Practice log! Brilliant idea!

When I was a 20 something going to Berklee I used to practice on the order of 8-12 hours a day, this wasn't unheard of in the 80's when the norm was practice, practice, practice. Trouble is, nobody taught me how to practice. So I felt like I was going absolutely nowhere. I thought maybe I don't have any talent and should bag it at times. Frustrating experience that was! I'd run scales, use a metronome, get them faster, and really, listening back I became as un-musical as many of those guys I hated, you know, the big hair noodly doodly spandex crowd.

I dropped out and joined a band in Baltimore.

It wasn't a great band, but I just needed to know if I could contribute. Playing with people is where you really get to see how good you actually are. Playing with people better than you really reveals how good you are and can help you get better much quicker than playing with people you are simply comfortable with. I was much better than I thought. My stengths were my soul and creativity, not so much my chops in those days.

I don't actually think all that woodshedding did me much good. See, it was forced. That's a terrible way to get better at anything. Any success or failure follows a trajectory of gradually, then suddenly. Let's look at failure. Nobody fails overnight. In practice if you are failing you simply may not have clarity on what you actually need to do. It's easy to "compare and despair", huff and scuff those scales and get really great at, um, playing scales. Then you may notice you aren't good at many other things, you don't get the gig. In business it looks like this: you didn't call people back over a period of time, got distracted and comfortable then suddenly you're outta dough!

We like suddenly. It's dramatic. Suddenly Jimi Hendrix changed the way we all see, hear, play electric guitar. Bullshit. He had years of gradually and a clear vision of what he wanted to do. Raw talent? Of course. Listen to some early recordings. He had something but wasn't all that good, for a long, long time. Then suddenly he got good. He paid a lot of dues. Played a lot of $5 gigs.

The same goes for anything. You have an idea of what you want, practice, be willing to be not good at it for a long time then suddenly you are good at many things if you balance your practice.

How does one do that? We need clarity, that's all. Had I know at 18 the power of clarity I would have saved myself a lot of trouble. A practice log is a great way to obtain that clarity. Right now I'm practicing a lot of saxophone. I want to be able to handle just about any gig on this instrument by next years time. I'm taking lessons again just to get clarity on my air column, technique and musicality. I have a great sound. That took 15 years to develop! But lately I've been in a rut so now I log in what I actually am doing. 1/2 hour of this, 2 hours of that. 1 hour of tunes, etc. By the end of the week I total those hours logged up and put them inot categories. This takes very little time to do and I can see my progress and what I am neglecting. My sessions are shorter and I take breaks. My sessions don't feel forced or obsessive. Mundane scales in 3rds and 4ths I can do while watching Foyle's War on Netflix. Other stuff I go to my rehearsal space to do. What I've accomplised in a week is stronger than what I've accomplished in the last 8 months!

I also log in my writing sessions, what I worked on and my band practice sessions and what we worked on as a group now. It's helpful to write notes on how you felt about your sessions as well, that you are still struggling with and what you are really soaring on!

And best of all, I have a band with some great players. That's where I can really feel the progress. A new idea takes way less time to get under my fingers. I remember when this happened on guitar, when things simply got easier to do. That's a great feeling!

JB

Teaching and taking lessons

It's been an educational week for me. Took a saxophone lesson with Tim Price that rocked. Nothing like sitting down with someone who has been at it for way longer than you and just helping you remember the things you forget. Air column, air column, air column! Every lesson I've ever had I needed to be reminded of that simple thing that isn't so simple. Yet in one little demonstration I was able to produce a sound much stronger than I thought my equipment would actually allow. Now I'm inspired to practice daily, keep a practice log of what I'm doing so I can track my progress and am psyched to meet up again next week. I feel another door being opened up! Feels great to work on some foundational "Mr. Miyagi" material again. The simple little things that add up.

3 days later I got to share the same scale information with a student. My students teach me as much as I teach them. It's a new world from where I started. There is no better way of staying current than teaching people 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 my age, seeing the world through the eyes of younger folks.

One of the greatest things I learned this week was working my scales in 3rds and 4ths. It wasn't the scales, it was the speed. SLOW DOWN! Go with your natural heart rhythm. 60BPM, quarter notes for AS LONG AS YOU NEED TO. Metronomes are great but can bring out the perfectionist in us. I don't reccomend you get too mechanical with that little box. I did like to be reminded of how to practice scales at a turtle pace. 2 days of that I could feel my ideas being liberated at band practice just a little bit more effortlessly. In a month, a year? Who knows. That's really the point. It's about building confidence. Wax on, wax off. Thank you Karate Kid!

Berklee College of Music

I had an interesting brief conversation with a young man at my job 2 days ago. He was wearing a Berklee College of Music hoodie. As I was ringing him up for some picks and strings I said "so you went to Berklee? Did you graduate?" His reply was "yeah, now I'm doomed to a life of failure."

I replied, "you don't ever need to say that, you have no idea what is in store for you in this life." He asked "did you go there?" I said "yeah, back in the 80's". "Looks like things really worked out for you!" he says as I ring him up at my job at Southside Guitars. "Kid, you don't know anything about me, you don't know what great stuff I've experienced in music." He said "yeah, cool, you're right, sorry."

It was a great chance to do a little healing, that opportunity to speak. Life has no accidents. I felt calm, like I was talking to myself at 22 years old saying what I wish someone had said to me then.

I don't know why I had the same attitude as he did back in 1988 when I dropped out, I do know that I would be doomed to failure if I believed that jive today. The fact is there is no truth in that idea of being doomed to failure. Music has taken me around the world, I am happy and proud of what I have contributed.

When I left I was surrounded by this attitude. Many of my Berklee friends expressed being "doomed to failure" and had a negative attitude about themselves and the school which they were fortunate enough to attend. I heard this message enough that I believed it. I started to compare myself to people who were making much more compelling music than I in the scene who never went to music school. I felt stifled and weighted down with all that knowledge. I couldn't experience music the way I did before when I was in high school. Maybe that experience did do some damage? I don't know if I buy that anymore. Maybe I was choosing to be a victim so I wouldn't have to put myself out there is more the truth. There were some  kids who were judgemental of us that went to college and said stupid things, but truth be known, most folks only care if you are the right person for the band you are in.

And..... no experience can kill my passion for making music. I'm still here, never stopped and never will stop. What does artistic recovery mean to me today? It means that was awesome that I was interested enough to talk to a fellow Berklee Alumni. I was curious. It means I didn't take his comment the least bit seriously cause fact is I've had a wonderful life and continue to do so. I doubt he will forget our brief dialogue. Maybe that was an opportunity for him to get over himself and just do the work. Maybe 10 years from now he'll have a flash of that encounter and will choose to let go and grow. Or maybe it doesn't matter as it's none of my business and truth be known, I can't be bothered by a bummer kid. But just maybe, he and I will get what we are after in life and that will be awesome.

JB