You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - What To Practice

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

It's another live edition of You'll Hear It where Peter and Adam take your questions - today, they get the much-asked question of what the best things to work on during practice sessions are. (Tip: practice journals are a helpful tool to maximize your practice session efficiency)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.Tuesday's Open Studio Live Events:1:00 PM - Adam's Daily Guided Practice Session (for Members Only)For the rest of this week's calendar, follow this linkLet 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.

Let's get a couple more, I think we got. That's awesome. Oh, look, Antonio Collier's Joe Beam's on the... Oh, no, that's Molly Evans saying Antonio's Collar Showbbing. Oh, Amy's got a great question, actually. All right. Can you guys do a podcast giving a few case studies, specific playing levels, along with how that person would best play on a week's practice,

say, using the Open Studio Practice Journal, the Poojo, as we like to call it. Poojo. Like, beginning. Poojo. Intermediate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you want specific examples of, what you should practice, you know, it's kind of the same across all levels, I would say, right?

You want to hit, you want to hit some technique practice of your instrument, whatever that instrument is, you want to hit some kind of theory practice, right? Scales, you want to hit some rhythm practice, right? Like, and when I say theory in scales, I mean like... I think the strict classical sense, right? No, but you want to be able to like, you know, we talk about this all the time in the day they got a practice session, Amy, like you're mapping out. your regions, like what notes sound good over what chords. And that could mean, that could,

whatever that means to you, you know. But, and then doing that in all keys. Like, that is a lifetime worth of work for beginner intermediate in advance. And it takes, it takes maintenance. And then you want to work on some performance. Yeah. Playing a tune, arranging the tune, putting everything together, you know, ending your practice session with that. If you structure your practice in that sort of three zone way, I think that's a great way, no matter what skill level you are, right? So to, think of technique, theory, or what notes sound good, improvisation, whatever you want to say, rhythm and the performance. I guess that's four.

That could go a long way. Yeah. And I think anytime we're looking at having a structure, it's as much about keeping us focused, you know, be it three things, four things, taking them from areas. But like keeping us focus and keeping us from getting overwhelmed. So one thing that I've been starting to learn, it's interesting when you start to get questions like this and some similar ones. We've been getting so many, how do I keep from being overwhelmed? There's so much to practice.

And I was thinking back to different times when I felt like I'm the most productive in my practice routine for extended periods of times. I mean like weeks on an end and things like that. And, you know, I think really getting in touch with your personal flow for how you can best be. practice is important, but you have to put yourself into a position where you can possibly have a good flow state in order to do that. And that means really, it comes back to two things that I never thought I was that great at, but at times I have been, and when I was good at them, I made a lot of progress. And that is, the first is single-tasking as opposed to multitask. Look at you. Now, we're so, and you know, I'm adept at multi-

multitasking. But that's not this whole podcast is exactly. I got this. You're reading questions. You're trying to make eye contact with me. It's great. You're doing a great job, by the way. Look at this. I'm switching cameras. Um, so yeah, well, this is a good example. I can, I can get through it and it's interesting. But

if I had somebody else switching the cameras here, I think what I'd be saying would probably be, well, it's also like, it depends on what you're doing. Like when we talk about practicing, um, on your own, there are times when we are multitasking. And that's the thing.

And that might be the thing of like where I was saying you're practicing. You know, even that is a little bit of multitasking. But you're doing less than we normally would melodies and roots. Getting into like the groove and things. It's not truly practicing multitasking because you're trying to automate some things. You're trying to get some things built in so you can really concentrate, say, on your improvisation or your touch or your rhythm or whatever and hope that the other things and be able to rely on the other things just happening because that's part of the flow state of

improvising is not having to think about what chord you're on, not having to think about where you are in the tune. So, but I think in terms of practicing, like, you've got to, like, I've always progressed the most when I've concentrated on one thing. And that even goes into like, I mean, think about some of the times, Adam, we've been forced separately and occasionally even together to, like, due to a deadline to get an arrangement or composition or a project done. Like, there's nothing to make you focus, then this is due at this time. It's the only way it gets done. Yeah. I'm still working on your dad's choral coral piece

because he didn't give you a deadline. I kept saying Bill give me a deadline. I know. So it's like so a lot of times we say,

oh, I had a deadline so I can work really well under pressure. What that really means for me and for a lot of people I observe is actually I work really well when I'm not multitasking

is what it really is. Totally. Because it's very easy to push everything aside. You just focus. And everything. The kids are like, Daddy, I'm hungry.

Shut up. I'm trying to get this arrangement. Well, this is where when practicing comes in, goals are huge. So Amy follows up when... Exactly. When would you actually commit to writing in the journal

before the week begins, after each session to say what you did? How about a little bit of everything? You want to write... How about you... The first day of every month, right? You write down, what do I want to have accomplished by the end of the month? And that doesn't mean like there's results. That means like, what do I want to have had practiced?

Right? What do I want to have touched on? What are my goals for this month? Write those down at the beginning of the month. Then write down in the beginning of the week. what do I want to have done this week to reach my monthly goals? In the beginning of the day,

what can I do today to help me reach my goals at the end of the week? This is something I learned from Sean Jones. Yeah. And he did it for five... He did it for his life.

He did it for 15 years old. In a five year chunk. I know. He's like, and the goal was become the trumpet player in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Yeah. And become best friends

with Wint and Marcellus. Yeah. And he had a five year plan, Amy, and he followed that structure. And then it was like, his next five years was like quit the quit jazz at Lincoln Center.

No, but he, he got there in two years. I know. By following this sort of structure of yearly, monthly, weekly, daily goals. I don't know if he did hourly, but I wouldn't put it past him because he's so motivated.

But if you do that, and then, Amy, after each session, a crucial part of us locking things in is tying the things that we learn to things we already know. So if you have a reflection after each session, just write down. And we talk about this.

again and not to beat a dead horse but in the kind of practice session you know one is this is Missouri so we can legally once you get out of St. Louis County you're you're you're fine to be the dead horse I believe there is a right wing political party called the dead horse party anyway and yeah and anyway so you could and you should reflect on what you practiced and what was what was like an aha moment a lightball moment what was easy what was hard for you what do you want to do differently tomorrow yeah those reflections tying it into things you already know oh this voicing actually just realized that the the g here is really the 11th of that d minor 7 and i have built in fourths up until

a point and then i have the 9 on top okay i didn't realize that the 9 was on top that's really really cool nerd nerd exactly but that's how you got a nerd out sometimes so i would say it's a little bit of everything yeah absolutely and then i was just thinking i did say two things and i forgot the second the first was not uh i totally multi-tent no no i'm trying to remember what was the second Oh, yeah. So this is kind of things that I've picked up from when I would look back at very productive practice periods that I had. The other one was really cluing into the things that were kind of stressors that stretched me in my playing, be that technical or kind of ear-based, you know, ear training or whatever.

You know, we have to stretch ourselves. We can't, if we only practice stuff that we, you know, we should do one of those YouTube videos where it's like the 10 kinds of people that practice. And there's the one that only will practice stuff that they sound great on. It's like the most conservative, careful practiceer where it's like they don't want to ever sound bad. They don't want to ever push themselves. They don't want to ever. So you're not going to develop. I mean, you kind of will.

You'll do mostly sort of maintenance. But there are those things. And we all know them. It might be trying to learn 32 bars of a tough solo. It might be, you know, a technical exercise that just. a lot of hand independence. It might be if you're a trumpet player, some kind of, you know,

ambusher thing. But we have to stress ourselves. We have to test ourselves. We have to stretch ourselves musically and otherwise, intellectually, all these different things. And so, but you have to recognize when you do that,

like you can never practice, like say your four areas. All four of those areas cannot be like the ultimate stretches because you will burn out. You will burn out. And, you know, I had some bad examples in a way a lot of the pianists,

when I was at Juilliard, we all had the floor with the good pianos that you go in the practice rooms and you could hear everybody because there was these big grand pianos within teeny rooms

and there was so much like everybody was going to 11 it was all super overachievers and stuff in every area so it took a lot of presence of mind to be like, you know what? I'm going to stretch myself in this area

but there's another area I'm going to be like I mean it's just like going for a run or going to play hockey or something like you can't be at 11 all the time really you're in the hockey right now I'm all about the hockey man

have you ever been a bubble Man, you got to come to a live blues game whenever they have live blues games. Last blues game I was at was at the checkerdone, so it's been a few years. I got a hook up. You got to get into Canada first at this point to go to a blues game.

That's true. So, okay, this is cool. We have some good conversations going here. It's funny when you don't see something. It's Oscar Peterson versus Joe Beam. How did that? Yeah, it's not even get in there. Tour tag and Piano Man reiterates him here.

My problem with practice journaling is I can do it for a few days and it goes away. And that is going to happen. No, it does not have to happen. That's called discipline, my friend. Well, it's... Tour talk, come on. Let's step it up.

But the real discipline is starting over. Being able to start from the beginning again. And not missing... Yeah, starting over. But don't you think, too... If you miss a day, it happens. Don't miss another day. That's right.

Don't miss two days in a row. That's right. And if you... Hey, if you miss two days, don't miss three days. That's right. If you miss 40 days, give up. But listen, with everything that we commit to, we're going to miss.

And we're going to let it go. it's going to fall off, start again. Just start anew. And don't be afraid. Don't realize that, again, there's no finish line that you're in it for the long term. If you think that journaling is valuable, then it's valuable to start again. Just start again. Don't worry like you've lost progress or you're not, whatever.

Just always looking forward. Just beginner's mind. Here we go, starting again. Yeah. And I think practice in general is very much, like, you've got to, at all levels, you have to perfect the of the quick look back and the long look forward. So what does that mean? That means that like we have to reflect on today's practice at the end a little bit.

And this weeks for sure and even more importantly, probably this quarter and this year, like where you can really get some perspective. Totally. But that cannot be a big part of what, like you only are reflecting enough to learn how to better optimize your practice going forward. And that's really more about the things that worked well. Oh, yeah. If you spent any more than 30 seconds, that's too long. Oh, I wasn't going to be that dogmatic, but I hear you. I like that 30 seconds.

Because then you're, then if everything is special, then nothing is special, right? Yeah. Highlight the one thing that you couldn't get and the one thing that you really could get. Colleen has a great tip here with someone saying like, oh, I'm expired. I'm going to start a practice journal tomorrow, which is awesome, Lucas. That's so cool. Colleen says, Lucas, keep it very handy, like right there in front of you on the piano, right? what is uh what's my man say make it easy and make it obvious yeah right so keep it

keep it allergies not covid allergies not covid sorry keep it keep it obvious keep it right there in front of you and then you know make it easy keep your pen there make sure that you don't have to go oh boy sorry we're a this is this is we got the plexi license secondary you know yeah yeah we're modeling we're modeling good behavior oh and uh okay we can So it's two after, what do you want to do? Maybe one or two more. Yes, do one or two more because we're keeping this tight to an hour because we're doing the audio package.

I do hope those of you that haven't had a chance to catch us on the podcast. We never really know because we don't get as much. I mean, I guess we do. We just don't look at the numbers as much over there, do we? We don't really. But we got a lot of people there. And the podcast is fun. I love podcasts.

You love podcasts? I love podcasts. Nice. Yeah. How does this mic sound with this mask? We have to start. You know, people get special. mask for running, for cold, for warm.

It looks great. Man, I was made for masks, man. Everyone's been like, you look wonderful in a mask. I'm like, if most of my face is covered, I'm an attractive guy, I guess. Okay. Raphael asks one last question. How do you tackle non-functional harmony, non-traditional harmony? So we talked about that last week, actually, Raphael.

Yeah, I encourage you to check out the podcast all last week. week. I think we did it actually a couple times in last week's podcast, the non-functional harmony. So we'll give it another week or so before we re-address it. But there is, there are specific things you could actually practice for that. All right. Can I grab the last one here unless you see, or you can do another one after this if you want, but I see, I like this. Have you ever lost interest? This is from A practice. Have you ever lost interest in a solo? I mean, I feel like I should go. I'm going to be that asshole that doesn't have a mask on. There you go. Have you ever lost interest in a solo once you transcribed it? I feel like sometimes

you lose something magical about it. Yeah, I think for me, what I've seen is, I know exactly what you're talking about in terms of, you just get a little bit sick of it and frustrated sometimes because you don't feel like you ever get to that point where you know it completely. But I think that give it a little bit of time. Like once you learn it, play it,

give it a few days where you really immerse yourself in it, but then come back to it. And usually, for me, the magic kind of comes back too. You just get sick of something, even if it's good. I mean, it's like a great, you know, dish. If you eat it every day, it's a little bit. So just, I mean, you're going to experience a solo more than ever while you're learning it in an almost an unhealthy amount. Healthy for you playing, but not for your listening.

Man, you know what? I'm trying to think of the only time that's really ever happened was you ever try to cheat and you just like find the sheet music of the solo, right? You find someone else's transcription or the only book or something. Never done that. Never done it. No. that's the only time it could lose a little magic for me. Oh, that's interesting.

You know, when I'm just like, oh, that's how it's done. Okay. And I didn't earn it. You know, just read it like a jerk. But you're not necessarily sick of it then, or are you kind of disillusioned by it? Yeah, so I guess to that point of the question of just like spending so much time. Yeah, you're going to get sick of it for sure a little bit. Cool.

Yeah. Okay, I can't. Really? I'm all good. We got this big plexiglass, man. I know, no, no, no. But now it's kind of, it's a little chilly out today. It's kind of feeling warm.

So, well, this was cool, man. Thank you guys, everybody for being here. We appreciate you guys very much. And we are here every Monday at 4 o'clock Eastern. Is that correct? That's New York City. That's Boston, Philly Time, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Central Florida, where I was from. And, yeah, we're here just answering your questions.

Thank you guys for all the thoughtful questions. That really means a lot to us because there's nothing like crappy questions, you know. Yeah, and these were nothing like crappy questions. Exactly. So we're happy not to have those. Cool. We are sponsored by Open Studio.

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