{"id":1437,"date":"2015-10-15T21:35:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T21:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=1437"},"modified":"2015-10-11T18:30:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T18:30:50","slug":"re-post-wyntons-ways-to-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=1437","title":{"rendered":"Re-Post: Wynton’s Ways to Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nitefly\"<\/a>

One of the tools of the trade. But it’s only an object unless you learn to use it.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve been a musician since my early teens — ever since I spent an entire summer harvesting tobacco –by hand! — to buy my first bass guitar and my first amp. \u00a0And while I was proud of myself for earning the money and owning the equipment, I was immediately confronted with the task of learning to play. \u00a0(Note: It is possible to own musical gear and not be able to play it. \u00a0These people are called collectors<\/strong>.)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Although I started with lessons, I was prideful and thought all that music theory was boring, so I quit wasting Mom’s money and learned to play by ear. \u00a0That worked reasonably well until my mid 20’s, when I became aware that there were entire genres I could not play because I didn’t understand the rules. \u00a0Slowly, I began to come around to the belief that learning music theory would make me a better musician.<\/p>\n

Not long after I began this process, PBS ran a series hosted by jazz great Wynton Marsalis. \u00a0Although I was not a huge fan of jazz at the time, I appreciated the way Marsalis explained \u00a0music from a musician’s point of view. \u00a0My favorite episode was titled “Taming the Monster” and it was about the why and how of practice. \u00a0Wynton Marsalis laid out his rules for getting the most from time spent practicing. \u00a0He called them “Wynton’s Ways to Practice.” \u00a0What appears below is a transcription of my handwritten notes.* \u00a0 I have found these useful not only for ordering my time in the woodshed, but also for living with greater effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\n

WYNTON\u2019S WAYS TO PRACTICE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Seek out private instruction \u2013 the best you can afford.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2. Write out a practice schedule.\u00a0 <\/span>Cover all the fundamentals of your instrument.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

3. Set realistic goals to chart your development.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

4. Concentrate when practicing.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

5. Relax.\u00a0 <\/span>Practice slowly.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

6. Practice longer on things you can\u2019t play \u2013 (the hard parts).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7. Play everything as if it\u2019s important\/difficult\/interesting\/serious \u2013 always play with maximum expression.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

8. Don\u2019t be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

9. Don\u2019t show off.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

10. Think for yourself.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

11. Be optimistic.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

12. Look for connections between your music and other things.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whether or not you’re a musician, this is excellent advice. \u00a0Try to apply Wyntons’ Ways to Practice to your hobbies, your work, your fitness regimen and your spiritual life and let me know how it works for you.<\/p>\n

So how about you?<\/strong> \u00a0In what area of your life can you use these techniques? \u00a0Add your comments below.<\/span><\/h4>\n

*Clearly, the credit belongs to Wynton Marsalis, even though my notes may contain direct quotations and paraphrased sections. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been a musician since my early teens — ever since I spent an entire summer harvesting tobacco –by hand! — to buy my first bass guitar and my first amp. \u00a0And while I was proud of myself for earning the money and owning the equipment, I was immediately confronted with the task of learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42,28,11,3,43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commitment","category-confidence","category-excellence","category-perseverance","category-practice","category-work-ethic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1437"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1439,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions\/1439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}