online harmonica lessons

“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

“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

If you're Interested in learning more about dynamics join me for Improvising Study 3 and Joe Filisko for his 18 Harmonica Insights #8.

“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

“’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

In this insight Joe Filisko speaks of how to Relax and Breathe

“I sometimes point out to a student that their frustration with a piece is an indication that they care deeply about it.” Pg 15, The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music From the Heart by Madeline Bruser

I provide you with structured lessons on the harmonica... unprecedented in the history of blues harp education. This is your KNOWN element. If you follow the lesson plans I lay out for you, you WILL become a great player. In your journey there will be areas of bewilderment... and this is of course part of the process. You will not always know if you're doing something correctly, or if your time is best spent studying particular areas... but that's part of the process as well. For many, improvising and accompaniment playing is very daunting... it sure is... but again, it's part of the process. continue reading...