Zing-Yang Kuo

Zing-Yang Kuo was a physiological psychologist who was interested in investigating behaviors that were thought to be instinctual, or innate  (his early research on this topic was in the 1920s). He studied chicken embryos, because it was believed the distinctive pecking behavior chicks show immediately upon hatching was an instinctual, innate behavior.

Zing-Yang Kuo believed that labeling a behavior as “innate” or “natural” or “instinctual” didn’t help anyone understand the behavior. He watched chicken embryos develop by coating eggs with warm vaseline, rendering the shells translucent. And here’s the thing: He discovered that as the chicks develop inside the tightly packed egg, their head rests directly over their heart, and as soon as the heart begins to beat, the thumping heart causes the chick’s head to move in exactly the same pecking motion. The chicks are practicing this pecking behavior many hundreds, probably thousands of times, before they hatch. The finding blurs the line between natural talent and practice in a very interesting way.

Zing-Yang Kuo’s research highlights the fact that context matters. Where you practice is important, and early on, you have no control over that whatsoever. Some are lucky to be born into a rich musical environment.

Indian vocalist Prasad Upasani is the creator of the fantastic iTabla Pro app (video demo), one of my essential practice technologies. When Prasad spoke with me about his own music practice, he introduced me to a term: samskar. Prasad said this word translated means “unconscious influence.” One of Prasad’s earliest memories is waking to hear his father’s early-morning singing practice. He would wander in, sit on his dad’s lap, and they would sing some of his favorite songs. This early exposure to music and music practice certainly had an impact on his developing sensibilities. Rex Martin, a tuba virtuoso who I mention frequently because his knowledge of music and practice are incredibly deep, had two older brothers who played the tuba, so he was exposed to those vibrations from conception onward. Did this have an impact on his neural wiring? I don’t know, but I suspect it might have.

Readers of this blog know that I don’t much believe in “natural” talent. To me, labeling a skill as a “talent”–in the sense that it’s a natural ability–blinds us to the reality behind that skill, much like the idea of “instinctual behavior” blinds us to the developmental realities that support any ability. Something to think about.

Electron microscopy of a chicken embryo, taken at Lisbon University, Portugal

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The iReal Book app gives you access to thousands of jazz and other chord charts, and it will play a decent-sounding MIDI rhythm section in several styles. You can enter your own tunes, and, best of all, you can share them with other users. The forum contains thousands of tunes, and with a simple click on an html link, the app automatically installs it to your iReal Book. Within 5 minutes I had nearly 1,500 songs on my device, and over 300 of them were Gypsy Jazz, the genre I play most.

Just before a gig on Saturday I needed a couple lead sheets, and sent them from the app to myself as a PDF and printed ‘em up, no sweat. The printouts are great and structured well. Be sure to check for accuracy, though. One tune, Them There Eyes was missing a line, which is a problem in the middle of a gig. We learned that the hard way.

The app is around $10, and with some of the in-app purchases (I bought the Gypsy Jazz accompaniment and the guitar chords function), you can push the price up to around $20, but that’s still a great deal for the functionality and usability of the app. I’m not entirely happy with the guitar chord fingering choices for the app, and have not yet discovered whether those can be tweaked, but I sure hope they can. If so, this is a grand-slam home run app. It’s a minor quibble, no pun intended. When you consider that Band in a Box goes for around $100, and even more if you want realistic sound quality, the iRealBook app is a steal.

This is one of the best practice tools I’ve come across in many years. Absolutely brilliant! If you need to practice with a rhythm section in just about any style (jazz, bluegrass, pop, rock, etc.), you’ve got to get this app. It’s available for both iOS, MacOS, and Android devices). Here’s a comprehensive video walkthrough of most of its features:

iRealBook Features Walkthrough

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Duke Ellington

I love this man’s music. And last February, after hearing a smoking middle school septet (yes, I wrote that correctly) do a superb version of Duke’s Black and Tan Fantasy, I think it’s safe to say Duke’s music will be a long-lasting legacy.

Here’s a vid, a short bio on the man. The gem comes around 2:40. “Every musician in the world has some limitation. There is no musician in the world who has no limitation…. But, the wise players are those who play what they can master.”

He also speaks about how and why he writes, and what circumstances help him write. Probably my favorite Duke tune is East St. Louis Toodle-oo. Something about Bubber Miley/Cootie Williams’s plunger work is just great! Here’s a version.

If you’re unfamiliar with Duke, check out the Ken Burns collection. A good selection. Here’s a 1927 recording of East St. Louis Toodle-oo with Bubber Miley on trumpet.

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“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”

Here’s another iconic image of Johnny Cash. I love this one, and like to think this is a good representation of my own attitude towards failure. The story of the image is told by Alex Selwyn-Holmes on his interesting website Iconic Photos. After the quote is a 1959 video of Johnny Cash playing Folsom Prison Blues.

<snip>

As he grew old, Johnny Cash came to resent the Nashville country-music establishment, which all but abandoned him and the other aging “country” artists who had defined the genre to embrace new pop-oriented country artists like Garth Brooks. His late album Unchained (1996) was virtually ignored by the establishment.

However, the album won a Grammy for Best Country Album. Cash and his producers American Recordings posted an advertisement in Billboard Magazine with the above image as a ”thank you” to the Nashville country music industry after winning the award. The infamous photo of Cash giving the middle finger to the camera was taken back in 1969 during his San Quentin prison performance.

A tireless advocate for the prison reform, Cash began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1960s, leading to two highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969). In the latter prison, when Cash performed his prison song “San Quentin” (“I hate every inch of you/May you rot and burn in hell/May your walls fall and may I live to tell”), he nearly caused an uprising. The definitive, iconoclastic image made its way into Cash’s Hollywood biopic, Walk the Line, but the gesture was actually shot during a rehearsal session toward the annoying cameraman, the concert’s official photographer Jim Marshall.

Here’s JC in 1959 singing Folsom Prison Blues:

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Wynton Marsalis (Photo: Wikipedia)

Wynton Marsalis is a musician who knows how to practice. As a younger man, he was equally at home in front of a symphony orchestra playing the Haydn concerto, or laying down some serious jazz with Art Blakey. Check out Wynton’s discography for more evidence.

For a while now, he’s turned his full attention to traditional jazz and his own new compositions. Back when VHS was the only option for video releases, Wynton did a program called Tackling the Monster: Wynton on Practice.  In the video excerpt below, fast-forward to 3:00 to get to the practice tidbits. After that, check out Wynton playing some sweet choruses at the Jazz in Marciac festival in France, in 2009. So tasty and relaxed. After that first tune, the concert goes on for another 45 minutes. Worth hearing, for sure! That’s what tens of thousands of hours of practice sound like.

Here are 12 practice suggestions from Master Marsalis. Each one could be the subject of a book on its own.

1. Seek out the best private instruction you can afford.

2. Write/work out a regular practice schedule.

3. Set realistic goals.

4. Concentrate when practicing

5. Relax and practice slowly

6. Practice what you can’t play. – (The hard parts.)

7. Always play with maximum expression.

8. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

9. Don’t show off.

10. Think for yourself. – (Don’t rely on methods.)

11. Be optimistic. – “Music washes away the dust of everyday life.”

12. Look for connections between your music and other things.

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(start the vid below at 3:00 to skip the credits). I’ve found some evidence in my own research talking with master musicians that, instead of being something that is dreaded, as Wynton and YoYo Ma mention, practice is also something many musicians love dearly. It’s good to have a challenge and work toward it, even if that work is sometimes supremely demanding, and at times frustrating.

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Here’s Wynton and crew in 2009. Around 16:00 you can hear Wynton and Wycliffe Gordon sing.

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Hans Zimmer’s practice room and work station (the grand piano is behind the camera)

Hans Zimmer is an award-winning film composer and music producer. You can seem more pics of his work/practice space here. Here’s the first part of his Wikipedia entry <snip>

Hans Florian Zimmer (German pronunciation: [hans ˈfloːʁi̯aːn ˈtsɪmɐ]; born 12 September 1957) is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including award winning film scores for The Lion King (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), The Thin Red Line (1998), Gladiator (2000), The Last Samurai (2003), The Dark Knight (2008) andInception (2010). He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios and works with other composers through the company which he founded, Remote Control Productions.^[1]

Zimmer’s works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. He has received four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Classical BRIT Award, and an Academy Award. He was also named on the list of Top 100 Living Geniuses, published by The Daily Telegraph.^[2]

Of course, few of us have the resources to build an awesome space like Zimmer’s when we’re starting out, but the most important things about your practice space have absolutely nothing to do with money or coolness. Here’s what people like Ingrid Jensen, Sidiki Dembele, Rex Martin, Erin McKeown, Bobby Broom, Nicholas Barron, Prasad Upasani, and several other fantastic musicians have taught me about where you practice.

1.  If possible, dedicate a room, or a space in your room to playing music. Leave your instruments out and readily available. This way, you can enter the space and not waste time assembling your instrument or finding tools you need. This also allows you to easily pick up your axe and toss off a tune or a lick you’ve been working on at a moment’s notice. More frequent practice throughout the day is better than one long session.
2. Privacy. Probably the most important aspect, this has two parts. First, privacy will allow you a space free from distractions, so you can focus intently on playing music. Turn off your phone, make it known you’re not to be disturbed. Ingrid Jensen hangs a “Do Not Disturb” sign on her door. The second part has to do with having the freedom to make noise. I always feel self-conscious practicing in my apartment. It was much better when my parents sent me to the garage as a kid. Much more private. You need the privacy to repeat things many times, to make mistakes, and to feel you’re not being judged for it. Though a private space would be great, you may have to cultivate the difficult skill of not caring who hears you practice. Be careful with this superpower. It comes with responsibility.
   
3. Gear. The only gear you really need is your instrument. Other good things to have in your practice space are a piano, recording devices, sheet music (and a stand), your phone (with killer aps like Prasad Upasani’s iTabla Pro. Highly recommneded.), and a computer. Rex Martin makes great use of the super-powerful Spectre program. Bobby Broom records ideas or techniques he want to work on with his computer and keeps them all in a special file. When he’s searching around for something to practice, all he has to do is open up the file and choose something. Have all your gear(computer, recording devices, or w.e.) out and ready, too, so you don’t have to search for them.
4. You might not be able to do any of these. Sidiki Dembele, the amazing djembe player, had to sneak out a mile or two outside his village to practice so he wouldn’t get into trouble (his father didn’t want him to be a musician). Even if you don’t have a musical lair like Hans Zimmer, or even a room in your house, the most important of all these things is FOCUS. It’s easier if you have privacy, but not necessary. If you look at the last post, you’ll see the Dorado and Samson Schmitt practicing in the kitchen with lots of distractions. It probably smelled good, too. Focus is a state of mind and with practice (hehe), you can use it anywhere.

And because I like putting up video, here’s some of Hans Zimmer’s greatest hits:

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Dorado Schmitt and his sons.      (Photo: Melody Breaker)

Few musicians I’ve talked to have ever been taught how to practice. We’ve all been pretty much on our own. When teachers do influence us, it’s by making reasonable and very specific demands that make it clear exactly what is to be practiced if not exactly how to go about it. Great teachers also tend to tell you what’s wrong, see if you can make the change on your own, and if you can’t, eventually step in and show you how to play something. Finaly, if that fails, a great teacher will show you even more specifically until you get it.

Learning by example is a powerful tool when it comes to practice. It’s one of the reasons the apprenticeship model is probably the best way to learn music. One-on-one, just you and a teacher. If you’re in a large ensemble, there is none of the one-on-one attention and feedback that’s necessary to get better quickly. I say quickly, but it’s still a slow process, just more fast than it would be without interaction with a good teacher.

I’d like to share this old video with you that documents Gypsy guitarist (and fiddler! I hand no idea) Dorado Schmitt teaching his son, Samson, who looks to be around 10 in this video. They’re playing one of Django’s solos over his tune Minor Swing, no small feat. It’s a great example of teaching and learning for many reasons. First of all, Dorado’s feedback is immediate, and without emotion. Very matter-of-fact. His verbal feedback consists of two words, more or less: No, and Voilà. Dorado doesn’t let any error pass by without stopping to correct it, and the cool thing is that he usually says nothing beyond that first, “No.” He shows Samson the correct way to play it and lets him figure out where the mistake occurs. Sometimes he’ll emphasize a note or three and only once does he actually move Samson’s fingers to the right spot. In a couple shots you can see Samson bear down, his brow furrowing as he concentrates.

A golden moment for me is at 2:35, where Samson plays the most difficult and complicated run of the clip, absolutely nails it, and gets a smile and a “Voilà,” from his dad as they continue without a break. You can tell Samson had spent a great deal of time mastering that lick, and his dad new it, and when he nailed it, that little word of praise was perfectly delivered.

After the clip of the lesson is one of Samson all grown up, playing with his  son, Amati, who is ripping it up on guitar.

And below is Samson as an adult with his son, Amati:

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(Photo credit: RelaxingMusic)

My college trumpet teacher, George Recker, used to say, “If you can’t sing it, you can’t play it.” He was referring to how vitally important it is to be able to hear the music you’re trying to make, and the best way to test whether you can hear it is to sing it, because when you sing, you aren’t relying on the technology of the instrument to find the notes, you have to find them yourself. Singing is one of the techniques that veteran practicers use. Not only singing, but chanting or clapping or tapping rhythms, and a host of other activities. Several professional musicians I’ve interviewed about practice for The Practice of Practice say meditation is one of the best things you can do for your music. Science research is showing that meditation has lots of benefits. We’ll save that for another post.

As a lifeguard during  boring lap swims when swimmers simply splash up and down the lanes, I’d practice all my major scale fingerings and patterns, softly singing the solfege syllables that went along with them. [FYI, the solfege for the major scale is do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do (Yes, Sound of Music stuff)]. This is just one kind of mental practice. Tuba master Rex Martin hears–in his mind’s ear–a sound that he says is better than he’s capable of playing, and he strives to reach that ideal he hears in his head.

You’d be right if you thought musicians and artists and athletes and all other experts have known about this (and used it) for a long time. Published studies into mental practice go way back to 1892. A 1985 study of college trombonists (Ross) measured improvement on a piece of music after using 5 different practice methods: regular practice, mental practice only, both regular and mental practice, mental practice with moving the slide, and no practice at all.Everyone improved (even the ones who didn’t practice at all were marginally better the 2nd time around). Those who improved the most were the ones who combined physical and mental practice.

So what is mental practice? Another paper by McPherson and Zimmerman showed that successful musicians used mental practice strategies like chanting rhythms, singing parts, counting, fingering silently (though I would add that you should hear the music in your head while fingering), and especially isolating difficult or problem sections to practice mentally.

Here’s Rowan Atkinson with a pretty funny skit. It’s like he’s mentally practicing drums, and we get to hear what he’s hearing inside his head to hilarious results. Enjoy, and use this to remind you to inject mental practice into your own practice routine.

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McPherson, G. E., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Self-regulation of musical learning: A social cognitive perspective. In R. Colwell & C. Richardson (Eds.), The new handbook of research on music teaching and learning (pp. 327-347). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ross, S. L. (1985). The effectiveness of mental practice in improving the performance of college trombonists. Journal of Research in Music Education, 33(221-230).

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Robinson’s talk is around 18 minutes, but is both funny and painfully true. Robinson has also written some great books.