Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Greg Feingold - iJazzEd podcast

Bassist Greg Feingold shares some great advice for musicians hoping to improve. Enjoy this short visit with Greg and Jake Bergevin as they discuss motivation, practice habits and life philosophy.



Here's the Zoom interview with Jake and Greg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7EEFHzDHDA&feature=youtu.be

Some highlights include these points:

  • It’s easy to play music with people who are better than you is easy. Find a way to play music with everyone and try to make it the best possible thing you can.

  • Ray Brown - Three Dimensional - “You Are My Sunshine”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvgRJPUMScI


  • 21 days to develop a habit - do a short amount every day!

  • Practice early in your day so you don’t feel weighed down.

  • “I don’t like really being bad at stuff. I don’t really know many people that do”.

  • Set tiny goals

  • Make one phone call everyday

  • We are all in the same ocean, just different size boats.
Check out this related learning philosophy on wiki called Pompodoro Technique


Larissa Meyer's notes from this talk:
ConceptTime MarkerMy adoption of this concept
"Play music with everyone" 1:45I should make an effort to play in person (socially distanced) with people outside of my section.
"Experience doesn't really matter once your on stage" 2:30

I should look into performing more, especially with other people, to improve my overall sense of collaboration and musicality.

"Addiction to practicing"3:20It is important view practice as a priviledge and stay motivated to play rather than an obstacle.
"Stay outside" 6:40I definitely need to prioritize spending more time outside going on walks and enjoying nature instead of being cooped up doing work indoors 24/7.
"It takes 21 days for something to become a habit" 8:00I plan to make a goal to practice for at least 21 days in a row, even for just 30 min, to form a more established habit of practicing.
"Walk away feeling like you could have done more" 9:20I won't make practice sessions unbearably long but shorter so that I can stay focused and motivated with a clear goal of what I want to practice next time while looking forward to my next practice section.
"Create a rigid practice block" 10:30I will create a more outlined practice schedule so that I can make sure to at least touch on all of the pieces/exercises I wanted to work on instead of getting caught up and distracted.
"Practice early in the day" 11:10If I prioritize my practice before the afternoon, I won't feel weighed down and spend the day worrying about whether I'll have enough time.
"Set tiny goals" 13:55I tend to overwhelm myself with big goals so it will probably be more effective to break down goals into small more realistic and less challenging pieces (not only regarding practice but other aspects of my life).
"Make a phone call a day"15:41Though a lot of people my age, including myself, rely on texting, I think it's important to be able to hear each others voices so I plan to focus more of my communication through phone calls or video calls instead of just texting.
"We're all in the same ocean, but the boats are different sizes"17:01I just thought this was a cool quote, seeing as a lot of people say "we're all in the same boat" which sort of downplay the experiences of individuals who may be facing more extreme struggles/hardships.  hardships.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Marcus Printup - listening, practicing, modes and "So What"

Marcus Printup is a wonderful guy! He plays with the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra and has many CDs as leader too.  He is a caring and thoughtful player and teacher. Join Marcus and Jake as they discuss the importance of mentors, listening, jazz history, practice and how to tackle "So What". Marcus has several great resources to guide you.  


Marcus says the best thing to do is to STAY PATIENT.  Follow the CDC guidelines. Play your long tones as if it's a meditation. Marcus guides us through a listening session of Clifford Brown and Sarah Vaughan on September Song. 

As we have discussed in many previous posts, minor scales and songs are an important aspect of your development. The song So What is a great tune for musicians to learn as it is very "scalular" and also has a chromatic modulation and is in only 2 keys. 

Enjoy this discussion and consider learning So What. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yva8-PQ8pNw

He says "the key to learning jazz is using your ears". This lesson can be informative to listen to only but Marcus also shared some great files to go along with it. Check these out too?  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13URVPgJ1Im7mMnyr-TPohuR5o2zduGPT?usp=sharing

For more on Marcus Printup, visit his website or follow him on social media.

https://www.marcusprintup.net/


Monday, August 10, 2020

John Sanders - Circle of Fifths, Importance of finding a good private teacher, Piano demonstration and much more.

 Join Johns Sanders (head of Edmonds CC Music Department) and Jake as they discuss powerful practice ideas.  Importance of private lessons, listening to Kind of Blue by Miles (especially Wynton Kelly's solo) recommends Blues People by Leroy Jones. This is a potential starting spot for anyone interested in learning to navigate piano/keyboard too and another reinforcement of the importance of navigating the circle of fifths (from 5 to 1 and not the other way around). He slowly demonstrates outlining chords, chromatic approach tones, and more. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phfb_3TxedI&t=5s


Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Camille Thurman - find a mentor, learn the lyric

Camille Thurman is a New York based artist and in this interview offers some golden advice for jazz players. Join Camille on this interview with Jake Bergevin as she discusses her influences and models interpretation of the beautiful ballad "In My Solitiude".  Please take a listen.