THE Two Keys to Success in Music (and Life)!

I was chatting with a friend of mine recently and he passed along some advice so simple, yet so profound, that I felt it just had to be shared. With all of the excellent advice out there for the current or aspiring Part-Time Musician (PTM) – and I’d like to think we’ve passed along a good deal of it! – it just doesn’t get much better than this.

It’s Never Too Late to Start

However old you are now, whether 8 or 88, you’re at the perfect age to start playing an instrument. If you don’t already play the instrument you’d like to play, for Heaven’s sake, START NOW! What is holding you back…really? Fear of committing to…doing something you’ve always wanted to do? Fear of…not being very good until you’ve progressed a bit? The cost of…investing in your personal growth and fulfillment? Short of physical inability (five year old + double bass = bad idea), there is no good reason for putting it off. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START PLAYING THE INSTRUMENT YOU LOVE!

Something is Better Than Nothing

We’ve written previously about “micro-sessions” for practicing (click here to see article), but to cut straight to the chase, any quality time is better than no quality time…even if it’s just a few minutes each day. You won’t get to Carnegie Hall on five minutes a day, but you could learn a few tunes over the course of a few months, work on tuning and intonation, throw in a few embellishments, and amaze just about everyone you know – including yourself – with your progress in less than a year’s time. Yes, you’ll improve faster with more time and thought invested; but begin with whatever you can and adjust as appropriate. SOMETHING REALLY IS BETTER THAN NOTHING!

These same principles apply to anything in life (fitness, learning a language, reading, etc.), but they hold special importance for us as PTMs. Remember these keys and apply them, and someday, you just might amaze yourself with what you can do.

All the best,
Mark

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Learning Tips for Better Playing

‘Tis the season, I suppose. While reading an article about returning students and lessons, it hit me that whether student or not, taking lessons or not, we could all use some pointers on how to learn – and thus play – better.

Making the most of music lessons is an article from our friends at Violinist.com. If you’re a string player, you owe it to yourself to check out this site; and whether you play a violin or Vulcan lyre, you can benefit from the advice within the linked article. Case in point: the author, Professor Klickstein, is a guitarist.

In the article, the author highlights the attributes of “adept learners” – personal goals to aim for in your (and my!) playing obsession that will only help us grow as musicians and human beings. He also lays out tips for improving your communication with your teacher, but here’s the secret: those tips work to polish your playing in any circumstances, even if studying alone. Record yourself. Assess yourself. Exchange information. Even if you don’t have a teacher at the moment, you aren’t off the hook! Read the full article to get the full scoop.  :-)

Next time, I hope to share some observations from my own “teaching” experiences…and yes, I did put “teaching” in quotes. If you want to know why – and trust me, you probably do! – you’ll have to check back in to find out. Until then…

Keep playing,
Mark

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• THE Two Keys to Success in Music (and Life)!

Can Videogames (Finally) Help You Play Better?

Music videogames stir strong opinions in some musicians, and Part-Time Musicians (PTMs) as a group are no exception. But with the latest round of gameplay improvements and controller updates, have we now reached the point where playing a music videogame can really improve our music-making skills?

This is a large topic that can be approached from several perspectives, and we’ve covered two of those before (see From virtual musician to real musician and Videogaming helps your mad music-making skillz!), but this zeroes in on the typical configurations that are seen in most homes – or the setups that the Rock Band folks hope soon will be.

In this article from our friends at cnet, Dan Ackerman puts Rock Band 3 to the test and finds that it comes very close to the “real thing”. And while they take a slightly different tack, Dan notes that the people behind First Act are working to close the gap between “play music” and playing music, too. It’s a great article that has had me mulling since I first saw it, and I suspect it will you, too.

So what do you think? Will music videogames eventually get to the point where (we) real musicians use them as a training aid? Or will adding sophistication spoil the fun for the larger market and kill the games before we get there? Are we already there?  

Drop us a line and share your thoughts! And whether you take an occasional videogame break or not, keep that music coming…

All the best,
Mark

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Music training boosts learning

This study has gotten a lot of coverage lately, and at the risk of “piling on”, I wanted to offer a few tidbits that seem to be missing from the discussion.

In the latest article I saw about NU’s findings, published in the article Music can boost language skills, they offer the following conclusions:

“But Kraus said currently what is known about the benefits of music training on sensory processing beyond that involved in musical performance is largely derived from studying those who are fortunate enough to afford such training.

The researchers concluded that there needed to be a serious investment of resources into music training in schools accompanied with rigorous examinations of the effects of such instruction on listening, learning, memory, attention and literacy skills.”

Where to start…  :-)

First, I fully believe that during many (if not most) rounds of budget cuts in any school district, music education gets short shrift. Unfortunate? Yes. Unfair? Absolutely. Can it be fixed? Yes…but it’s not going to happen on its own, or by accident. Until music parents support the music programs with the same energy that sports parents bring to their programs – in terms of time, commitment, and monetary investment – the music department continue to be seen as an easier target. Yes, we’re all busy, and studies like this do help; but pointing to a study and wishing our music teachers “good luck” won’t change anything.

Second, the conclusion as published in the linked article above indicates that only the wealthy are beneficiaries of music training because of its expense. This should never be the case.

Our family certainly is not wealthy, but music training has always been a priority in our house. Why? Because of the values it brings to a developing child (focus, discipline, teamwork, etc.), of course…but also because it enriches lives throughout those lives. Musical training develops a talent that can be used at 8 or 80, and “sacrificing” a temporary thing for a lifelong gift to our children always seemed like a wise investment to us.

The idea that musical training has to be expensive is also a fallacy. How many stories of pop icons have you heard in which the story begins with “my grandfather gave me this old guitar/violin/piano and I taught myself how to play”? The field of music is diverse, and each area carries different hurdles; but even in the classical music field – arguably the one with the highest barriers to entry – examples of success without extensive, expensive training exist. When will we stop making excuses and start learning, regardless of the obstacles? When will we help eliminate some of those obstacles?

As PTMs (Part Time Musicians), we bear some responsibility for that. How can we help kids learn? How can we make the world just a bit better? Volunteering to teach, helping with ensembles and events, collecting used instruments, fixing donated instruments – these are only a few ideas, and there are many more.

The important thing is to get involved! Our kids’ brains depend upon it.

Keep playing,
Mark

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Learn music and learn everything better

Let’s reach into the news pile and check out something that ought to make anyone who plays an instrument feel just a bit smarter.

I just ran across an article entitled How music training boosts learning and wanted to share it. Findings like this, while possibly a bit self-congratulating, ought to remind us (and those we ask to support the arts and arts education) of the far-reaching value of music training. To quote the article:

“The brain is unable to process all of the available sensory information from second to second, and thus must selectively enhance what is relevant,” Nature quoted Kraus as saying.

Playing an instrument primes the brain to choose what is relevant in a complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score, timing issues and coordination with other musicians.

And that’s only a teaser. 

Just some food for thought to make your day. Now, pull out that axe and practice, encourage your kids and/or spouse to practice, or volunteer with a youth music group. Better yet, do all three! After all, it’s up to all of us to do all we can to make the world just a little smarter… 

Keep playing,
Mark

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