You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Weird Practice Habits That Actually Kinda Work

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

Adam and Peter get into some unconventional practice habits that actually work? Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey Peter. Hey, what's up, Adam? You ready for it to get weird up in here? Well, we are remotely recording this, so I'm kind of okay with him. So you've got to tell me, no, I'm not okay with it getting weird up in here. I'm Adam Ennis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear Podcast.

Weird jazz. We don't talk enough about weird jazz, man. There's a lot of weird jazz out there. Isn't that what people just think of as jazz, though? Yeah, for most people, that's just. jazz, but there is some actual weird stuff that we could get into, which might be fun. You started to say jazz like Fred Armistead, I realized. You've just adopted that.

I'm not a fan of jazz. Jazz. Jazz. His voice goes up nearly an octave. Listen to that again. I'm not a fan of jazz. Jazz is a nice overtone. Man, Fred, so funny.

No, we're talking about something kind of interesting today, which is Peter and Adams' weird practice habits that actually work. You know, Peter, when you've been doing this as long as we have, you get some weird habits with stuff. That's right. And usually any habit I have right now is because it actually, A, feels good. Like it's a pleasant activity for me. Or B, it actually makes me better.

Right. And I mean, sometimes it's like, this is why it's good to talk with each other in this form or whatever about these kinds of things because musicians don't always talk. about their, like they talk about how they're going to rehearse. They see how each other rehearses. But practice is a very solitary activity for most people. I mean, by its very nature. And so I think these, some of these things I didn't even know were weird until I started talking to people about it. It's like, what? You don't do that or whatever. And it's sort of, I think successful practice techniques and habits are usually like kind of an amalgamation of influences.

I like that. Look at the big brain on Peter. Elagamation. So it's like, you know, one teacher will tell you this. You try it out. It works. You'll forget this, but you don't remember this. And you're taking it advice from different places. And then, but ultimately, it's like what works for you.

But I found that most things are not that peculiar to me or to you or whatever. So like, yeah, certain things I only will work from one person. But usually if you're in the right situation, these kinds of, you know, weird things even. And the reason I think we're basically. I think we're basically saying these weird ones and people are like, what, that works? Or really, you do that? That's what we mean by weird.

Yeah. Yeah, and we've got a really nice list here to kind of hopefully blow some minds, Pierre, because, you know, I often find, I don't know about you, but like, we often think of practice is this, there's so much to practice or whatever, but sometimes how you do your practice session,

not even what you do, but how you do it can be more beneficial than what you're actually working on. Like how you approach it and some of the, the quote-unquote, weird techniques or weird things that you hue up and how you approach, like simple things like scales, if you do them in a weird way, can actually make you a better player and make you rethink scales completely, which is kind of the point, right, of practicing is to get familiar from all sides. So sometimes going at things from, you know, a weird angle can be very, very beneficial for your regular non-weird performances. Yeah, because in those situations, weird means different. It means unusual. It means out of the order. for you at that particular time. So it's like, I mean, ultimately practicing it's about solving problems, right?

It's about preparing to be in a situation by solving problems, technical problems, musical problems, ear training, whatever. And so like any kind of problem, if you only look at it from one angle, you're not always going to be able to fix it or you're not going to be able to find the most interesting or efficient way. You've got to change up your angle, brough, as we would say in New Orleans, New Orleans. Change up the angle. Okay, so we got quite a few queued up, so let's get to it.

So what's our first weird practice habit that actually works? All right. I'll kick it off with one that I think is kind of weird from talking to folks, and that is that I take random breaks in my practice sometimes. And this is weird, I would say, because it's a little counterintuitive to what we preach here at the pod, which is usually like very focused practicing, very much like have a plan, you know, have your practice session,

be efficient, make the most of it. But I find that, not always, but often enough that it's part of my weird routine, that I'll just take random breaks. Like, if I feel like taking a break from something, even if it's like I'm really getting somewhere, like I'll just sort of listen to that little voice inside of me. It's like take a break. I'll go out and just walk around. Yeah, nice.

And down like at our studio when we're at the old location, I used to walk, and that's kind of a weird neighborhood anywhere with some weird ghosts. So that was kind of fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'll just, just, just quick change of scenery. And so, and there, and. being random, not planning that part out, taking them whenever. Now, that doesn't mean just because something's harder, you're banging your head against the

wall, you run away from that problem because it's still going to be facing you when you come back. But if you're a little bit random, just get up, get away from the instrument for a few minutes. Trust yourself, you know, go with the flow of the, that is part of going with the flow of your practice routine, I would say. Absolutely true. Yeah, listen to your body. Listen to your mind. You know, our mind is the thing we're working out. And so if you are rambling as you practice or just getting into like running your fingers over all the stuff you already know how to play, it's not going to be very helpful.

So just take a break. Rambling, rambling, rambling, keep that wagon rambling. Random, rambling. Say random rambling. It's ten times fast. That's a tough one. I love the candy rangers song. Kenny Rogers.

Number two is, and this seems so obvious, but I'm always shocked when people ask and this is the answer. Everything you do with your right hand, do with your left hand. So, you know, one of our artists here. Problem solved. Problem solved. One of our artists here is Jeffrey Kieser, and Keyes has a legendary left hand. He can do anything with his right hand with his left hand that he can do with his right hand. And so whenever we have a Q&A or a master class with Kieser, he always gets asked about that.

He's like, how do you have such a strong left hand? And he always says that. Everything I practice them are right hand, I practice with my left hand. And everybody's like, and it is weird, right? Because the different roles that our hands have traditionally, in like the piano trio format, you know, You've got your hands playing the chords, your left hand playing the chord, your right hand playing the melody, and made the two never mix. But actually, if you want to be a complete pianist, you have to be able to do both with both. And so that goes both ways, too.

We talk about this all the time here of, like, whatever left-hand voicings you're doing, make sure you can also do them in your right hand, because it's going to be very, very handy for a number of circumstances, not least of which is melodic content, is being able to play chords melodically in your right hand. And the same thing with your left hand. play Donnelly with your right hand. You better be able to play it with your left hand. You know what I mean? And try to get to the same tempo and the same proficiency, and then all the rising tide lifts all boats kind of scenario. I feel you.

Or as we would say, if we're in France, absolutely. Man, sophistication just oozes la out. Lout. Delors. Okay. La Mere. Rising time. I'm sorry.

The solet. A bitto. Arrivae. Bigots. Okay. Sorry. Okay. Another weird thing that I do, Adam, with my practice, is sometimes I just get up and, like, just jump on the piano.

I just dive right in. That's so weird. That's so random and weird. You're such a weird. Well, it's weird because it's like I'm not, like, warming up. I'm not mentally preparing. I'm not doing my pre-practice yoga and meditation or anything. It's a little bit, it'll be the opposite of intentional.

No, no, no, no. But I would also say this is a little bit of an advanced technique. Like if you put a lot of hours into practice, you can kind of do that. Because I'll do this sort of like the random breaks. I only do it sometimes if I'm feeling it. But I'll do it really on an instinctual level. No, you know, this is actually an old writer's trick as well. Because our brains are fresh in the morning.

And especially this is, I do this for composition. I don't do this for piano technique. I should try it. But if I'm writing, I will make sure that the first thing I do before I check my phone, before I talk to my family, before I go on a walk or do yoga, meditate or whatever, is I will start the writing process. And especially if I'm trying to come up with ideas, because that can be our most fertile time for creativity, because our minds are completely rested and we're very close to that sleep state that we were just in. This is something

that I think a lot of writers know is can be very valid. Like a lot of writers talk about going and writing, you know, first thing in the morning every day, just starting to write free hand and see what comes out for ideas. And I feel you on this. Okay, so this is not that weird then. I feel better. No, this is actually cliche, man. So, um, done and done. Okay. Cool. All right.

So let's just see here. So, yeah, number four is, yeah, the weird one for me is to practice the concept on different instruments, if it's possible on different instruments. I mean, I'll even practice things on like, I have an accordion sitting right at my piano, jealous. And I'll practice

I'll practice lines on the accordion, you know, that I'm working on, like, concepts. It's a totally, like, different, you know, size key even. Or practicing voicing's on guitar. I love doing that. I'll practice tunes I'm learning on the piano. I'll sing them, you know, to, like, really learn them even deeper, like, learn how to sing them. All of that, I have a bass handy. I'll learn, you know, tunes on the bass.

I'll learn lines on the bass. It all helps to, to, I think. hammer at home, you know? And it's been very effective for me for, especially for like, like, we get asked a lot about like, how does, how do I incorporate the things that I'm trying to learn so they come out? This, for me, learning things on different instruments across platforms. It just, something about it reaffies it in my brain to where it comes out naturally in my playing. Yeah, a little bit of a variation on that, you know, looking at the problem from a different angle, taking the same thing, different prism. All right, okay, want to hear something

else weird. Yeah. Okay. Sometimes I set a timer to accomplish something, give myself some time limit parameters. All right. And I think that's weird because, you know, when we're talking about something artistic, there is no time limit on that. But I'll even do this on, like, composing or arranging.

Something that I might have the tendency to kind of just keep meandering around and never really kind of come to a final decision on. and just maybe some great ideas, but sometimes you just need that pressure. So I'll be like, okay, if I've got these eight bars of arranging, I've got to get done, I'm going to set the timer for 45 minutes, and like I have to be done, whatever I have done. And what I'll see, what I'll notice is after like 40 minutes,

I'm still don't have any of those eight bars. But that last five minutes, all of a sudden I write the eight bars and they're done. That's funny. Move on, you know. But for me, just knowing that at 45 minutes, I love the fact, like this is especially, I'll do this when I'm really kind of struggling to, to get something finished.

And so as soon as you put that timer on, it's this feeling of like relief and satisfaction. Oh, in 45 minutes, I'm going to be finished with this part. It's going to be over. Deadlines are so important, man, so, so so important. And sort of, I love this idea. I don't do this, but I'm going to start

because I'm really good with a deadline and I do the same thing. Like, I'm really good with the deadline in that if you give me a week to do something, a few hours before I have to turn it in, I really put my head down, you know, and get it done. This is just a more compressed.

version of that. That's all that is. I love it. I love it. We will be right back. I'm going to grab another headphones. Oh, okay, hold on. Pause, Caleb. Pause, Caleb. Caleb's going to have to edit this. Or maybe not. Maybe we're already back, folks. I don't know. Are we already back? Well, I, you know, I was just telling the folks that maybe Caleb would edit this out, but let's, let's show them, buddy. It's a weird thing that happens when we're trying to make podcasts. Are you trying to go with full transparency here at the You'll Hearer podcast? There's nothing wrong with full transparency. I mean, we've always been, we've never been transparent.

We've never seen that. No, we've never actually showed how the sausage is made, but we could. Well, actually, being fully transparent would be segue nicely to my next weird piano technique is that I practice sometimes in fully transparent of Voltamaltz, which is French for clothing. And we're back. you still not want to edit that part out but that's one i'm not going to steal no is it my turn or your turn it's your turn and let's do one more here peter just one more okay i got a couple more let me see iny meiny mighty more my anymore um okay well this this was really weird i used to do this when my kids were little sometimes due to scheduling things

But I would practice in the middle of the night. I mean, like, really late. That's crazy. And then, like, wake up and be thinking about something I needed to practice or prepare for or work on, just go downstairs. And this is when we're in in New Orleans in one of the particular house that we're in that I thought was rather large and that they couldn't hear. But it turns out they could hear it. Yeah. But it didn't wake them up.

Because I did this from when they were really young, I was able to indoctrinate them into the dark hearts of jazz. Or as Fred Arvice, they would say. I'm not a fan of jazz. Jazz, but by playing and subtly by osmosis, impregnating my children's ears with the wonderful jazz sounds, then they became fans of jazz, I think. So it's like the city noises, you know, that you just get used to, and then you go out in the country and it's quiet and you're like,

what is going? Why is it so quiet? Exactly, exactly. Yeah, but that was just sort of the, the byproduct of it, but I really, I don't know, it was just in the middle of the night, it would be quiet. It would be, you know, like dark and whatever and just a lot of solitude. So I haven't done this recently, but I used to get a lot of really good practice done in the middle of the night. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I love that one.

Man, I'm trying to think if I could do that one. See, the problem with that one for me now is I got to get my sleep, man. I got to get my eight hours solid. I can't be waking up in the middle of the night. Yeah, we didn't have all this info and YouTube videos and time, you know, sleep therapies. Yeah, you could also at that point in your life probably sleep till 10 or 11 a.m. If you really wanted to. Exactly.

Yeah. It's a different time. It's a different time. Well, Peter, I think this was just weird enough to be useful. It was very weird. The whole thing was weird. And thank you guys for listening as always. If you enjoyed the pod, thank you. But if you really want to show your love, go and leave us a rating.

and or a review. Actually, you know what? No, I'm going to say, please go and leave us a rating and a review. Double it up. Seven stars. I'm going to correct that again.

Go right now. Leave us a rating review and make it seven stars. Thank you very much. Yeah, don't move over to another podcast. Don't go listen in to Rich Roll or Smartless or something. Go leave a rating and review.

Seven stars right now. And give Peter some nice compliments here on his fantastic basement. audio setup. It sounds great, man. It's pretty good. It's not that. Was I clipping at all? I apologize. I don't think so, man. I think it sounds awesome.

It doesn't sound stupid. You know, it sounded like you were playing the right notes. We're trying here. All right. Well, till next episode. You'll hear it. I'm not a fan of jazz.