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Your best musical advice in one post!
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Subject: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Rick Fielding Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:44 AM Well OK, here goes nuthin'. How about if we try to give our very best suggestions in one cohesive post. Ahhh, two or three if need be! Doesn't need to be just guitar....any instrument, or voice things that each person really believes in. Could be interesting and helpful....and definitely better than a poke in the eye with a sharp ninth. This is a continuation,(at ms. kat's suggestion) of: Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: DonMeixner Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:52 AM Learn to entertain. People go to see Seamus Kennedy not just because he plays and sings well. Many people do that. Seamus is entertaining. People go home a tell what great time they had and how much fun it was. They don't care that Seamus played a CMaj7th/sus4. Remember when you are standing on stage singing, playing reciting, whatever, and you can see those two or three guys in the crowd just in front of the speakers. The guys who you know are commenting to each other on your lack of profound skill. Or really looking over the equipment. Or are being critical of you technique and you can read their lips when they to each other, "I'm better than he/she they are/is." Remember this, you are working and they aren't. Don |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:54 AM
AND HAVE FUN DOING IT!!!!
Your friend and collegue Gargoyle |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Rick Fielding Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:55 AM OK, I'll start. With guitar, or banjo, or mandolin, or dulcimer etc. the right hand (assuming you're playing right handed) and fingers are THE TOOLS. You simply have to do the boring drudge work of memorizing right hand attack techniques if you want to be a smoothe player. That means before attempting anything complex with the left. Gotta get that right hand 'muscle memory' operating whether it's rolls, arpeggios, flat pick strums, or Burl Ives 'thumb and pluck. Earl Scruggs says 'you have to practice a bluegrass 'roll' (a series of four notes) 10,000 times before it's ingrained in your subconcious. I believe he's right. Once you've done the 'hard work' of getting the right hand 'tools' working without thinking about them, the left hand stuff is sooooo easy. In another thread I suggested putting your instrument in an 'open tuning' (no left hand needed at all) while you practice the right hand.....watch TV, or stare out the window, to ease the boredom....'cause it WILL get boring...but oh brother, is it worth it! Rick |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: M.Ted Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:52 AM Take as much time as you need and learn to play stuff right--It doesn't matter how it takes, because once you've got it right, you can use it forever-- |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Bert Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:13 AM Leave your guitar out where you can get to it. DON'T put it away in it's case. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 09 Dec 01 - 04:10 AM This was given to me years ago by Ted Edwards, to project your voice (no mikes in most folk clubs) pick out the best looking girl on the back row and sing to her, that way everyone thinks your looking at them and everyone can hear you. Try it, it does work! |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 09 Dec 01 - 04:11 AM One more thing, it can work too well, it's the way I met my wonderful wife of 23 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Dead Horse Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:12 AM 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. Don't be afraid the crowd is going to eat you, they won't. 2. Don't mumble or play too soft. 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. 3. Keep trying, but know your limits. 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. 4. Listen to all advice, then try to sort out the good. 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. 5. If possible, play/sing along with others before you go it alone. 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. 6. There is no need to be nervous. 1. The first few times, you will be nervous. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Deckman Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:36 AM Good thread Rick! About 100 years ago, when I was a serious vocal student, I was given some very good advice regarding the tecnique of "projection." This refers to the ability to 'project' your voice clearly to anywhere in the room, or concert hall. I loved the above comment suggesting that you sing to just one person in the room ... that can work. This vocal coach I had suggested that I imagine that there is a solid brick wall, six feet high, between he and I. He was standing one side, me on the other. My task was to sing my voice OVER that brick wall, clearly and on pitch, WITHOUT raising my head or volume. As I got better at it, I could actually lower my volume almost to a whisper, and be heard VERY clearly across the room, down the hall, and around the corner. TRUE! It requires much practice and focus. But even today, one hundred years later, I do believe that I am still known for my ability to make myself clearly heard even when I'm almost singing in a whisper. CHEERS, Bob(trying to be helpful)Nelson |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Allan C. Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:51 AM Practice playing your instrument in the dark. This will force you to feel the positions of your hands and will teach you to listen to the sounds you are making. Where possible, play along with someone else. This can stimulate you to try new tunes or new styles. Teach someone what you know. If an opportunity presents itself, share what you have learned with someone who shows an interest. Remember that they would not ask you unless they thought you knew something worth sharing. Often teaching will help you to solidify what you have learned. It can also cause you to examine aspects you had never before considered. When singing, try to hear the meaning of the lyrics and to impart that to the manner in which you present the song. It is one thing simply to read a poem aloud and another to portray the feeling of it. Experiment with increasing or decreasing volume. Exaggerate the emotions the words invoke. Be theatrical/histrionic when practicing. Then tone it down a little, (if need be,) when performing. Practice. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 09 Dec 01 - 07:40 AM All great advice. I think that making it fun, and being entertaining are two of the most important ones. My one bit of advice is to make the song "yours." That doesn't necessarily happen, no matter how much you practice. It's hard to verbalize exactly what that means, but you all KNOW what it means. Many, many years ago I ran a Potlatch (a less tired word than hootenanny, with the admirable goal of being the person who gives the most.) There was a person who played every song in the same key, with the same three chords, strumming a banjo. Every song was at the same rhythm. He was probably the least accomplished person there, musically. And yet, I loved to listen to him. He sang with everything that he had, and was so totally lost in the song that I became lost in it with him. I have heard people who can play the most impossibly complex arrangements, who bore me to death. Music is not technique. It is not scholarly presentation. It is FIRST of all, communication. If a folk singer played his guitar in the woods and no one heard him, would it be folk music? |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Dec 01 - 07:48 AM Practice, even if it isn't fun at first. It will become more fun as you improve your ability and the drudge part of it, i.e. scales, etc. will have been worth it. Tune your ear by listening to as much music, of several different kinds, as possible and really pay attention to the different instruments and their melodies, pick them out, singlely, and concentrate on following each one. This will help with harmonising and also with playing with others. Let the music/lyrics paint a picture in your mind. This will help to emote/convey the feelings of them to your audience, whether singing/speaking/playing, etc. Another good'un, Rick, Thank'ee! |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Mooh Date: 09 Dec 01 - 08:11 AM Much good advice here, I hope I'm not repeating any. Learn to read music, hear intervals, improvise, perform, and at least some common nomenclature. This stuff doesn't have to be mastered, but it doesn't also have to be ignored or unstudied. If we hope to pass on our culture and art, we need the means of communication. Be tolerant of the musical choices of others. Be open to debate about the differences between musical choices, but do not compromise your own musical instincts and interests. Practice. Study. Listen. Share. Peace. Mooh.
Last, whether or not you read music like a pro, being a casual musician, a "back porch picker", is as honourable as being a "pro" (whatever the hell that is). Play and enjoy it honestly and sincerely and it's every bit as good as the playing of the masters. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 09 Dec 01 - 09:04 AM A choral student once demonstrated diaphragm breathing by lying flat on his back on the floor. When you do that you can feel how it's supposed to feel. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Justa Picker Date: 09 Dec 01 - 09:04 AM With respect to children learning an instrument, the inherent desire to want to play MUST come from and be instigated by the child. Do NOT force or push a children to learn an instrument, if the desire is not there. If you are starting out as a kid, make sure the teacher is well schooled in music theory, and can communicate theory concepts in a way a child can understand it. Learn theory. If you plan to make a career in music learn theory. It is invaluable especially for improvisation and opening up new concepts and ideas, as well as for doing arrangements for not only your instrument but other instruments. Learn to become proficient in as many different styles of playing as possible. You'll increase your ability to find gainful employment as a musician. Seek out objective opinions on your abilities from those you respect, not those who are inclined to patronize you (family, friends, etc.) Be realistic about your abilities, and attempt to improve upon them all the time. If you have been playing for a few years and are not improving at what you're doing, find another outlet and resign yourself to the fact that you just don't have it - unless it gives YOU pleasure to keep on doing what you're doing. If you are blessed with God-given talent, learn to be tolerant and patient of those with lesser abilities than yourself and a develop a sense of humility . (Arrogance is a major turnoff, no matter how much you might excel at playing.) Further, if you do plan on music for a career, (and no one can dissuade you), you have to want it more than anything else in the whole world, and be able to achieve a sense of self satifaction just from playing/performing. Unless you are one of .2% who luck out with a record/distribution/concert deal, the music business will not give you back a tenth of what you give to it...so it's very important to "want it". Learn to love Kraft dinner and peanut butter sandwiches, and the simpler things in life. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,Fortunato Sunday Morning Date: 09 Dec 01 - 09:13 AM TURN OFF THE TELEVISION. UNPLUG IT. PUT IT IN A CLOSET. 1)Make a music room or corner in your hoMe. Furnish and organize so your instrument is handy, on a stand for example. A good chair to play on. Have your tuner or picks or song books or cd player, etc. whatever you use in that area. 2)Buy a music stand. 3)Get yourself a metronome or "Dr. Beat" and count yourself through your songs, learning to maintain the tempo and the timing. SINGERS, WHERE DO YOU COME IN? 4)Organize your lyrics/sheetmusic/chord charts. 5)Unless your last name is Guthrie or Seeger or Tyson or Lennon or Carter or Cash, GET A GOOD EDUCATION OR A TRADE AND A DAY JOB. Unless you're damn lucky you're going to need it. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Morticia Date: 09 Dec 01 - 09:40 AM "Mummy, mummy, when I grow up, I want to be musician" "Make up your mind, son"*BG*. My advice is simple.....if it stops being fun, stop doing it. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,frankie Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:14 AM When learning a new tune I do something called "burnishing". I learned of it from a magazine interview with Christopher Parkening. He suggested practising slowly and applying more pressure with your fretting hand than you would while performing. This really gets the positions and notes in your memory and builds strength in the fretting hand. To kind of reiterate what Allan C said above I think it's really important to also entertain yourself while performing. Don't be so intent on pleasing the crowd that your not listening to what you're playing and singing. Allow yourself to be moved. Great thread Rick. f |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Celtic Soul Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:15 AM Always keep learning. Never ever think, "I made it...this is the tops!"
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Jeri Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:35 AM If it stops being fun, I'd first suggest stop doing it that way. It's likely to be methods that make something un-fun rather than what you're trying to learn. If I try to learn something that's very frustrating, I take little breaks. I get to the point where I'm about to scream "AARGH!" and I'll strum the hell out of a 3 chord song, or get up and do something else for a few minutes. Those breaks are just as important as coming back to the instrument. I'm the sort of person who prefers to accomplish all of one thing in one sitting. This doesn't always happen. As long as I keep coming back to that thing I can't do, I'll eventually learn it. Sometimes it's a matter of not being able to see "the big picture" because I need to see the details first. Sometimes practicing other things will give me the details, the small skills, even though I may not even realise what skills I need or that I'm even learning them.
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: 53 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 11:40 AM leaving your guitar out is asking for trouble cause something will happen to it when you least expect it, i know it takes a little bit of extra time to put it away and take it out but i think its worth it for your guitars sake. BOB |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Rick Fielding Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:20 PM Wow....Great suggestions! I know I suggested that we just give our best advice and leave it at that, but I can't help but editorialize just a bit... What Don and Jerry said makes a huge amount of sense to me. If it's in your nature and personality to 'entertain' or make it feel like 'real fun'....go for it! You don't need a whole lot of technical stuff to really make a group of people or kids or even someone on the skids or in a sick bed, feel so much better. Not everyone is 'wired' that way, but if there's a 'bit of ham in you...smoke it!' Now for two more cents worth: The instrument you HAVE is not neccessarily the instrument that will make you play the best, or have the most fun with. If you can't SEE your right hand (and you think you need to, to play better, maybe you need a smaller (thinner) instrument. If your left hand fingers really hurt (after a few weeks) maybe you need to get an easier playing instrument. (at least get a repairperson to check the action) The ultimate example of this is someone with a convex front, playing a guitar with a convex back (Ovation)...not the greatest fit! Rick
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Midchuck Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:27 PM Own two guitars (or whatever it is you play), at least. A good one that you keep safe in its case and a not-so-good one that you can leave out where you can grab it when you have five minutes free. Peter. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Cappuccino Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:50 PM Allow me please to repeat the best physical advice I ever heard - wash your hands before playing guitar. It really does make sense, particularly if you've been setting gear up. Regards - Ian B |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: WyoWoman Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:11 PM 1.) Find what you love, then do it 'til you drop. 2.) Keep finding stuff you love; it'll keep you from dropping. 3.) It's not about you, it's about the music. (This is why, before I perform, I always pray "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace," or some similar prayer/incantation to remind myself that my voice and ability are in service to something outside myself and that it comes through me, not from me. When music is a form of participation in and contribution to community, it's magical. Otherwise, it feels -- and sounds -- spiritually hollow, which pretty much negates it -- for me, at least.) 4.) Very, very often, less is more. Love this thread ... ww
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Peter T. Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:12 PM This is such a great thread. The only advice I have is from the audience perspective (and a sometime actor) is to avoid at all costs separating yourself from the audience, without going out and sitting in their laps. I have often seen the link to the audience break so easily -- either the artist is lost in his own world uninterestingly -- this seems to be a failing of the technically proficient for some reason -- or the band is talking amongst themselves as a secret society with their own jokes (audiences really hate that -- they start their own conversations in response), or using the audience as a chorus without giving them a chance to do it properly. It is also worth saying that in my experience audiences are really desperate to see people do well -- they will put up with all kinds of problems if you are new and sincere. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: 53 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:39 PM if i don't play everyday i feel lost and my guitar gently weeps, i think that by playing everyday it help me become abetter teacher and a better guitarist, plus most of all i just love to play. BOB |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Bert Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:49 PM And singers! Learn to use a microphone. Most modern microphone are designed for idiots - they have a strong blast shield to protect the mic from inexperienced users. Your sound man will set up such a mic right in front of your face, pointing directly into your mouth. That works for those who don't know how to use a mic but doesn't give you any control or even the best sound. And it hides your mouth from the listeners. So turn the mic so that it points upwards and lower it so that you are singing across the top of the mic (you might have to fight the sound man to do this). Vary your distance from the mic depending how loud you are singing. Very close right under your lip for quiet passages and further down and away when you are really loud. If you are singing acapella take the guitar out of it's stand and hold it in your hand for better control. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Alice Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:55 PM Find a good teacher. Practice and continue learning on an ongoing basis, even after you stop take lessons. Be yourself - don't imitate. Find the music that is close to your heart and fits your voice/style/instrument/ability. Keep growing. Never stop, even if you don't perform. When the opportunity to perform arises, you will be ready, if you have continued to add to your repertoire and continued to sing/play for yourself. Get together with other people to make music for fun. The more you do that, the more confident you will be when you perform. Alice |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:12 PM This will probably grab some flak, but............... Take the time to learn a bit of piano. Have your kids do the same if they show any interest at all in music. The keyboard of a piano is the most visual aid you can have in learning and understanding music theory. When you read a text the piano makes it easier to simply apply what is being said....you can both see and hear immediately what is happening. Whether you are counting half steps or whole, or working out a chord structure.....hell, virtually anything you do.....you can both see how the "action" takes place and hear what the sound result is. Doing this will also train your ear to hear better and we'd probably reduce the "chord requests" around here by about 75%! I'm a lousy guitar player. I enjoy myself, but have never worked too hard at it. But I am very serious in suggesting the above to those that have a hard time hearing chords and progressions. It makes a lot of difference. Spaw
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Sandy Paton Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:12 PM I'm with Jerry Rasmussen on this one. Many years ago, the great Scottish ballad singer, Jeannie Robertson, listened to a tape of a very non-professional singer (one of the travelling folk in the Highlands) and observed: "Oh, he's a good singer; he tells his story well!" My advice: THINK about the words you're singing and what they really mean. I've occasionally heard very polished performers singing on what might be described as "automatic pilot," the words just pouring out by rote. I guess they had sung those songs so many times they thought they didn't have to think about them anymore. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: CarolC Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:55 PM Be willing to be bad until you've had enough time (and practice) to get good. I don't know if this applies to any other instruments, but it certainly does apply to the accordion. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Dave Swan Date: 09 Dec 01 - 03:01 PM Yep, practice, practice. Practice 'til you're tired. But not to the point of stress. In rehearsal or performance, energy cannot flow through tension. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: death by whisky Date: 09 Dec 01 - 03:50 PM And when you've got the piece perfect,burn it and move on to the next. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: death by whisky Date: 09 Dec 01 - 04:06 PM Should have said....had a session with Seamus a few weeks ago. First he said "I want to boke",and then,"Those strings are old enough to vote".Good craic...! |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Steve in Idaho Date: 09 Dec 01 - 05:52 PM I know that all music is for listening to. And the stuff I like the best I learn to play. I'm not a very good guitar player, and I only sing because Lyle Lovett does and gets paid for it and that makes be a great unpaid singer, but I love the old songs I do. I practice a lot. Probably a couple of hours a day - with a full time job it is hard to do more than that and still have a life - and I am always working on at least a couple of new songs. I've never perfected a piece so haven't trashed any yet but do get caught up in the new so easily that sometimes I need to relearn the old. The other thing I have learned is that I am not a very good person to be up front with the crowd. I can harmonize and play a passable lead but I'm not an up front person. I think it is why I like Paltalk so well - all I need to do is play and sing. And finally - practice - Steve |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Bill D Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:22 PM listen to your very favorite performers and ask yourself what it is about them that you like.....chances are, it's style and projection and 'flavor'...not just technical perfection. I have heard singers with perfect enunciation who had no 'life' in their singing, and blazing fast banjo & guitar pickers who sounded like a piano roll. I'd rather hear Norman Blake play "Black Mountain Rag" than .....well, than a couple others, because he 'feels' what that melody is doing. And Jeannie Robertson was right...some singers TELL the story..(did you ever watch some ballad singers close their eyes so they could move 'into' the song and not be distracted by the people listening?) finally, record yourself and listen to it and critique it as if it were NOT you.... |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: 53 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:58 PM i agree with spaw, the piano does provide a lot of theory for a lot of different instruments. BOB |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: ddw Date: 09 Dec 01 - 07:21 PM Practise your timing. Then the next day, practise your timing some more. And when you have it down pretty well, practise your timing some more. I have always maintained that timing is about 85 per cent of ANYTHING you do on stage — acting, singing, playing, whatever. A lot of pretty mediocre voices by most standards have gone a long way on phrasing (which is just vocal timing). Elvis, Jerry Lee, Ray Charles, almost all the old blues men and many, many others are good examples. cheers, david |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Mooh Date: 09 Dec 01 - 07:45 PM I'm with Spaw on the piano thing. I was able to teach myself several other instruments because of a secure grounding in keyboard education. That and an upbringing of choral singing and a very musical household while growing up. Hands down, the best guitar students I have are also current or former piano students with at least 2 years of study. We really get down to business. I have a drummer taking guitar with me and he's got fabulous rhythm instincts, and an ear refined by exposure to music through his parents his whole life. I knew about chords, scales, rhythms, and harmony before I ever got into guitar and then folk, rock, and blues music and I find it interesting that there are so many questions about these very subjects on this and other forums. I got lucky I guess. Still, I wish I had more time to study... Peace, Mike. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 09 Dec 01 - 08:21 PM Never piss your audience off by thinking you are better than them and doing them a favour by appearing. Audiences can ask for their money back..... audiences can also just not show up again...... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: 53 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 08:24 PM the piano is a great tool for the musician. BOB |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: GUEST,mgarvey@pacifier.com Date: 09 Dec 01 - 09:50 PM if you are in a instrument jam or a song circle, and if it is very unusually good, let the music be the top priority. Don't break a good flow of songs or tunes with something silly or out of the flow of music and, again, if it is an exceptional collection of people or whatever, let them take over if you are not up to speed or at their level and you will hear exceptional music. If you are more interested in taking your turn or singing something out of the blue book, the music will suffer and you will have lost a very rare opportunity. This would be the exception rather than the rule of course. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Robin2 Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:37 PM Lots of great advice here! I would add two things: Never play an instrumental piece faster than you can play the hardest passage with accuracy. KEEP IT SLOW, and practice slow, over and over. Your speed will pick up naturally as you become more comfortable with it. After you've learned a piece, make yourself play or sing it with your eyes closed. When we remove the visual, all that is left is the aural, and you can REALLY focus on what you hear. Robin |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: Mark Clark Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:48 PM Dead Horse mentioned this in a good list of tips but it can't be overemphasized... Play with other people. Work out arrangements, play parts and get the timing down to a professional level. Even if you don't intend to perform with others, learn to play well in an ensemble. It will do a great deal to improve your musicianship, your ear and your timing. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: harpgirl Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:59 PM The thing I found lately that helped me in performance was I decided to project the JOY I feel being able to play music. With three cords from the Pete Seeger banjo book on my $25 dollar banjo and singing two of my favorite old timey songs, I won First Place in Beginning Banjo at the Florida Old Time Music Championship! I know it wasn't my technical skill. But I looked and felt happy and that's why I won, I'm sure!! |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: DonMeixner Date: 09 Dec 01 - 11:20 PM No, It was a nice shiney silver bracelet blinding the judges. |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: marty D Date: 09 Dec 01 - 11:23 PM Harpgirl said "I know it wasn't my technical skill. But I looked and felt happy and that's why I won, I'm sure!!" Find a teacher like that. You'll be glad you did. I've taken lessons in the past from teachers who rarely even smiled, let alone laughed. One was so obviously only concerned with getting my money and watching the clock that I finally had to ask him "do you actually CARE whether I ever learn to play"? He looked puzzled and said "what you do with the information is YOUR business." He knew a lot about music (though I don't think he ever actually entertained professionally) but very little about people. Shop around. A (qualified) happy teacher will probably be a good teacher. A miserable one will definitely NOT be good. Thanks to advice from Mudcat I found an excellent teacher over a year ago. As a therapist, I know that to be effective, I have to either like my client or find them interesting enough that I might one day like them. marty |
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Subject: RE: Your best musical advice in one post! From: katlaughing Date: 10 Dec 01 - 12:00 AM Can't emphasize enough what Spaw said about piano. |
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