Posts Tagged ‘Practice’

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Extending your Learning-Limit

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Red Henry

Red Henry


Many of you will recall that in addition to our musical activities, I’m learning to fly. I had a great flight last Wednesday. Snowstorms and high winds had prohibited flying for almost three weeks, so I needed some practice, especially landing the plane. So I took off solo and made 3 landings at the airport here at Winchester, then flew up to Martinsburg, WV and made 10 landings on the big runway there, then came back to Winchester and finished up with 3 more: total, 16 landings in a little over 3 hours.

How did it go? Well, at first the airplane seemed pretty unfamiliar (it had been 3 weeks!) and it took the first one or two landings for me to doing them again. Then, the first several landings at Martinsburg were the best ones I made. When I came back to Winchester I was beginning to get a bit tired, and the last couple of landings could have been improved on. But it took those 3 hours for me to reach that point, and I remember when a 1-hour flight exhausted me, not so long ago. Things are improving fast.

And what does this have with learning to play music? A lot. When you’re learning to play, the instrument may seem pretty unfamiliar in your hands. It can take a while to get warmed up, and then you can get “max’d out” if you play for too long a time without rest. Your ability to learn and to play (and especially your endurance in playing) improves gradually as you go along. At first it might wear your hands and brain out to play for 30 minutes, but after a while you can play for an hour or two without feeling strained. Later, you might get with some other pickers and go all afternoon or evening, and not feel nearly as worn out as you did after a half-hour at first.

Practice, that’s the key. What you’re learning gets better, and easier, as you go along. Practice might not make perfect, but it sure helps!

Red

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Posted in By Red, Learning By Ear, Practice, jamming, lessons | 2 Comments »

Out of shape picking? Get in shape!

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Red Henry

Red Henry

You know, in many parts of the country, this time of year there’s not much going on musically– few festivals, few shows, maybe not even any picking parties to keep up your playing ability. In my case I’ve been distracted by flying a lot since November, and by late January I got pretty rusty on the mandolin. So what do you do?

I simply started playing some every day. Not a lot, because I didn’t have enough time and energy to spend an hour or two at it, but last week I started playing 15 to 30 minutes a day. And it sure helps! Just a short practice, every day, can get you back into shape without a lot of stress and strain trying to play for hours on end.

Now, I admit that the music comes back into my fingers easily partly because I’ve been playing for a long time. But even when I’d only played for a year or two and I was going to school, I found that when the schedule was really crowded, if I could play 15 or 20 minutes each day, it really helped.

You might not learn a lot of new material with short practice sessions, but you might be surprised at how you can preserve the skills you already have. Take it easy on yourself. Review the tunes from Beginning Banjo Vol.1 or Banjo for Misfits. So? What are you waiting for? Today’s 15 minutes starts now!

Red

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Flying and Picking (5)

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Red, Jan. 13th

Red Henry, Jan. 13th

Folks, a few days ago I had a great first cross-country flight with my flying instructor. After carefully plotting our course, winds, and checkpoints, we flew down the Shenandoah Valley to an airport 63 miles away, and came out right on target. I mean, we weren’t a hundred yards off course when we got there. In fact, we were exactly lined up with the airport’s runway.

Now, how do you make things come out exactly right on a flight like that? First you do your homework, getting all your preparation as right as you can get it. Then when you get into the airplane and take off, you get in a rhythm. You constantly check your altitude, airspeed, and heading, to make sure you’re going exactly right. At and between your checkpoints, which are about 10 miles apart, you check your course on a chart to make sure you know exactly where you are. You get into a rhythm. After each checkpoint, you start getting ready for the next one. This combination of preparation, thinking ahead, and staying in rhythm makes your flight end precisely, and safely too.

So how can you apply this to playing music? In plenty of ways. Now, we practice at home and learn new tunes not only for our own amusement, but mainly (at least in my case) to get with a group of other musicians and either pick or perform. This means, that when you’re at home, you need to do your homework. Practice your tunes, and stay in time. As Murphy says, don’t play any parts of the tunes any faster than you can play the hardest parts. (Our two “Slow Jam” DVDs are perfect for developing this skill.) You need to have your arrangements down, so that you can play them in good time without having to think about every note.

Then when you’re in a group, you can not only play the tune, but also pay attention to the other musicians while you’re playing — listen to the rhythm, and stick with it. If there’s a particularly hard part in the tune, you have to stay in rhythm while you play it. As you play each phrase (your checkpoints) listen to make sure you’re still with the others. And then, when you’ve navigated your way through your break so that you reach the end (your destination) right together with the other players, be thinking ahead to either hand the tune off or end it, and at the end, it’s a great musical experience for everybody.

Flying and picking– I love it.

Red

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Teachers and Students

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Since we’ve had so much interest in lesson discussions recently, I thought we might like to talk about students and teachers. First of all, here are sample behaviors of a few different teachers I’ve seen. Which teacher would you rather learn from?

Teacher #1. The teacher, who is a famous bluegrass musician, spends almost the entire lesson talking about music and music theory, going into intricate details about note relationships and chord structures and progressions. The student plays one or two tunes on the banjo, the teacher assigns a tab to learn the next week, and the lesson is over.

Teacher #2. The teacher, who is a fairly well known banjo picker, spends the lesson playing and talking and playing and talking and not giving the student much opportunity to participate. The student hardly gets a chance to play at all before the lesson is over.

Teacher #3. The teacher starts off by getting the student to play their tune from last week, going through it several times for repetition, warming-up, and encouragement, and then continues all through the lesson, teaching enough new material for the next week but having the student playing at least half the time.

Well, you may think that #3 may be a no-brainer, but I have seen enough examples of the first two lesson formats to know that those two teacher-types are quite common. Nevertheless, the focus of the lesson should be for the student to be learning to play, and I wish that all teachers would make it that way.

. . . . .

Okay, now let’s talk about types of students. Here are a few examples:

Student #1. The student has canceled the previous two lessons on short notice, and now comes in late. He or she obviously hasn’t had the banjo out of its case since the last lesson, almost a month ago. The teacher has to spend the whole lesson in reviewing material and getting the student to play, using up the lesson time for practice.

Student #2. The student arrives barely in time for the lesson, and something’s always missing. They’ve lost their picks, or they’ve forgotten to practice their old material, or the dog ate their tuner– but something has always gone wrong that could have been taken care of ahead of time. The lesson starts slowly, because the teacher has to do other things besides teaching.

Student #3: This student comes in on time and ready to play. Although their life is busy, he or she has played at least a little, almost every day. They may not have learned last week’s lesson completely, but they’re ready to sit down with the banjo and give it a good try.

Which student would you rather teach? I’m glad to say that most students I know fit the #3 category. The teacher and the student both need to do their part if the student is going to learn!

Red

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A Local Jam Session that Works

Friday, September 25th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

There’s a jam session which goes on near here every Thursday. It’s been attracting quite a number of pickers (and listeners) lately. On a typical night, the players range from folks who know one song clear up to a few folks who have played bluegrass full-time. How can that work, you may ask? Well, it just takes the right people.

For one thing, all the players seem to know the Rules. Jam session rules, nationwide, include using good musical courtesy, not drowning anyone out, not playing loudly in anybody’s face, taking turns singing the songs, letting everybody participate, and so forth. There isn’t anybody who charges in and tries to dominate the session. (There have been a few like that who came once or twice, but they were not encouraged to come back.)

For another thing, all the people are compatible with each other. There aren’t any personality conflicts going on, or cliques within the pickers. And even though the players range from energetic teenagers up to slightly slower-moving folks in their 70s, we all understand each other well enough musically that we can play together in a friendly way. This makes the jam session work.

I think I’ve listed my five biggest reasons for participating in things like this before. They are:

1. Practice.

2. Practice.

3. Practice.

4. Practice.

5. Practice.

–But I like the people, too. We all have a good time. If you can get good, painless, non-tedious playing time (read: PRACTICE) on your instrument, and have a good time with good people while doing it, then go for it. Go out to the nearest jam session and see what it’s like. If there isn’t one in your area (or there’s one that’s hard to get along with), start your own with folks you know. Practice, Practice, Practice. That’s how to improve your music!

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Performing at Borders Bookstore

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Now, I admit that about once a month I go over and perform at Borders Books, here in Winchester. Pretty often, our son Chris performs with me. Now, why would I play there? You don’t get paid at for playing at Borders. There isn’t any big audience, applauding loudly and giving us the recognition we think we all deserve. Here are the primary reasons I play at Borders:

1. Practice
2. Practice
3. Practice
4. Practice
5. Practice

As you can see, the reason I go play for free is to get in PRACTICE. Why is this so important? Well, sometimes we have plenty of gigs and other opportunities to play, but sometimes we don’t. I often play at Borders the weekend before performing at a festival or other important music job, because when we play at places like that, one thing we’re being paid for is to show up in practice, warmed up, and able to play our best. And that’s a big reason for finding a place to play beforehand.

I played at Borders this last Friday night. Chris was playing a festival in Canada that weekend, so he couldn’t be there and I was doing it solo. When I got to Borders, opened my guitar and mandolin cases, and started playing (there’s not much preparation involved), I didn’t have an audience. The people coming there to hear me hadn’t shown up yet. Now, THAT’s a little weird, playing music for people who don’t know you and don’t expect it. So I started out easily, playing a few tunes like Wildwood Flower and Tennessee Waltz on the guitar. That seemed to provide something like background music, and the crowd accepted it easily (nobody left, which was a good sign). I eased into some light vocals from there, singing things like Wabash Cannonball and Wreck of the Old ‘97. Soon I had some of them listening, and I just went through a lot of material, singing some songs like Head over Heels and Nine-Pound Hammer, and using the mandolin for some numbers like Just Because and Soldier’s Joy. All this time, the listeners got used to me and I got used to the situation, and it got easier and easier to play.

After a while some folks came in who were there just to listen, and they requested some numbers: Tennessee Stud, Lara’s Theme (from Dr. Zhivago— you remember that one— it’s pretty on the mandolin). Murphy came in, bringing some of her banjo and fiddle students. The second set went a lot easier than the first. And then it was time to stop.

I wasn’t in good practice when I stated playing that night, but I was in pretty good shape when I finished. I didn’t make any money, but it was easier (and better practice) than playing at home. And that was the point. So if you’re ever in Borders Books in your town, and you see someone playing music there (it happens occasionally), give them a listen. You can get some good entertainment that way, for free!

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Practice: Getting in Shape!

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Red HenryIt’s almost time for to go perform at another festival, which means it’s time to get in shape! People who perform regularly need to stay in shape just like those who are learning. In fact, there’s a big resemblance in what they need to do.

During the several days before I go to play a show, I have to practice several ways:

First, over the last week or so before the show, I need to play all the songs and tunes we might be performing, several times for each one, so that I can play them without thinking. But this is low-pressure work, in the house, so I need something else: Second, I need to find places to pick informally with other people for hours, so that I can get in shape musically to play whatever I need to. But even this does not eliminate the need for: Third, finding some performing situations, even if I have to create them myself, in order to get used to playing my songs and tunes in front of an audience.

All three of these kinds of practice are essential, and all three are different from each other. When I practice at home, there’s no way to really work up the energy and physical playing-workout of a good picking evening, spending several hours with the instrument in my hands, constantly getting in shape. And even that kind of playing does nothing to prepare me for getting in front of an audience. There’s no substitute for THAT! — the only way to practice performing is to perform. So during the last weeks before a festival, I stay pretty busy musically.

This applies to when you’re learning music, too. When learning to play bluegrass, and beginning to play music with others, you need different kinds of practice! First of all, you have to learn your tunes from lessons or DVDs, and practice them at home. Second, you need to play the tunes over and over without even having to think about them, so that you can play them in front of other people! Play them 10 times each, and then keep playing! And third, you need to practice all your tunes STANDING UP, because the feel of your hands, and the weight and sound of the instrument, are so different when standing compared to when you’re sitting down. When you practice, no slumping in a chair or half-lying on the bed while you go through your tunes one or two times each! You have to STAND UP and PLAY AND PLAY if you’re really going to learn to play music with others, which is the goal of so many of us in this kind of music.

That’s the lesson for today! –See you at the shows!

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Hottie Jam Report

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Casey HenryLast night the girls in At Least We’re Hot gathered here at my house to do a little picking. Officially there are six of us (myself-fiddle, Connie-banjo, Julie-banjo, Kelley-guitar, Myrna-mandolin, Janice-bass) but each time we get together we never know for sure who will be able to make it. Last night’s combination of people—Kelley, Janice, Connie, and me—resulted in my being the only lead instrument. Connie is working up some breaks on her clawhammer banjo and so far she plays “Angelina Baker” and “Old Joe Clark”. Outside of that, every break was a fiddle break. That suited me just fine! And it was really good practice. In between our Hottie jams I normally don’t pick up my fiddle so whenever we pick is the only practice I get. I found out it makes a huge difference to my muscles whether I’m just playing one break and then passing it on to someone else vs. playing four breaks in a row on a tune like “Soldier’s Joy.” Stamina really comes into play.

The same thing is true when you’re practicing by yourself at home. That’s why it’s important to play your songs or tunes multiple times in a row. If you just play it once or twice through, you’re not giving your body the time to build up its playing muscles, its stamina and endurance, which are all things that will help your playing in general.

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A Banjo-Filled Day

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Casey HenryToday I had a particularly banjo-filled day. I started out by sitting down to practice Pat Flynn’s material because I’m going to play a few songs with him at the Station Inn tomorrow night. But when I sat down, for some reason I was particularly inspired (could very well have been the new sweater I was wearing) and all these little licks and pretty rolls patterns started coming out of my banjo. So I worked on that for a while, trying to put them together into what will ultimately become “The Sweater Song.” Then I did actually practice what I was supposed to practice for a while, including the New Grass Revival songs “How Many Hearts” and “Do What You Gotta Do,” which require me to learn Bela Fleck licks—not my strong suit and therefore requiring a LOT of practice.

In the afternoon Michelle Canning came for a lesson. Michelle is the one who bought the second Casey Henry model banjo. She and her mom are in Nashville for a week of seeing the sights and stopped in for a lesson. She is turning into quite the banjo picker. I showed her a relatively obscure Scruggs tune: “Pick Along”. I learned it off of the Scruggs Revue LP “Strike Anywhere” and we listened to that track at the end of the lesson. Some things about the Scruggs Revue I like, some things I don’t like. Among the things that I don’t care for is that the banjo is not high enough in the mix. The saxophone takes a pretty good break, though…

The final event of the night was a practice with Pat Flynn of the songs we’re doing Wednesday night. We just ran the songs once or twice through, since I’d played all of them with him before. We’re just doing these numbers as a duo, though, so that means there is nowhere to hide. I have to know that stuff cold. So there will be at least a couple hours between now and show time when I’ll have the banjo in my hands running the tunes, or, to use an acedemic term, cramming. As I often point out to my students, cramming doesn’t really work in music, but it sure makes me feel better!

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Practice Tip #7

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Casey(Yes, I went back and counted!) My tip for today is this: keep up with your old material!! With one of my students, who has been coming to lessons for at least six years now, I’ve been doing a thorough review of old material for the last couple of months. Now, in six years you are going to cover a lot of stuff. And, indeed, we have lots and lots of songs on the list. If you don’t keep a list of the songs you’ve learned, you should. It is easy to let something slip through the cracks. Lots of his songs slipped through the cracks, so we’ve been going back and relearning lots of things that he would have remembered had he been a bit more conscientious about practicing.

I know that it is hard to keep up with the things that you don’t use often. I have that same problem myself. But as a banjo player you should absolutely be able to kick into any and all of Earl Scruggs’s tunes at the drop of a hat, even if you don’t play them often with others. It’s one thing to let an obscure fiddle tune fall out of practice, but it is unpardonable to let “Fireball Mail” fall out of practice. In theory all the tunes that you’ve learned should be treated equally, but in reality, some are more equal than others!

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