just a reminder, you know,

and kind of my resolution is to, who always, you know, I think I seek beauty for sure every day in some form. But I want to go next level and be like every hour. You know, and that could be looking at a great piece of art, even if you're looking at it on a screen or whatever, or listening to some great music or, you know, listen to someone who speaks beautifully. I mean, the world is so amazing, you know. And, I mean, yeah, if you live in California in Santa Barbara by the beach,

you can just sit on the beach and seek beauty. It comes to you, you know. They're all the time. But, I mean, even in St. Louis here, We like to kid it, but there's some beautiful places around here. Actually, Missouri is gorgeous. Yeah. Missouri is gorgeous.

Missouri is gorgeous. The Ozarks. We've talked about the Ozarks on the show before. They are beautiful. They are beautiful. A little dangerous. There's some toothless folks now there. It's not dangerous, man. Come on.

You enjoy squirrel? Do you enjoy hunting or? It's possible. No, no, it's true. But I mean, that just shows like there's beauty everywhere, but I want to seek more of it a bit. I think I do a good job, like, you know, my little kind of daily. or every other day, depending on the season run, isn't one of the most beautiful parts of St. Louis

Forest Park. This is incredible. And I know the thing like the back of my head, I've been in every corner of that park, but I kind of do the same thing every day. And then, like, I was at that race in Tower Grove Park last week. Tower Grove Park's beautiful. I'm never over there.

So, like, there's so many places you never could be like, I mean, I'm thinking of like the ugliest place I've been in the world. And it had some beautiful parts, you know? St. Louis has some. Oh, sorry. No, that was. Tower Grove Park is amazing.

It is. It's incredible. It's gorgeous. And then those parks out west, well, we'll do that on our seven list of St. Louis parks. Number six is, this is another one of mine, practice every voicing I already know in every key. Okay, now you're getting specific now. This actually is a very... You put your line in the sand on that one. No, no, we had an episode a couple weeks ago.

We were kind of talking about voicings, and I was like, you know what? I have all these... I'm always kind of like finding new voicings when I transcribe or coming up with a system or something. And there are some that I have. haven't I haven't locked in every key, you know what I mean? So shame on me. Yeah. And that's a goal for me.

No, that's great. That's great. I've never done that. It wouldn't kill me at all. Not to learn everyone that you know, but to know everyone that I know. Yeah. And then you can always expand out as well. For sure.

But even if, like, say this is someone else, even if you only know a few kinds of voicing, make sure you have them in all keys. That's going to become incredibly handy as we go along here. Yeah, good thing. Okay. And then for the last thing I have here for our resolutions. And then we're going to talk if you want to trade some. We could do a barter system.

I might trade one of mine for one of yours. Okay, maybe not. My last one is to innovate. And this one is very much a mindset thing too. But it's about like I don't want all my resolutions to be about like do more like more composing. It's great. And to listen, but I already know those things and I'm going to do them. It's more of like just a reminder.

But to innovate me and what that means is like to be constantly not forcing an innovation, but to have that as a responsibility in my music, you know, and that could be from the level of during a solo or with the composing or with the voicing or whatever. But it's like I want to come up with do things because that's part of being an artist, you know? I'm not saying I have to innovate to the level of Beethoven or whatnot. It's not about that.

But it's like I want to be innovating in 2020 with my piano playing. That's great, man. Yeah. Awesome. Now you want to trade, I bet. I do want to trade. Can I innovate? instead? Well, actually, now that I'm thinking

of it, you could join in and we would invite the listeners to join in with these or share the ones that you have. I think New Year's resolutions, the challenge is always not, I mean, we get so inspired at the end of the year. We can come up with a list that you're still typing, so maybe you're checking an email. But you know, we can come up with a hundred things

so easy, and then you can set yourself up for failure by week two. It's like, oh man, I only, I've already failed on some of these. But I think these, you know what I love about this list and I'm looking back? These are all open-ended enough even the practice, I mean, the most probably specific is the practice every voicing I already know in every key. But you're not saying like practice every day, every voicing I had know in every key, which wouldn't be bad.

No, no, no. But you're not backing yourself into a corner that by January 8th that, you know. Yeah, no. And I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get all these in by February. No, we're going to beat each other up, though. That's called accountability partner. That's right. Yeah.

All right. Good stuff. So we want to wish everybody, we're still going to hear from us before the new year. but we're not sure exactly well episodes are coming out every day as folks know but we're going some best of and we're going into i don't know if you knew about this season six very soon after the holiday yeah after that is that right andrew going on season six man it's like six years no well it's like six dog years it is kind of six dog years it is um we just randomly start seasons whenever we feel well but sometimes they do fall it to be but we are coming up on our three

year or two year depending on how you count it anniversary i don't know if you know that Is our three year? We're going to be entering our third year. So technically we're just finishing our first year. Because we started the last week of January or the first week of February. Yeah, yeah. 2017. That's right.

It's only been two years. It's only been two years. It feels like the longest few years in my life. But that's fun. So we'll be, that's going to be our two year anniversary or three year? I still only. That'll be our two year. Okay, two years.

So what are you getting me for our two year anniversary? Something purple. Is that, why does that keep coming? on your mind. Is that paper or gold? I don't know what two year anniversary. I think it's microphone. Microphone. It's the two year. Right, Andrew? Two year podcast anniversary is a new microphone. Okay, that's going to be awesome.

But it's very excited. We have some great new innovations coming to year. We're going to be in a new setup. I don't know if that's going to be right at the beginning of season six. You mean so we won't be able to just reach over here? Well, we're going to be reaching over, but it ain't going to be a crannock or a Bach. It's going to sound like Bach and you will hear it.