Archive for the ‘Practice’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Playing and Judging at Music Contests

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Red Henry

Some of you may have entered a music contest from time to time. A few of Murphy’s students enter contests as often as they can. If you live in a part of the world where there are contests, you might consider entering a few yourself.

There are several benefits from entering contests. The first reason (and maybe the biggest) lies in the preparation. This works into the “Quality” theme of Murphy’s post yesterday. Your tunes need to be thoroughly learned, as smooth and good-sounding as you can get them, so that you could play them without thinking about them– because at first, when you get on a contest stage to play, your mind may go blank and you’ve got to just PLAY. As well as you can. Without thinking. This simply takes a lot of practice, and practice is good for you!

At contests you get to play in front of different audiences, in different places and situations. You might be indoors in a poorly-lit school auditorium. You might be on stage in a big music hall with good lights and sound system. Or you might be playing on a flatbed trailer outdoors in 45-degree weather. If you can play your tunes well in ANY situation, its good for your music.

And why can you win some contests without being the best picker? It’s because of the judging. Some local contests simply do not have musical experts available as judges. So your job at those contests is not to play the most advanced tunes you can. Your job is to play a tune that sounds good, and to look like you know what you’re doing. If on stage you LOOK confident of being a winner, you’ll have a better chance of actually being one.

At a lot of contests, the best player does not win. The judges may pick their favorite based on looks, facial expression, posture, gender, age, or other un-musical considerations. On the other hand, there are contests where the judges are excellent musicians and very well qualified to judge, in great and accurate detail, how well the contestants can actually play.

But no matter how the judging goes, you accept it and roll with the flow. Playing contests is not about the judging, it’s its own reward. You endure the waiting and the drawing for playing-order, you go out in front of the people, and you play your tunes as well as you can. (The first one or two contests, your playing may not exactly be your best. But keep at it.) And when you’ve played some contests, your music is so much more solid than it was before. If you’re placed a few times, your confidence is too.

So if the judging seems weird, don’t take it seriously. At a contest, the judging is not the point. Winning prizes is not the point. Your music is.

Red

Tags: ,
Posted in banjo, By Red, guitar, Practice | No Comments »

Picking in the Gazebo

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Red Henry

Last Saturday I had a good time playing music with family and friends in the gazebo. And, you may ask, just where is that particular gazebo? Well, it’s some distance from here. It’s on the town square in Clarkesville, Georgia. And, in spite of some rain, we all had a good time.

The band for this occasion included, along with myself on mandolin, my old friend and now brother-in-law Mike Johnson, on banjo; Murphy’s #3 sister (and Mike’s wife) Argen Hicks, on bass; Murphy’s #4 sister, excellent singer/songwriter Nancy Pate on guitar; and our friend, multi-instrumentalist Barry Palmer on fiddle. What did we do? We just played music. Well, we did run over some numbers at Argen and Mike’s house beforehand. That was fun, too. Then we went over to the middle of town and set up at the gazebo and played our first set.

Now, I’ve talked before about how good it is when people are really playing together. This can happen immediately, as is did at that party I talked about a few days ago, or it can happen because everybody listens and adapts. On this particular day we had a group that hadn’t ever played together before, and I think we all played with slightly different natural rhythms. When we started practicing back at the house we sounded a bit loose, but by the time we started up at the gazebo, we sounded pretty tight. So how did this happen? It happened because everybody there was a very experienced performer and knew what to do. Everyone was listening and adapting to everyone else, one song after another, and in a short time we were really playing together well.

You don’t have to be a professional picker to do this. You don’t have to have played for 20 (or 30, or 40) years to listen to everyone else and adapt to their rhythm and play what sounds good.

As soon as you are able to play in a group, you can start listening to the other pickers (in fact, those two things go together). You can start listening to the other instruments and to the vocals, and follow your ears in trying to play (or not play) things that help the whole group sound good. If there’s a banjo or guitar player drowning everybody out you usually can’t help that, but if that player is YOU, then you can. Whatever instrument you’re playing, try to play steadily and supportively to the others. (Sometimes this means scarcely playing at all, during other leads or vocals.) When it comes time for you to take a lead, think about it ahead of time– stop playing for a few beats if you need to, to set up your hands and brain to start playing the break at the right time– and then keep listening to the rhythm while you’re playing your lead. That way, whether you’re playing lead or backup, you’ll be playing together with the others. And that can help them do the same thing (more on that later).

Happy picking!

Red

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in By Red, Improvising, jamming, Practice | 1 Comment »

Fruit Stand Picking

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Red Henry

Last night, we picked at the fruit stand. That’s Linda’s Mercantile in Winchester Virginia. The proprietors are well-known bluegrass performers Linda and David Lay, and they host local musicians for a couple of hours of music each Thursday evening from 7 to 9.

On this occasion, the usual schedule was interrupted for an excellent square dance exhibition: after we’d played music for twenty minutes or so, Murphy and her square-dance friends put on a set of mighty fine dancing for the folks.

The crowd really liked the dancing, but when it was over, all the energy had gone out of the picking. Quite a few of the musicians had departed, and most of the others didn’t seem to want to play. So Murphy and her student Zack and I started playing to get things going, kicking it off with “Cripple Creek” and then the old Lester Flatt favorite, “Will You Be Loving Another Man.” Sure enough, musicians started playing along: guitar players, fiddle players, and a bass and dobro. Now the music was shaping up. We kept it up with “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “Wabash Cannonball,” and other old favorites. Soon the jam was rolling along. We went for an hour or so, and then Murphy and I finished up our own part of the show and headed for home. But by that time, we left a dozen or so pickers carrying on.

When a jam is falling apart, sometimes you’ve just got to put some energy in there. Often as not it’ll be contagious, and you’ll have plenty of company soon!

Red

Tags: ,
Posted in By Red, jamming, Practice | 4 Comments »

Picking

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Red Henry

Yesterday afternoon we had a real good picking session. The participants were what made it work. Besides Murphy, Chris, and myself, we had a teenage banjo player, a forest ranger, a deaf banjo player, a singer converted from hip-hop, and an out-of-work bass player. A well-matched group, huh?

Okay. I guess you are wondering who these people were and why they fit together so well musically. Well, the teenage banjo player was Murphy’s student Logan, a good student and up-and-coming player whom she’s blogged about before. And the party was for Logan’s 18th birthday. The forest ranger was local guitar picker and singer Gerald C., who happens to be Logan’s scoutmaster. The deaf banjo player was our Cousin David, about whom you’ve heard before. (Just kidding about the “deaf” part.) The convert from hip-hip was our friend Chris L., a new Stanley Brothers/Flatt & Scruggs/Reno & Smiley freak who used to be in a rock band with our Chris. (The band was called, appropriately enough, The Bends.) And the bass player was Murphy’s long-time student Bob V., a fine picker and witty person.

So why did we fit together so well? Well, aside from Murphy’s formidable skill at leading a jam session (as amply demonstrated on our Slow Jam and More Slow Jam DVDs), it was because everybody knew a lot of the same material or could pick up on it well. You do find jam sessions where the players all have their own favorite songs but can’t really play anyone else’s. In this case, everybody picked up on what everyone else was doing, and it worked out fine.

Sometimes you find the strangest combinations of folks in jam sessions… and the music still works!

Red

Tags: ,
Posted in banjo, By Red, guitar, jamming, Learning By Ear, Practice | No Comments »

Playing Helps!

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Red Henry


Now, some folks may think that I’ve just written either a commonplace or a conundrum in that title: Playing Helps. Helps what? Explain yourself, Red.

Well, most of you have already found out that practicing your instrument helps your playing. Practicing may not make your playing perfect (the old saw is not literally true for anybody, in fact) but time spent playing your banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass, or other instrument does usually pay off in your ability to play better music.

But I’m also talking about the instrument itself. Except for banjos, the instruments we play are primarily delicate, precision wooden boxes designed to produce sound. This means that if they’re not played, they stiffen up and don’t sound as good. But if they’re played at least a few times a week, they’ll give their best and sound as good as they can!

This works two ways. If you don’t play very much, your mandolin or guitar may sound pretty dull when you pick it up, and you might not feel like playing it at all. But if you keep the instrument “played in,” it sounds really good when you play the first few notes, and those encourage you to play more. Much more.

It doesn’t take a lot of playing to keep your instrument loose and sounding good. Just as with your own practicing, even 15 minutes a day will be enough to do some good and help the instrument stay in good sound. So don’t spend a lot of time analyzing your playing or your instrument. Just play!

Red

Tags: ,
Posted in By Red, jamming, Practice | No Comments »

Record yourself!

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Red Henry

That’s right. Record yourself. That is one of the best ways to hear exactly what your playing sounds like, and to find out what you need to work on.

In years past, recording yourself was very easy and cheap to do, with the inexpensive cassette recorders that a lot of folks had. Modern technology makes recording almost as easy (but not cheap) by using video cameras or small high-tech audio recorders. Even most digital cameras can take a movie–with sound– of your playing. But whatever your favorite device is, just record yourself playing a couple of tunes. Then play them back and see what you sound like.

When you hear your music played back, it might not sound quite as good as you thought it was going to. (My band-leading, banjo-playing brother-in-law Mike says that for him, recording music– and listening to it afterward– is as pleasant as having teeth pulled. But that’s just his opinion.) Now, I’m not saying this trying to discourage anybody from playing. If in the playback, you don’t sound like Earl, or Ralph, or J.D., or Murphy, that’s not a reason to give up playing, or even recording. The point is that you can really hear what your playing sounds like. You can hear all your notes, and your timing, and your rhythm. And if you are playing steadily enough on the tape to play along with yourself during the playback, that’s excellent! You’ve come a long way, and are ready to play with other people, whether you feel like it or not!

Sometimes when you hear yourself for the first time, you might be discouraged. But this doesn’t mean that your playing normally sounds the way it does on the tape. Any time the tape is rolling (or any other recording is going on), you’re going to have it on your mind, either consciously or unconsciously. And it might affect your playing. But the more practice you get recording, the better you’ll play each time you record, and when it comes time to listen back to the tune, the better you’ll sound. Recording and listening is great practice, and can sure help a person’s playing!

Record yourself!

Red.

Tags: , ,
Posted in By Red, Learning By Ear, Practice | 2 Comments »

Take it Easy (Flying and Picking #15)

Friday, July 23rd, 2010


Have you ever taken several days (or weeks) off from your music, and then tried to get back in practice? Every musician I know has done this. And as you have found out, sometimes it isn’t easy!

As many of you Gentle Readers know, I’ve been learning to fly and recently got my license. I’ve been flying regularly for several months, when the weather permitted. Flying takes practice, just like music. But I recently took several days off, and so now I’ll start getting back in practice– I have a short flight scheduled today to practice some landings, and then I’ll make a cross-country flight on Sunday to freshen up my ability to navigate to airports far from home. I didn’t want to take off on that cross-country flight “cold,” as you might call it. I wanted to get a shorter flight to warm up with first.

Music’s the same way. When you’ve taken several days off, don’t expect to dive in for several hours and get it back all at once. That can lead to a lot of frustration. Instead, “gentle” yourself into it by practicing a half-hour or hour each day for a while. You’ll find your playing ability coming back without having to strain. And when you’ve had a few of those short practices, your fingers and brain will be ready for longer sessions when you can really start soaking up music again. Don’t worry– the music will come back. Just take it easy.

Tags: , ,
Posted in By Red, jamming, Practice | No Comments »

Unfamiliar situations: Flying and Picking #14

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Did you ever try to play music in a place that wasn’t familiar, and found yourself so distracted by the room, or the people, or the lighting, or the phase of the moon, that you had trouble playing? Or did you learn to play music while sitting down all the time, and then try to play while standing up? It might have been uncomfortable at first. You were in an unfamiliar situation.

I was reminded of this two nights ago, when I flew my very first night solo (well, my first since 1971). I’d flown several times at night recently with my instructor, but hadn’t tried it alone. So I took off about sunset and just practiced landings over and over, and kept at it as it got really dark.

Now, I’ve made about 400 daytime landings or so in the last 7 months. So I’m pretty familiar with them now. But now I was flying at night, and the situation was different. I really had to concentrate to find some of the same visual clues I’m used to in the daytime, and I had to adopt some new ones. But it worked. The results? 11 pretty good landings, including the last 3 in the pitch dark. But it did take concentration and practice in the new, dark situation (making those landings over and over). It was a gradual thing, but finally I was pretty comfortable with it. I really had to concentrate, but it just took some practice.

You can make the same kind of adjustment when you’re playing music in an unfamiliar situation. If you’re put off your stride (or even freaked out) by standing up to play, or playing in a new place, or playing in front of people, or playing in a group you’re not used to, then don’t concentrate on the unfamiliar stuff. Simplify what you’re doing and concentrate on yourself and the notes you’re playing. Keep your eyes on your instrument and play tunes you can play in your sleep, or your favorite basic backup licks, or just vamp until you have your hands and mind under control again. Let your brain assimilate the new variables a little at a time, and eventually you’ll get used to the new situation. Play your same familiar tunes and licks over and over standing up, for example, and you’ll get to where you can stand up in a group and handle not only your oldest material but new things as well. Practice at different places in your house, or your yard. Play when one or two family or friends are around– not suddenly for a crowd, but gradually. Even if you’re freaked out at first, it just takes some practice!

Red

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in By Red, Improvising, jamming, Practice | 2 Comments »

Flying and Picking #12

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Red Henry

Red Henry


Folks, I made a cross-country flight this morning, just to keep in practice. It wasn’t a really long trip, but I flew solo from here (Winchester, VA) to Bedford, PA, then to Cumberland, MD, and then back home: 3 flights, 8 good landings (I used the opportunity to practice those, too).

And what does this have to do with playing music? Well, Chris, Jenny, and I are performing at the Daily Grind here in Winchester (the Jubal Early Drive location) starting at 7:00 this evening. And the flying seems as if it’s gotten me in the mood to play.

This happened a lot during my first flying career, in the Air Force from 1972-75. Flying and picking just seemed to go together, one after the other. Have any of you gotten that feeling from these two activities? If so, I’d like to know about it.

Happy picking, and flying too, if that’s what you do!

Red
.

PS– Local folks, if you can’t make it to the Daily Grind this evening, we’re also performing at Borders Books here in Winchester, starting time 7:00 this coming Sunday, the 23rd.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in By Red, Practice | 4 Comments »

Two Kinds of Practice

Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

I was reminded of the two kinds of practice last week by a couple of my students. One is a brand new student who is learning Banjo in the Hollow. A bit of a perfectionist, he, of course, wants to play it, well….perfectly. And in his quest for perfection, every time he’d make a mistake he’d stop and correct it. So, while he’d learned all the notes, there was no music in his playing.

So I told him what I wanted him to do. I prefaced my remarks by saying, “I don’t think you’re gonna like this.” (He looked at me with wrinkled brow and wary eyes.)

“When you practice this week, I want you to play Banjo in the Hollow from start to finish without stopping to correct any mistakes NO MATTER HOW BAD IT SOUNDS. I don’t care if every note you hit is a clunker, DO NOT STOP. Keep going. And play it really slow.”

Feeling I had not laid it on thick enough, I continued.

“I know you want the song to sound good all the time, but that’s not what this type of practice is about. This is about learning to play through your mistakes. And if you can play through your mistakes, then other people can play along with you because you’re not stopping and starting all the time.”

We practiced doing this a few times before he left and he was giving it his best shot, but it was really hard for him to not stop and correct his mistakes. But he said he’d work on it.

This week when he came in for his lesson, BIG IMPROVEMENT! He could pretty much play the song through without stopping. (Okay, maybe he did stop a time or two on that D lick pull-off.) But it was much easier to follow him on guitar. I’m not looking for perfection, just a slight inching forward.

So that’s an important kind of practice: playing the song from beginning to end without stopping to correct your mistakes.

Of course, this can only happen after you do the first kind of practice, which is getting the notes down. And to do that you have to stop and start all the time. But as soon as you’ve got the notes, you need to start playing through your mistakes.

(I guess a third kind of practice would be trouble shooting your break, that is, noticing where you are making consistent mistakes and then taking that lick or section out and playing it over and over and over and then putting it back in the song. But that’s a subject for another blog!)

I saw playing through your mistakes pay off big time in the new Misfit jam we had last week. We were playing I Saw the Light and Judy was taking her break. Somehow her fingers got disarranged in her C chord and some really strange sounds started coming out. I could tell from her facial expression that she was not a happy camper but she bravely plowed on through and DID NOT STOP and thus the song and the jam continued on. And the rest of her break, once she got out of the C chord, sounded fine. Her recovery was excellent. I was so proud of her.

So, when you’re taking lessons from me, you get the Gold Star, not for playing it perfectly, but just for continuing on with the song. Hmmm…..that sounds a lot like life! And with that bit of philosophical musing I will head upstairs for my oatmeal! Yum!

Posted in By Murphy, Practice | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »