Hello music makers!
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Thursday, October 30, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Handling Criticism and Rejection
There are two things you can say about criticism: 1.) It hurts. 2.) It happens — it’s part of life. True, you can’t stop criticism from happening. But you most certainly can stop it from hurting. Read on and learn how.
Why is it that when someone criticizes or rejects our music it hits us so hard? Hearing someone say “I don’t like the song you wrote” or “You guys aren’t that good” hurts more deeply than, say, if a business executive criticizes a subordinate for writing a bad report. That’s understandable. Musicians, along with other artists, tend to be more intimately connected with our craft than any office worker I’ve ever met. When someone criticizes our music they’re not only finding fault with our work but our passion as well, our life. Music isn’t simply what we do, it is who we are. Many of us have spent nearly our entire lives in music. We have so much of ourselves invested in our craft it’s no wonder even well-intentioned criticism from our peers hurts so much.
I will not brush this issue aside by simply telling you to “toughen up,” or that “criticism is something we all must face, so you might as well get used to it.” Somehow those words don’t seem to help. I know a few colleagues who, in the spirit of being “tough,” will wear a mask of nonchalance when someone puts them down. And all the while the stinging words eat them up on the inside instead of the outside. That’s even worse.
What does help is to remind ourselves that music is one of those things that, when someone says they don’t like how or what we’re playing, are really saying they don’t have a taste for it. It’s like if I told you I don’t like the pepperoni pizza you made, it’s probably because I don’t like pepperoni pizza, period. I’m rejecting the pepperoni, not your talent as a cook, and certainly not your worth as a human being.
Everybody likes something different on their pizza!
And everybody likes something different in their music. Before feeling scathed by someone’s attack on your music remember this: There are millions of people who don’t like The Beatles, millions more who think Beethoven is boring, and even more who have absolutely no use for John Coltrane. Think about that. Three of the most renowned names in music, ignored, criticized, even condemned by millions and millions of people. As with the greats, there are simply going to be people who don’t have a taste for your music either. The same goes for every single musician on the face of the earth.
If an artist has a gold record in the U.S. (500,000 copies sold) it means that fewer than one person in six hundred cared enough about that artist’s music to actually buy it. Fewer than one in six hundred. Even a platinum album (1 million copies sold) equals less than one out of three hundred people buying it — and that’s in the U.S. alone! Keep that in mind the next time someone rejects the fruits of your talent.
Speaking of The Beatles, I once had a teacher, a jazz pianist, who referred to the legendary group as “four guys with no talent and a lot of luck.” Now there’s criticism! The man is entitled to his opinion, but I have a feeling his comment was more the result of an overall preference for jazz over rock (and maybe just a hint of jealousy). Perhaps “The Fab Four” was simply not his cup of tea.
Finally, it may help to remember that unsolicited criticism of others is borne of one’s insecurities (except if it comes from your teacher!). Remember that the next time you find yourself on the receiving end, or the giving end, of a good put-down.
© 2005 by Stan Munslow. All rights reserved.
“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing."
Aristotle
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Wednesday, May 7, 2014
VISUALIZE YOUR WAY TO A GREAT PERFORMANCE
You may not think so, but you practice visualization all the time — imagining how your next performance is going to turn out. Problem is, those imagined shows don’t always turn out very well ... then, neither do the real shows that follow. Read on and learn how to make visualization work for you instead of against you — just like millions of greats do every day. Enjoy!
Picture this: You’re onstage at your next performance. You’re calm and relaxed, your music is well prepared, and the crowd waits expectantly. Then, you start to play. The adrenaline sweeps through your body. You experience the thrill of the moment, the rush of creative energy, and the excitement of being able to express yourself in the same way your heroes do.
The performance goes beautifully, as you expected it would. You play your best and the audience is appreciative and responsive. The show moves from song to song, getting better and better, each tune working off the success of the last. You end with a bang and the crowd loves it.
You’ve just practiced one of the most valuable skills in “performance” history: Visualization. Visualization is the process of imagining, over and over, a desired outcome. It is mentally rehearsing success. You’ll notice that the word performance is in quotation marks. This is to show that the term is being used loosely. People in many fields routinely visualize a successful outcome for themselves. Musicians, actors, athletes, even doctors, lawyers, speech-makers, and many other specialists take a few minutes each day to sit down, close their eyes and visualize a successful outcome to their next “performance,” whether that be a jazz gig, a basketball game, or open-heart surgery.
Why is this such a widespread practice? Because it works. It works wonders. When you imagine, over and over, that your next performance is going to go splendidly (to the best of your current level of ability) you’re preparing your mind, drilling it, to become accustomed to success. Then, when you’re actually in that performance, the mind helps you to perform your music in the way it has become most familiar: Brilliantly.
This is the exact opposite of what many musicians do. Days before an upcoming performance they start to get nervous. Then the negative talk comes. “What if something goes wrong? What if I lose my place? What if people don’t like me or my music? Oh, gosh, I’m not ready for this! It’s going to be a flop like last time!”
And then their fears become a self-fulfilling prophesy. They’ve mentally and emotionally prepared themselves for failure and it is this mode of thinking that the brain operates in when they perform. They don’t want to fail, of course. And they may even try very hard not to. But it’s likely too late. Failure is what they’ve programmed themselves, albeit subconsciously, to do. So failure is what they are very likely to get.
Visualization is a process. Just by saying “I’m going to play well tonight” is not enough. As with any acquired skill, great results can only be expected when visualization is done every day. Better yet, two or three times a day, for five minutes each. And don’t just imagine yourself giving a decent performance — imagine a great one!
Imagine it with as many vivid details as you can. What does the place look like? How do you sound? How does the crowd react? Involve your senses: see yourself and the crowd, hear your music and their applause, feel the adrenaline pumping through your body, smell the food and drink, taste it. Make the image as real as you can. Do this every day.
Picture this: You’re onstage at your next performance. You’re calm and relaxed, your music is well prepared, and the crowd waits expectantly. Then, you start to play. The adrenaline sweeps through your body. You experience the thrill of the moment, the rush of creative energy, and the excitement of being able to express yourself in the same way your heroes do.
The performance goes beautifully, as you expected it would. You play your best and the audience is appreciative and responsive. The show moves from song to song, getting better and better, each tune working off the success of the last. You end with a bang and the crowd loves it.
You’ve just practiced one of the most valuable skills in “performance” history: Visualization. Visualization is the process of imagining, over and over, a desired outcome. It is mentally rehearsing success. You’ll notice that the word performance is in quotation marks. This is to show that the term is being used loosely. People in many fields routinely visualize a successful outcome for themselves. Musicians, actors, athletes, even doctors, lawyers, speech-makers, and many other specialists take a few minutes each day to sit down, close their eyes and visualize a successful outcome to their next “performance,” whether that be a jazz gig, a basketball game, or open-heart surgery.
Why is this such a widespread practice? Because it works. It works wonders. When you imagine, over and over, that your next performance is going to go splendidly (to the best of your current level of ability) you’re preparing your mind, drilling it, to become accustomed to success. Then, when you’re actually in that performance, the mind helps you to perform your music in the way it has become most familiar: Brilliantly.
This is the exact opposite of what many musicians do. Days before an upcoming performance they start to get nervous. Then the negative talk comes. “What if something goes wrong? What if I lose my place? What if people don’t like me or my music? Oh, gosh, I’m not ready for this! It’s going to be a flop like last time!”
And then their fears become a self-fulfilling prophesy. They’ve mentally and emotionally prepared themselves for failure and it is this mode of thinking that the brain operates in when they perform. They don’t want to fail, of course. And they may even try very hard not to. But it’s likely too late. Failure is what they’ve programmed themselves, albeit subconsciously, to do. So failure is what they are very likely to get.
Visualization is a process. Just by saying “I’m going to play well tonight” is not enough. As with any acquired skill, great results can only be expected when visualization is done every day. Better yet, two or three times a day, for five minutes each. And don’t just imagine yourself giving a decent performance — imagine a great one!
Imagine it with as many vivid details as you can. What does the place look like? How do you sound? How does the crowd react? Involve your senses: see yourself and the crowd, hear your music and their applause, feel the adrenaline pumping through your body, smell the food and drink, taste it. Make the image as real as you can. Do this every day.
Your mind, body, and spirit will take it from there.
“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build."
Robert Collier
Monday, April 28, 2014
THE "PASSION" THING
Do you want to be a good, even great musician? Well, do you want it bad enough? Read on about this “passion” thing that, more often than not, is really what separates the Bach’s and the Beck’s from the ... Yach’s and the Yeck’s. Enjoy!
Many of us are fortunate to have someone in our lives to teach us how to do — whatever we do — with passion. For me, this person was my grandfather. An engraver by profession, a gardener and fisherman by hobby, Grandpa Joe performed these and other roles with as much fire, energy, and joy as a man possibly could. Even the stories he used to tell me of old fishing adventures were told and retold with as much passion as with which they were lived.
This is an interesting way of living for an old man to have. Passion is usually what we experience as children when, for example, we take up music because we really want to play, and not because we want to earn money or impress others. My grandfather’s life taught me that it is possible to keep on doing what we love for our entire lifetime because, above all else, we love it.
I’ve had my share of working with musicians who simply play — with about as much enthusiasm as a mill worker — satisfied that their music is correct and nothing more. “The thrill is gone,” their faces say. “I’ve been doing this too long ... just give me my check and let me go home.” To them, music has become drudgery — a chore and nothing more — because they let it.
I’m also privileged to have played beside musicians who just ooze passion. It’s on their faces and in their notes. They move their audience and they inspire their colleagues with genuine, infectious enthusiasm. Even in rehearsal and in their own practice the passion is there. They play with the joy of a child and with the artistry of someone who truly loves what they do.
Passion is a great thing to bring to a performance for the benefit of everyone in the room. But don’t let it stop there. Even the most uninspiring warm-up exercises will sound better when you’re fully into them and not just doing them because you think you should. Don’t wait for inspiration to come your way courtesy of your favorite songs. Inspire yourself. Then, even warm ups will become a joy to play. And you’ll play them better than ever.
Getting “into it” may not always be easy but it beats being bored.
Playing our music with passion serves one other purpose besides enriching the lives of those who hear it and improving how well we play it in the first place. It is the means by which we get through the difficult days of our musical lives. When you’re hit with a slump, which all musicians are from time to time (see Chapter 87: Slumps Happen), hurtful criticism, or any other obstacle, it is this “passion thing” that will get you through to the other side. No other form of motivation — money, discipline, fame, or whatever — is likely to keep you going when things are at their worst.
Do it for all these reasons. Play with passion for your technique, your fulfillment, your joy, and for the joy of your audience. And do it for your grandkids, for the day when they ask you for stories.
Many of us are fortunate to have someone in our lives to teach us how to do — whatever we do — with passion. For me, this person was my grandfather. An engraver by profession, a gardener and fisherman by hobby, Grandpa Joe performed these and other roles with as much fire, energy, and joy as a man possibly could. Even the stories he used to tell me of old fishing adventures were told and retold with as much passion as with which they were lived.
This is an interesting way of living for an old man to have. Passion is usually what we experience as children when, for example, we take up music because we really want to play, and not because we want to earn money or impress others. My grandfather’s life taught me that it is possible to keep on doing what we love for our entire lifetime because, above all else, we love it.
I’ve had my share of working with musicians who simply play — with about as much enthusiasm as a mill worker — satisfied that their music is correct and nothing more. “The thrill is gone,” their faces say. “I’ve been doing this too long ... just give me my check and let me go home.” To them, music has become drudgery — a chore and nothing more — because they let it.
I’m also privileged to have played beside musicians who just ooze passion. It’s on their faces and in their notes. They move their audience and they inspire their colleagues with genuine, infectious enthusiasm. Even in rehearsal and in their own practice the passion is there. They play with the joy of a child and with the artistry of someone who truly loves what they do.
Passion is a great thing to bring to a performance for the benefit of everyone in the room. But don’t let it stop there. Even the most uninspiring warm-up exercises will sound better when you’re fully into them and not just doing them because you think you should. Don’t wait for inspiration to come your way courtesy of your favorite songs. Inspire yourself. Then, even warm ups will become a joy to play. And you’ll play them better than ever.
Getting “into it” may not always be easy but it beats being bored.
Playing our music with passion serves one other purpose besides enriching the lives of those who hear it and improving how well we play it in the first place. It is the means by which we get through the difficult days of our musical lives. When you’re hit with a slump, which all musicians are from time to time (see Chapter 87: Slumps Happen), hurtful criticism, or any other obstacle, it is this “passion thing” that will get you through to the other side. No other form of motivation — money, discipline, fame, or whatever — is likely to keep you going when things are at their worst.
Do it for all these reasons. Play with passion for your technique, your fulfillment, your joy, and for the joy of your audience. And do it for your grandkids, for the day when they ask you for stories.
“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.”
T. Alan Armstrong
If you enjoyed this post, please get a copy of my book "GETTING GOOD, GETTING GREAT: What the Best Players Know" for many, many more informative and inspiring kernels of musicianly wisdom.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
TOUGH LOVE
Greetings, music-dudes & music-dudettes! From my experience as an educator, I’ve come to understand that some people simply respond better to a more “hardline” approach when it comes to whipping their self-confidence into shape. So, for any readers who may have been hoping for something comparable from me, I offer you this drill-sergeant approach to beating performer’s anxiety and stage-jitters. Enjoy!
All right! So, you’re afraid to go up there, are you? Afraid of those big, mean audience members? Afraid they might boo or yawn at you?
Aw, ain’t that too bad! Did it ever occur to you that maybe they have every right to boo? If your music is so poorly prepared that booing is the only appropriate response, maybe your audience isn’t being mean at all. Maybe they’re being honest. Maybe booing is their way of saying that you should have practiced more, instead of watching “Seinfeld” reruns or cruising the mall.
Maybe they feel you should have cared a little more about your music. And them.
But, hey, if you are prepared, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of! Audiences don’t walk out on or shun musicians who are well-prepared.
Quit whining about how tough it is to go out there and play in front of a few fellow human beings. You’re not storming the beaches at Normandy. You’re not undergoing open-heart surgery. You’re playing music, that’s all. Your life is not on the line. Even if your last performance did turn out to be the worst thing since that all redhead punk group you saw at your school talent show last spring, whoopee. Feel bad for a day and do a better job next time.
In any case, stop being such a wimp! You have a job to do? Then you go out there and do your job. You have an audience that wants to hear some tunes? Start thinking of them instead of your own fears and anxieties.
Okay, fine, you’re a performer. And performers are prone to being just a tad self-absorbed. Save it for Grammy night. As for right now, you craft that music the best you can, be a big boy or girl, and just go out there and share it with your audience. They come first. They deserve to hear you play, and not to have to watch you drowning in your own sweat or shuddering like a misaligned front wheel.
You owe them your best. Give it to them.
And when you’re done thinking about your audience, think about the others who deserve your attention more than yourself:
1. Your fellow musicians. They worked hard, too. They deserve to have you deliver the goods with them. Don’t you dare make them look bad. Be ready.
2. Your music. Think about it a lot. Get into it. Never mind your miserable stage fright.
3. Your family. Did they have to put up with listening to you rehearse the same tunes for weeks on end? If so, you owe them, pal. Big time. Think of them for a change.
4. Me. That’s right. The guy who wrote this article for you and who feels pretty darned out-of-character doing it. You owe me by getting your act together pronto.
You get what I’m saying here? You get your mind off yourself or your jitters and onto your music. You craft it to the 110% best of your ability. You shake off those self-manufactured shakes, go out there the big person, and do your job. That’s the bottom line. Do - your - job. That’s all you need to think about.
Frankly, you don’t have time to be thinking about the possibility of a few un-earth-shattering slip-ups or how awful you might feel afterwards. That’s trivia.
Music. Audience. That’s where you direct your thoughts. Your music, your audience. They matter immensely, a whole lot more than your own worries, woes, shivers, shakes, quivers, and quakes.
That is all. You’re dismissed. Now go practice!
All right! So, you’re afraid to go up there, are you? Afraid of those big, mean audience members? Afraid they might boo or yawn at you?
Aw, ain’t that too bad! Did it ever occur to you that maybe they have every right to boo? If your music is so poorly prepared that booing is the only appropriate response, maybe your audience isn’t being mean at all. Maybe they’re being honest. Maybe booing is their way of saying that you should have practiced more, instead of watching “Seinfeld” reruns or cruising the mall.
Maybe they feel you should have cared a little more about your music. And them.
But, hey, if you are prepared, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of! Audiences don’t walk out on or shun musicians who are well-prepared.
Quit whining about how tough it is to go out there and play in front of a few fellow human beings. You’re not storming the beaches at Normandy. You’re not undergoing open-heart surgery. You’re playing music, that’s all. Your life is not on the line. Even if your last performance did turn out to be the worst thing since that all redhead punk group you saw at your school talent show last spring, whoopee. Feel bad for a day and do a better job next time.
In any case, stop being such a wimp! You have a job to do? Then you go out there and do your job. You have an audience that wants to hear some tunes? Start thinking of them instead of your own fears and anxieties.
Stop thinking of yourself!
You owe them your best. Give it to them.
And when you’re done thinking about your audience, think about the others who deserve your attention more than yourself:
1. Your fellow musicians. They worked hard, too. They deserve to have you deliver the goods with them. Don’t you dare make them look bad. Be ready.
2. Your music. Think about it a lot. Get into it. Never mind your miserable stage fright.
3. Your family. Did they have to put up with listening to you rehearse the same tunes for weeks on end? If so, you owe them, pal. Big time. Think of them for a change.
4. Me. That’s right. The guy who wrote this article for you and who feels pretty darned out-of-character doing it. You owe me by getting your act together pronto.
You get what I’m saying here? You get your mind off yourself or your jitters and onto your music. You craft it to the 110% best of your ability. You shake off those self-manufactured shakes, go out there the big person, and do your job. That’s the bottom line. Do - your - job. That’s all you need to think about.
Frankly, you don’t have time to be thinking about the possibility of a few un-earth-shattering slip-ups or how awful you might feel afterwards. That’s trivia.
Music. Audience. That’s where you direct your thoughts. Your music, your audience. They matter immensely, a whole lot more than your own worries, woes, shivers, shakes, quivers, and quakes.
That is all. You’re dismissed. Now go practice!
Zig Ziglar
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
IF YOU CAN'T PLAY IT RIGHT YET ...
Welcome Music Makers! Here’s a piece on the subject of patience ... a quality that can literally make or break your success as a musician, depending on whether you exude it or not. Enjoy!
You’ve tried, you’ve really tried to play it right, but it’s just not happening. Your first reaction is to blame yourself; your lack of experience or your lack of talent. That’s not a good habit to have if you are trying to maintain any degree of confidence in yourself or your ability! Furthermore, knocking yourself down is not going to help you learn the part any better.
That’s a lose-lose situation; you feel bad and you still can’t play it right yet. The worst part is that it’s not even your lack of experience or talent that’s causing all this in the first place. It’s your lack of patience.
This may sound obvious, but it is a notoriously overlooked truth. There is a specific number of times that a musician must play something before it is mastered.
Of course, no one can tell you what that number is. It will be different for every musician and situation. But you will know when you get there because it will be right! If you’ve played it twenty-five times and it’s still wrong, maybe the number is thirty, or thirty-five, or forty. Keep going. You’ll find it.
Some passages may be so difficult that the number will be very high. That’s not unusual. In fact, it’s fairly common for even the best players to repeat a single passage hundreds of times, sometimes over a period of days, before they get it. Great musicians are notoriously tenacious; they don’t give up on something until it’s finished no matter how long it takes.
Just think how empowering it is to know that your success with a piece of music really is in your hands. It’s not a question of if you can get it. It’s a question of whether or not you can muster the patience to get it.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that you actually count the number of times you play your pieces! You don’t need to know the number, you simply have to keep going until you reach it. It’s like taking a cross-country car trip. You don’t have to know how many miles you need to drive to get from New York to California. You just keep heading west until you see the Welcome To California sign. Then you’ll know you’re there.
Another reason musicians give up on a piece is because they feel they shouldn’t have to play it so many times; that if they do there must be something wrong with them.
Actually, playing something many, many times is not an indication of lack of ability. It is simply how it’s done. In fact, it is how the greats get that way.
The next time you are stumped by a nasty part, don’t blame your lack of talent. Blame your lack of patience. Then ignore it and seek to discover the magic number.
You’ve tried, you’ve really tried to play it right, but it’s just not happening. Your first reaction is to blame yourself; your lack of experience or your lack of talent. That’s not a good habit to have if you are trying to maintain any degree of confidence in yourself or your ability! Furthermore, knocking yourself down is not going to help you learn the part any better.
That’s a lose-lose situation; you feel bad and you still can’t play it right yet. The worst part is that it’s not even your lack of experience or talent that’s causing all this in the first place. It’s your lack of patience.
If you can’t play it right it means you haven’t played it enough times yet.That’s it. You simply have not played it enough times yet.
This may sound obvious, but it is a notoriously overlooked truth. There is a specific number of times that a musician must play something before it is mastered.
Of course, no one can tell you what that number is. It will be different for every musician and situation. But you will know when you get there because it will be right! If you’ve played it twenty-five times and it’s still wrong, maybe the number is thirty, or thirty-five, or forty. Keep going. You’ll find it.
Some passages may be so difficult that the number will be very high. That’s not unusual. In fact, it’s fairly common for even the best players to repeat a single passage hundreds of times, sometimes over a period of days, before they get it. Great musicians are notoriously tenacious; they don’t give up on something until it’s finished no matter how long it takes.
Just think how empowering it is to know that your success with a piece of music really is in your hands. It’s not a question of if you can get it. It’s a question of whether or not you can muster the patience to get it.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that you actually count the number of times you play your pieces! You don’t need to know the number, you simply have to keep going until you reach it. It’s like taking a cross-country car trip. You don’t have to know how many miles you need to drive to get from New York to California. You just keep heading west until you see the Welcome To California sign. Then you’ll know you’re there.
Another reason musicians give up on a piece is because they feel they shouldn’t have to play it so many times; that if they do there must be something wrong with them.
Actually, playing something many, many times is not an indication of lack of ability. It is simply how it’s done. In fact, it is how the greats get that way.
The next time you are stumped by a nasty part, don’t blame your lack of talent. Blame your lack of patience. Then ignore it and seek to discover the magic number.
“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow. That is patience.”
Anonymous
Thursday, April 3, 2014
GUITARISTS ...(and caring friends of guitarists!)
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Happy strumming,
Stan
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