Let Your Dim Light Shine

Let your dim light shine. ~1995 album by Soul Asylum

Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it. ~Balthasar Gracian

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My wife Michelle just returned from a work trip to Istanbul and whenever she travels she brings me back an instrument from the country she visits. On this trip she picked up a tef (known in other middle-Eastern countries as daf or def), a frame drum with 3-inch cymbals around the rim. It looks like a giant tambourine and has a great sound. I can’t wait to play with it in Meh!, the free improvisation group I play with every week. Am I good at playing the tef? Well, my rhythm is good, but I’m guessing that my technique could use a lot of work. Will I become a professional tef player? Certainly not. And this is what brings me to the point of this post: the pervasive idea that if one is to do anything at all, it must be done professionally and at the highest of levels. This notion that if something can’t be done really, really well, then it’s not worth doing is just plain wrong. And not only that, it’s harmful. But before I go off on that subject a little more however, check out this tef player:

I’ve been buried in reading research and books on music practice for the last six months and have noticed a couple trends that have begun to bother me. The research done so far is superb and insightful and incredibly helpful for anyone attempting to understand what practice is and does and can be, but only to a certain point. The readings range from broad generalizations and philosophies about the nature of talent (The Talent Code, Talent is Overrated, Outliers, Dr. Anders Ericsson’s work) to very specific aspects of music practice, like Stewart Ross’s The Effectiveness of Mental Practice in Improving the Performance of College Trombonists (JRME, 1985), and a whole lot of other research and writing in between. At some point I’ll put up a complete list of reading available on the subject of music practice.

All of the research and other writing on practice is focused on the highest of classical music levels. The goal is to find out what it is that can help someone reach the absolute pinnacle of human classical musical potential. This is as it should be, because it makes sense that those who have acquired such amazing abilities have done so using techniques that could benefit all of us. What I would like to point out–and champion–is that not everyone aspires to such heights. In fact, a vast majority of people have neither the inclination nor the desire to put in the 10,000 hours of pains-taking practice necessary for true mastery.  Most people simply want to get better and enjoy playing music with others. It’s important to remember that it’s perfectly okay to be okay at playing music. Of course it’s also okay to want to be one of those players at the pinnacle of human ability, too. We often lose sight of those who are content to let their light shine dimly. I say let’s celebrate the casual musician who practices but doesn’t make it his or her life’s work. Let’s celebrate the casual musician alongside the grand master.  Anyone who plays or has attempted to play an instrument knows that it can give you an even deeper appreciation and sense of wonder when you hear someone who is an amazing performer, someone who make it look so easy and natural. This bias towards the super-performer isn’t the only bias in the research literature on practice. As Yoda said, “There is another.”

Nowhere in this research will you find out about how a tef player practices to become a good player. In fact,nearly all of this research on practice I’ve read thus far focuses strictly on Western classical music. This is fantastic and also not so fantastic. It’s great because we can learn a lot about practice in general and specifically about the practice of classical music which involves particularly skills, most notably the reading of music notation. But the research is limited in that nobody (as far as I can tell at this point) has really looked into how jazz, rock, blues, punk, or “world” music is practiced. Nobody ever says it, but there seems to be a bias that Western classical music is the apex of musical endeavor and because no other forms of music practice have thus far been studied, the implication that classical music is the only genre worthy of study. Of course, this is simply not true and I doubt anyone would actually stand up for such a belief, but it’s implied by the research record I’ve read so far. To get the full picture of practice, other ways of practicing must be investigated. Some of the research tells us that the practice-room activities are different depending on how much experience one has, and I would bet big money (if I had any) that the activities in the practice room are different for different genres of music as well. A rocker is going to practice differently than a concert pianist.

It’s hard to maintain a belief that you can get a lot of joy out of doing something at less-than-professional levels when you’re surrounded by a culture that tells you otherwise, but I’d like to say that not only is it possible to maintain this joy-in-amateurism, but it’s the norm. If all musicians in the world took a survey on this issue, we’d find that there are many more happy amateur musicians out there than there are happy professionals. We should all let our lights shine and celebrate not the intensity of the light, but that it shines at all.

Have fun. Good luck.

Practicing Tempo

I got bored with the old way – it came too easy. I worked until I could play chord changes at any tempo in any key, and then said ‘What else is there?’ Now I’m finding out. — Don Ellis, trumpeter, drummer, composer

The tempo is the suitcase. If the suitcase is too small, everything is completely wrinkled. If the tempo is too fast, everything becomes so scrambled you can’t understand it.  — Daniel Barenboim, conductor

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There are many pathways to explore on the journey towards understanding practice, and one path that several researchers have been down is the path that leads to playing at performance speed. Basically, they’re asking,  “What is the best way to get a piece up to performance tempo?” Well, in one study they looked at 3 different methods with two conditions. The conditions were 1) with a model (a correctly performed example) and 2) without a model. The three different practice methods were:

1. Gradually increasing tempo until performance speed is reached.

2. Alternating between a slow tempo at which there are no mistakes, then playing again at exactly performance tempo.

3. Flailing away at the piece at performance tempo until you get it.

First, the model vs no model differences. As you might guess, those who had the model did significantly better than those without the model. Hearing a passage played correctly at the correct tempo is very beneficial. No big surprise, right? This reinforces the notion that listening to great recordings of music you perform has real benefits.

You can probably tell by my language that option #3, practicing at performance tempo, is not the way to go about getting a piece up to speed. In this study, the flailers performed the least accurately of the three groups. But what about option 1 or 2? What’s your guess?

Growing up, I learned that gradual increase was the way to go, and because it makes sense, it’s not something I ever questioned. Well, it turns out that option number 2–alternating between slow and performance tempos–produced better results than gradual increase. Of course, you’re wise to ask if the study was truly experimental (randomized, large sample size, etc.) so that we can generalize. It wasn’t, so we can’t say that this is absolutely the best way to go, but it is a compelling argument. I’m going to start using it immediately and see for myself.

This isn’t to say that you should completely abandon the gradual-speed-up technique, though, because that has its place for certain pieces that may be fiendishly difficult. But for something that is within your reach, the alternating tempo approach is the way to go.

Click the metronome below (or go here or here) to visit a site that lists some free digital metronomes you can download. Have fun and good luck!

click image to find free digital metronomes

here are some more options

Software Tools (and Toys) Part II

It’s time to reappreciate the original software: paper. –Dale Dauten

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Why shouldn’t we give our teachers a license to obtain software, all software, any software, for nothing? Does anyone demand a licensing fee, each time a child is taught the alphabet? –William Gibson (b.1948)

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Here are some more software titles. Some of these can make your musical life easier, some can help make it more fun, and some will even help you with practice. Whenever possible, I try to list the free, open-source stuff because that is the model that makes the most sense to me. Here you go. Enjoy!

Notation:

Noteflight: This is a free notation program that is pretty new, but very useful. For some of the more advanced features you have to pay but you can do a lot before you get to this point. I’m just now beginning to explore this and it looks great so far. And it’s free! Great tools for sharing music, and the web site is superb. This one is going to be around for a while, I bet. You may need to look no further for your music writing software. You have to register to use it, but it’s a small price to pay (and the only price to pay!). Highly recommended.

Sibelius: This is one of the grandaddies of notation software. It’s a fantastic, powerful piece of software, but it’s expensive. It allows you to enter and print music as simple as a 4 measure melody or as complex as a piece for full symphony, turntable, and singing dogs, or whatever you dream up. And with some exceptions (like the singing dogs), the program comes with instruments so you can hear what your composition sounds like. Out of the box these sounds are a little cheesy, but you can buy (of course) upgrades to get a full range of symphonic instruments. You can transpose w/ a click of the button, scan in printed music, and there are 1,700 quizzes built in that come with the program. This is just a brief glimpse of a few of its features, but if you’re interested check it here. There is also a free viewer called Scorch which allows you to view uploaded scores for free.

Finale: Another of the biggies. Finale is said to have better scanning capability than Sibelius, but I haven’t tested this myself, so I’m not sure. No scanning system is perfect (yet), but they’re certainly getting better. Finale is very similar to Sibelius. You can check it out here. Finale has several different versions and this makes for a little less expense, especially if you don’t need all the power necessary for full-on symphonic orchestra reproduction. There is also a free viewer, and their Notepad works great and is only ten bucks.

Composition/Mashup/Collaboration

All of this software won’t necessarily help you practice, but they’re fun to work with and you can actually create something original that you can then play along with. Many of these are cloud-based, meaning they exist entirely online and you don’t need to download or install any software, a fantastic idea that’s gaining a lot of traction. Your files can be saved either in the cloud (usually) or on your own machine (definitely).

Aviary: This company offers a bunch of free tools but the one that interests us here is their audio editor. It’s a track-based program in which you can create loops, record stuff of your own and manipulate it in all kinds of ways. A fantastic and powerful tool/toy that will suck you in and have you spending all kinds of fun time creating music.

Bojam: An open-source ethic drives this very cool tool. This site allows musicians to collaborate no matter where in the world they make music. If you’re stuck in rural Alaska (like I was) and want (need!) to play with others, this is the perfect tool. Also great for the recluse who still wants to be social. There’s a vid demonstrating how this works on their home page.

eJamming Audio: Another online collaboration tool that lets you play with others in real time. Haven’t tried this one, but it clearly harnesses the power of the Internets to connect people in meaningful ways from all over the planet.

Okay, that’s all I have time for now, but there’s a lot more to come, so stay tuned. If you know of any sites you like, shoot me an e-mail and let me know. I’m always psyched to check out new software.

Have fun and good luck!

Your Plastic Brain

I used to think the brain was the greatest organ in the body, then I realized who was telling me this.   –Emo Phillips

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What we know about the brain is changing rapidly as we bend our ever-increasing computer processing power to the task of scanning brain activity at higher and higher resolutions. One thing we’ve learned is that the brain remains plastic as we age. Learning changes its structure.

A recent study titled “Training induces changes in white-matter architecture,” was published October 11 in the neuroscience section of Nature (and “translated” by ABC Science here). The study looked at the growth of white matter in the brains of young adults learning to juggle. Yes, jugglers. They found significant differences in the brains of jugglers who were encouraged to practice 30 minutes a day over the course of a 6 week training period. Of course, we can assume (as long as we’re not hard-core empiricists) this holds true for other disciplines, too, like music.

Other studies confirm this, and extend the brain’s plasticity well into old age. I’ll post more about this fascinating topic soon.

No matter how old you are, you can still learn.

Software Practice Aids

If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. –Robert X. Cringely

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim. –Edsgar W. Dijkstra

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There is a lot of software out there that can be of great help when you practice. In fact, there are so many great programs that this will have to be an ongoing post because there are too many to get to in just one post. Today’s post I’ll cover a few that are free or cheap, and one that is a bit more expensive, but very useful. Here we go:

Music Theory:

You can read my first book Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music for free in its entirety here.

MusicTheory.net is a great and easy-to-use flash-based site for beginning music theory.

Intonation and Recording:

GarageBand: If you own a Mac you already have an excellent piece of software you can use to record. Many tutorials will show you how (it’s pretty darn easy).

Audacity: I’ve talked about this one before and have posted tutorial vids of my own about it. If you want to go get your own free copy to play with, watch this vid below:

Intonia: I just discovered this great piece of software called Intonia. It was developed for strings but works for any instrument. You play and it shows you whether you’re in tune or not. It records what you’ve played so you can go back to look at it, or you can use it in real time to adjust your pitch. It’s free for 30 days and if you want to keep using it, it’s only $25.

Playalong:

Band-in-a-Box has been around for a while (it was invented by a dentist, but don’t let that scare you away) and is a pretty handy tool, especially if you’re trying to learn how to improvise or to play with others. It’s one of the more expensive programs, however, ($99-$349) but I find it quite useful. You enter chord names, choose from hundreds of musical styles, and the machine creates a backup band for you to jam with. Recent additions to the BBX tools use recordings of actual musicians for a more  realistic sound. There are add-ons that can be easily found (often for free) that have a suite of pre-entered chord progressions. I have the entire Real Book series, for example (Real Books are a large collection of jazz standards). I just open up a tune like ‘Round Midnight and away I go. Lots of tutorials out there for this program, too.

Okay, that should keep you busy for a while. Have fun and good luck!

Book Review: “Effortless Mastery” by Kenny Werner

Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up. — Albert Einstein

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Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within
by Kenny Werner

I have to make the disclaimer that reading this book resulted in a sea change that deeply affected my philosophy and approach to teaching, learning, playing, and listening to music. It came along at just the right time to make a big impact on me and because of this, I had to revisit it as I think about The Practice of Practice. In my re-reading of Werner’s book I see again a wisdom and a reverence for Music that still shines through. I still recommend the book highly, but on the re-reading I notice some things that may turn off some readers, and I’d like to address these because even if you have a gem in a pile of dirt, you’ll still want to sift through the dirt so you can put that gem in your pocket to dazzle people with later.

That metaphor is a little strong, though; I wouldn’t necessarily call it “dirt” when KW gets a little preachy. It’s kind of touching if taken in the right spirit. Werner has a very spiritual approach to music that at times borders on what a friend of mine calls, “hippy, trippy-dippy, New-Agey nonsense.” I don’t believe that is true about most of the book, but I can see where he’s coming from. Don’t let that turn you off. Especially useful in this book are Werner’s thoughts on how fear can (and usually does at some point) affect one’s playing, and even the way one listens to music. Fear of any sort doesn’t result in good playing and it may well force you into quitting altogether. This is bad. If you can get a handle on fear early in your pursuit (or at any phase of your journey), you’re better off than most.

Werner’s chapters on fear start around page 51, so if  can’t get into the earlier material, skip ahead to these gems which are worth the price of the book. The chapter titles are: 5–Fear, the Mind, and the Ego, 6–Fear-Based Practicing, 7–Fear-Based Teaching, 8–Fear-Based Listening, and 9–Fear-Based Composing. After writing eloquently and persuasively about how fear can hamstring our playing, Werner then offers a solution to help deal with the fear, which may well never go away. He offers up some meditations and ways of thinking that can help you get over those fears, and though some of it may sound New-Agey, I can tell you it’s worked well for me, though I’ve altered his philosophy slightly to fit my own beliefs more closely.

The book’s focus is on jazz improvisation, but this is just a way to focus the conversation. The wisdom within these 191 pages can be used by any musician of any level. The notion that “there are no wrong notes” is something anybody and everybody should attempt to adopt in their exploration of sound. Despite the sometimes preachy nature of the book, it is one of my more highly recommended books for those who want to play music. Hope you like it.  Hope it’s helpful.

Have fun. Good luck.

Deaf Musicians?

It amazes me what some people have gone through in order to play music, and it makes me realize (once again) that the passion and drive to have music in one’s life is more powerful than more paltry things like knowledge of how to practice. One researcher whose name slips me at the moment, calls it “the rage to master.” It seems as though being deaf might be the greatest challenge–possibly insurmountable–to overcome if one wants to make music because you have to have hearing to make music, right? Wrong.

The first deaf musician who comes to mind is Evelyn Glennie, award-winning percussionist. Here’s a fantastic talk she did on listening at a TED conference:

And then consider Patrick, a guy who lost his hearing and still wanted (needed?) to play, so he rested his teeth (yes, his teeth!) on his guitar so the vibrations would travel through his skull to help him hear better. This one is a long vid, but if you skip to 6:40, the nurse/technician tells him how the hearing implant bolted to his skull works.Then at around 24:30 Patrick plays his guitar and for the first time in over ten years he’s able to hear it without using his teeth. Awesome! I hope these inspire you even half as much as they inspired me.

A Key to Practicing Tunes in All Key Signatures

If you want to really learn a tune, you should learn it in every key. Start by learning it in all the regular keys, like Bb, C, D, etc. Basically, the regular keys are those with the least amount of accidentals.

On a side note, learning tunes in all keys also includes, indirectly, learning scales in all keys, too, but we’ll save that for a future post.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to learn tunes is by ear. They stick better in your memory, and your ears [actually, your brain] will become much better at recognizing sounds and finding them with your instrument. You can use Audacity–the free program I’ve mentioned before–to change the key of a tune you’re learning. Below is one of my Audacity tutorials that shows you how to do this. Hope you find it useful.

Wind = Music

Most of us in the United States have resources beyond the wildest dreams of billions of other people less fortunate in the world. Our technology and relative wealth allow us the time to study music or other arts, to surf the Internet, to speak with friends and loved ones at the touch of a button.

Imagine that musical ability is a kind of resource, a resource that is not somehow either inside of you or not, it’s a resource you can go out and discover, learn how to do, and make for your very own, eventually creating your own music. This isn’t just blowing smoke, it’s true and a lot of recent research supports this notion, the notion that “talent” is merely practice disguised. This is over-simplifying, of course, but talent isn’t the topic of this post.

Consider the following story if you feel you don’t have the music resources of your own, especially if you think “talent” is a resource. The electricity magically appearing from your wall socket that powers your guitar amplifier (or insert favorite gizmo here) is a resource. What would you do if you didn’t have it? The following video might help you rethink what is possible.

My favorite part of the story is that when William began building, people thought he was crazy, but when they realized that what he built meant they would be able to listen to music, they began to support him. We need music in our lives and there are as many paths to getting the “resources” to make music as there are people. What resources and knowledge are around you that you can take advantage of and harness for your own benefit, and the benefit of your friends and family, and for all of us?

The instruments you hear are African. The first instrument you’ll hear is a kalimba, or mbira (which are actually 2 different types of instrument), also known as a thumb piano, very easy to make and fun to play with.

I hope you enjoy the video and it sparks you to make your own opportunities like William did.

The book telling William’s story is called, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (click for an excerpt)

Thoughts on Art and Hip Hop

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. –Oscar Wilde.

I am for an art that takes its forms from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself. –Claes Oldenburg (1929-)

Do not imagine that Art is something which is designed to give gentle uplift and self-confidence. Art is not a brassiere. At least, not in the English sense. But do not forget that brassiere is the French word for life-jacket. — Julian Barnes (1946-), English writer. Flaubert’s Parrot.

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Every artistic discipline that strives to say something needs practice and some deep thinking if true Art is to be made (as opposed to mere commerce).

Here’s a video clip of a conversation between Matt Lauer and the brilliant and insightful scholar Michael Eric Dyson about the soul of Hip Hop in support of Dyson’s new book, Know What I Mean?: Refletions on Hip-Hop.