Tag: Chicago piano teacher
All is good, and yet. Part 2.
So, what do you do when you have a difficult passage and you hit a plateau? Do you feel the red of anger climb to your face? Do you bunch your hands in a fist? Do you smash your keyboard with said fist? Do you howl at the moon? Do you grow big claws? Do…
All is good, and yet.
Sometimes you are confronted with puzzling situations. You do everything right, you have all your ducks in a row and yet, you don’t get the results you were expecting. No matter the amount of work, the dedication, the thought, the care, you can’t make headway. It’s like you’ve stepped in a pile of glue that…
It depends.
The common sense dictates that in order to make a living in music, you need to spend some time on an instrument. Quite some time. A considerable amount of time. All you time. Yes, but that’s a maybe. It depends. We all know the artists that has killed themselves over practice, the people who never…
Protecting your lessons. Part 2.
In this second part, I need to say that you also need to carve a space in your life to practice your music, one that is sacred, non-negotiable and regular like a clock. For instance, you can decide that very Monday Tuesday Thursday and Saturday, you do 30 minutes of practice from 6 to 6:30,…
Protecting your lessons. Part 1.
So you’ve decided to take some piano or drum lessons. You’ve got the instrument, the teacher and you’ve bee practicing regularly. But then, something comes to disturb the picture and you have to stop because life is what’s happening when you’re making other plans (John Lennon). So your time on the keys shrink then disappear…
What to learn on the drums. Part 2.
After those two concepts that are coordination and speed, you get nimbleness. That’s the ability to navigate the drum kit presented in front of you, going from a tom to a crash cymbal to a hi hat in a swift and elegant movement. It requires a lot of practice and dedication and if you do…
What to learn on the drums. Part 1.
I have noticed that all human activities can get very complicated very quickly. For example I know some people who knit, a pass time that seems innocent enough. Well, not at all, my friends. Apparently you’ve got different concepts like needles or crochet, and a ton of different variations you can do to get a…
What I am reading.
Right now, I’m reading a biography of Schubert. He’s one of the three: you’ve got Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. They have their stones together in a cemetery in Vienna. That’s Beethoven on the right, Schubert on the left and a memorial of Mozart in the center. Mozart’s body was thrown in a common grave and…
When to start taking music lessons.
You start when you want to go to a concert and can’t wait to see the drummer or the piano player. You start when you focus on that instrument at the concert. You start when you like a song on the radio and bob your head to the beat. You start when you can’t help…
Maintenance.
I am a self-employed musician, a little entrepreneur of sorts, as a matter of fact the smallest kind there is since in my Mum and Pop shop, there is only Pop. In my business I have to deal with equipment. The very computer I am writing you from is part of that list. It has…