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Learning Music Is One Of The Coolest Things You Could Ever Do

 There aren’t too many people on the face of the planet that haven’t desired to learn a musical instrument at some point. Guitar, keyboard, sax, flute, drums… Do I need to continue… Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just swallow a blue pill and be an awesome sax player?

A green one and you’re a jazz pianist, Red to be a smokin’ guitarist. Unfortunately unless you’re a robot then you don’t have access to that technology. But…Can I put it to you this way…

In order to really appreciate and understand music you need to live in it’s shoes for a while.

Let me ask you some questions:

1. When you finally get to do that thing you always wanted to do how do you feel?
2. When your life takes a change for the better what is your energy like?
3. When you actually see that opportunity staring you in the face what do you do next?

You have probably heard the saying before ‘It’s not where you are but how you get there that counts’ well I believe that saying is especially spot on with music because you never actually get there. Once you have achieved something, you then want to get to the next level and it never stops.

The reality of learning music is that when you first start you only have a limited view of what you think you can do. This is good and is how it should be otherwise you could be easily overwhelmed by the possibilities. When you start walking the path of learning music you lift yourself to new platforms that enable you to see further distances and propel yourself forward.

Only by walking the path do you get to feel the joys of new discoveries and revelations. Music is a journey not a destination so it doesn’t matter how old you are, how talented you think you are, what your history is: Music lays prejudice to no-one and never will.

For anyone who ever wanted to play an instrument I can offer you this knowledge from personal experience:

1. The further you progress on your instrument, the more you will learn about yourself.
2. No-one ever came out of learning a musical instrument knowing less than when they started.
3. To become reasonably competent at music and play with friends is a truly amazing experience. It’s kind of like a sing-a-long but much more.

For anyone aspiring to learn an instrument I suggest you get involved in a solid program that will work for you. Don’t worry about affordability as that needn’t be a problem these days. Your choices are 1:1 lessons with a very good teacher ($30.00 per lesson), a really fun group lesson environment ($15.00 per lesson), or a really cool online course using video format (around $30.00 per month for the works).

As a teacher of over 10 years who conducts all of these formats and plays 6 instruments I can only say that if you have the fire in the belly then go for it and stay true to your musical desires. You will learn more than you can possibly realize right now. Best of luck.

3 Great Practice Tips

Practicing music is an absolute must if you aspire to become a good player and enjoy your progress. Given that practicing can come in many formats then it is actually quite enjoyable to know your options and immerse yourself in the instrument in a variety of ways. Firstly not all practice is done on your instrument.

Whichever styles and genres you enjoy learning, the fact remains that you have no doubt heard your instrument played in these styles many times before and that is what probably inspired you to give it a go yourself. Just by listening to the music you love and absorbing those flavors you are ‘imprinting’ all those little inflections into your DNA and as such enabling yourself to express these impressions when your time comes. Absorb the quality and it will become part of you.

To become a good musician it is important to have a good grasp of the technical aspects of your instrument and playing style. It is also important to know and understand the major scale as it is the basis of most music. These things take time and repetition to master so it is always a good idea to mix your technique work with your scale practice. Given that scales require repetition but not necessarily a lot of mental exertion and technique requires careful focus then it makes sense to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ by mixing the two where appropriate. In one single passage or exercise it is possible to be working on:

• A repeated scale or lick for evenness
• Hand position technique
• Execution i.e: blowing, bowing, strumming, hitting
• Rhythmic development (any number of possibilities here)
• Dynamics

One final point: Little technique issues constantly arise when playing an instrument. Usually they are quick and easy to fix so if you see an issue then deal with it immediately. Even if that means bookmarking it for future visitation.