Tag Archives: Practicing Music

The Number One Reason Why You Should Transcribe

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In the study of jazz (as well as many other improvisational music disciplines) transcription of improvised solos is  standard practice. Jazz is often described as being a “language”, and one of the best ways to learn this language is through listening and transcribing.

There are various skills  you develop from transcribing solos.

Many teachers of improvisation have their students transcribe solos to learn this so-called jazz language, as well as to give them a chance to build a vocabulary of useful “licks” that can be practiced in all 12 keys and applied to chord changes, tunes, etc.

Transcribing is also a great way to improve technique, as you most likely will be confronted with sequences of notes that just don’t fit easily into what you’re used to playing. And of course it’s a great lesson in jazz harmony as you analyze what the soloist has played.

But I think the most valuable skill you gain when you transcribe a solo (and the number one reason why you should consider doing it) is that you learn how to listen in a deep way.

Deep listening. You see, when you transcribe an improvised solo, you’re listening to more than just the pitches being played. You’re listening to tone color, attack, dynamics, articulation, tempo/rhythmic play and more, as it unfolds in the real time environment of the recording.

But you’re not just addressing the musical elements separately, as I’ve listed above. You’re also going deep into the mind of the artist. It’s almost as if you’re attempting to embody his/her experience in creating the solo. You’re learning to hear and reproduce sounds that musical notation could never fully or accurately express. You’re learning to actually understand and speak the language.

Each note has meaning. Each inflection has weight. Every element the improviser has chosen is related to every other element. And all this is happening as a whole experience of communication and response between the soloist and the rest of the ensemble. And you’re right in the middle of that experience.

Of course you vastly improve your ear for discerning pitch and rhythm. The more you transcribe, the easier it becomes. This is true largely because you are able to hear, understand and retain more in your working memory. And that translates into huge gains in your own playing. You go from a more self-concious, intellectual approach to improvising, to one in which you trust your muse and follow your ears.

When you transcribe, you’re developing the ability to listen at a high level of consciousness, learning to pay great attention to detail, and cultivating your musical imagination.

This is why many teachers of jazz improvisation recommend that you study only solos that you’ve transcribed, and not from the written notation of somebody else’s transcription.

The great jazz pianist and teacher, Lennie Tristano, would have his students (Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, et. al.) devote themselves to listening to a solo for a long period of time (often several weeks) before he’d have them transcribe it. He’d insist that they be able to sing it absolutely accurately: pitches, rhythms, scoops and bends, articulations, dynamics…the entire feeling of the solo. His main objective: to get his students to listen deeply.

I think it’s fine to play other people’s transcriptions, by the way, but with different objectives in mind. For me personally, they’re a great way to improve sight reading and technique, as well as sometimes a chance for me to get immediately more familiar with an artist that I might not have much experience with. Plus, it’s just plain fun.

But if I want to go deep, I have to do the transcribing myself. And I encourage you to do so, too. The benefits are just too huge to ignore.

If you’ve never transcribed a solo before, here are some things to do/keep in mind to help you out:

  • Choose a solo that you really love-As obvious as this sounds, you might be surprised at the amount of novice transcribers who are slogging away in their first transcription attempt at a solo that they think they should transcribe (perhaps for its historical or musical significance), as opposed to what they really want to transcribe. If you’re compelled by the material, that motivation will take you far, and you’ll enjoy the process much more. But….(see below)
  • Keep it simple-Choose something that is easily singable, not too rhythmically complex. Find something lyrical and spacious. Lots of flowing eight notes punctuated with quarter notes and rests. 
  • Listen, listen, listen-For a long time. If you can sing the solo accurately (the way Mr. Tristano had his students do), you’ll be amazed at how fast and easily you can find the notes on your instrument. Also, I recommend your first few transcriptions be limited to the artists who play your instrument. So if you play alto saxophone, for example, transcribing  Paul Desmond would be highly user friendly, a good place to start (as long as you like Paul Desmond).
  • A little bit at a time is fine-If you’re intimidated by the length of a solo you really like, remember that you don’t have to transcribe it all. See if you can get the first phrase. Then the next. Work your way up to transcribing a chorus. If you feel it, continue on. Make it a long term project and enjoy the sense of accomplishment as you make it to the end. If you don’t make it to the end, that’s fine too. You still will have learned a good deal, and will have improved your skills. No regrets.
  • Slow it down-If it’s just going by too fast for you to take in, consider some of the software and smartphone apps that are designed specifically for transcription (to slow the tempo of a recording without altering pitch). One well-know software application is Transcribe!, by Seventh String. And of course there are lots of smartphone apps available now that do the trick.
  • Don’t write anything down-Not at first anyhow, as it can be a sometimes frustrating distraction. It’s important that the solo goes deep inside of you. That you know every note and every inflection, and that you can play it back to your  satisfaction by memory. Once you can do that, feel free to write it out. It’s a great skill to develop as well (particularly for helping you read and understand rhythms).

Above all, enjoy yourself. By learning to listen deeply and reproduce sounds and rhythms in such a specific way, you’ll broaden your musical expression, become clearer as to who you are as an artist, and teach yourself to trust your ears. Best wishes!

Playing Saxophone: The Alexander Technique (And More)

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Being that I’m both a professional saxophonist and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, my fellow saxophonists often ask me about how the Technique applies to playing their instrument.

This is actually a topic for a book that I’ve yet to write (though I have been sketching some ideas out and documenting and organizing my thoughts about it for some time now).

When playing saxophone, a moment doesn’t go by without me thinking about and applying the Alexander principles. I literally wouldn’t be able to enjoy a performing career these days without using what I’ve learned.

The Alexander Technique has not only helped me address certain physical problems I was having as a saxophonist, but also, has given me a failsafe method for improving the efficiency of how I practice saxophone (even how I approach improvisation). By looking through the lens of the Alexander principles, I’m able to gain a clear idea of why something works, or why it doesn’t.

Some time back, I was asked by Doron Orenstein, the Webmaster of the highly popular Best.Saxophone.Website.Ever, to participate in a multimedia educational product he was developing for saxophonists. When he told me who the other contributors were, I felt honored to be asked, to say the least.

I would be in some heavy company in this project, contributing my knowledge and experience alongside that of such saxophone superstars as Walt Weiskopf and Rick Margitza, et.al.

The product is called Bulletproof Saxophone Playing, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. The format is essentially a series of interviews (eBook and audio format) with six different (and highly diverse) saxophonists about such things as technique, tone production, breathing (I had lots to say about this!), articulation, embouchure (both the external and internal embouchure), equipment, practice routines, trouble shooting, and so much more.

Besides having a fine panel of experts, what makes the whole thing really practical is that the interviewer (Doron) asks such thoughtful, essential and insightful questions. He also does something many interviewers don’t do: He actually listens with genuine curiosity and interest to his subject.

In interviewing me, Doron covers what I consider to be some of the most fundamental points about how the Alexander Technique can help improve your saxophone playing: recognizing postural and movement habits; the importance of head/neck balance (and how the jaw and tongue  need to be free to work together); and how breathing actually works (in contrast to all the mythology passed on from teacher to student about this crucial subject).

And of course, the input from the other contributors is great. I’ve learned lots from exploring the ideas and suggestions of the five other saxophonists.

I virtually never address saxophone issues here on my blog, as I aim at finding ways to help musicians in general, and improvising musicians in particular. Yet all of my teaching, whether saxophone pedagogy, improvisation, or practice coaching, is always done through the principles of natural coordination that are the cornerstone of the Alexander Technique.

So I’m pleased to be able to offer some of my saxophone-specific thoughts for those saxophonists curious about the Technique. And the fact that I’m in the company of giants, makes me recommend Bulletproof Saxophone Playing with great enthusiasm. Click on the banner below to learn more.

Play Saxophone Like a Pro

The Most Fundamental Skill You Develop When You Practice

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There are so many reasons why the study of music is valuable (outside of simply learning to play better). When you practice, you are cultivating a multitude of useful skills: self-discipline, creativity, mathematical ability, aural imagination, and fine motor skills, to name but a few. You’re working “both sides of the brain”, so to speak.

But I think the most essential skill you develop when you practice is this: being able to expand your attention. Specifically, being able to constructively integrate and utilize multiple thoughts and bits of information simultaneously.

This skill not only helps you with many other things in life (part of this involves something called working memory, an important component of skilled learning), but also is absolutely essential in helping you improve as a musician.

I think it is (or should be) one of the primary aims of practicing music. In many ways, it sums up the greatest challenge of playing music with consistently good results: integrating body awareness, artistic intention, time, and aural perception (as well as any other necessary information) into one whole musical experience.

Stop for moment and think of all the things a symphonic musician (as an example) has to be aware of to perform well during a concert: The response, sound and pitch of her/his instrument; articulation; dynamics; the conductor; the notes on the page; breathing (especially for wind instrumentalists). And of course, a constant awareness of the pitch, articulation, dynamics, etc. of the other musicians. Not to mention things like artistic choice and expression.

Yet all this comes together seamlessly for the skilled performer as one thing, really. Just playing music. This is achieved through the discipline and experience of well-directed practice.

There is often an imbalance in this skill, however, with many musicians. Simply put, there is a disintegration of information: too much attention to one aspect of playing at the expense of not enough attention to others.

Perhaps trying too hard to hear pitch or tone color. Maybe too much emphasis on what the hands and fingers are doing (or the embouchure). And of course, too much attention placed on the notes themselves.

When this happens, the most crucial component of the musical process too often gets neglected: You. What are you doing with yourself as you play music?

Are you tensing your shoulders? Locking your knees? Clenching your jaw? Arching your back? Stiffening your wrists and fingers? Holding your breath?

How might these kinds of tension interfere with your ability to perform at your fullest potential?

Of course, you might find that the moment you bring all your attention to what you’re doing with yourself, you lose connection with the music. Maybe you even play worse. This is simply because you have not had enough experience putting this into practice. If you start learning to pay attention to yourself as you practice, you’ll start to reap great rewards.

One of my most dedicated Alexander Technique  students (a professional guitarist) would tell you the same. Each week during his lesson with me, we are working on his ability to expand his attention. He now easily and readily becomes aware of what he’s doing with himself as he plays, and direct his thoughts and energy quite effectively into the music making process.

I’ll ask him as he’s working very well on a difficult musical passage, “What are you thinking as you play this?” He’ll answer something like, “I’m thinking of my shoulders and neck releasing as I imagine the rhythms at this tempo, reminding myself to wait for each phrase and really hear my sound.” It’s not difficult for him to keep these thoughts going as he plays. But that has come after considerable practice.

The same with me. This morning as I was practicing saxophone, I found myself thinking about releasing my shoulder girdle (the area around the collar bones and shoulder blades) as well as my wrists softening, as I listened to the metronome while displacing an eight-note pattern by a half beat every other measure. All the time directing the flow of air into the mouthpiece and reed, and aiming for a dark, round sound (and really hearing it, too).

Even when I practice improvising, I’m able to keep this expanded thinking available. It is not a distraction to my creative impulses. On the contrary, it tends to free me, keeping me both calm and alert at the same time. Truly ready for the experience of creating music.

I realize in my own practice, that as I get better, I do so largely because I’m able to integrate multiple thoughts into one whole. The foundation of this skill starts with learning how to pay attention to yourself first. Even in the most challenging performance situations, I’m able to keep my thinking clear. (Practice helps with this a lot!)

So where do your thoughts go as you practice? Do you focus in on one thing only, losing touch with other important things? Are you able to keep aware of yourself as you play, or is this just another distraction? Can you easily hear your sound? Is the time always clear in your perception? Can you play creatively and passionately as you listen to yourself accurately, perceiving pitch, tempo and tone color?

I encourage you to aim for broadening your attention as you practice. Improve your thinking, and you’ll improve your playing.

Some Helpful Words About Finding Your Creative Voice

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“Listen very deeply to the music that touches your heart the most, analyze it and learn all you can about it. Then forget everything and be yourself.”

-Paul Livingstone

This simple bit of advice rings so true to me, both as performing artist and as teacher. It is a direct quote from one of my Alexander Technique students. Paul is an amazing musician. He is a highly accomplished sitarist, touring regularly throughout the world, most recently finishing up a two-month performance stint in India.

A true scholar of Indian classical music, he also teaches, composes, and passionately and generously shares his knowledge and his love of music. During his lessons with me, we go very deeply into how our thinking, movement, intentions, emotions (and even our spiritual beliefs) interact to inform our music making process.

A lot of our work together is aimed at finding not only physical ease and efficiency in playing music, but also, the freedom and the means to play authentically. To listen to your voice and follow it without hesitation.

Paul’s words describes the path of devotion and discipline that leads to deep, personal expression in music, regardless of genre or style.

In the world of jazz pedagogy there is much discussion (and even controversy) about the value of imitation. The jazz trumpeter Clark Terry would say, “imitation, assimilation, innovation”.

Yet, very few ever make it to the “innovation” phase. And maybe that’s okay, just as long as you’re being true to yourself. Perhaps what Mr. Terry was really describing was a natural sequence of artistic development rather than a mandatory destination.

So many questions for the aspiring jazz improviser: Should I transcribe solos? Should I learn all these licks by memory?  Should I find one musical hero to model myself after? Should I learn as many standards as possible? Should I study other styles of music?

The answer to all these questions is simple. Follow Paul’s advice:

Start by what moves you, without question. Go deeply into it (really learn it, no matter how much time it takes!)  Then let it go and discover your true creative self. Simple and practical.

Here’s a video of Paul Livingstone in concert performing with tabla master Swapan Chaudhuri. I hope you enjoy:

A Simple Tip To Help You Play Better At Fast Tempos

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One of the things that too often goes hand in hand with playing at fast tempos is excessive bodily tension. This is not a requirement of the music.  Instead, it’s largely because of the habits, perceptions and attitudes of the performer. It doesn’t have to be like that.

One of the aims of the Alexander Technique is to learn to approach any activity with a minimal amount of misdirected effort. Ease, efficiency of movement, freedom, clarity, balance.

As an Alexander teacher and practice coach, I help my students become aware of and prevent the various movement and postural habits that interfere with this easier, more efficient way of playing music. This is mostly a matter of getting them to change how they pay attention  as they are playing.

Many of the problems of excess muscular tension musicians have begin with their thinking. Playing at fast tempos is a prime example.

One of the things that invites all this unwanted tension is something I call “micro-managing” the pulse. In essence, this means that you conceive the tempo as fast beats coming one after the other.

For example, in 4/4 time, at a tempo of quarter note = 262, the quarter note pulse moves by quite rapidly. If you try to feel each beat this way, it not only invites excess bodily tension (you might try to tap your foot like mad as you tighten the rest of your body), but also, it creates a feeling of urgency  that scrambles your thinking a bit. It makes you less open to the control and choices available to you. 

If you watch some of the great jazz masters playing at these fast tempos, you virtually never see them moving with the quarter note pulse this way. Why? Because they conceive of the pulse in a broader  sense.

This means that instead of trying to feel 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, etc. as the main pulse, they tend to feel it more as a broad 1…1…1…, etc. (each “1” being the beginning of the bar). Some feel it even more broadly than that, feeling the time as long phrases crossing bar lines.

This shift in time perception tends to do two helpful things for these masters:

  1. It helps them to maintain a helpful level of physical and cognitive ease, flexibility, responsiveness and balance that supports a great technique (sound, too!)
  2. It helps them imagine  and create  the music in an entirely different way, with many more rhythmic and phrasing possibilities as well as note choices. Instead of merely “making the tempo”, they’re actually expressing themselves with a great deal of clarity and choice.

So no matter what kind of music you play, you’ll play with less misdirected effort and more precision if you broaden your perception of the tempo. Here are some guidelines you can use to help you with this:

  • Stop relying so strongly upon your foot. Seriously. Learn to feel the time without doing that. If you watch great classical musicians playing at blistering tempos you don’t see that foot flapping around. Same with many of the jazz greats. It’s fine to move  with the music. But think of it as a lilting dance instead of a foot-stomping-neck-tightening lurch.
  • Start reducing the metronome click. Once you’ve got the basic idea of the piece under your fingers (or the harmonic form, if you’re a jazz player) stop setting the metronome on the quarter note. At the very least, set it to half notes, with the aim in mind of letting it click once at the beginning of each measure. So, for example, quarter note=260 becomes half note = 130, which then becomes whole note = 65. I rarely let my metronome go faster than about 80 bpm (that  would be feeling the pulse on the first beat of each measure at quarter note = 320!)
  • Think more broadly about rhythmic groupings. If you’re working on a fast eighth-note passage, for example, start thinking of this passage as slower sixteenth notes. Or even slower 32nd notes (yes, really!) Use your metronome.
  • Go from even to odd. If you’re working on a very symmetrical phrase, pattern, exercise, etc., consider modulating it metrically. This change in perception can really free you from your habitually tense anticipation of playing it. So, for example, if you’re working on a phrase that is grouped as sixteenth notes, try playing that same phrase thinking  of the notes as triplets, or even quintuplets (maintaining the same velocity of each note). Again, use the metronome for this.
  • Practice rhythmic displacement. This is another way to help you to think outside the box about tempo and rhythm. It has a similar benefit as the “even to odd”, I’ve mentioned above. Here’s an article on how to approach this.
  • Reconsider beats “2” and “4”  (for jazz playing). I know it is standard for many students of jazz to set the metronome to click on beats 2 and 4 (in 4/4 time) in order to help them feel  the backbeat. But once you’ve reached a place in your musical development where you’re swinging comfortably, consider setting the metronome to click only on the first beat of each measure (especially at faster tempos). Besides helping you to stay less tense, this will also significantly improve your sense of time (it can be a bit of a challenge at first).

So whether you’re playing jazz, working on an etude, or even sight reading, thinking of the beat in this broader way will help you to stay calm and free. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.