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What are you thinking about?

I’m often asked the question “what am I doing wrong?” or “why am I not doing this right?”

Those questions are usually in reference to a student’s apparent lack of progress.  I usually ask the obvious questions about practice time and what they understand about the lesson given the week before...the usual things.  If everything seems to be in order then I usually follow a different line.

There is a habit of thought that most students follow and it is a natural process.  When you are learning an instrument and the progress is not coming as fast as you would like,  the normal reaction is to look at what you are not doing...what it is that your playing lacks.  

So, the student focuses on his or her unsatisfactory playing and it becomes foremost in mind.  

I will usually ask a few questions that ferret out answers that relate to the above issues.  The reason for this is that there is a often misunderstood universal rule that works this way:  If you are focusing mostly on the things you are doing wrong, you will undoubtedly get more of that and therefore less of what you want...which is success.

It’s really pretty easy actually.  Instead of thinking about all the mistakes and hardships that you are having regarding your playing, you should be thinking about what you want it to sound like when it’s learned.  That might sound either quite obvious or it might be a revelation to you.

As an experienced musician,  I am constantly thinking about the goal of the piece I am learning and not thinking about the mistakes or missteps along the way.  Believe me....it is the better method.  

For that reason it is a good idea to get a recording of the music you are learning and it should be done at a speed close to what you are capable of playing.  

Try it....it works!!!

Until next time...Stick to Picking

-Robert

MUSIC AS A MIRROR

Something has always fascinated me throughout the years of being a music instructor.  That something is the fact that learning or playing music is frequently a reflection of what is going on in your life at the time.  

As a music instructor, I see anywhere from 35 - 45 students a week and they are all in a different state of mind each and every week they come in for lessons.  Their lives are, like everything else on this planet, constantly changing.  Some are changing for the better and some for the worse.  Some have relationship problems, some have work issues that affect their free time, some just have the "day to day grind blues" and are bored with the status quo.  With the economy being what it is, most of us seem to be facing new challenges that we have never faced before.  If you watch the news every night you will be bombarded with news stories about any number of tragedies or events that can cause you to feel a certain way.

The fact is that no matter what is going on inside you or outside of you in the world, as a student of music, you are striving to become an artist.

Yes...an artist!  

Perhaps you have heard of artists that need inspiration to paint.  Frequently that's true but you can bet that artists don't wait forever for that inspiration.  Sometimes just starting is inspirational.  In fact, for many artists, starting to paint is an absolute necessity if you want to get paid.

There are works by famous sculptors that are defined by the period in which they were experiencing certain hardships in their lives and those works exhibit some rare and unique qualities.  You have heard that some song writers write their best work when they have had some emotionally trying circumstances crop up in their lives.  After all, how do you think the blues come into being? 

All of the above are examples of artists in different states of change and emotional states of being.  

All artists start somewhere.  That implies that at one time they were not artists or at least not considered such.  During their initial learning period they were going through changes, and in some cases, hardships that everyone experiences from time to time.  When you are in the learning stages of becoming an artist you don’t get the same recognition for having life kick you around a bit.  What I mean is that the struggles you experience while you are learning might not have the same creative effect as when you have gained a certain level of skill and experience or recognition.  For example, if you are having a heap of trouble at your job while you are trying to learn the fiddle, it just might make you want to eat pizza, drink a beer or two and watch TV instead of practicing.  Whereas, if you were already an experienced musician, something like that might actually inspire you to write a good fiddle tune....with a bluesy feel.  Same trouble just different results.

I have a student that is a trauma surgeon in a local hospital.  One of his sayings is:  “It’s  a tough planet.”  He’s right in a sense.  It seems there is always something going haywire in our lives. Our goal as musicians and artists is to take those things and use them to inspire us to greater heights by remaining determined.  We have to keep our eyes on the goal at all times.  Our musical development will always be poked and prodded by life’s little annoyances.  We can either use them to become more determined or allow them to short circuit our progress.  Your music will reflect your attitude and how you look at things.  Ultimately we have to rise above our circumstances in order to move forward.  

Thinking forward to a time when you expect to be better will actually help get you there. Conversely, becoming mired in your current circumstances can frequently de-rail your future status as an artist....and even prevent you from becoming a musician at all.

That is true at every stage of artistic development.  In other words....artists become better artists and then become great artists by looking ahead and then moving forward....no matter what is going on in their lives.  

Let’s face it....*%!@ happens...no matter what.  We might as well become better artists while it does.

Stick To Picking...really!

People become interested in playing music for varied reasons and at different times in their lives.  I have students that range in age from 9 years old to over 60.  My oldest student started playing fiddle at age 72.....but that is another story.

Some start an instrument with previous experience and others start with only a desire to learn to play and have never touched a musical instrument before.  

We’ve all heard of the person who is a musical “genius,"  started to play at age 3, and is now a brilliant player at age 30.  The story usually goes this way:  “My parents got me started in violin lessons at a very young age and gave me lots of encouragement but made me practice every day.  I got involved with the school orchestra and later went to college to study music, and that led to studying in Europe with (fill in the blank), the famous violin teacher from Russia.  I practiced 6 to 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for 10 years and got my big break on the concert circuit after I was on the same bill as (fill in the blank), the popular and famous concert/recording artist.”

This is a generalized story about the kind of person we admire and would like to emulate.  But...the fact is that what we do and what we want do not always correspond to each other.  As a music instructor, I hear the desires of my students and most of them want to be excellent players.  If that is not a spoken desire, it is certainly implied,  and after all, who wouldn’t want to be excellent?  What I often see is that there is a general misunderstanding of the correlation of time and effort with results.

There have been many conversations between me and my students about why they are not making sufficient progress.  And let’s face it, learning fiddle, banjo, or mandolin is not an easy journey to manage as they are difficult to learn.  The biggest problem is that most students underestimate the time it takes to learn to play well.  I am often asked, “How long should I practice every day?”  I always pause before I answer that question because I am always thinking  “I wonder how long this person wants to take to learn this instrument?”  Logic and just plain mathematics should tell you that the later you start in life and the less you practice, the longer it is going to take.  So from that information, one should be able to extrapolate that at some point, given a late start and very minimal practice time, the chances of learning to play well diminish to about ZERO.

“So, what is the upside to all this then?” you ask.  Well...thanks for asking!  Since you cannot roll back the clock to an earlier time and start at age 5, the only other alternative is to PRACTICE MORE!  SORRY, Folks....there is no other alternative.  HEY!  I’m a music teacher...what do you expect me to say?

The reason I’m writing about something so obvious is because I have people tell me every week that they are a bit disappointed in their progress and in just about the same breath, tell me that they “didn’t practice as much this week as they’d like.”  I usually don’t say anything about that, but what I’m thinking is, “Well....what do you expect?”

I worked with one of my students, trying to find some available practice time for him.  He said he didn’t have much time to practice.  My  first question was what he did after he got home from work.  He said he had dinner and after he ate, he sat down and watched the news,  then the next program, and the next, and the next, and the next.  I tallied up the hours that he watched television and it added up to about 30 hours per week, including weekends.  He was a bit surprised to hear he watched for so many hours and admitted that his practice time could be increased by at least 3.5 hours per week (1/2 hour per day.)  I suggested he make a commitment to do that for 2 weeks and at that point see if he had improved.  HE DID!  (Did you really expect otherwise?)

The moral of the story is that time is valuable.  Make the most of it!  If you rearrange your schedule and prioritize your time differently, you will have more time to practice and then you will get better, faster... and when that happens you will undoubtedly be more encouraged to practice because you are seeing positive results.  

Who knows?  Maybe you’ll eventually be able to study in Europe with the famous Russian 5-string banjo instructor Dimitri Scruggsakov.

Stick to Picking!

Robert

“Scales, Chords, Modes and other nonsense,” I said.

“NONSENSE???  WHADDYA MEAN?”  said my friend who plays jazz.

I suppose I should give you a little background...

A  friend of mine and I were talking the other day.  I play “folk” music and he plays jazz.  He was really annoying me by saying that jazz is “significantly” harder to play than bluegrass.  I asked him why he thought that and he said it was because of the harmonic structure of jazz, professing it to be more complex. 

I told him that I’ve known a lot of good bluegrass musicians who have successfully crossed over into playing jazz, but I’ve not heard of many jazz musicians who have successfully made it in the bluegrass world!  I told him it was because “you guys pay too much attention to scales, chords, modes and other nonsense.”

I really only said that to annoy him....and I did.  I’ll spare you the rest of the conversation.

But he did have a point.  The harmonic structure of jazz is more complex and it is harder to play.  It’s always been that way.  These days, for the most part, you need a college degree to play jazz professionally

That gave me pause for thought.  

Conversely, “folk music” IS easier to play and you don’t need a college degree to play clawhammer banjo.  My thought was:  What if folk musicians knew about scales, modes and chords but just not to the same degree as jazz musicians?  Frankly, I frequently come in contact with budding musicians who don’t know a thing about how to build a chord, the structure of a major scale and think that Ionian is a form of propulsion from Star Trek.  

This made me wonder what they could do if they knew more about music and how it works.

Rather than go into teaching mode to try and explain scales, chords and modes, I will simply say that there is a solid benefit for all “folk” musicians to learn about music theory.  

Here is the reason why:

First, scales are directly related to keys.  Knowing how to build and play a major scale (and other scales) is an integral part of playing the correct notes in a tune that will invariably be in some key.  Unknowingly playing some notes that usually fall in the F# scale will most likely sound pretty odd when played in the key of Bb.

Second,  a good foundation in knowing how chords are formed will enable you to better accompany your fellow musicians and will also help you understand more about how to improvise.  

Learning about modes will help you with all of the above and more.

Now....you don’t need to go to college to learn these things.  There are excellent resources for all this information in book form as well as on the internet. The two most difficult things about learning these subjects is sorting through the stuff that you don’t need to know and then knowing how to apply the information that you do learn.

Now would be a good time to let you know that I do workshops that cover the nuts and bolts of scales, chords, and modes, and I do all the sorting for you.  My workshops start from the basics and move forward to cover musical information that will help students apply the information that they learn.  You don’t need to know everything about music in order to play it...but you do need to know more than just tunes in order to become a good musician.

Contact me if you are interested in an upcoming workshop!

Jazz musicians need not apply....unless you want to learn to play bluegrass better.   

Stick to picking.....

Robert

e-mail:  robert@sticktopicking.com

When you are learning something new,  your motto should be:  “Yo!  Go slow!”

The scenario is:  the student has been learning a new tune and has come back for his lesson.  He is showing what he has learned while practicing the piece for the last week.  Of course, there are some “nerves” involved in the delivery but for the most part the student starts the tune much too fast.  He plays some parts quickly and some parts slowly, making mistakes in every section.  

“Wait!” he says.  “Let me do that again!”  “Ok,” I say.  

He does the same thing as before....too quickly for accuracy and slowing down on the difficult parts.  This is done several more times in hopes of getting it right, though it never happens.  He still goofs up and slows down.  

The message here isn’t that I like watching students perform something over and over again in order to see them mess up.  No!

The message is:   “Hey!  Let’s try something different here and see what happens.”  My solution to this scenario is for the student to slow everything down to a manageable speed.

There are a few things going on that need to be addressed. 

The first thing is that the student is attempting to play the tune at an unmanageable tempo that causes him to reinforce mistakes.  He has been doing it over and over again hoping that at some point he will play it perfectly by doing the same things that are causing the mistakes.  The thoughts usually are,  “Uh-oh, I  goofed up again...gotta start over,” and usually fixed on just getting to the end of the tune.  After all isn’t that what we’re trying to do here...play this tune?  Well....not exactly.

The other problem is that he is playing the tune in several different tempos - quickly for the easier parts, slowly for the parts that are difficult, and something in-between for the parts at the end that have been worked on the least.  

Solutions:  I learned a trick from a good friend that plays violin and teaches classical music.  She has students that do the same thing.  Her idea is this: allow yourself to play the piece as slowly as needed in order to play it accurately - each time.  She also developed a little game to help her students do that.  I borrowed that idea and now incorporate it with (just about) everyone that encounters this problem.  

Play the new piece as slowly as you need to in order to play it well - no faster.  When you can play it by ear and not make mistakes, then you can speed up...a little.

The other rule that I like to set is that you must play the tune only as fast as the part you play the slowest.  

Usually the most difficult or least practiced part of the tune is going to cause the most trouble.  Determine the tempo of that part and practice the rest of the tune in that tempo or slower.  Doing that reinforces the habit of keeping an even tempo throughout the entire piece - something that other musicians, later on, will definitely appreciate.

You will find that incorporating these simple changes into your practice routine will make a big difference in the quality of your music.

Until then....Stick To Picking.

Cheers,

Robert

FRUS•TRA•TION  frəs-ˈtrā-shən

-noun

The feeling of being upset

or annoyed, esp. because of

inability to change or learn 

something.

We’ve all seen it in others, had it ourselves and would really rather not deal with it.

Truthfully, I don’t know if there is a foolproof way of overcoming all frustration.  For the most part, it is an aspect of the human condition.  The subject of this blog is overcoming some of the contributors to frustration in learning a musical instrument.

Every day that I meet with students in order to teach, I encounter someone’s frustration.

It is one of the most common occurrences while trying to learn to play a musical instrument.

Whether you know it or not, as a musician, we have a rather tough task on our hands.  It is truly astonishing...what we’re called to do when we pick up our instrument to play.  Not only do we have to use our hands to accomplish very precise movements that have to be accurately duplicated over and over, we must also employ a certain part of our brain power to do something that is tremendously complex.

When that doesn’t go as expected, we become frustrated either because we have been unable to learn something or unable to change what WE do in order to perform some task...in this case, playing an instrument.  

I tend to lump frustration into two categories....transient and systemic.

Transient frustration is something that will pass within a short time as the student learns the material.  Systemic frustration is more like an unconscious attitude and tends to constantly cause trouble.  I’ll be addressing systemic frustration.

There are some factors that need to be considered when learning an instrument (and frankly we should always be learning something about it.)  The two major factors come in the form of questions:  What are your expectations? and What are your goals?  

Now, everyone is different in that not everyone learns at the same pace or in exactly the same way.  There are very talented musicians who have great skills and innate ability, and then there are others that fit into different categories with different levels of talent.

Unconsciously,  in the back of your mind,  you probably have a desire to play like some recording you have heard in the past, most likely played by one of those aforementioned talented musicians.  We have been exposed to recorded music most of our lives.  From infancy to old age, we hear music everywhere.  Most of that recorded music is played by professional musicians with years of training and experience.  

You might guess where I’m going with this. Since we have been programmed with perfectly recorded music, our natural desire is to emulate that.  Music that is poorly played with mistakes and other errors just doesn’t sell very well.

What does this have to do with frustration?  Well, on one level I have seen that with many students, their expectations are unrealistic and on another level they tend to lack clear, realistic goals.  Naturally, with unrealistic goals and expectations,  frustration is going to be a sure result.  This is a form of systemic frustration....a bit like an itch that you can never quite scratch enough to make go away.  If, on the other hand, every student had a clear idea in mind as to where he or she was going, defined by clear cut goals and realistic expectations, then frustration would be mostly limited to the transient type.

So, overcoming frustration is best done by implementing a few things that many students don’t do. 

First, you have to have a regular practice routine and it helps to make a recording of the first and last 5 minutes of your practice session in order to hear if you have made any progress.  This will help you understand that you are continuing to move forward and help you overcome the frustration that results from the subtle feeling of stagnation.  If you aren’t making progress, there is always a reason.  Your instructor should be able help determine what is blocking your progress.

Second, you should take the time to analyze your expectations and determine whether they are truly realistic or whether they are based on some nebulous idea of how much progress you should be making.  This activity should be revised and re-evaluated on a regular basis.  I can’t tell you how many adult students I have that, at the outset, thought  it would only take a year or two to learn to play their chosen instrument.  In fact, it takes many YEARS to learn to play music well for most everybody.

Third, you must set realistic and reasonable goals, both short and long-term.  Set short-term goals for a couple months. For example, “I’m going to learn 3-4 new tunes in 2 months and be able to play them from memory.”  A good example of a long-term goal is,  “I’m going to be able to jam with other musicians within 3 years time, and know 20 common fiddle tunes that I can play from memory.”

Finally, expect and welcome course corrections on the way to your goal.  This means you are in touch with your progress and the learning process is taking place in a natural way....according to your given abilities.  

These are just examples but you get the idea.  As you get closer to the completion date you may have to re-evaluate and modify the goal, but at least you will have seen the progress made and can change your goals accordingly.

Learning an instrument should be done in small, easy to manage pieces.  Doing this will make it fun and SHOULD keep the frustration down to a minimum.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Stick to picking!

The nature of a blog is that the person blogging writes something worth reading.  There are, of course, endless topics and subjects that one can cover.  

In this space I will usually write about things relating to music, teaching, learning and related topics that pertain to my area of expertise.  My goal is to make it interesting and informative enough for you to want to read it and take away something that you can use.

So...for this one...let’s talk about what it’s like to learn a musical instrument.

As I teach, I sit across from many, many students from all walks of life.  Inasmuch as everyone is different, everyone has the same thing in mind - “I want to learn to play this instrument!”  

The goal in itself is fairly simple, with many deeper levels of complexity that most students don’t think about.  After all, most people that start learning an instrument for the first time are usually just “hanging on by the skin of their teeth” for the first few months....or more.  If there is an equivalent to Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs in the musical world, most students are at the lower end of the pyramid just seeking survival.

Peak experiences are not even part of the students’ thinking and honestly will not be for quite some time.

In fact, I have told many an adult learner that starting a program of learning a stringed instrument is going to be uncomfortable at best, for a few months.  The reason for this is that, as an adult, one already does most everything pretty well on a daily basis....most of it taken for granted.  Think about it...you get up, take a shower, get dressed, have something to eat, drive to work, do your job, come home, fix dinner, write emails, do chores, etc. etc.  Each one of those things has an unlimited number of aspects involved with it that takes a huge amount of ability that we don’t even think about.  If you think I’m wrong,  just ask a cybernetics engineer who programs robotics....those things would take billions (maybe trillions) of lines of code to do...and still wouldn’t be as good as a human on a bad day.  SO...when you, as an adult are posed with a problem like playing the violin for the first time, you will probably feel like you are learning to take the first few steps as a toddler and THAT is WAY out of most peoples’ comfort zone.  

In fact, learning an instrument can shake up your self-image without you even being aware of it.  I have had some students confess that they had felt a certain diminished self-worth while in the beginning stages of learning.  This wanes, of course, with the passage of time and gradual progression toward more command of their instrument.

If you have read this far, all this may sound a bit negative and daunting.  WELL...the good news is that once one passes through this awkward stage of learning, the rewards are typically pretty great.  The world expands and new possibilities present themselves that never before existed.  Students begin to think, “Gee...I really might be able to do this....and actually make it sound like music!”  That, in itself is usually a big revelation that makes everybody feel pretty good.  

So, what can you take away from this that will be useful?  

Simple....the bottom line is that you have to stick with it in order to get to the good parts.     I have said many times, “If you can outlast the instrument, then you will learn it.”  This is especially true of the fiddle.  Persistence is a key element in learning a musical instrument as an adult, or child for that matter.  

As an instructor I give advice all day long, some of it followed, some not, but the one thing I can say without reservation is that if you start a learning program with a musical instrument, you will be rewarded with innumerable benefits if you hang in there.

So.....hence my website name:  Stick To Picking!

Next time we’ll touch on the subject of frustration and how to overcome it.

Music...music...music.  As musicians that is what we are here to play and learn.  Whether you aspire to greatness or just to entertain yourself, there is a responsibility that every musician has....to get better.

You might not have thought about that before but it is true. 

I have taught music for the better part of 10 years and everyone that comes through the door for a lesson has the desire to improve.  A desire is not necessarily a responsibility but the dividing line between the two can be rather blurry.  

My intent in writing this is to attempt to place the desire in the context of intention.  What I mean by that is that if you are not intentionally trying to get better, then you should be.    

Many musicians float along and are satisfied with the status quo.  I have been there before and know what it means to not be conscious of what I’m doing with respect to musical growth.  For the most part, a professional musician performs at a level that enables him to get paid for his or her efforts.  You have to be pretty good to be professional, but it shouldn’t end there.  

No matter what kind of pro musician you are, you have to make an effort to grow and improve or else you will be overtaken by the competition. 

As a student you should determine what you want to accomplish with your respective instrument.  You should also remember that your goals will probably change as you improve.  I have heard so many times at the beginning of a students lesson journey, .... “I just want to be able to play a bit at home and have fun.”  Just about everyone that says that eventually says.... “hey..do you know of any jam sessions in town here that I could play in?”  So, those students have just decided to take their playing to another level....without knowing it.  

Sometimes musical growth can unintentionally take you somewhere that you weren’t planning on going. 

What would it be like if you did that all the time.....intentionally.?

Just a thought.

Stick to picking,

Robert