For Musicians: Clinic Archives

How To Make a Career Out of Music
from yoexpert.com

If you're reading this article then you're probably looking for an answer to this question: "How can I make a career in the music business?" Whatever your particular goals may be, there are three rules of thumb which must stay with you if you'd like to make a career out of music.

girl_singerRule number one: never say never. This is by far the most important thing an aspiring musician, composer, producer, you-name-it-here career oriented person must do. This doesn't mean you're sitting around wishing on a star in the hopes that a big record company will “discover” you and make you a star. What I mean is, you must have stick-to-it-ness. It may take you a few decades to get anywhere in this business. Just look at Jonathan Coulton, the guy who wrote Code Monkey and other popular songs: he didn't “break in” as a musician until 2003, approximately a decade after his first attempts to do so. It could easily take you longer than that.

Rule number two: define your goals and (back to rule number one) do your best to stick to them. What is it you see yourself doing in your ideal music career? Choose a few specific, easy to visualize goals. Maybe you want to have regular, paying gigs that bring in such-and-such amount of money per month. Define it clearly: how much money, how many gigs, and when this goal should be reached. Maybe the deadline is two years from now. In that case, define actions that will put you in that position, and set some smaller deadlines to get you there.

As an example, if you're just starting out, you could scope out the open mic scenes around town and make a point of regularly showing up to perform at those venues. Tell yourself: “I will go at least once a week to perform, without fail.” That can give you the opportunity to observe other aspiring musicians, and begin pulling together a band. At some point, you'll want to look at venues where you could get booked, despite having no fame to your name. Maybe you'll need to do some free shows, or open for a more popular band. After some performances are under your belt, you might start looking at local music festivals, and create an online presence for yourself. Making and keeping clear goals will help you make definite progress toward whatever your ideal music career is.

Rule number three: be able to analyze yourself and change what isn't working. This could apply to your music, your attitude around other people, your stage presence, etc. Take what you're bad at and make it a strength. Maybe the financial side of things is a weak point for you. In that case, dig in and get well acquainted with that aspect of life. Your enthusiasm for your ideal career must be stronger than whatever it is that needs changing about yourself, otherwise that career will never progress beyond a certain point.

This is one reason why you see so many talented musicians who never make a career out of music: they are lacking something about themselves needed to make them a success. Maybe it's your musicianship that needs work. Practically everyone can improve, after all, even the most talented among us. Have you got a song you love to death that no one else seems to appreciate? Maybe you need to take a hard look at it. Never be afraid to re-write your stuff. Never be afraid to receive serious criticism; in fact, seek it out. Maybe your guitar playing has some serious weakness, and you need to spend some dedicated daily practice time. In any case, you've got to develop a thick skin and understand that what you do can be improved. Otherwise, you're probably better off leaving music as a hobby.

There is, of course, one last unwritten rule for success in this or any other business: love what you do, and do what you love. Without a strong, practically obsessive love for whatever it is you do, you're never going to find the initiative to stick it through, to define and keep goals, and to really dig in and constructively change yourself in order to change you dreams to reality. A successful career in music is kind of like a successful marriage: you've got to have love and commitment.
November 26, 2012
Learning A Second Instrument
By Andrew Munger
Reprinted from Rhythm-art.com

As musicians, we all tend to dabble a bit. Who hasn’t had a “round robin” at rehearsal just to break things up a bit? And I’d bet there’s probably a pennywhistle in the back of a drawer somewhere in your house, too! Lately, I’ve been diving in to learning bass guitar, and I’ve noticed a few points, both positive and negative, that I’d like to pass along.

Benefits Of Learning A Second Instrument

1. Improved Time Sense – As musicians, we learn to track time through our physical actions, and through the response of our instruments. Learning a different instrument gives us a totally different sensation of how time passes. It is imperative that we practice with a metronome, so we can observe how the instrument impacts our sense of time. As we become more and more comfortable with this new time-tracking mechanism, our timekeeping becomes less instrument-specific, and more generalized, making our timekeeping that much stronger. Also, when playing with others, by understanding how that player feels time on his/her instrument, we are better able to lock in with them and deepen the overall pocket of the band. This was one of the primary reasons I decided to pick up the bass – what better way to practice locking in with a bass player, than by becoming one?

2. Improved Sense Of Pitch – Pitch recognition tends to happen for musicians over time by default. We get a sense of, “When I do this, it sounds like this.” Our pitch recognition tends to be strongest though, on pitches that fall within the range of, and have a similar timbre to, our own instrument. By picking up a second, we get used to hearing and creating pitches in a new register and timbre, making our sense of pitch more generalized. Of course, the better we are at hearing and recognizing pitch, the better musicians we have the potential to become!

3. A Breath Of Fresh Air – Let’s be honest here. Being a musician is the greatest job in the world, but after playing percussion for 25 years, sometimes it can feel a bit stale! Picking up a new instrument tends to feel more like playing! Nothing’s riding on it, it’s not paying my bills, and nobody is going to hear how bad I am, so I can just sit back and have fun with it! And 9 times out of 10, once I’m done “playing around” with the bass, I can’t wait to get over to the percussion side of the room and get some “real work” done. If nothing else, to clear my ears of all the mistakes I just made! It really can give a new life to your playing to get totally out of your comfort zone for a while!

Cautions When Learning A Second Instrument

1. Don’t Forget Your Real Job - While there are benefits to learning a second instrument, there are some drawbacks as well. One of the first is the same as everything else we have to deal with in life – every minute not spent practicing your (primary) instrument is a minute you aren’t getting better. It’s important to find a balance when practicing, and don’t let the siren of the shiny new interest lure you away from your primary mission – getting better at your bread and butter workhorse (is that a mixed-enough metaphor, or shall I throw in a few more?)!

2. Look Out For Similarities – One not-so-obvious thing to look out for is that if instruments are too similar, it can actually throw you off quite a bit! I first noticed this when I was studying djembe, and started picking at the congas on the side. The hand motions are similar, but yet different enough to be considered different systems. They were similar enough that my brain tried to file them away in the same folder, and I ended up confusing myself. Thankfully, my teacher played both, and knew how to recognize the problem, steering me to safety! I’d imagine it would be like trying to learn Latin and Italian at the same time, and trying to keep the vocabulary separate. Sometimes it’s better to go way different, and let your brain sort them into separate files!

3. Remember Your Place – How many times have you heard someone say they play 12 different instruments? How many times has it been true? Don’t be that guy. Remember that the fact that you’ve played one instrument at a high level for a long time, does not mean that you are an expert on another just because you happen to be holding it! A second instrument takes just as much time, dedication, and work as a primary instrument in order to be played at a professional level. Some people are able to double very well, and play each as if it were the only. Not everyone can. Be honest with yourself about your abilities, or lack thereof. Ask yourself, “Am I playing this instrument well enough to justify taking a gig away from a fellow musician?” What would you do if someone took a gig from you in a similar manner? This goes for teachers as well (maybe even more so). A semester of methods classes in college does not make you qualified to teach private lessons on an instrument, or to take food off the table of another teacher who specializes in that instrument. You may be Prince, but you’re probably not.

I hope these ideas will help you in your musical quest, and who knows how far it may lead! Remember, the more versatile you are, the more opportunities your will find to use your skills!

Andrew Munger is a multi-percussion artist based in Raleigh, NC. He runs a website and blog for percussionists, www.rhythm-art.com. This is reprinted with permission from his blog. Catch up with Andrew on Facebook at facebook.com/andrewmungerpercussion.



September 30, 2012
My Child Wants to Quit Piano

So now that you’ve paid hundreds if not thousands for piano lessons, your child walks in one day and says, “I hate piano, Mom. Can I quit?” What do you do?

There could be many reasons for this:
1. Your child may simply be overloaded with activities. I don’t know a child today who isn’t too busy.
2. Your child may have given piano an honest try, but maybe it’s not for them.
3. The lesson may be scheduled at a time that is inconvenient for the child, or for you.
4. Traveling to and from the lesson may prove stressful.

But there’s another more obvious reason by piano lessons may not be panning out: the teacher.

Have you sat in on a lesson or two, as some parents occasionally do? I myself as a piano teacher work only in people’s homes, so I am quite used to parents’ eyes over my shoulder. And frankly, it doesn’t worry me because I get so absorbed in teaching the child and having fun with them that I really don’t notice a parent’s presence.
But the child and the teacher may feel differently. The child will tend to be a little tense, since they will want very much to please you, the parent, if you are present. Your presence is in general disruptive and counter-productive for the child unless your visits are very occasional. This is not true in all cases and depends entirely on the age and personality of the child, and the relationship between the teacher and child.

The teacher’s feelings about your presence is another case. Even if you know nothing about piano, music and lessons, you can make simple observations that will help you to determine why your child is uncomfortable.
Before we discuss these observations, the following should be said of piano teachers in general so that we run no risk of “teacher-bashing.” We’re really rooting for both sides here, the student and the teacher.

In the teacher’s defense,
1. Piano is a difficult instrument, like all instruments, to play well. To gain a cursory knowledge is not hard, but to master it in any sense is a lot of hard work. We can assume the teacher is well trained and a professional, and knows and appreciates the beauty of the piano and music in general.

2. Teaching the child the piano from the beginning is a very tedious process for the teacher in many ways: they are going over and over what are for them are the most painfully basic of concepts. It’s hard to do this unless you truly love kids.

3. Simply dealing with kids can be difficult, unless you know how to do it. Add to this the task of learning a noble, complex musical instrument, and you have a hard job.

Having said that in defense of the teachers, here are observations you can make in the piano lesson to see why your child is unhappy:

1. Is the child comfortable? Discount your presence and try to assess the child’s emotional state during the lesson. Tense? Intense? Happy? Petulant? It may be just that particular day’s mood, but you have to try to find out the child’s feelings about the lesson process itself.

2. What is the teacher’s manner? Is the teacher cold, bubbly, slow, old, young? Do they listen to the child, or is the lesson in essence a lecture?

3. How much interaction is there between the student and teacher?

4. How does the teacher handle repetition? Piano requires repetition as all musical instruments do, but a clever teacher disguises the repetition in the beginning. If the teacher goes over and over the same piece or section, it may be too much for the child. Children require variety and persistence in equal measure, and to simply repeat a portion of a piece until it pleases the teacher may terribly frustrate the child. A teacher has to be creative in the art of repetition.

5. How much variety is there? Does the teacher do the same sort of activity again and again, or is there some sense of variety? Many children have a short attention span, and those few moments may be all the teacher has to introduce or refine a concept during a 30 minute lesson. There needs to be a variety of activities. Just reading music and honing those particular skills will exhaust the average child quickly. Many piano teachers do not know this.

If it seems the teacher is impatient and gruff in any way at all with the child, then the teacher may be well intentioned, but they are not suited to teaching children the piano. Children are extremely sensitive in the one-on-one atmosphere of piano lessons, and the teacher must find a way of correcting the child without humiliating them or hurting their feelings.

If it seems the teacher is kind, patient, warm and experienced with kids, then it may be that the child is indeed not happy with the lessons. There’s no reason for a child to be unhappy with a sympathetic teacher.

So look for those two questions: is the child at ease in the lesson, and is the teacher patient and kind? If the answer to either question is no, you should consider changing piano teachers, or simply stopping for a while or trying another instrument.

It never pays for kids to take music lessons if they are not happy with them at least to some small degree. They don’t have to love it, but if they hate it, it’s a sign something is wrong.

Better to wait and try again later than to turn them off forever. And you run the risk of that if you force them to take piano lessons.

John Aschenbrenner, c 2008 Walden Pond Press, All Rights Reserved
September 2, 2012
What to Look For in a Guitar Teacher and
How to Select the Best One for You
by: Tomas Michaud

Learning to play the guitar can be an extremely rewarding experience, but it is made even more so if you find the right teacher who is also a guide that will help you achieve your musical goals with the right resources. Choosing the right teacher can be frustrating because it's difficult to figure out which ones are exceptional; in addition to this, if you choose the wrong teacher then you can end up being unmotivated through no fault of your own.

I have been responsible for hiring all the instructors at my music school, Starland Music Center, for 30 years. I'll share with you what I've learned over the years what I consider to be the best ways to separate the "wheat from the chaff."

Teaching with a plan
The best teachers always prepare and have a plan: it's said in teaching that for every hour of teaching you need to prepare for two hours. You should be able to tell whether you're dealing with a professional just with your first meeting - they will determine where you are, where you are trying to go and then propose a method for getting you there. Even in the first lesson they might give you exercises to evaluate where you are.

The best teachers are not afraid to tell you their methods.

You can always tell the worst teachers, because they are the ones who "wing it." If you can tell that your prospective teacher hasn't prepared for the lesson and looks like they are making up stuff on the spot - they probably are. Get away as fast as you can. With these types of teachers you won't achieve any progress, because there's no system to their teaching. If you don't realize this right from the beginning, you may end up six months later feeling like you haven't progressed at all and you become very confused. You may even blame your lack of progress on some ridiculous notion that "you don't have any talent."

The best teachers stick to their plans and while they may reward you now and then by teaching you a song you really like, more likely they will find out anyway your tastes and incorporate those into later lessons when you get to that level.

Travel distance
How to find a good teacher also depends on how far you are willing to travel for your lessons. The more consistent you are in not missing your lessons the faster you will progress - and it's much easier to be consistent if you don't have to travel too far to see your teacher. Thirty minutes travel time is a good average, but only you know what you can honestly tolerate.

Abilities vs. teaching skills
The two are not mutual (but neither are they mutually exclusive). Just because a guitarist is an amazing performer, does not mean that they could be a great teacher. In fact, it's more likely that the best teachers are the ones who are unable to perform so much because they are teaching so much. When you are a beginner, it's best to go with a teacher who is excellent at teaching you all the basics, you don't need to worry too much about how great a performer they are. But then as you advance, you can always seek out another teacher who specializes in a particular style that you like.

What you should be looking for is a teacher who is both an inspiration and someone who has traveled the hard road of being a student and comes back to show you the way.

Instructor experience
1) One way to work out whether your prospective teacher has enough experience is to see how many students they Greg & Connorteach. If it's true that it takes thousands of hours to learn to play an instrument, then it's also true that it takes thousands of hours to learn how to teach! Ask them:
how many years they have taught
how many students do they teach a week
how long do students stay with them

But be careful, because teachers with a lot of students may also not have enough time for you or not track your progress enough.

An organized teacher who has many students is also a good choice. This means taking notes, keeping track of your progress and using some sort of register.

Personal note: At one point I had 60 weekly 1/2 hour private students. Though I was working long hours I had no problems keeping track of each student's progress and giving them my full attention during the lesson because I had a system.

2) The level of current and past students is also something that is significant. If you are looking for beginner lessons look for a teacher who is skilled at teaching beginners. There are totally different teaching methods and styles involved in teaching different levels.

3) Age range of students. It's best to divide students into children, teenagers and adults. Look for a teacher with experience teaching students of your age range.

Training does make a difference
Your prospective teacher should not only be trained at how to play their guitar. Ideally you want to pick a teacher who has also been taught by good teachers. Good teachers will always model their lessons on the good teachers' methods that taught them. These types of teachers will use methods and materials that worked well when they were learning and keep you away from methods that don't work.

A teacher can also be taught by a school. College graduates are likely to have training only in classical guitar as most universities do not offer programs in popular music. But many instructors that I've hired have been to schools such as Musician's Institute in L.A., Grove School Without Walls, and Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, which do offer popular music.

The other way to learn to teach guitar is to take a course with the same name - though the only one I know of is the one I teach at the Starland Music Center using my proprietary system along with the principles and techniques of proper instruction. You can also get wonderful books on this topic (check out author Joe Livoti) and you can learn a lot from method books and testing the ideas on your students.

Tomas Michaud is a world class guitarist, recording artist, and music educator. He is the owner and Music Director of the San Francisco Bay area’s premier music education facility, Starland Music Center in Alameda, CA, and has taught or consulted with thousands of students over the past 30 years. Get your FREE 7 Day Course on learning guitar at http://starlandguitar.com/7-mistakes with video and PDF downloads.


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August 19, 2012
Caring for Brass and Woodwind Instruments
Phil McBride, McBride Music Company

(Note: Thank you to Tim Paul of Piano Trends in Crystal Lake for facilitating the contact and interview for this column. You can bring instruments for repair by Phil McBride to Piano Trends and they'll take care of the process for you!)

I own McBride Music Company, in business since 1967. My whole effort is to service many stores and individuals in repair for brass and woodwind instrument. So I’m calling on stores – they seldom have the expertise or desire to get involved in repair, so they’re always looking for someone to farm it out to. Then I have my own clientele -- I deal with the Huntley and Crystal Lake schools, where I work with directors, and through referrals take care of the parents’ needs for kids in those schools.

One of the things I hear most often from parents is, “Gee I didn’t know. They didn’t tell me.” And now it’s 30 minutes before performance. So I think the really important thing is that the parent stay in tune with the student, by simply asking questions from time to time – how is your instrument working for you? And particularly if a student is starting to lose interest, stumbling, or they’re having difficulties, it could very well be because the instrument isn’t functioning properly, and the student is getting frustrated. So a parent should ask regularly so that repairs can be done on a timely basis. (Note: if your student plays a woodwind instrument, make sure they change the reeds frequently – we know from experience that reeds can mold!)

Home Cleaning and Repair
My suggestion is to always have a 1-year checkup of every instrument, and that’s preferably some time before the school program starts in the fall, not the day of, and understand that the work comes in and is taken care of on a first-come, first-served basis. One of the issues I see is that the students are not being trained and taught how to care for their instrument. Teachers see 200 students every year, playing 15-20 different instruments, and don’t have time to teach them how to care for their instruments. The students come to class, and are taught how to play, but seldom are they really taught how to care for it. And every instrument requires a different kind of care. The kids need to know how to pull the slides – most of the instruments come with a snake, and they can do it at home with a mild detergent and lukewarm water, never hot. Hot water will loosen the lacquer. And use the snake, or a brush. Do that twice a year.

When somebody comes in and wonders if they need to clean their instrument – a trumpet for example – I pull the slide, if it’s pullable. Many times, the slide is frozen in place, and it can’t be tuned to the orchestra. If I can pull it, I have them look down the lead pipe, and they can see there’s often an accumulation of the student’s lunch and dinner. You wouldn’t put a flute in a bathtub, but you could do that with a trumpet. You can take trumpet valves out and clean them -- trumpet valves are numbered, 1, 2, 3 - #1 is closest to the mouthpiece, and the piston has a number on it as well. So if you pull those out, you can put them back in the same order. If you’re uncomfortable with that, bring it in.

For flutes and clarinets, I offer a strong caution against using liquid polish. The polish will get into the mechanism as a liquid and then it dries and sets up, and then nothing works. Parents do it because they want it to look nice, but it’s bad for the instrument. For not a lot of money, we can do a top buff and make it look nice, and do it without disassembling. I’ll do that during a repad or the yearly checkup.

If keys are sticking, you may need to have pads or keys replaced. Again, some newer Yamaha student instruments use a “greenback” pad – not the traditional fishskin-covered felt pad, but they do get sticky some times. It sounds funny, but if you will take a little bit of spray furniture polish and spray it on the pad, that will take care of the stickiness. If that doesn’t work, need to change the pad. Spray furniture polish is also a very good thing to clean lacquered finishes, like trumpets or trombones.

If you find that you can’t pull a mouthpiece out by hand, don’t use pliers or hold it in a vise to pull it out – bring it in for a professional to pull. If a mouthpiece or the connector gets bent, it won’t fit back in properly. It can often be fixed, but your music shop professional can pull it easily and save that trouble. That’s about the limit of what a parent or student can do at home.

Professional Repair

How does student or parent know when bigger repairs are needed? A professional can often tell during the once-a-year checkup. But things will happen during the year. If, on a clarinet, the two sections begin to wobble, it’s time to change that center cork. If they tear or come loose, they need to be changed. But those things are quite often picked up on the once a year inspection.

The method that’s used now by many repair businesses, including us, is ultrasonic cleaning. You’re probably most familiar with that when you go into a jewelry store, and they put your ring into an ultrasonic bath. An ultrasonic cleaning is mild detergent in a water solution that is heated, and we never heat it to more than 75 degrees – again we don’t want to loosen the lacquer – and it’s sound waves. The sound waves are in the wash that it’s in, and it will get the dirt out of the tiniest places that you could never get with a brush (see the process here).

That can be done once a year, during the annual checkup. Cost depends on size of the instrument – the break is usually trumpets, cornets, trombones, about $60. Then you get into bigger ones -- baritones, French horns, and that runs about $85.

You can’t dump a saxophone into an ultrasonic cleaner – that will destroy the pads. But I can disassemble it and put everything in except the pads. It’s often not the keys so much that require cleaning, but the body. There’s an extra charge for taking it apart and putting it back together. The latest models of Yamaha student saxes have treated pads, and can be put in the solution, but you have to know what that looks like, and mom and dad often don’t.

For instruments with a mouthpiece – at home, you can put the mouthpieces in a small ultrasonic jewelry cleaner with a little bit of detergent or cleaning solution (never put a wood mouthpiece in water). It won’t hurt the cork. Metal or plastic trumpet, trombone, and sax mouthpieces work well. The solution will loosen the material. Or you can use a brush – there are brushes made just for mouthpieces.

Teachers don’t have the time to put together info on caring for instruments, so parents don’t always know how to take care of these expensive instruments. If you have questions on how to care for your instrument, always ask your music professional.

Used Instruments
If you have a child who wants to play an “inherited” instrument, or you find a used instrument, I am always willing to look over an older instrument at no charge. There are some brands that you don’t want to use, and instruments that are worn out. And you don’t want to put money into those. You might have something that would be fine for a couple of years, but it also might not be worth anything. Brass instruments get “red rot” – corrosion that will tell you there’s going to be a hole. That happens because an instrument isn’t cleaned and cared for properly. And the only thing you can do with that is replace those pieces. I’ll evaluate an older instrument and tell you if it’s usable. And sometimes those older instruments are better than the newer ones, but you can’t tell until it’s looked at. A big question is, Are parts available? In a lot of cases, they’re not. And in some cases, I can make the parts; in others you just have to junk it out. I can and will tell you where saxes, clarinets, and flutes will show wear. Repair isn’t cheap, and I don’t want you putting good money after bad. There are good used instruments out there – there are several here (at Piano Trends) on consignment and they’re a good deal.

Phil McBrideMcBride Music Company (www.McBrideMusicCompany.com) has been repairing musical instruments since 1963. We are a full service repair facility specializing in both brass and woodwind musical instrument repair. We pride ourselves on quick turnaround on make-play and musical instrument adjustments. We are grateful for the opportunity to offer this service and high level of craftsmanship to you.




June 10, 2012
The Saxophone Sound Equation
Blending Instrument, Mouthpiece and Player for the Best Sound
by Dave Kessler
kesslermusic.com/blog

In my job as the Sales Manager for my family music store, I am constantly helping people find the best values, equipment and am constantly asked for my advice. I love it. I enjoy helping customers pursue their love of performance. Especially for saxophones, we are a place that many people trust for opinions and help and advice.

Ideally, players want to sound the best that they can. Who can blame them? After all, isn’t that the whole point of practicing and playing?

One of the most common mistakes that players can make in their never ending goal of becoming a better player is trying to emulate their favorite musician. Too many people want to know what mouthpiece or horn or reed that their favorite player is playing on in hopes of developing a sound closer to that player. While I know that it is tempting to want to sound like a player that you idolize, people need to remember that the sound of a saxophone has very little to do with the equipment they use but rather with whom the person is playing it.

The Saxophone Sound Equation
This has led me to produce my “saxophone sound equation”. Keep in mind, this is not a scientific equation and is in no way based on anything other than my own personal experience and opinion.

Saxophone Sound = 6% Mouthpiece + 4% Saxophone + 90% Player
Equipment Performance = 60% Mouthpiece + 40% Saxophone

Before you get too bothered by this, let’s take a deeper look in to my thinking on this; keep in mind that this equation is also based on comparing QUALITY products in both the mouthpiece and the saxophone. You cannot bunch in very low quality product into this comparison.

90% Player
As a player continues to develop, they need to remember that the sound of a saxophone is produced by the player. The saxophone and the mouthpiece for that matter are simply amplifiers. This is why no matter what equipment you play, you will still sound like you! Granted, changing the mouthpiece, ligature, reed, neck, saxophone, pads, etc… will all make noticeable differences to the final end product, but in the end the sound is produced by the player.

For an example on this, let’s look at the 2 extremes of level of player.

If you take a basic beginning student who has simply played for 2 weeks and can produce a basic “Mary had a Little Lamb” tune and hand that student a professional level sax like a Selmer Mark VI or a Yanagisawa 991 series horn, that student will still sound like a student. The sound might be affected by a SMALL percentage, but they in the end will still have the tonal quality and color of a student who has been playing for 2 weeks.

On the flip side, if we take a professional player who makes their living playing and recording saxophone and we hand them the same batch of professional horns as well as the student saxophone that the 2 week experienced player was using, you will find the same thing. The professional player will make all 3 saxophones sound amazing. Granted, we will notice a bigger tonal difference between the 3 horns than you would from the student, but all 3 will still sound like a great player playing saxophone.

I use analogies of cars as most people can relate to this. If the average adult driver was to take a Toyota Camry and drive it through and obstacle course and then a Nascar driver was to immediately drive the exact same car around the exact same course, the end result will be VERY different and 99.9% of the time in the favor of the professional driver.

6% Mouthpiece
Some people might assign different values to all of this, but I think that most players will likely agree with this assignment. As we have already established, the player makes the sound. So when you evaluate the rest of the equation, it makes sense to look at the mouthpiece as the most direct amplifier to the input sound of the player.

Mouthpiece makes more difference than the saxophone. This is one of the reasons why people will pay thousands of dollars for vintage mouthpieces that are hard to find. They believe that this vintage mouthpiece will give them a sound modification that a modern equivalent to the mouthpiece cannot give. Whether they equate it to the quality of the material or the quality of the craftsmanship, the point is that many of these vintage mouthpieces do play differently (not necessarily better) than their modern day equivalent.

This has also led to development of high end mouthpiece makers. For instance, we carry one such maker in the Theo Wanne mouthpieces. These mouthpieces are unique in their design, craftsmanship and performance when compared to other mouthpieces. These mouthpieces are also made using extremely expensive equipment which does mean that they cost more to produce. Theo’s mouthpieces start around $500 for his new alto sax mouthpieces, $600 on tenor, and $850 on baritone sax.

For many people they are a hard item to justify. However, when one considers the production cost of these pieces and then weighs the performance of the mouthpiece, it actually becomes easier to justify the price of a high end performance mouthpiece especially in light of how much more difference a mouthpiece makes than the saxophone.

However, I also add that I believe the customer should not spend that much on a mouthpiece unless it is the absolute perfect fit for them. This is why I personally try and help guide customers through the differences in them so that they can try the model that best suits their desired performance. After that, we give the customer the ability to try it out and send it back if it isn’t what they are looking for.

4% Saxophone
I have to say that I have had more debate with customers over the percentage that I assign to the saxophone in this argument. I will concede that the differences in these overall percentages will vary with each individual player, but I believe that the overall equation still stands that Player > Mouthpiece > Saxophone. Whatever percentages one wants to apply will depend on them.

So what am I saying? Basically this: you do not NEED a top end horn in order to be a good player. Yes, having a top end horn is going to benefit you from an overall ability/performance end, but it is not the necessity that some believe it to be in order to have a great sound. The horn is simply the end tool to finalize your sound.

A sax can affect the overall volume, the intonation stability, the “core” and a lot of other terms that will vary depending on the individual using them. So yes, the sax will make a difference, but it is not the end all say all of the art of saxophone playing.

I am a firm believer in having good equipment. I simply use this discussion to stress that as players develop, do not be in too much of a rush to “have to” replace your horn. If you have a solid good horn, look at upgrading your mouthpiece for a bigger difference at an overall lower cost.

I know this argument sounds odd coming from a saxophone salesman… believe me, I debated posting this whole post for that reason, but that’s how I do things. I give advice based on what is best for the customer first. If you are at a point where your horn is holding you back, then by all means look at a new saxophone, just don’t forget about the mouthpiece in the process.

60/40 Equipment
If we ignore the player aspect of the equation, then the new formula of simply mouthpiece and saxophone comes to a 60% mouthpiece, 40% sax. I still do hold that the mouthpiece makes more overall difference, but saxophone obviously plays a significant part.

Other Factors
There are many other factors that weigh into this discussion that I am not going in to as much depth at this time. For example the neck and the pads. These items can make quite drastic changes to your performance, specifically the neck. For the sake of this argument, I combined the neck with the saxophone as most people do. Changing the neck on your horn can drastically change the tone color, the focus, the intonation, the response, etc… basically everything about the saxophone!

Conclusion
I realize this is one of my longer posts but I want to conclude with a perfect story to prove my point. Let me first say that I do not recommend trying this at home for reasons that will seem obvious.

A few weeks ago, I had 2 different professional players come in that helped illustrate my point. I will not name them publically but needless to say, they are both professional sax players that I have known for quite some time.

Player A came in to test out the Theo Wanne tenor mouthpieces. He was playing them on his Mark VI. I know this horn to be a VERY good Mark VI. While he was playing, Player B came in to buy reeds. Player A & B know each other well. Player B quickly commented on the fact that Player A sounded great and asked what he was playing. He replied “just checking out the Theo Wanne GAIA mouthpiece, you have GOT to try this!”

So Player A handed his horn to Player B to test. Player B instantly played the horn… same horn, same mouthpiece, same reed, same ligature and grossly, same spit. The point is that not even the reed was repositioned. So with this, the ONLY variable that was changed was the person and in this scenario, all of the equipment was at the top level that equipment can be.

Both players sounded RADICALLY different on the same equipment. They both have very distinctive tone and style of play from each other. Player A sounded like Player A. Player B sounded like Player B.

They both sounded great, but they both sounded different on the exact same equipment.

As you grow as a player, focus on the playing and having good equipment. The best upgrade you can do to your performance would be through your own practice, followed by mouthpiece, followed by horn. Have a good horn and have it well regulated. Have a great mouthpiece and have a great teacher.

Lastly, develop your own sound. Take pride that only you can sound like you!

Dave Kessler is the Sales Manager at Kessler & Sons Music in Las Vegas, Nevada (www.kesslermusic.com & www.kesslerstrings.com), a family owned & operated business with 3 retail locations in Las Vegas. Kessler & Sons Music was started in 1989 by his parents, who are still the owners of the company. Dave runs website sales and most local professional sales for the store. When he is not working and helping musicians get the best deals and service, he is at home with his 4 boys.
May 27, 2012
So You Want to be a Musician?
A Parents’/Students’ Guide To Getting An Idea For What To Expect

by Mike Potts

Chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve thought about pursuing a career as a professional musician, or you have a son/daughter who’s considering, and you’re not sure about the practicality of this decision. Can you make enough money in music? Can you be the next Lady Gaga? Is a music major completely useless? Allow me to shed some light on the situation from the perspective of a musician 4 years out of college, trying to make it in the real world. (Bear in mind, this article doesn’t address the career path of being a music teacher, which I know nothing about, just the path of playing music professionally.)

First, let’s get this out of the way….WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!?! You want to work strange hours of the day, have no job security, no pension, no insurance/benefits, no sick days, miss family holidays, work every weekend, and need to find every gig on your own? Could there be a worse job? You want to travel 8 hours, deal with a jerk of a bar owner or a bridezilla, set up all your gear, play your 2 hour set, and then drive back home? And I’m not just talking about bands, this applies to every musician out there on every instrument; the details might look different, but the BS is all the same. Seriously, there must be something wrong with you…right?
Well that’s OK, there’s something wrong with me. But if you take anything away from the above paragraph, take this: A career in music entails so much more than just playing music.

Being a musician isn’t like your typical 9-5 job, you don’t get the luxury of just showing up to work and getting paid, rain or shine. No, instead it’s much more difficult. You essentially own your own business, are the boss, employee, secretary, accountant, lawyer, etc. You’ll have to sell your act to venues, follow up with venue owners, negotiate contracts, coordinate schedules, collect payment, and potentially play a show somewhere in there. Granted, let’s pretend you play hipper sax licks than Coltrane, or your guitar playing rivals Hendrix, or you’ve figured out how to play higher and faster on piccolo than any living being was ever intended to…someone might book you on a couple gigs here and there. But, what about when the gig falls through, or the band breaks up, you still need to have some serious business skills to get by till your next easy gig comes along. And who’s going to get that dream job with the CSO right out of college? Trust me, you need to get your business together, and it starts with sales.

If you’re introverted, I suggest a personality 180. I’m sure there are plenty of introverted musicians out there, but when it comes to getting gigs, you can’t afford to be shy. Pick up a part time job in sales if you think it’ll help--it definitely helped me. My ability to advertise my act, call potential clients, make confident presentations and network has carried my career. My buddy always used to tell me, “It’s who you know that gets you there, what you know that keeps you there.” I don’t care how good you are at playing Mahler on trumpet, if you don’t know who to play it for or can’t convince them you’re the best, ride’s over. And people are going to tell you “no,” or that you need more experience, or that you’re just not good enough, but you have to be ready for all of that. It’s difficult to get people to spend money on a luxury like live music, so you need to have a great product and a great pitch to make things happen. And if you don’t have both…I’ll take the great sales pitch any day. People are buying into you long before they buy into your music. I worked for some time at my father’s motorcycle store selling $10k+ vehicles to people who didn’t need them…that job laid the groundwork for what I do currently.

Then there’s advertising, without which you’ll have no one to make your sales pitch to. Can you make yourself a website? Youtube videos? Business cards? There are so many options out there for how to get your name in the public eye, many cost money. Creativity here is a plus, how can you get your music attention above all the other up-and-comers like yourself? I’ve seen Youtube channels where people write a song a day for a year…that caught my attention. And remember, just because you have a website doesn’t mean people will go to it, or just because you have a gig doesn’t guarantee anyone will show, you need to be proactive in all of this. If it sounds like a lot of work, then I’m getting my point across…this takes an easy 30 hours of my week, every week.

And what about accounting? Let’s say you’re doing 4 gigs a week and paying your band…how do you track the money? How do you know who’s paid and who hasn’t? How do you pay taxes? I use Quickbooks and run everything through my S Corporation, of which I’m an employee. It’s complicated, it takes time, but it makes all my income legal and allows me to go to a bank and get a mortgage or car loan. Taking coffee shop gigs where they pay you under the table will have you living with your parents till you grow up and decide to get a real job.

Now that we’ve talked about the office side of things, let’s think a bit about the gig, and the old Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared.” I travel with extra cables, lights, extension cables, mics, etc. And that stuff isn’t cheap! The reason I continue to get gigs is because I continually push myself to be prepared for any situation. If you play trumpet, never leave home without all your mutes, c trumpet, music stand, stand light, microphone, XLR cable, XLR to ¼ inch adapter, etc. Every instrument has its own extended needs -- know them and address them, and don’t wait till the gig to find out you have a problem or are missing something. And then use the money you make to invest back in your equipment, but do so wisely. I bought a bari sax that will likely never pay itself off, but I also bought a lighting rig that has saved my butt and booked gigs.

How about the show itself, the easy part, right? Not so much. Entertainment factor, playing what people want, sacrificing artistry, and being adaptable is another underappreciated aspect of the business. I’m sure your original tunes all have the potential to change the world, but until you figure out a way to get it in front of the world, you’re going to have to take some compromising gigs. As with all these tips, the situation might look different for different types of musicians, but if you’re a pianist, be ready to play Pachelbel at every wedding. Guitarist? Ever hear of a song called Freebird? Stairway to Heaven? People request annoying tunes all the time, and if you refuse to play the tune, you might just lose the gig. It’s fun to be idealistic about never compromising your artistic integrity and trying to say something with every note you play, but back here in the real world, very few people actually care. And it’s not that they’re trying to be jerks, they just don’t get it because they didn’t receive that same undergrad music degree you did. People just want to be entertained, and at the end of the day, isn’t that what music is really about…enjoying the passage of time? Swallow your pride, leave your ego at home, and try to deliver that outcome that will make your listeners enjoy their own lives that much more. Nothing makes me happier at the end of a gig than knowing that people really had a good time…even if I played Sweet Caroline three times.

Let’s say you did everything above and just played a great gig…you’re done right? Nope, still not quite there. It seems obvious, but you need to pack your gear up. And this doesn’t mean throw it in boxes and get the hell out, this means take your time and do it right. Chances are you won’t unpack your gear till the next gig, so you better pack it up right. And then what about the owner or the host who booked you? You’re not going to want to just leave. Take the extra time, say goodbye, thank them for the opportunity, and send a follow up email when you get home to thank them once more. This follow up is more than just a courtesy, this can be the difference between whether your show is a one off gig or a multiple booking. Keep in contact and keep your show fresh in their minds. Maybe this is a mailing list you put them on, or maybe it’s showing up to other gigs you’re not booked on just to show support. I’ve met a ton of musicians, but when I need a sub, I never know who to call.

And lastly, for your own sake, have a sense of humor and an open mind. There are gigs I’ve thought about saying “no” to that ended up changing my life or boosting my career. You can’t possibly be prepared for every opportunity that comes your way, so you’ll have to be flexible. Sometimes this means musically, playing styles that you just learned the night before. Sometimes the flexibility goes beyond music. Will you wear a dumb costume, drive 8 hours, write altered lyrics, learn a new instrument? How about my strangest gig, where I played for a Nudist-Swinger party on the 4th of July…would you take that gig? Having a sense of humor and legitimate enjoyment in what you’re doing will sustain you more than you can believe. Sure, you have to take your business very seriously, but if you ever lose sight of the real reason you got into music to begin with, things won’t last.

So ask yourself, do you really love music? Do you love it enough to jump through all the hoops just to play it for a couple hours at a time? For me, it’s worth every minute, but again, I’m weird. And there’s a lot of information here that might sound like I’m dark on the whole music thing, but the truth is that I revel in the challenge of making a career out of something most people don’t consider a full time profession. Everyday I’m challenged to step outside my comfort zone, and even if there’s a day where I don’t feel the challenge, I start looking for what I’m doing wrong and find myself a challenge. In the music business you’ll have to fight for everything you get, and you’ll have to love it. Sometimes you don’t find this out till you’re actually doing it, but this article is meant to serve as a warning to what’s really involved. I honestly hope it detours some people from this path and saves them 4 years of schooling and pushes them closer to a career path appropriate for them. And if you’re one of those people, there’s nothing wrong with you taking a different route. I’ll be immensely impressed with anyone who knows himself or herself well enough to know what career choices to avoid. But if you think that you’re willing to take the necessary steps to becoming a full time musician, it starts here.

Mike Potts was born and raised in Crystal Lake, where he began piano lessons at age 4. Always having an affinity for
jazz music, Mike picked up the clarinet in 5th grade, and then the saxophone a year later. In high school, Mike’s interests broadened to include singing and acting, where he eventually found himself a part of nearly every musical ensemble offered (aside from women’s choir, to his dismay). After graduation, Mike went on to pursue a Jazz Performance Degree in Saxophone at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he was given his first taste of the professional music world. It was here that Mike learned flute and clarinet, honed his saxophone skills, and continued to pursue jazz piano. Mike graduated with honors in 3 years. Having a year off, Mike decided to work as a musician on cruise ships. What started as a 6 month contract paved the way for a total of 6 contracts, or three years of touring the world. In his travels, Mike visited 45 countries, learned a couple more instruments, and worked alongside hundreds of professional entertainers, who would become his inspiration for seeking a career in entertainment himself. Mike currently resides in Crystal Lake, where he gigs regularly and runs his own online music studio. For more information and a gig schedule, check out Mike's website, www.felixandfingers.com.

May 13, 2012
Battle of the Bands: Tips for Musicians and Parents

Greg Conrad was the lead singer and front man for The Con Men, the 2009 Illinois Park District State Battle of the Bands winner. In 2011, Greg was asked to be one of the judges for the Crystal Lake Battle. Here, he provides several tips to compete in these events, and gives an insight into what the judges are looking for. And his mom, Erin Conrad, offers parents some ideas for helping your kids with these events and managing the details that the kids may face.

For musicians:
Before the event:
- Advertise – tell friends, family, neighbors that you’re playing so they can come. Audience interaction is important. And it’s easier for audience to interact when they’re people you know.

- Record practices, especially for a Battle of Bands. Audio recordings can help you figure out if one instrument overwhelms the others, or if your drummer is keeping the beat, and helps you find and correct mistakes. You should also do video recording to see how you look, and make sure you’re not doing anything you don’t like. If you know what you look like, you can fix things and look exciting, and look like pros, not a bunch of amateurs.

- Stage presence is very important, but most bands don’t work on this. If you just stand up there and play, you’ll get an average score. You have to really fail to get less than average. (In one band, the bassist tried to spin his bass around his neck. The bass flew off and broke!) On stage, interact with your bandmates. Make sure you look like you’re enjoying the music, because no one wants to listen to you unless you look like you’re having fun. Make eye contact with bandmates, move around the stage, smile (if your music lends itself).

- Time your set and make sure you know exactly how long you’re playing, and keep it within the time guidelines. This isn’t the time for open jams or adding an extra song. You have a certain number of minutes to play, and some events will kill your electric power if you go over, and may penalize your score if you run late.

- Dress – dress according to your music. Don’t wear t-shirts with profane or offensive material on them – this will probably be mentioned in your rules packet. Be aware of the weather if you’re playing outside – leather and denim don’t go well with 100 degree temps.

At the event:

- Equipment – bring only what you need. Don’t bring extra stage props that you don’t need. Make sure you can easily load in and break down your equipment. You most likely won’t get a sound check, so know what levels your equipment should be at. Guitar players – you may think your amp is too quiet, but trust us when we tell you it’s most likely too loud already.

- Check all your equipment at home – make sure your cables work, your strings are in good shape, you have extra new batteries with you. Bring extension cables in case they’re not provided. You usually have a set amount of time for your performance, which includes your set up/break down AND playing time. Practice your load in and break down as a band if you aren’t familiar with it. Have extra people with you to load in and break down – parents or friends to help carry in and out.

- Be on time for the pre-event check-in. Be aware of the times and dates in your rules packet – many events have a certain time for load-in, check-in, set-up, etc. You may be penalized in your score if you miss any of these dates or times, either in your score or placement in the line-up. In some events, you may even lose your chance to play altogether if you’re late for check-in.

- If you’re going to talk to the audience, don’t go overboard. Don’t mention it if you make a mistake – no “oops!” Don’t express any shortcomings. If you make a mistake, just keep going, shake it off.

- Introduce your band/players and songs in between numbers, but keep it short but sweet. At the end of your performance, say “Thanks!” Thank the judges and everyone who put together the event.

- Don’t push any recordings you’ve made, try to sell t-shirts or other merchandise, or plug any gigs you have coming up while you’re on stage.

- It’s good to play originals if you have them, but they have to be polished. Make sure you say that it’s an original, and give the name. They have to be as tight and as good as the cover tunes you’re going to play. If you’re going to play covers, pick at least one song that the audience will know and can connect to (maybe something audience can get and dance to, clap along or sing along). If you do covers, either make the song your own or be faithful to the original – don’t do a cover of a cover, note for note.

- The judges like to see that you listen to the other competing bands, and be polite – don’t boo or put down other bands.

- If you don’t do as well as you thought you would, don’t disparage the winning bands – go home, practice and do better next year. And if you do well, don’t brag about it in front of the other bands. Go up to other bands’ members and congratulate, shake hands, be a good sport whether you win or lose.

- Have fun! It may seem stressful, but if you’re not having fun, then the whole Battle of the Bands was a waste of time. You get to hang out with your friends all day, doing one of the things you most love to do!

For parents:

- If the event your child is competing in is part of an ongoing series of events – usually local, regional and then state – keep an eye on the final event. If your kid’s band wins your Local and is scheduled to go to Regionals, look toward the State event sooner rather than later! Even before the Regional event, you may want to consider talking with the other band parents and make hotel reservations at the State site. For the Park District events, the State finals take place in Springfield at the Illinois State Fair – so you know hotel rooms will fill up fast. You can always cancel if your band doesn’t win the Regional event, but it could be much harder to get rooms if you wait until after Regionals.

- Audience reaction is an important part of the judging criteria! Look into getting band t-shirts made (depending on how many you order, you can get custom shirts for $11 or $12 each). Take pre-orders and get everyone you know to buy one! Order (at least) one for everybody in your family who will attend events, and WEAR THEM! Band members can take pre-orders from friends -- let them know that t-shirts will be available and get them to order one as well.

- Support your child! Make sure they know that you’re excited about this and that you’re going to be there to hear them play. Invite your friends and family to come to all events (unless your child REALLY doesn’t want you to!).

- Don’t disparage other bands – remember, they’re just kids. Don’t go after the judges if you don’t agree with the decisions. It’s not your place to second-guess.

- Help your child be organized and on time. Bands are penalized if they don’t show up on time for the pre-event check-in, and this happened to at least one band we know.

- Remember that your child is the star of this event – take pictures, invite friends, but don’t offer too much advice. Unless you were a musician in a rock band, they know more than you do about this! (And I know this doesn’t happen too often!)
April 15, 2012
5 tips on buying used music equipment

By Marla Jo Fisher
The Orange County Register

There's no question: You should always buy as opposed to rent when buying instruments for your own band or for school.

While costs vary, at my local store, by the time you've made 9 or 10 monthly rent payments, you've essentially paid for the instrument, even at the prices they're asking at the music store.

What is the point then of renting it, when you've spent all that money and now you just have to return it? If you buy a used instrument, even if you decide you don't like the saxaphone you should be able to resell the instrument for around the same amount you paid for it.

If you're buying for school, don't wait until the last minute. Believe me, I can tell you it's not fun procrastinating and then fighting your way through the mobs at the music store on the night before class begins.

And there's really no reason to buy a new instrument, when you can get a better quality one cheaper that's been used.

Other tips:

1. Check out the classified ads. People clean out their closets and just want to get rid of instruments that are in perfectly good condition, sometimes for a fraction of their value.

2. Visit a pawn shop. I got this tip from a friend who's a professional musician. Pawn shops carry all sorts of instruments and frequently sell them for much cheaper than the music stores. I bought my son a used student saxophone for $260 at a pawn shop, when our nearby music store was selling virtually the same thing for $450. A new sax of the same quality was $900.

3. Shop on eBay. I have bought instruments on eBay in the past, most notably one time when my son broke his cheap clarinet four days before the big concert, and I prevailed on the seller to quick ship her used one as a replacement. It ended up being a great choice. The cheap clarinet I bought new because I was in a great hurry cost more than $100 and was a piece of junk that broke the first time my kid accidentally kicked it over. The one I bought on eBay is still in good shape and cost me $60.

4. Inspect in person if possible. The main downside to buying online is that you can't personally inspect the instrument and try it out. For band instruments especially, check for wear around the pads, because they could have to be replaced and you should negotiate that cost into the price you offer. Bring reeds if you know the correct size and maybe something to wipe off the mouthpiece.

5. Negotiate. Assume all prices on used goods are negotiable and politely ask if they'll take an amount considerably lower than what's on offer. When I put my items for sale in the classifieds, I always add about 20% haggle room, with the assumption that people are going to want a deal.

And have some fun out there. My kid has moved on to other instruments, so when I get around to it, I'll be joining the legions of people out there who want to sell their student's old stuff.

And remember: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.
April 1, 2012
The Age of Instant Gratification
By Terry Guynes


We live in the age now where, if we are driving and get hungry, most of us can pull up to a little building, talk into a little box, pull up to the first window, give the person our money, move to the second window and POOF! We soon have a burger, an order of fries and something to drink. When we need cash, we drive up to a little box, insert a plastic card, push some buttons, and if we have enough money in our bank account, POOF! We have cash. If we don’t know the answer, we “Google” it, we “Dogpile” it, or we “Ask Jeeves,” and within a minute or two, POOF! We have found the answer. Twenty-five years ago, if we needed information, we had to go to the library and look things up in encyclopedias. Sometimes it was even worse and we had to find a book about it first, which meant having to look in the dreaded card catalogue. The “old fashioned” card catalogues do not even exist anymore. Twenty-five years ago when we needed money we had to go to our personal bank and write a check for “cash” in order to get it, and the bank was probably not even in the same town in which we lived. Now many towns and cities have a bank on every other corner and there’s an ATM in most gas stations, stores, and businesses. When we needed gas, in order to pay for it we had two choices: cash or credit card. “Pay at the pump” was not an option, and we had to go inside to pay. Now in this age of instant gratification, when our car needs gas -- we get it. If we need paper -- we get it. If we need information --we get it. We get most of the “things” or “information” we need in a relatively short amount of time. Instant gratification! Isn’t it wonderful to be able to accomplish something so very quickly?

When we practice our instruments, there is no way to achieve this instant gratification. Becoming proficient on our instrument takes time, and for some people, it takes many more hours of dedicated practice, patience, and perseverance. It seems nowadays, that people (especially young people) are not as patient as people were 10, 15, 25 years ago, because we are used to getting what we want or need very quickly.

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.
St. Francis De Sales

Unfortunately we cannot place our instruments or our music under our pillows at night and learn the music. We cannot “will ourselves good,” nor can we pray and hope our prayers will be answered. We have to spend time practicing our instrument in order to become more proficient at them. Period. It takes a long time before we are even close to proficient. Every musician practices his/her scales, arpeggios, etudes, and technical exercises if he or she wants to be a better player. There is no way to “instantly gratify” ourselves when it comes to learning our instrument. There is no way around it, there is no way over it, and there is no way under it. We can only become a better musician by going through it. Going through it will usually take a great deal of time. How much time learning each skill will take is completely and solely up to us and how our brain works.

The hard part for us is figuring out how we learn it. Are we one of those people who are rather uncoordinated, have a difficult time making our fingers move, or can’t tap a steady beat? Then it will take a long time to learn our instruments. Look at the big picture -- when you are able to play something, you have accomplished a very difficult and mountainous task. We all learn at different rates, and we all have to work on each aspect of our instrument differently. This fact is key to understanding ourselves. We all have to work on something. In my opinion, the only thing that is important is that as long as playing your instrument is fun for you, then keep on playing! We all have something to work on, we all have to practice, and performing music is a whole lot more fun when the performance is good, isn’t it? The reason I wrote the article “How to Practice” (see clinic archive) was to help students figure out how they learn. It is a guideline that each student can use to figure out what s/he needs to do in order to learn and be able to play difficult music correctly.

“I hate practicing. Scales, arpeggios and etudes are boring.” So many students have said that in my classes. Well, no matter what activity you choose to participate in, whether your choose band or orchestra or even an athletic activity, I guarantee that just about every activity has some aspect of mastering which calls for repetition and perseverance. There is some aspect of learning one of the basic fundamentals or developing a skill that will take a great deal of time and patience. You have to take the good with the bad in whatever activity you choose to participate in. When I was a kid, I loved two sports, basketball and football. I wasn’t very good at them, but I loved to play both. However, there was one thing I didn’t like to do and that was shuttle runs. Shuttle runs in basketball were basically running back and forth on the court, each time running to a different line on the court. Starting at the base line, running to the close free throw line and back to the baseline, then to half court, then to the far free throw line, then to the opposite base line and back. In football they were basically the same thing, only up a huge steep hill. Why up the hill? Because it was there, I’m guessing. Shuttle runs weren’t fun, and no one on the team liked them, but the coaches loved making us run them because they gave us endurance and stamina. We were never tired during a game because our coaches made us run those every day at the end of practice, after we had already run about 10 drills, a few technique building things, then a scrimmage. By the time we ran them, we were already very tired. Sometimes we ran pretty hard during practice, but we still had to do those stupid shuttle runs. I thought that my coaches were the most evil people on the planet, and I always hoped that they would spend eternity in purgatory running shuttle runs. Shuttle runs in basketball and football are just like scales, arpeggios, technique exercises and maybe even etudes. They are something that most of us don’t like, but they are a necessary evil if you want to be able to perform to the best of your ability.

Every aspect of learning has several steps to it. Let’s look at one aspect of our lives that most of us can relate to: learning to run. It usually takes the human body about three to four years to be able to run. Oh, sure, some kids are running at 18 months, but they look really goofy and awkward and probably fall often. To truly master running takes well over three years, usually four or five years for a healthy child. Believe it or not, running is a part of human development known as a gross motor skill. Gross motor skills use large muscles of the body to achieve such tasks as running, throwing, keeping balance and jumping. Use of the large muscles develops rather quickly as we grow up. Fine motor skills are a part of our development that uses the smaller muscles of the body, such as those found in the fingers, toes, lips and face. These muscle movements take much longer to develop. This is important to be aware of because fingering your instruments and forming a proper embouchure are fine motor skills.

Now let’s look at how we get there. What do we have to do in order to master running? Before we are able to run, we have to be able to walk. Before we are able to walk, we have to be able to stand. Before we are able to stand, we have to be able to crawl. Before we are able to crawl, we have to be able to sit up. Before we are able to sit up, we have to be able to roll over, and before we are able to roll over, we need to be able to hold our own head up. Each one of those steps is vital to the next step in the process, and if we skip any of those steps, we won’t be able to do the following step, nor will we eventually be able to run. If we haven’t learned to walk, and we stand up and try to run, we all fall on our face. The same will happen if we don’t break things down to their simplest parts when we are learning our instruments and music. We will fall flat on our face. We must break things down into something we can handle – be it two measures, two beats, or even two notes at an extremely slow tempo -- in order to play it correctly. The other important thing we must remember is that there is nothing wrong with failing. The difficult part is that we don’t take the time to think about why we failed and what we need to do in order not to fail on the same thing twice. Break that failure down to its smallest part (which might be as simple as two notes at 40 bpm on a metronome) and try again. In other words, slow it down even further so that you can get some of those smaller muscles working in the right order. Don’t be in a hurry. Take the time to reflect on your failures. Some of the world’s greatest accomplishments are the results of thousands of failures. Failures are important because we have learned one way not to do something in the future. We must try a different way the next time or we will fail again. Failure is fine as long as we learn from our failures.

Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” This statement is so important. It’s not important because he figured out one way to make it work and a bunch of other ways that didn’t work; it’s important because no matter what the outcome was on each try, he would not stop until he found that one way that did work. He would evaluate each outcome, remember each outcome, and think of a different way to try again. He never quit and he never stopped trying. He had a vision and he wasn’t going to stop until that vision became a reality. If he would have stopped at the 9,999th try, we might never have known what a light bulb was. If the light bulb was never invented, then we wouldn’t have street lights or the computer or automobiles or radio or television. Without television or radio, there would be no microwave ovens or cell phones or the internet. All of these have been impacted by a single dream, a single vision, one single man’s determination to find the answer. All this came about because of one man’s vision to create light out of the darkness using a piece of copper wire and a mayonnaise jar. Where would this world be if Thomas Edison had given up just one time too early?

Sir Edmond Hillary, one of the first men to climb Mount Everest, said, “It’s not the mountain that we need to conquer, it’s ourselves.” This is so true! We can do just about anything we want to do. We just have to put our mind to it, and many times we cannot get there quickly. Some other sayings you may be familiar with are:
• “The only limit we have is the limit we put on ourselves.”
• “Some of the world’s greatest accomplishments were achieved by people who weren’t smart enough to think that they were impossible.”
• “If we can dream it, we can reach it. When we reach it, we accomplish it.”

You’ve heard all of those sayings, and most of the time, we don’t know who said them first, but they are always good to hear again. The thing that these sayings can’t convey is that feeling we get when we actually do accomplish something. When something is achieved through instant gratification, we miss out on that feeling because there was a short process to achieve it. When we drive through and order a burger, three to four hours later, we are hungry again. When we work hard to achieve an accomplishment, there is a greater and more intense emotionally gratifying feeling that we remember and that feeling satisfies our needs much longer. It’s this wonderful, semi-euphoric feeling of self worth and value that no drug on the planet can duplicate. It’s called Intrinsic Motivation. It’s a feeling that once experienced, we become addicted to it, we want it more, we crave more of it, we want it all the time, and sometimes we can’t sleep until we feel it again. It’s this sense of accomplishment that is the emotion that drives us; it motivates us because it is the one thing that we must truly accomplish all on our own. We must go through it in order to get it. Our directors are only there to guide us, to help us figure out an easier way, to show us another way we can get “through it,” but we must “go through it” ourselves, all on our own. No one can do it for us, no one can make us do it, and no one can take the steps to do it but us. We must go through it ourselves and we cannot go through the drive through and get instant gratification. The building to success is two thousand stories high and there is no elevator. In order to get to the top, we have to take the stairs. We might not ever make it to the 2000th floor, but if we do, there is nothing in this world that could make you feel better about yourself. How far are you going to make it? How quickly will you get there? That decision is all up to you. You can make it if you try.
March 11, 2012
Parents: The following article is from a middle school band director to his students. Have you questioned some of the things your child is doing during practice? Wondered why they aren’t practicing a certain amount of time, or why they are asking to practice with friends? After reading this, you’ll understand how best to help your child practice! Even if your child isn’t an instrumentalist, many of these suggestions will apply to anything they practice – dance, singing, acting – even sports!

Tips for Efficient Practice
by Terry Guynes
Published in the April 2007 edition of School Band and Orchestra Magazine

Have you ever felt like you have worked and worked and worked on section of your music, and just didn’t feel like there was improvement? Of course you have. Anyone that has been a musician has. I don’t think there is a musician alive that has never felt that way at one point or another. Hopefully after reading this article you will have a few little tricks under your belt so that your practice sessions will become more efficient and your results will be more effective in your daily band rehearsals.

One of the things that we forget is that music is meant to be enjoyed, and is not meant for competition. Unfortunately there are many competitions that occur in our daily and yearly band calendar (Contests and festivals, seating within the band etc.). I remember while growing up as a young trumpet player, the reason I decided to play trumpet is because I enjoyed it-it was fun. That was my whole driving force in my practice as well. I absolutely hated the thought of practicing, but once I was over that initial hump of getting the instrument out and selecting what I needed to work on, I would practice for three or more hours. (It’s kind of like running the mile in gym class. Most of us hate to do that, but once we get going it’s not so bad and it’s over before you know it.) The point is; play because it makes you happy and if someone else happens to get enjoyment from your talent then it’s all the better.

Most band directors give either a general guideline, or use the words “daily goal” of practicing about a half hour each day. If you do this, then you are really setting the wrong goal. Your goal for practice should be that you will be able to play something you couldn’t play the day before, or that day in band. It may only be one measure, or it may be ten measures. It may be two sections of two different songs -- it really doesn’t matter. Just realize that the bigger the goal, the more time it may take to accomplish. When you set an actual goal, instead of a time limit, you find that you practice longer, and become a much better player quicker. Why? Because you are able to play things that you couldn’t play before.

When they sit down to practice, many students pull out their band music and play the pieces that are fun to play, but never really get to the music that is difficult. While this attitude is understandable (because it’s always more fun to play the music you can already play), it’s not really accomplishing a goal, is it? Remember, set a musical goal. “I will be able to play these three measures at a tempo of a quarter note equals 120 beats per minute by the time I get done today. Tomorrow my goal will be able to play it at performance tempo of 160 beats per minute (mm=160).” While it’s good to review music that you already know, don’t waste time on the music you already know. Play through music you’ve already worked on, but play it and move on.

One thing you can do to make your practice session more fun is to practice with a friend! The two of you can work together and get the parts down, or you can help each other out. You can each listen to each other play and help each other as to where each of you may need improvement. Most of the time we are our own worst critic, but a friend might hear things a little differently than you, or may be listening for a different aspect of performance than you may, like articulations! The biggest advantage of having a friend help is making sure we are breathing in the correct places. Breathing is something that we do subconsciously, so that if we aren’t thinking about it, we won’t realize that we are not breathing in the correct places. Phrasing is so important in music that it can either make or break a musical passage. A friend will notice where you are breathing much quicker than we do ourselves until the proper training has been fully established. If you are familiar enough with proper breathing techniques, a friend will be able to tell if you are taking a proper breath or not as well. A friend can be there to encourage us when we are doing well, or give us a heads up when we need to concentrate on other areas of musical performance.

Another thing that makes practice time more fun is playing along with professional artists. There are many books that have written out music where you can play along with a recording. However, development of your “musical ear” or what is known as ear training, is vital to a person’s musical development. Go buy a recording of a professional who plays your instrument, and try to figure out what they are playing and try to play it with them. Doing this will develop your ear very quickly -- you are playing real music, and it’s more fun because you have a band to accompany you as you play along. You must listen carefully and try to play the exact notes that the pro is playing. It’s kind of like instrumental Karaoke! Once you become a little proficient at this, then you can also buy improvisation CDs, like those available by Jamey Aebersold (jazzbooks.com), and you can begin to learn the art of improvisation. Improvisation is a difficult technique to master, and will require a little guidance along your development, but is very fun aspect of playing your instrument. Playing along with professional recordings and the Aebersold CDs is not meant as a replacement of technical development because you still need to learn things like scales and arpeggios and the other areas of technique, but it does make a portion of your practice time a little more enjoyable.

The real improvement in your playing comes from working on music that is difficult, or even unplayable, until you are able to play it with ease. How do you get to that point? Well, the first thing to remember is if you can’t count it, you can’t play it. If this means writing the counting in your music, then write in the counting. If it just means putting arrows on the beats, and the up beats, then put in the arrows. Whatever it takes so that you play the music rhythmically correct, DO IT!!

The important thing to remember is to start slow!! You didn’t learn to run first as a child. The first thing you learned was to roll over, then you learned how to support yourself on your arms, then you learned how to sit up straight, then you learned how to stand. Only after all of this occurred, did you learn to take your first step. The other important thing to remember, after you learned how to take that first step, you fell many times before you learned to run!! Learning to play an instrument is much the same way. You will fail many times before you start to become rather proficient at your instrument. It’s o.k., it’s a natural part of the learning process. You must never forget this because if you only think about your failures, you will get frustrated. That’s why it’s important to slow things down—way way down if necessary. Take it as slow as you need to in order to play all the correct notes, with all the correct rhythms. Getting the fingers to work the way your brain is trying to tell them to, is very difficult. While you are taking the difficult passage, pound your fingers down. This forces the brain to tell the fingers the correct pattern and it develops the muscles in your fingers, hand and arm. The other thing you can do is say the notes in the passage. Then say the notes and finger along. Then try to play it (yes, pounding your fingers down) but only after you can say the notes, and finger the passage correctly.

Once you get this task down, change the written articulation. Changing the articulations will help you see the actual articulation that is written in the music. It also makes the fingers repeat the pattern several times, which will help diminish the chances of making a mistake in the future and during a performance. Don’t just change the articulation once, change it several times. When notes are grouped in groups of four (very common with eighth notes and sixteenth notes) you can slur two, and tongue two, tongue two slur two, tongue the first one slur the middle two, put accents on the different notes, etc. There are many different ways to change the articulation.

A metronome is a wonderful little tool that many musicians use. It has been mentioned to take the music slow. While you are changing the articulations, start slow and build speed. The important thing to remember is to build speed gradually. Lets say that you are able to play a passage with the metronome at 80 beats per minute. Play it through ten times in a row, THEN change the tempo. Ten times in a row is VERY important, because you want to be able to play it ten times in a row. If you are on the eighth time through, and make a mistake-go back to one. This seems tedious and will probably get frustrating, but it will really help you improve. Once you get through ten times in a row at 80 bpm, then you can speed up the tempo, but only to 84 or the next notch on your metronome. Don’t skip to 120, you’ll make mistakes!! When you make mistakes, you only reinforce errors. What you are trying to do is get your brain to forget the mistakes, you certainly don’t want to create more errors for your brain to remember because guess where they will pop back up? You guessed it—during the performance!

Once you start to master the passages that are difficult, you will start to see your progress. Remember this is a very slow process. Development of any skill takes time. Not days, not weeks, not months, not years. It takes DECADES!! It takes countless hours of sweat, a little blood, a lot of tears, patience, and dedication to become a musician that has even become slightly proficient at their craft. Keep this in mind as you practice and progress. Unfortunately in this age of instant gratification– we get too used to things happening right now. You need to understand that this is not going to happen immediately.

So to sum up everything in this article, remember these points.
Set goals, don’t set the clock. Setting the clock makes you watch the clock. Setting a goal will help you improve.
Get over the initial bump. Once you start practicing, the time goes by quickly
Make your practice fun. Practice with a friend, practice with a pro. Have fun!
Start SLOW, start SLOW, start SLOW!! Once you think you’ve slowed it down enough, slow it down even more.
Pound your fingers down to get the passages.
Say the notes out loud, and finger the notes.
Change the articulations. STAY SLOW
Play things through ten times in a row without making a mistake!!
Only after you’ve mastered a slow tempo then speed it up.
Most importantly–be patient. Developing skill on your instrument takes time.
These are only a few ideas that will make your practice time more efficient. Many kids simply put in time. Don’t just put in time, make that time worthwhile. Dedicate yourself to improving the limited time you have to practice. I hope all of these ideas help you. There are others, so don’t be afraid to talk to your director and run some ideas by him or her. Directors always want to help their students improve, that’s why they are there in the first place!! Good luck!

terry_guynes
Terry Guynes has been the director of Bands at Lundahl Middle School in Crystal Lake, IL since 1997. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Music Education and Trumpet performance from Western Illinois University, and a Masters of Arts Degree in Music Education from Northern Illinois University (2005). He is active as a professional musician and clinician.