David's Tip of the Day: Practice Reference Sheet
Here it is... drum roll please... tip 1,000! Copy and paste this into a document and print it out to keep in your practice binder to help keep you on track. Have a great week!
The Mind
1) Process, not product… you will be a great player, you just don’t know when
2) Corrections, not judgments
3) It's not commonly the most talented that become great players—It's the most tenacious!
The Time
1) Consistent
2) Non-flex
The Tools
1) Computer
a) Looping and speed-changing software (Amazing Slow Downer www.ronimusic.com)
b) Pitch reference (HarpNinja www.harpninja.com)
2) Recorder: Phone, computer or dedicated device (Tascam DR-07)
3) Metronome
4) Music Stand
Practice Division
Daily (Based on 1 Hour)
· 10m - Technique Practice: Work on something hard to push your skill-set to a higher level. Technique practice involves focused attention via exercises that work bending, tongue blocking, hand usage, scales, arpeggios… any type of physical skill set that can be isolated into an exercise.
· 30m - Study Song(s): Studying a song not only provides a complete piece of music to play when completed (goal oriented practice) but also provides you with lick vocabulary, teaches movement and transitions from lick to lick and insight into the style and decision-making process of great players.
· 20m - Context: The songs you study are constructed from individual licks. By taking these licks out of their original context and playing them within the Chorus Form phrasing model to a jam track, you’re practicing for success. This is the crucial step of the learning process that converts “those” licks to “your” licks—it is at the heart of developing your improvising skills.
Chunks
Some techniques (bending for example) require more reps, but in small chunks of time
Weekly or Monthly
Pick one day to play all of the songs you've learned from beginning to end without stopping. This is best done by making a CD or playlist on your computer. At first you can play with the original track (the one with harmonica), followed by the jam track (just you). After you get in the swing of things you can make the play list only contain jam tracks.
Practice is Focused on what you Cannot Do
Listen to Great Music
Record Yourself for Self-Assessment
How to Practice
1) Chunking = Break song down to each chorus > Break each chorus down to each lick
a) Listen: No playing... no humming... just listen.
b) Hum: This personalizes/internalizes the lick... learning the rhythm and contour of the lick before you pick up your
machine (the harmonica).
c) Practice: Stop the loop and practice. Using your provided music, work on the blows, draws, bends, movement—everything related to performing that lick on your machine. Do this until you can get close to the rhythm of the lick in your memory.
d) Listen Once, Play Once: You ARE practicing when you're listening. Though the phrase "muscle memory" is a nice metaphor, it's really your brain controlling and firing the proper neural pathways that fire the muscles needed to perform this action. You WILL learn FASTER and more ACCURATELY by Listening Once, Playing Once. Once you feel that you have the lick, don't stop the Listening Once, Playing Once practice. Now you can focus on often-missed dynamics, tremolo/vibrato, articulation, tone, etc.
Performance
1) Playlist (original and jam track)
2) Practice your speech to the band and make all signals when practicing
a) Tip: Listen to the recording of the song you’re going to perform. Listen one time each for each instrument, by the end being able to sing each instruments main part.
3) Make a bullet-point list of first-chorus licks to help memorize a song
4) Discussion: Memorized (non-dynamic) vrs. Improvised (dynamic)
