Playing injured?

Every one of us experiences periods where we suffer some injury that affects our ability to play our instrument of choice. Whether caused by playing or not, it affects our playing…and raises the age-old question of “what to do about it”. There are many things you can do while injured to improve your musicianship, but the one thing you shouldn’t do is just ignore it.

1. Stop, Look, and Listen

The old advice for safely crossing a street applies just as well to injuries. Assuming this is an injury that doesn’t require immediate medical attention – and if it does, skip this step and go DIRECTLY to step #2 – stop playing and assess what is wrong. When does it hurt? What happens? Jot notes, tune into the feedback your body is giving you, and above all, put down the instrument. Continuing to do something that aggravates your injury will only make things worse. As the old joke goes, when you realize you’re in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging.

2. Seek qualified medical advice

I’m not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV), and if you aren’t either, you should consult one. Sometimes docs don’t understand your particular issues/concerns if they haven’t played your particular instrument, but whether PTM or not, you doctor probably understands the mechanics of the human body far better than you or I ever will. Take your notes – and maybe even your instrument, if it helps explain the symptoms and how they present themselves – and explain your injury to a qualified medical professional. Get their advice, then follow it.

3. Listen to good music

While you have to lay off the axe, step up your listening…and your listening skills. Since you can’t practice/play for a bit, take this opportunity to strengthen areas you may overlook normally.

Listening to pop music is a great way to informally give yourself some basic ear training. Really listen to that lead singer. Notice anything? At the risk of ruining a lot of music you may currently enjoy, you may notice that they aren’t quite as in tune as you realized. Doing this improves your pitch when you pick up your instrument again, far more than you may think.

Hip-hop and world music offer excellent opportunities to improve your sense of rhythm. Often-varying tempos and beats give your mind a workout and expand your appreciation of a set of skills you may be weaker in using.

If you’re typically a classical player, listening to jazz may help you hear improvisational riffs – and give you ideas you can employ in many different settings. Jazzers listening to classical may open other vistas for riffs, help with technique, tone, etc.. These (and other) genres offer lessons in nearly every measure, every phrase, if you listen for them.

4. Be patient

This one may be the most difficult advice to take, but it’s critical that you give yourself adequate time to recover. Rushing back to any activity that aggravates or re-injures only makes things worse than if you’d taken the time to heal properly. Do it right the first time and you’ll be happier, play better, and overall, play sooner.  :-)

5. Ease back into it

When you do get the doc’s go-ahead to resume playing, don’t just jump back into it; build up gradually. This ties into step #4 about being patient! Build up slowly – maybe more slowly even than recommended – to ensure you don’t overdo it. Just as you’d never stand on the ground and expect to jump to the top rung of a ladder, you shouldn’t expect to just pick up where you left off before your injury. Build up slowly, safely, and the results will be worth it.

Disclaimer

Don’t use the internet as your doctor, and don’t use anything you read on the internet – including here – as sound medical advice. The internet provides a wealth of information (including some written by doctors), but seeking qualified medical advice should never be an afterthought. It’s impossible for a layperson to accurately diagnose a medical issue based upon some article(s) read on the ‘net, no matter how informed said layperson may be. Do your research, take your notes, and find a good doctor. Your body will thank you for it, and so will your music.  :-)

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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Play along to enjoy playing!

Whether you’re learning a new instrument or returning to an old one, you want more than anything to play music. Scales and etudes are necessary and helpful things, but they weren’t what inspired you, spur-of-the-moment or after years of vacillating, to pick up that instrument. No, it was the music you heard – the music you decided you were going to play.

So how did you get to this point? Night after night of scales, etudes, technique drills, exercises. You can see improvement, and that’s good…but it just aren’t as fulfilling as you might have hoped. What now?

Enter play-along music. Many brands exist from various publishers (Music Minus One, for example), but they all provide a book with the “lead sheet” for you to play along with an accompaniment CD. Accompanists range from piano or synth to full orchestra, and books of play-along music are available for wide-ranging musical genres and ability levels. For anywhere from $10 to $30, you can have a group of great musicians back you up while you play your favorite pieces – all in the comfort of your own home!

When I returned to the trumpet a few years back after a couple of decades away from it, I bought a Dixieland jazz play-along book and CD combo to encourage myself. Although my primary playing has always been in “legit” band and orchestral environments, Al Hirt and Herb Alpert first inspired me to play the trumpet so many years ago, and the light-hearted fun of Dixieland jazz and Mariachi music still calls to me. Play-along books have given me opportunities to play various types of music when an actual group is nowhere to be found.

You can find play-along books/CDs online and (hopefully) at your local music store, but SheetMusicPlus has a selection that’s hard to beat. If you do decide to order your music, be sure to follow the “smart PTM” advice for buying music mail-order to get what you want quickly!

For those times when a string ensemble, jazz group, or orchestra is nowhere to be found (or if you’re just not ready for that yet!), play-along music fills the gap beautifully. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Keep playing,
Mark

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Get some rhythm and hold the blues – three great reasons to use a metronome

Whether you play only for fun or for the occasional paid gig, you want to play your best. One simple way to take your playing up a notch is to establish a consistent sense of rhythm, and there is no better way to do that than with a metronome.

Metronomes are not straightjackets; they are tools, and like many other tools in your musical toolchest, they are a very cheap investment in you and your lifetime enjoyment of music. Here are three things a metronome can help you do:

1. Develop a strong sense of tempo(s)

If you’ve practiced various pieces at a particular tempo – say, 100-120 Beats Per Minute (BPM) – you’ll be able to pick up a new piece of music with that tempo marking and know pretty well the desired tempo. This is a huge help when you’re sight-reading, but it comes in handy at other times, as well…like on the night of a performance when you’re distracted or have a really bad case of nerves. 

2. Be a better ensemble/section player

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, but it has more to do with keeping the tempo rather than establishing it. As your group/section is playing along, it’s very easy to drag or rush, depending upon any number of factors…or even drag and rush in different sections, if you’re accustomed to hearing your favorite performer/group playing it that way. But what if your favorite artist’s version differs from someone else’s? Practicing occasionally with a metronome, especially when learning a new piece, can help you establish a consistent tempo. This doesn’t restrain you; it liberates you, because now you can choose when it’s appropriate to change tempos, rather than follow the dictates of “that’s how so-and-so plays it”!

3. Master your part

One of the key ways a metronome helps you as a musician isn’t physical; it’s mental. While all of us know that we can master difficult passages by practicing them at a slower tempo, then speeding them up once we’ve worked out the kinks, our own minds often work against us, especially on selections we’ve heard before (and perhaps even played in the past). Have you ever tried to slow down the Barber of Seville? It’s hard to slow Bugs Bunny down, isn’t it? 

Playing at a reduced tempo along with your metronome helps you start slow and finish slow…thus mastering that tricky passage more quickly than you might have otherwise. Once that is accomplished, a metronome allows you to increase the tempo gradually and retain the ground you just gained.

What we use

There are many good metronomes available, but we have two and can offer a few thoughts on them specifically.

If you like the look and operation of a “traditional metronome” – like the one your piano teacher or music director likely had when you were a kid – something like the Wittner mahogany metronome is a good choice. Tempo is set by sliding the weight up or down the pendulum, and the Wittner’s wind-up operation means never having to buy batteries. Well-crafted and beautiful, it’s both a metronome and a classy decoration for your home studio. Priced at around $100, it isn’t cheap…but it will likely last you a lifetime.

One of the best all-around metronomes money can buy, in my opinion, is the Korg KDM-2 Digital Metronome. It functions as a pitch tuner as well (providing a note to which to tune your instrument), but as you’d expect, it really shines as a metronome. It’s speaker can be heard over even a small group’s playing – you can use it with earphones, if you prefer – and it includes a flashing bulb on top for a visual cue as well. Tempo markings are on the front, and tempo can be set or adjusted via up/down buttons or a quick rotation of the large wheel on its face. You can even tap the button a few times to have it determine the tempo! And at less than half the price of the Wittner, it’s feature-packed and wallet-friendly. If I could only have one metronome, this would be the one.

Bottom line

Using a metronome helps you learn your parts better; it also helps you begin and play them more consistently. As a result, you’ll likely notice that it makes you a more respected member of any group(s) in which you play. There are few things more frustrating than trying to play with someone who can’t hold a tempo, and those who can “keep the beat” make playing that much more relaxed and enjoyable.

Break out your metronome tonight, or if you don’t have one yet, get one! You’ll be glad you did.

Keep playing,
Mark

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Playing Music Sharpens Your Brain

This article by Dr. Maoshing Ni was forwarded to me by Chicago fiddler Chris Marshall (thanks, Chris!). While it mentions many things you can do to maintain or improve your brain functions, the excerpt below is sure to catch your eye as it did Chris’s and mine.

“Many people marvel that Asian children seem so intelligent. It could be because they use their fingers more frequently. They eat with chopsticks and at one time, they used to compute with an abacus in school. In fact, some studies have been done with children who use an abacus daily, and findings show that engaging the fingers stimulates nerve endings that go directly to the brain, increasing circulation. Take advantage of this by practicing motor activities that use your fingertips, like crocheting, knitting, and other arts and crafts where you are manipulating small parts. Try playing the piano or a stringed instrument.”

Somewhat depressingly, Dr. Mao indicates that the human brain starts to decline at a mere 30 years of age. The good news? There are ways to stay sharp, and playing music is one of them…so play on!

All the best,

Mark

Related articles can be found here. Please feel free to leave a comment; we’d love to hear from you!

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