Taller Dog: Coaching/tips

Listen to two notes. The easiest two to start with are the same note, one octave* apart. If you are playing by yourself, you have to be playing an instrument you can PLAY two notes at the same time, like a guitar or a piano. The best place to start is with an open string (not applicable on piano). For instance, on guitar, pluck your “A” string, and then play the next “A” note up one octave. That would be the second fret on your “G” string.
Listen carefully to the two notes. There is a revolving sound. That seems like something you would see – rather than hear. I guess you could say you’re going to look with your ears! If they are out of tune with each other, that revolving sound will be fast. The more out of tune the notes are with each other, the faster that revolution will be. If the two notes are in tune, the revolution will be very slow. If you tune one of the strings (like the open “A” string) while they are both still ringing, you’ll hear the speed change. It’s pretty cool! You have to be in a quiet room, and concentrate.
If you try this with two instruments, it’s best if they are the same kind, like two guitars. And you both have to put your heads together, and listen as closely as you can to both instruments.


* There are eight notes in a major or minor scale. For instance, a C major scale is C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meuNWgl2ko8

For more interesting links I've found, click on the "links" catagory here:
http://www.tallerdog.com

Come to our monthly workshop on improvising!
It's not traditional music workshop, but what is improvising, after all? This involves opening your mind, using your instincts, instruments, and a basketball. For all ages. Read more here: http://austin.craigslist.org/com/775130956.html

I'm enjoying coaching music so much, I would be honored to have a couple more students. My regulars have turned into friends. Any learning process is two people exchanging ideas and learning together, rather than simply teacher-student. How an eight year old person and I learn music together is going to be different than a 60 year old, especially where discipline and homework are concerned. For more info:
http://austin.craigslist.org/crs/753137476.html

Music books without question are great. Many musicians who know how to read music use a book to make learning a new melody a faster process. And some who can read - will choose to learn the new melody by ear, whether it's by using a recording, or having a friend show them. Many people learn faster by ear. I'm one of them.
It depends on your reason for wanting to play music in the first place. What inspires you inside? Small children needed to be guided in different ways than an adult beginner. Then there's everybody in between.
Tom is learning the guitar. Tablature works well for him. i used tablature myself when I wanted to learn certain bluegrass licks on the guitar. There's no timing documented involved, you have to know how the song feels. And how many beats there are to the measure. You have to have heard the song. Tablature is a tool. For me, an ear musician, when I want to learn a new song, I might get a book with words and guitar or piano chords, or I could get a book that had the melodies written out in proper music notation, or I could get the CD.
I am not the only one who gets driven crazy by trying to figure out something from a book. And tablature is very easy as well as free to get on the internet. Of course their isn't the same quality control as there is in books. Then again, I've noticed many books where the chords weren't exactly right.
To me, it's important to know what tools are good for yourself. Here's a You Tube link that Tom turned me on to today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5OHPgne1S4
It's a short British comedy piece on an easy music book featuring musical guests including Mark Knophler.
I'd call this a tool for myself. it makes me laugh, and to know that printed materials are not created equal. We all get frustrated one time or another by how we learn something, or we're AREN'T learning.
Enjoy. Thanks, Tom...

You're only as good as the risks you take.

This applies to every choice you make in your life. Yes, sometimes the risk doesn't work out. The decision can set you back. But the amount you learn about your mistake is equal to to how much you grow in another way.

There is nothing different about your experience playing music. Except, maybe, one thing. It can be more fun. Especially (but not limited to) when you are improvising. The worst that can happen is you make a clam. What's a clam? It's the best word I know for a note you play that is so wrong EVERYONE hears it, and it makes you cringe from embarrassment. And as HUGE as that feeling is, when you go for it, when you TAKE that risk and GET that note or phrase, there is no better feeling in your heart! Because of the music that popped out of your fingers, it can surprise you, even. You know you sounded good, and the next time you have a chance to repeat that phrase, DO IT! Because that's a big learning that you will then be able to remember.

YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THE RISKS YOU TAKE.

The three most dangerous words in the English language are: I know that!
Those three words stop people in their tracks faster than a speeding train. As soon as we say, "I know that!" then we shut down to new growth.

As a musician, or any kind of artist, at some point in our lives we will come up against the question: Where is the line between the artist and the tools? When I broke my favorite expensive violin bow about two years ago, I was heartbroken. After trying to find another to take it's place, it became clear that that bow was an individual. There was not going to be a replacement. I was going to have to work with other bows.
As hard as that was to handle for me, that was my first real introduction to my new way of thinking. My bow is a tool I use. I am the artist, or musician.
When I broke my left wrist and damaged some ligaments in that hand and arm, I could not play.

This gave me a lot of time to think. I've concluded that even parts of the body we use to produce our particular art form are ALSO TOOLS. When you listen to the radio, or a CD, or even some kind of muzak in the store, listen more carefully. What is the first thing you hear? What do your ears (or tapping feet, or brain, or heart), hear or feel first? Check it out.

Sometimes I hear some kind of music that I didn't choose to hear, and I hate it. OK, that's part of life. I ask myself, "Darcie, what is it that bugs you the most?" Start there. Tear it apart, in your head. Maybe, if you're lucky, and you are in an elevator, you don't have to hear it for very long. Nevertheless, if you can find out what you dislike, that will help you with what you DO LIKE. It's kind of an opposite thing.

This helps you develop who you are as a musician. Because who you are inside as a musician is more important than the actual instrument you have chosen to focus on. Some people play more than one instrument. All music, and all instruments are inter-related. Almost every piece of music of any kind has more than one instrument playing with each other...inter-relating.

Did I make that word up? Maybe. Oh well. Maybe not.

By the way, all this applies to singers, too. Some people don't consider singers "real musicians”. Well, give a listen to Ella Fitzgerald or Bono, and think again. Singer's tools are their throats, lungs, and generally their whole body-mind health.

Back to inter-relating. Let's say you play the violin, the piano, sax, bass, or the tuba, but the drums are the first things you hear. Check out how all the instruments cooperate in a song. If you play the drums, listen to how the drums and the bass "drive the bus" while everyone else plays their part. Including the singer. It's fascinating.





This brings me to the next topic.


You might be in school and have homework and other hobbies as well as playing music, or you have two or three jobs and have a household to run. Most people who like to play music have the same problem. Almost everyone says, "I didn't have as much time to practice as I wanted to this week”.
First, I like to think of using the word "play" instead of practice. Playing is a lot more fun than practicing. Even if you have musical exercises on your list to play, the list itself can give you peace of mind. So, when you actually DO have time to play your instrument, look at your list. You don't have to think so hard, about what you "think" you are supposed to do. The instrument you have picked to play, you PICKED because the sound of it moved you, inspired you in your heart in some way.

More on this later....

Are you a kid who plays an instrument, and your parents want you play or "perform" for them? Do you hate that?

Are you a parent who doesn't understand why, or what the big deal is about it?

I'm writing a piece on it. I understand both sides pretty well. Come back and visit.

Also more on the perfect pitch curve.....

CATCH THE CURVE OF PERFECT PITCH (#1)

Training your ear towards perfect pitch

It's true some people are born with perfect pitch. There are different schools of thought on whether you can truly develop perfect pitch if you weren't born with it.

There are different schools of thought on everything in life... choose one and follow through!

The trick is: don't think perfect pitch is out of your reach. You can catch the curve and hang on. There is a curve in sound. Think about a train whistle or a police siren as they move.

When someone throws a baseball, it doesn't travel in a straight line. It's got a curve to it. It starts in one hand and moves through the air and ends abruptly at the bat, or in someone else's hand. Pretend we're watching a movie. Imagine the journey of that ball through the air in slow motion, complete with sound. As the ball is in the hand, it's silent. It's leaving the hand , and we start to hear the sound of the ball moving through the air, a low swish, getting higher as the ball picks up speed. We hear several tones within one sound. One is the wind moving around the ball. One is the ball moving through the wind. One is changing with the speed of the ball. And one is the abrupt stop of the sound, with the crack of the bat against it. (Or the thump as it hits someone's glove).

Are you with me so far? You may think this is a stretch of the imagination. Yes, it is. That's good!

Stretching your imagination in this way is a good habit to get into. Stop right now and listen to the sounds around you. For me, at this moment, I can hear the ceiling fan. That in itself has more than one tone. I can hear the mechanical part turning, and the air being pushed from the blades, and a little squeak. There is the ticking of a clock. A car is driving by. My attention returns to the ceiling fan. I begin to hear a predominant hum. It's a tone. It's a note! If I keep listening long enough I could go over to the piano (or any instrument) and find the closest note. I'll try a B flat. Many things with motors are in B flat.

When you get into the habit of hearing everything around you as something musical, you are on your way.

Try this for a week. I'll be back to write more on the process of developing your ear.