This is one of the more memorable quotes from the pianist Kenny Werner’s book Effortless Mastery— I think a lot of people noticed it, and fully embraced it: Once after playing a concert an interviewer […]
Category: practicing
The slow click
There should really be no such thing as slow to the person playing the drums. Whatever tempo the listener is hearing, the player is going to multiply it as necessary to make a comfortable, easily-maintainable […]
Self-improvement through neurosis
Normally I don’t bother editorializing about cartoons, but this thing has gotten so ubiquitous on the music ed-related Internet, I thought I’d say something about it. Let’s get this out of the way up front: […]
What is HIP?
George Colligan is trying to create a said thing. At his Jazz Truth blog there’s a post highly worth reading, about High Intensity Practicing, or HIP— his phrase— or “practicing REALLY HARD, at a sort […]
VOQOTD: note to himself
Play at least ten minutes a day on the drum set. — Paul Motian
VOQOTD: Dave on practicing
If you come to my house and walk into the room where I’m practicing, you’re going to hear me sound like I can’t play. That’s because I’m working on stuff that I can’t do so […]
The map is not the territory…
…and this is not a pipe. Sometimes I worry that with the things we cover here— and the way we cover them— I give the impression that those are the most important things about learning […]
Pad practice caveat
As someone who comes from the land of the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, and the rest of that nightmare, it’s kind of quaintly Canadian that he calls this a “rant”, but Ted Warren says something […]
Other people write things
OK, clearly this light patch is going to continue for a bit, so let’s see what my blogging compatriots are up to: Let’s lead with pianist George Colligan, who has a few words on practicing: […]
Metronome perspectives
There’s an excellent piece on the Modern Drummer site getting views on metronome use from a number of top drummers and educators. I’ve excerpted some of the best bits, but go read the whole thing. […]
Tom moves
This Elvin thing is turning into a real epic– well, a very small epic, maybe, if you think about it- and I still have to complete the transcription. Here are the tom moves I would […]
How much to practice something
1. Get wood chisel. 2. Remove everything that doesn’t look like Billy the Kid deftly gunning down Bat Masterson before the throng of stunned onlookers, a yapping yellow hound at his feet. 3. SUCCESS! One […]