Category Archives: Practicing Improvisation

The Invisible Obstacles To Self Improvement

“The things that don’t exist are the most difficult to get rid of.”

-F.M. Alexander, founder of the Alexander Technique

Serious musicians are typically filled with very strong beliefs. Beliefs about their pedagogy, beliefs about their equipment, and beliefs about themselves.

Part of my job as an Alexander Technique teacher is to gently and respectfully question the validity of some of these beliefs.

The easy part of this is calling into question things they happen to believe that are contrary to the physical principles of nature, such as what their diaphragm actually does, or about various acoustical elements involved in producing a sound.

Once I explain and demonstrate the science, they become clearer and usually discard their misconceptions.

But the more insidious type of belief that my students carry isn’t so easily discarded: what they believe about themselves.

For the musician, it usually manifests itself in three closely related components:

1. Physical necessity (“I need to do this to play well.”)

2. Learning style (“This is the best way for me to learn/practice to play well.”)

3. Potential (“This is what I’m ultimately capable of doing.”)

I say they’re closely related, because number one will have a significant impact on number two, which will then impact number three.

Now, to be clear, I think it’s wonderful when musicians have a good understanding of themselves, their own learning styles, and their potential. (In fact, its’ something that I aim to help my students improve through the work with the Alexander Technique.)

It’s just that if a musician goes on thinking something about him or herself that just isn’t true, it’s very difficult to change things for the better.

Let’s take for example the, “I need to do this to play well.” Even after I demonstrate the physical reality of erroneously conceived ideas about anatomy/physiology as it applies to pedagogy (as mentioned above), musicians sometimes respond with a bit of a disconnect.

It’s as if they’re thinking, “Yeah, I can see that it works that way in nature, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to me.” Unless I can bridge that disconnect (and I usually can) they will continue to play with much more strain and effort than they think they need.

But it’s the learning style component that can be more difficult to penetrate.

Thinking things like, “I need to practice it exactly this way to get the best result” can turn into a prison of sorts for some musicians.

On the one hand, it comes with an element of truth: You do, to a certain degree (perhaps a large degree), have a good understanding of how you learn and practice best. This understanding has helped you produce some good results.

But you are not yet an authority. Nobody is (including me!)

“Learning how you learn” is a lifelong, ever unfolding, dynamic process. I don’t know exactly how I learn best. Instead, I’m always consciously aspiring to become a better learner.

And I can say with confidence that I’m a better learner today than I was two years ago (but not as good a learner as I will be two years from now).

This involves the underlying assumption on my part that there is always a better way for me to learn something, and hence, a more effective way to practice. I just need to stay curious, inquisitive, discerning (as objective as possible), organized and vigilant.

My false learning beliefs manifest themselves into lots of misdirected practice energy. Far too much time spent on the wrong things, not enough time on the right things.

When this is the case, my desire to improve is not optimally supported by my practice efforts. Simple as that.

Every time I let go of a false belief about how I learn, I move closer to my potential as a musician.

And that brings me to the belief about potential. To be truthful, I don’t know what mine is. I have a good sense of my strengths and weaknesses, my desires and discipline, but this gives me lots of room for possibility.

However, I do have an ever-increasing faith in my potential to to continue to learn, grow, and more clearly express myself musically.

As I let go of previously held misconceptions about my body, about acoustical principles, about what (and how) I need to practice to optimize my efforts, I move ever closer toward whatever my potential may be.

I describe these false beliefs about myself as invisible obstacles, carrying with them a self-fulfilling prophecy that limits my growth. My work with myself is to question them, to bring them into the light.

How about you? What are your invisible obstacles? Until you can bring them into the light, you will continue to be powerfully shaped by them.

Start by questioning things that you perhaps accept as the absolute truth.

Strive to more clearly understand yourself and your bodily structure and human design. Study some basic anatomy as it applies to playing your instrument.

Take an Alexander Technique lesson in order to learn how to use your body in such a way as to optimize your practice efforts.

Study the acoustics of your instrument. Understand your physical role in relationship to these acoustical principles.

But most of all, be ever flexible, curious, open-minded and humble about how you learn. You really have no idea of how far you can go. And that’s a good thing.

Ask Yourself These Four Questions To Make Your Practice Time More Effective

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One of the things that many highly accomplished musicians have in common is the ability to practice in an efficient and effective manner. This is a skill that is cultivated and improved upon over a lifetime.

As a practice coach, my main aim is to connect my client’s desires with their actions. In other words: “What kind of musician do you wish to become?”, needs to be connected to, “What are you doing every day to become that kind of musician?”

As simple as this sounds, I’m still struck by the number of very good musicians who’ve come to me for help who aren’t as clear as they need to be about this. Some are quite frustrated that they’re spending lots of time practicing, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere through their efforts.

Effective and efficient practice comes down to two simple things: prescription (what you choose to practice), and implementation (how you practice what you’ve chosen).

Though there are many variables to consider here, I’ve come to realize that virtually any musician’s practice can become more effective if she/he keeps four simple questions in mind. Here they are:

1. Why am I practicing this? It’s not uncommon for me to ask this to one of my clients and have them struggle to find an answer. This should never be the case. You are either practicing something because of a short-term, “closed-ended” goal/obligation (I need to have this piece ready by next Thursday), or a long-term, “open-ended” one (I’d like to improve my sound). Of course, most of the problems with respect to this lie in the realm of long-term, open-ended goals.

Whatever you’re practicing, make sure you have the end in mind. In the short-term, this is not too difficult (mastering the piece, the chord changes, etc.). In the long-term this means that you need to be always mindful of the musician you are aspiring to become (in as specific detail as possible) and that everything you’re practicing is clearly leading you toward that goal. This means lots of self-reflection, assessment and modification.

2. What would I like to achieve today as I practice this? Have a clear aim in mind every time you set out to practice something. For example, “Today, I want to be able to play this at quarter note equals 142 with the precision and clarity that I know I’m currently capable of.”

Bear in mind that you might not achieve your goal. And that’s absolutely fine. Don’t feel bad about aiming low, either. It is okay to have small, easily attainable goals in your practice session (in fact, I prefer it). Giving yourself a chance to improve in even the smallest degree on a daily basis , not only encourages you, but also, helps you keep things under control and at the highest quality.

3. How am I practicing this? This goes to the core of the Alexander Technique principles of “use”. What are you doing with yourself as you practice this particular thing? Are you allowing your neck and shoulders (and the rest of yourself) to be free and mobile? Is your breathing mobile, expansive and quiet? Are you letting the floor (or chair) support you as you let your neuromuscular system suspend you lightly upwards? The more efficiently you use yourself as you practice, the more effective the thing you practice becomes. It’s a matter of good overall coordination supporting fine motor skills.

Also, you need to give yourself ample time and opportunities to stop. Stop and redirect your thinking. Bring it back to your intention and to your more conscious, improved use of yourself. I’ve seen far too many musicians jumping right from one attempt to the next as they practice a particular thing, with no chance for redirecting their efforts. This tends to bring them within the realm of Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing something the same way over and over, but expecting a different result. Get better at stopping. You’ll be glad you did.

4. Have I finished practicing this? This is the one that most of my clients struggle with the most. When have you done enough work in this practice session to move on to the next thing? It’s time to move on either because: you’ve reached your goal for the day; or, you’ve done as well as you can reasonably expect for the day.

Learn to move on when the time is right. If you find yourself getting more and more frustrated as you practice something, it’s time to stop and redirect your thinking (see number 3, above). Regress the challenge of whatever your practicing to bring it back into your reach. All you need are a few good experiences each day with a particular skill to improve it. You don’t need to repeat that same scale pattern thirty times over and over in one practice session. Aim for four or five (or even fewer) good, consciously directed takes on a particular piece, then move on.

The clearer your aims are, and the more conscientious you are as you go after them, the more likely it is you’ll improve. These four simple questions can help keep you on track.

Change This Habit In Your Daily Practice To Become A Better Improviser

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Here are some things to keep in mind (and/or to practice) to help you with this:

Stay with one new time signature default at a time-3/4 is a good place to start. Spend three or four days of your practice week spending 90% or more of your time in this time signature. Do this for several weeks. More, if you feel the need. Once you are as free and comfortable in 3 as you are in 4, other odd times will seem immediately approachable (see below).

All odd times are just subdivisions of 2 and 3-5/8 is a subdivision of 2 and 3 (or 3 and 2); 7/8 is 2-2-3 (or 3-2-2). Once you’ve mastered playing in 3 (see above), the rest falls into place. It’s just a matter of methodical practice. After 3/4, work on 5/4, then 5/8, then 7/4, then 7/8. (Again, one time signature at a time until you feel confident before moving on to another.)

Put scale and arpeggio patterns into the odd time signature-Whether you’re working with a note grouping that you know well (like scales in thirds, for example) or are working out a new pattern, work it out into the non-4/4 time subdivision.

Start with open-ended improvisation-When you begin exploring a new odd time signature, choose a mode, scale, or thematic fragment, turn on the metronome (or drum loop) and improvise as melodically and clearly as you can. Always know where beat one is. Always.

Put standard songs and cyclical chord changes into odd times-Once you’re comfortable improvising without a bar form (you know where “one” is; you can play melodically), take a tune that you know really well into odd time. (I Got Rhythm changes in 7/8 is a blast!) If you don’t want to start with a tune, practice over some ii-V cycles, or the Coltrane Matrix, or…?

Take a jazz lick or cliché that you know really well and modify it to fit into the odd time subdivision-This will really open up your ears as well as you melodic imagination.

Work in both a swing feel and in a straight eighth note feel-Either with a metronome or with drum loops, it’s always a good idea to explore different feels. Even if all you want to do is play swing. With all the amazing smart phone apps out there these days, you have lots of fun things to work with.

Work with polymeter-This is where it comes full circle. Once you’ve become comfortable improvising in odd meters, you can begin to actively explore odd-metered subdivisions as you superimpose them over 4/4 time. (I have written a very thorough and methodical eBook that helps you to develop this specific skill, called Essential Polymeter Studies in 4/4 for the Improvising Musician.) Polymeter is a highly effective way to build tension and interest in your solos.

So give up the daily habit of 4/4 as the “go to” time signature (you already know it well enough by now, I’m sure!), and enjoy a new adventure in your learning process, and in your musical expression.

Exploring Harmonic Relationships: The Importance of Studying the Coltrane Matrix

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If you’ve studied jazz improvisation for any length of time, you no doubt soon learned about the most essential chord progression: ii-V7-I.

This harmonic movement is the foundational building block of many standard songs from the American Songbook, and of many standard jazz compositions, as well.

Once you learn it in all keys, you gain greater understanding and control over what you do as you play over chord changes: clearer melodic statements, immediate understanding of chord/scale families/key centers, stronger sense of bar form, deeper understanding of harmonic movement/relationships, etc.

It’s as if this previously overwhelming world of chords somehow became smaller and more manageable, as you recognize, hear and respond to the various ii-V7 components (and their substitutions) that you encounter as you improvise.

You’ll spend a lot of time working with this cyclical, diatonic chord progression, using it as a template through which to practice patterns, chord substitutions and licks.

But there is another chord progression, which is also cyclical (but not diatonic) that can be immensely helpful to your development as a linear improviser: the Coltrane Matrix.

The Coltrane Matrix (also known as the “Coltrane Changes” and the “Coltrane Cycle”) is a staple of the modern jazz language. The harmonic centerpiece of John Coltrane’s jazz classic, Giant Steps, the matrix itself is a tonal cycle in which the octave is divided into three equal parts (descending major thirds).

In the key of C major for example, it would be: C-Ab-E-C. This is converted into a harmonic cycle by beginning each modulation with a dominant 7th chord moving to its tonic:

As you can see, there are three tonal centers in this cycle (C, Ab and E) that, by virtue of its symmetrical nature, return to the starting tonality (C major).

John Coltrane also used this matrix as a harmonic foundation on some of his other pieces (e.g., Countdown, which is a re-harmonization of Miles Davis’ Tune up) as well as using it as a chord substitution on many standard songs (e.g. But Not For Me).

And Thelonious Monk’s masterpiece, Brilliant Corners, has lots of elements of this harmonic form within its borders.

Yet besides these pieces I’ve mentioned and a few others, there probably aren’t that many compositions in the jazz lexicon that employ this harmonic sequence.

So why, you might ask, is it such an important chord progression?

Well, besides the fact that everytime you play through it you’re covering three different keys, it offers a challenge in connecting these radically shifting keys (hence the name, Giant Steps) in a smooth, voice-leading, melodic manner. Even simply using the chord tones by themselves, you can find some compelling, cogent sounding voice-led jazz language melodies:

I spent lots of time improvising and working out simple melodic patterns that connect both the major to dominant chords (e.g., C maj7 to Eb7) , and the dominant chords to their major chords (e.g., Eb7 to Ab maj7).

Once I became proficient in easily and smoothly connecting these tonalities, I started looking for less obvious ways to connect them. This is when the deeper value of studying these changes came to my consciousness.

Because I spent so much time practicing over this matrix, its angular sound became deeply imprinted in my ear. So much so, that as I began to explore some of these “less obvious” ways of playing through the changes, I found (to my surprise and delight) that I could easily hear these new explorations in relation to the original chords.

This opened up my playing not only over the Coltrane Matrix, but also, over ii-V type chord progressions, as well.

I began to explore further, and realized that many common tonalities are shared between these symmetrically related chords:

In the above example, I’m using triad pairs, specifically: major/augmented.

Each major triad is formed from the fifth degree of the scale (e.g., G major triad over Cmaj7 chord), and each augmented triad is formed from the 9th of the dominant, and by raising the 11th (e.g., F augmented triad over Eb7). You’ll notice that, because of the symmetrically related tonalities of the matrix, the augmented triad is actually the same for each dominant chord (with two different enharmonic spellings). The strength of this melodic movement doesn’t lie in its voice leading, but in its structural sequence.

Because I could now both understand and hear this relationship, it gave me lots of new possibilities as I explored playing over standard songs. It both simplified harmonic substitutions (by finding common tonalities over dominant chords), and extended the possibilities.

As I started to explore further, I found some strange, but beautiful melodic combinations:

This is a variation on the Cry Me A River jazz cliché. Not only do I start on the raised 11th of major (F#), but I also resolve up to the raised 11th of major (instead of resolving down to the 3rd) as I move from dominant to tonic, creating a haunting sounding Lydian colored tonality.

As you can see, these kind of explorations can both strengthen and challenge your ear, as well as your concept of harmonic relationships. Working through the matrix this way can help you develop and establish a very personal sounding harmonic vocabulary, no matter the chord changes (or lack of chord changes!)

I still practice over this harmonic sequence regularly, continuing to cultivate my ear, my harmonic intellect/curiosity and my melodic language. Each time I work on it, I either have a “what would this sound like?” moment, or a “wow, that sounded wonderful!” moment as I stumble upon some new discovery (or both!)

If you spend lots of time working through the Coltrane Matrix, ii-V7-I will seem like a walk in the park. You’ll play with a new kind of freedom, fluency and imagination.

If you’d like something to spark your imagination and challenge your ears, consider my eBook, The Coltrane Matrix: 40 Unique Melodic Ideas in All 12 Keys, which documents some of my explorations and discoveries. Each of the 40 melodies is explained in brief, clear detail (and as the title suggests, is put into all 12 keys).

And yes, you can certainly use the Coltrane Matrix directly as a substitution for ii-V cycles (the way Cotrane did on the above mentioned But Not For Me) to add tension and interest to your solo. There’s a whole world of possibilities waiting for you discover them. Have fun on your journey!

Teaching And Learning Music: A Built-In Problem In Exhanging Information

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The longer I teach the Alexander Technique to musicians, the more frequently one particular issue arises: the lack of clarity between cause and effect where practice and technique are concerned. Below is a brilliant description of this potential obstacle to progress:

The players/teachers do what they do; they tell the student what they think they do; the students think they heard what the teachers said about what they think they do; the students then try to do what they think the teachers said about what they think they do.

-Denis Wick, Retired Principle Trombonist, London Symphony Orchestra

Let’s look at this quote in detail.

“The players/teachers do what they do;” Yes, they do. For better or for worse. Truth be told, there are a number of very fine musicians who play well despite what they do. In other words, their misdirected efforts or sub-optimal overall coordination are obstacles that they’ve overcome well enough to let their skills shine through.

“they tell the student what they think they do;” This is often where the confusion begins. It’s a matter of causality versus coincidence. Just because something happens while getting a specific result doesn’t meant that it was the cause of the result. For example, if you do this “thing with your tongue” every time you take a breath to play a wind instrument or sing, it doesn’t mean that “thing” you do is helping you produce an optimal breath. As a matter of fact, it might be even interfering with your breathing.

“the students think they heard what the teachers said about what they do;” So maybe you try to describe this “thing you do with your tongue” to your students, but because of their sensory perceptions/experiences, and how they take in your words, they completely misapprehend what you’ve explained to them. (In essence, they’ve misapprehended your misapprehension.)

“the students then try to do what they think the teachers said about what they think they do.” And the confusion continues. Because the students now “know” what to do, they try to carry it out, no matter how far it is from the original understanding/intention of the teacher, nor no matter how far it is out of accordance with their human design and/or with acoustics.

So now, this “thing with your tongue” that your teacher taught you not only doesn’t help you with your breathing, but also, it’s not even what your teacher thinks it is in the first place.

And this is how a good deal of misinformation is passed on from teacher to student. Some of these students themselves becoming teachers to further perpetuate misconceptions.

So how do you counter this tendency?

1. Question things. Try to understand the cause and effect relationships between specific efforts and results. Doing something a certain way just because a master musician says to do it that way may not necessarily guarantee success. Become a respectful, but healthy skeptic (like some of my favorite students). Same thing if you’re on the teaching side of things. Question why, and understand why, you do the things you do as you play (especially before you tell your students to do likewise).

2. Study the science. The more you understand your design (more specifically your musculoskeletal anatomy and physiology), the easier it is to filter out (or at least re-frame) counterproductive advice. Same with understanding acoustics. If something is acoustically impossible or flies in the face of anatomical reality, you can simply discard it. Aim, as scientists do, to understand the “mechanism” of how and why something works they way it does. (This also applies to the point above about “questioning things”.)

3. Improve your sensory perception. This is where the Alexander Technique comes in handy. You’re often not doing with yourself exactly what you think you’re doing. Part of the study and application of the Alexander Technique is bridging this perceptual gap between what you think you’re doing, and what you’re actually doing.

4. Be wary of words. There can be so much flexibility in the meaning of even the most carefully chosen words. What you read, or are told, may not at all reflect the intention and understanding of whomever read or spoke them. When it comes to teaching and learning highly skilled activities, words without a direct and clear kinesthetic experience can often be misleading for both teacher and student.

So whether you are learning, are teaching, or doing both, staying cognizant of these potential communication gaps between teacher and student can significantly improve results.