This is Part 1 in the Competencies Series. See also Part 2 (Social Comeptence), Part 3 (Scientific Competence) and Part 4 (Practical Competence).
A good musician has a great personality. Unless you can convince your crowd of your competence, you won’t convince at all.
Also, you have to be at total peace and happiness with your instrument and your progress towards mastering it.
Photography by John G. Jenna
You think playing your instrument is all there is to it. Well if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that that isn’t true.
Mastering your instrument definitely is central to anything else you do as a musician, but here are a few ways to play out your talent and actually implement what you’ve learned in smart ways.
Musicians are egoists. They live for themselves, and their own endeavors.
In the long run, they do it to please others, to enchant an audience or to just enjoy playing in a group or alone. So how does a musician justify the time he needs to develop this hobby and skill, while still maintaining a sane routine in the context of college, a family or your real job if music isn’t your profession?
Musicians can be understood only by musicians. I think that for a musician to be understood, he needs the company of another musician. If you have a life partner, …read more
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Every now and then, we tend to loose control over that which we love: music. That may be our playing habits, our iTunes library or a simple feeling of discontent with your own “Musicianeering”.
I think I’ve suffered a deep form of musical illness recently and found a certain list of symptoms to look out for:
1. Not listening enough
I have a an iTunes library that I recently purged to less than 500 tracks. Last week, I listened to a total of about 1 hour’s worth of music. Terrible! Listen to more music by planning focused sessions. Don’t rely on “Oh, I’ll …read more
After yestrday’s post about starting to jam, here’s 7 quick tips to keep you less frustrated:
Sit in a circle with your friends and ask questions about how other people’s instrument works. It’s important to know your instrument yourself first, but knowing why a bigger drum sounds deeper can be as useful to a drummer as it is to the trumpet guy.
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Have you ever felt disorganized about your musical stuff?
Sure you have, and there’s a simple remedy: Keep a supply drawer. If it works in offices, it will work for musicians too. Make sure you keep it nicely organized. Some items you may need:
Personal hand care: Nail clippers are a common tool for pianists and anyone whose nails might be a problem. Nail files are guitarists’ best friends, and some hand cream is always good to keep you sore-free.
Instrument tools: A string winder, sandpaper for your oboe, a tuning fork, plectrums, and all those little tools you need.
Instrument care: A good …read more
It’s concert time. Your playing the piece, it’s kind of going well, and you’re so focused and concentrating, that you’re too busy to actually hear yourself playing.
Been there, done that.
Playing freely is a major skill that stage artists will need to acquire. You have to learn to listen to yourself, as if you are part of the audience. This is a very abstract concept, and not all musicians will agree, but there are a few techniques you should experiment with.
Concentrate on your breathing: Coordinate your breathing with the piece. I believe that respiration is strongly linked with our connection to …read more
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Remember how important it is to keep a practice diary. Following that, if you have a Mac, and happen to play electric guitar, catch an adapter cable and get yourself GuitarLog.
This application allows you to record your practice sessions, manage them, compare, and work with a metronome.
I love this app. Especially the ability to manage instruments lets you keep track of which instrument you used for which take. Sometimes you forget how you got that super-solo sounding so cool, that’s when GuitarLog can help.
It also creates statistics, and you can practically throw any kind of media at it to manage …read more
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Ever been practicing a piece for hours, weeks, and not found yourself making any progress? Feel like you could use a break? Change of instrument? Pack up and go on pilgrimage?
Before I sound too much like a TV-Ad and scream “Call Now!”, let me tell you that most (even the greatest) musicians feel this way once in a while.
When we feel like we could throw the guitar out the window and set fire to our sheet music or chop of our fingers, that’s just perfectly normal. It’s a musical rut.
How to get out of it? Well there are a few …read more
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You already know how important it is to keep a practice diary. It’s time you knew how to practice more effectively by forming your sessions properly.
Let’s look at a session of 45 minutes.
00:00 – 00:15 Technical Excercises: Begin your session by warming up with technical studies. Pick just one excercise in a maximum of 3 areas of focus. On the guitar, I do one exercise for the left hand (legato playing) and one for my right fingers. My third exercise is a study by Sor or
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