A Simple Secret to Learning Music: Study in Sections
It’s been two months since I bought a keyboard, and I am remaining dedicated to my goal of teaching myself piano. This includes forcing myself to read music out of an old Music for Piano book that I used in third and fourth grade (before quitting to take a hiatus from music to focus on Nintendo.)
Today, I learned “America the Beautiful,” the easy kids version. When I was in third grade, my piano teacher gave me a “Bravo” for my ability to play this. Today, she would be proud of me again!
Forcing myself to be a beginner at a musical instrument has helped me improve my teaching of guitar to beginners, too. As students, it’s easy to fall into practice habits that don’t help us improve. For example, we might only practice a song from start to finish, staying frustrated, wondering why we never improve.
Today, I had to apply the simple strategy of studying a piece of music in isolation, breaking it up into sections. While “America” is an easy song, there are a few tricky parts. You’ll notice form my pencil marks that I split the song up into three sections. I first practiced the song left and right hand individually. Then I practice each section with both hands, using a metronome set slowly at 48 BPM.
Part three really was the trouble spot. I realized I could play the middle section easily, but really needed to practice the end of the song. So that’s where I spent my focus.
Isolating Guitar Parts for “PYT”
Last weekend, I learned Michael Jackson’s “PYT” from Thriller, and this same concept of practicing sections in isolation applied to my study of the guitar parts. This song has some amazing rhythmic parts, and I never could have learned this without studying each section individually. Levi Clay has created a helpful Youtube video, complimented by some detailed music charts at his website. Notice how Levi breaks up the song into sections. That’s how I studied them.
As a high school teacher, I used to say, “Repetition is the key to knowledge!” all the time in my classroom. I even had a poster on the wall deeming this phrase. Honestly, I believe the secret to why some musicians get really proficient and why others give up is simply found in how they practiced: focusing on the hard parts and studying in isolation, over and over again.
3 Tips to Keeping Your Acoustic Humidified
It’s that time of year again, the time where I not only dread taking my dog for a walk in the cold weather, but also dread the challenge of protecting my Taylor acoustics from low humidity in the air.
Dampits Humidifiers
Last winter was awful for my guitars, and I paid for it this summer when I needed to get four guitars set-up before recording in the studio. After fixing my guitars intonations and frets, Mark Weninger, my guitar tech, reminded me to not only humidify the room, but also humidify my guitar cases.
Here are three tips Mark shared with me:
Tip 1: Use two humidifying systems in each case
Don't use the plastic cover over the sound hole!
I’m using two Dampits in each case, one in the guitar and one at the upper part of the case by the headstock. (I may even need to use three if the season is extra dry.) The goal is to keep the humidity of each case’s environment at 50-55%. Mark said, “Don’t use the plastic, sound hole cover that comes with the Damp-It. Your goal is to keep the case humidified too!” Mark also stresses the need to be very careful in clearing the excess water of your Dampits to avoid water spots developing in the guitar.
Tips 2: Use a humdify reader for each case, not 0nly the room.
Having a humidity reading of the case is as important as a reading of the room.
I’m keeping an Oregon humidity sensor in each of my Taylor cases. These small sensors wirelessly send the humidity reading to a larger humidity reader that sits on my shelf. This allows me to check each case’s humidity without having to open the case.
If it seems expensive to buy this many readers, note a fret replacement on one acoustic will cost you $250.
Tip 3: Open sparingly! Leave the acoustics in their cases as much as possible!
I hate opening a case each time I want to play too, but the winter isn’t the time to leave your acoustics on stands. Each time you open your case, you compromise the controlled environment.
Now, I’m still doing my best to get my music studio room to 39-40%. I have two, smaller room humidifiers in my room.
* * * Bonus Tips: A few thoughts about gigging and humidity * * *
It's impossible to keep a room at 55% in Michigan, but I can at least get it up to 38%
If you gig a lot, be cautious when transporting your guitars too. Avoid leaving your guitars in the trunk, so they also can stay at a comfortable temperature with you. Also, if you can avoid it, don’t leave your guitars in the car when you arrive at the gig. Bring them inside the bars and clubs when you arrive, and let them adjust to temperature changes before opening the cases.
Once you get home from your gig, stay focused about getting your guitar case back to 55% humidity level. Resoak those Dampits. Avoid opening the case for a while. If you are doing your best to keep your cases at a controlled environment before and after a gig, your acoustics should be able to handle the weather even better than you.
“Made a Mess,” the first song from the new EP is being featured here at the Sixtyone.com!
Click to listen to "Made a Mess"!
I’m really excited to share this song with you. My friend Alan likes it because I let the guitar be simple (only three chords!), quite a departure from my first EP. I wrote it over the summer, and I feel proud of how it turned out in the studio.
“Made a Mess” became a great reason to get quite a few friends together for the recording, with Michigan and Canada crossing the Blue Water Bridge to get together either physically or digitally to put their mark on the track. Marshall Block did some tracking of Hannah’s vocals at his studio in Fenton (RealiiReel), David Mosher added his talents from his home studio in Michigan, and producer moon:and:6 (Michael Chambers) at Catherine North in Hamilton, Ontario did the rest of the recording and mixing.
So here it is. The first song of the new EP!
“Made a Mess” Credits:
Mike Vial – vocal, acoustic guitar
Stuart Tucker – drums
Marcone – piano
Leon Furs – bass
David Mosher – fiddle, mandolin
Hannah Fralick – backing vocal
Zaldor’s World on TapDetroit.com – Monday, Oct 10, 2011
Live radio interview & performance on
Detroit, MI
7 PM
Listen here: TapDetroit.com
It’s been too long since I’ve hung out with my friend Les Zaldor who I met back ten years ago through the Musicians Guild based in the Detroit area. Les has been doing an Internet radio show longer than anyone else I know, and I’m excited to be debuting some mixes from the new EP (Where the Sand Meets the Tide) and playing a few songs live.
I have a simple thought about Twitter, and this connects to any other social networking site bands are using to help promote their music: Don’t create an account if you aren’t going to stay actively involved with the network. It’s guaranteed to do you no good if you aren’t going to use it, but it might hurt you.
We don’t need to use every tool that’s on the Internet. The fact is we can’t. However, if you choose to sign-up, you’d better be active. This means investing time to see how people use the tool effectively, discover the insider language and writing tones.
This goes for Reverbnation too. I don’t have an account there, but that’s not because I think there is anything wrong with the site. I just don’t want to invest my time in it. I don’t want to have another website where I list my gigs, stream music, make friends, etc. I KNOW I’ll ignore it, so I just don’t have an account. Why waste those who actively use the site’s time even looking at a dead profile?
Your time is important for yourself, but so is the time of people engaging with your social networking accounts. It’s ineffective to have a site that isn’t being updated, and don’t expect new faces to hunt for the things you are using daily, weekly, monthly. Make it so when someone stumbles upon your network, they are guaranteed to see you using it. You probably won’t get a second chance!
Limit yourself to the tools you like and use them actively.
