We live in a culture where things are either working or they’re not. And if they’re not working, we throw them away.
Apparently, there used to be these things called repair stores. These were stores that fixed your broken TV’s, washer and dryers and even blenders and toasters. The way products are made and purchased today, the vast majority of these stores have gone out of business. Our approach and feeling about the things we own has also driven these stores out of our lives.
We see this in the professional world all the time as well. A good example is the shelf life for professional coaches. An under-performing season for your team (maybe 2 if you’re lucky) typically means you’re looking for a new job. This is seen not only in sports but many professions including music. Fair or unfair, it’s just the way things work.
All this leads to some misunderstandings in the music world. Many students and teachers have the mindset of “this either works it doesn’t.” Students either get it or they don’t. This has also led to the belief that people are either naturally talented at something or they’re simply not. One of my favorite quotes about talent is this – I find it amusing when people tell me that they don’t have a talent for music. I tell them to go practice for two hours a day for the next year. Then, come back and tell me how untalented you are.*
This is also one of the reasons that I’m not a fan of talent shows on television like American Idol and America’s Got Talent. They seem to perpetuate this idea that a person is inherently talented and then is somehow picked and their life is changed forever. While that’s great for the very small percentage that it works for, this isn’t reality. Reality is more along the lines of practicing everyday for ten years and creating a career through learning and experience. There are plenty of other posts on this site about creating a career, so I won’t go into that here.
Thankfully, there are places in the music world teaching the concept of persistence. The first that comes to my mind are the lessons learned in the marching arenas of percussion. Showing up everyday in the summer and every weekend through the winter teaches students that nothing is handed out, it takes a large amount of time and dedication to get good at anything in life and that things can in fact be fixed. These are invaluable lessons that go against the grain of many things in our culture. If this lesson is learned early, it can have a tremendous impact in anyone’s life.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that things can’t be fixed. Teachers – be patient and take time with your students. Students – be patient and take time with yourself. Nothing will ever be able to replace hard work over a long period of time.
*I couldn’t find the origin of this quote. If you know where it comes from, please let me know!
There are a lot of great websites for musicians, but one I keep coming back to every week is The Bulletproof Musician. The site, by Dr. Noa Kageyama (performance psychologist and Juilliard graduate), features a weekly blog post, coaching and an online training course. According to his site:
“The purpose of this website is to teach musicians how to overcome stage fright, performance anxiety, and other blocks to peak performance. The specific mental skills you develop will allow you to experience the satisfaction of performing up to your abilities – even when the lights are brightest. Wait, let me rephrase that. Especially when the lights are brightest.”
I wait anxiously every Sunday morning to read the latest blog post. Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to take part in his coachings or online course, but I have a couple of friends who have and they are incredible.
The blog posts are well written, researched and presented. I would highly recommend adding this to your Sunday morning routine. The posts are not just about performance anxiety. Some of my favorite ones talk about creativity and practice habits.
As I continue to build my site, I will write about sites, apps, books and other resources about music that I have found valuable in my development. If there is something that I should check out, please leave a comment below and let me know.
There are a lot of great websites for musicians, but one I keep coming back to every week is The Bulletproof Musician. The site, by Dr. Noa Kageyama (performance psychologist and Juilliard graduate), features a weekly blog post, coaching and an online training course. According to his site:
“The purpose of this website is to teach musicians how to overcome stage fright, performance anxiety, and other blocks to peak performance. The specific mental skills you develop will allow you to experience the satisfaction of performing up to your abilities – even when the lights are brightest. Wait, let me rephrase that. Especially when the lights are brightest.”
I wait anxiously every Sunday morning to read the latest blog post. Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to take part in his coachings or online course, but I have a couple of friends who have and they are incredible.
The blog posts are well written, researched and presented. I would highly recommend adding this to your Sunday morning routine. The posts are not just about performance anxiety. Some of my favorite ones talk about creativity and practice habits.
As I continue to build my site, I will write about sites, apps, books and other resources about music that I have found valuable in my development. If there is something that I should check out, please leave a comment below and let me know.
BookChattr is in full swing and I hope you are enjoying reading the book. As you know, we are reading Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton: An Autobiography by Gary Burton. This post will discuss chapters 3-9 and will include listening examples as mentioned in the book.
Chapters 3 – 5 take place in Gary’s early years (around 1959 – 1962). He continues to talk about growing up in Indiana and starting college at the Berklee School of Music. Chapters 6 – 9 are the beginning of the section marked “Apprenticeship” and include his move to New York (when he meets Joe Morello), his time with George Shearing and then Stan Getz. I am enjoying reading about his experiences and lessons he is learning at a very young age.
“Sometimes, we play because we really want to play; sometimes we play as a favor for another musician; and sometimes, it’s just because we need the money. Despite countless hours of practice and concentration to elevate our art, we all too often have to put that aside because of circumstances.” – Gary Burton [Chapter 4, pg. 48-9]
Below, you will find the listening resources. I am also going to put together a Spotify playlist and I will add a link to it on this post. If you find something that is not correct or missing, please let me know.
Chapter 3: The Local Scene The Nashville All-Stars – After the Riot at Newport
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZ4vg5L-8g
Chapter 4: College Bound
No musical examples
Chapter 5: New Adventure New Vibe Man in Town (1961) [Gary’s First Album as a Leader] – Selections
Chapter 6: “Autumn in New York” Who is Gary Burton? – Selections [with Clark Terry (trumpet), Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone), Phil Woods (alto sax), Gary Burton (vibraphone), Tommy Flanagan (piano), John Neves (bass), Chris Swansen (drums)]
The other day during one of my college percussion lessons, I mentioned to a student that with all of the things we need to learn as percussionists, I think there are three things that we should always be working on. I know it is naive to believe that these are the only things to be working on, but if you can continue to improve these areas, you will become more “marketable” as a musician. Student performers tend to think about the next thing they need to prepare for an audition, a rehearsal or performance. We all get stuck in this train of thought, especially in a school setting. Believe it or not, this is also true for the professional musician. With my teaching, family and playing schedule, I don’t have the same amount of time to spend in the practice room as I would like. When I only have a 30 minutes to practice, sometime it is hard to pull out a piece that I am working on for the next concert. I have found that if I maintain these three things, I can continue to grow as a musician and maintain my chops. As I have written about earlier, there are many valid and musical reasons to learn a 15 minute virtuosic marimba solo, but if you get a freelance orchestra gig, they won’t care how well you play Merlin if you can’t read the xylophone part of the show tune your are playing at the Pops concert (especially if there is only one rehearsal). (more…)
BookChattr is starting soon. Come join the DrumChattr community and read Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton: An Autobiography by Gary Burton. I started the book last week and I am really enjoy it. The style of writing is conversational and the information is informative and insightful. As I was reading the first couple of chapters, I starting think about how I would like to listen to the pieces Gary talks about in the book. So I decided to put together a resource guide (similar to the Steve Schick Listening Guide Part 1 & Part 2 that I compiled when we read his book). While some of these recordings are probably not the exact recordings Mr. Burton heard, I wanted to familiarize you with the pieces. If there is something I missed or if there is another version we should listen to, please leave your comments below and I will add them to the post.
There are a lot of great websites for musicians, but one I keep coming back to every week is 
