Our group, Gospel Of Mars at this moment only gets to rehearse once a week, Sunday nights around 8:30pm. Every week I look forward to this small chunk o' time, I get to work stuff out in a supportive environment and play my horn which is always a good thing. Really, I could do this all the time and want more but this is what we have available at the moment.
Part of the vision is to have daytime rehearsal, evenings are tough since we all work day jobs. I do get a good nap in before I head to this rehearsal.
The other night Bob said "If rehearsal sounds good we're doing something wrong." I like that. I go to rehearsal to do my best solving problems, not to enjoy what I've already accomplished and rest on my laurels saying "man I'm awesome!"
Rehearsal test patience. I may start to solve a problem in my playing or in the music and the solution may not come for a year. If we persist it does show up, but we really have no control as to when or what it will look or sound like.
I play with other people because it beats my ego to death. I choose to accept my fellow players choices and frankly, whatever they choose winds up being way more interesting than if I forced ideas or decided to play all the parts myself.
I am blessed.
It's funny too. Performances are teaching moments as well. If I have a show and I walk away saying "yeah we really brought our A game!" and someone hands me a recording, it's not uncommon for me to listen to it later and be totally bored. "Wow, we really were afraid tonight, what a bunch of wank! We didn't try anything!" is what I hear. On those nights where I walk off stage saying "oh man, got some work to do, I'm really not that good, I should give up and let the pros play blah blah blabby blah" I may listen back and hear some really compelling music. The reason, it was terribly uncomfortable, we were reaching higher than we can actually play.
That's the spirit. Always be out doing last week.
I do my best to get at least 2 hours of practice in a day. My best practice sessions are BORING, not unlike meditation. Right now I'm working out of Jerry Bergonzis 'Pentatonics' book. I know better than to expect results until at least 6 months down the road. Literally when I show up for rehearsal I can't remember any of the material and that's okay. I remember the spirit of it and reach for it, that's enough for now. It won't sound like music for a while.
Same with licks. I've been working some Sonny Rollins licks into my playing. They are only starting to sound like music and that's been almost a year of trying them on.
If that's what it takes, I'm happy to keep showing up.
JB
Part of the vision is to have daytime rehearsal, evenings are tough since we all work day jobs. I do get a good nap in before I head to this rehearsal.
The other night Bob said "If rehearsal sounds good we're doing something wrong." I like that. I go to rehearsal to do my best solving problems, not to enjoy what I've already accomplished and rest on my laurels saying "man I'm awesome!"
Rehearsal test patience. I may start to solve a problem in my playing or in the music and the solution may not come for a year. If we persist it does show up, but we really have no control as to when or what it will look or sound like.
I play with other people because it beats my ego to death. I choose to accept my fellow players choices and frankly, whatever they choose winds up being way more interesting than if I forced ideas or decided to play all the parts myself.
I am blessed.
It's funny too. Performances are teaching moments as well. If I have a show and I walk away saying "yeah we really brought our A game!" and someone hands me a recording, it's not uncommon for me to listen to it later and be totally bored. "Wow, we really were afraid tonight, what a bunch of wank! We didn't try anything!" is what I hear. On those nights where I walk off stage saying "oh man, got some work to do, I'm really not that good, I should give up and let the pros play blah blah blabby blah" I may listen back and hear some really compelling music. The reason, it was terribly uncomfortable, we were reaching higher than we can actually play.
That's the spirit. Always be out doing last week.
I do my best to get at least 2 hours of practice in a day. My best practice sessions are BORING, not unlike meditation. Right now I'm working out of Jerry Bergonzis 'Pentatonics' book. I know better than to expect results until at least 6 months down the road. Literally when I show up for rehearsal I can't remember any of the material and that's okay. I remember the spirit of it and reach for it, that's enough for now. It won't sound like music for a while.
Same with licks. I've been working some Sonny Rollins licks into my playing. They are only starting to sound like music and that's been almost a year of trying them on.
If that's what it takes, I'm happy to keep showing up.
JB
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