Tip of the Day

“Why is targeted, mistake-focused practice so effective? Because the best way to build a good circuit is to fire it, attend to mistakes, then fire it again, over and over. Struggle is not optional, it’s neurologically required. Nerve firings grow myelin, myelin controls impulse speed and impulse speed is skill.” Pg 34, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. by Daniel Coyle Notes

“Every human movement, thought, or feeling is a precisely timed electrical signal traveling through a chain of neurons—a circuit of nerve fibers. Myelin is the insulation that wraps these nerve fibers and increases signal strength, speed and accuracy. The more we fire a particular circuit, the more myelin optimizes that circuit, and the stronger, faster, and more fluent our movements and thoughts become.” Pg 32, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How. by Daniel Coyle Notes

“Have your student keep a special type of practice log. Instead of recording how much practice they did, or what type of practice they did, simply have them record what breakthroughs they made each day. What can they now do that they couldn’t do when the practice session started?” Pg 62, The Practice Revolution: Getting Great Results from the Six Days Between Music Lessons by Philip Johnston

“Many people will study hard trying to understand all that information at once, not realizing that it probably wouldn’t make them play any better. Knowledge is not meant to be gathered all at once.” Pg 212, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music by Victor L. Wooten

“A mediocre musician can win over an audience by sheer emotion alone. Remember, any one of the ten elements [of Music], raised to a very high level, can be used in a way that overshadows the fact that the musician is lacking in skill of the other nine.” Pg 98, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music by Victor L. Wooten

Interested?... join me for Improvising Study 3 which focuses on how to employ dynamics in your playing and Joe Filisko's 18 Harmonica Insights #8 on, what else, Dynamics!

On the CD "Legacy" David Holt asks Doc Watson about his and his father's harmonica playing. In this cut titled "Dad Was a Harmonica Player" (available on iTunes) Doc talks about and plays examples of both puckering and tongue blocking as well as plays a couple of position examples. Pretty neat stuff.

“It is easier to build upon this beauty than it is to pretend it is not there and try to create it from scratch.” Pg 54, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music by Victor L. Wooten

“The elements of Music are the individual parts that make up Music as a whole. Many musicians like yourself struggle because you are not familiar enough with all the elements. You rely on mostly one or two of them when you play. Doing that is a great recipe for frustration. A musician like me, who appropriately uses all the elements, will be one of the greats even though he may not be aware of the fact that he is using them. continue reading...

“’Do you always know what you’re gonna say before you start taking?’ No. ‘And does that stop you from talking.?’ Not usually. ‘Okay, then play!’” Pg 30, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music, by Victor L. Wooten

The more airtight your cup, the more muted your sound. The more muted your sound, the darker your amplified tone is and the stronger the difference between your closed and open cup is for the Wa Wa and hand tremolo effects. continue reading...