Introduction to Practicing Well
What If Having More Talent Isn't the answer—But Your Practice Strategy Is?
This video opens Module 6 with a blunt truth: everyone who gets good at something puts in the time. But it's not just about clocking hours—it's about how you use them. This chapter is built to help you practice smarter, with purpose, joy, and with results.
Think You Either "Have It" or Don't? Hear how even the most gifted musicians—including Michael Brecker—relied on relentless practice.
Struggling to Stay Consistent? Learn why reconnecting with your "why" is the key to keeping your practicing (and your music career) on track.
Could Your Routine Be Making You Worse? Discover how practicing the wrong thing (especially diligently so) can stall your growth.
Is Joy the Missing Ingredient? Find out how building enjoyment into your routine makes practice more effective—and sustainable.
This module will help you get more from your time in the practice room. It's not about grinding—it's about growing with direction.
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Dave Liebman various paths toward Excellence (From The Art of Skill)
I’ve always gone about my music in a very businesslike fashion. Have a plan. Be ready to adjust to do what you need to do. There are some musicians who just wing it and don’t need to have a plan. I respect that even though it’s different from my approach.
Everybody has a way of working that is natural to them. The trick is to find what works best for you. The same is true for one’s method of development. I talk about learning to learn. I tell the kids that if you know how to make new material your own, you’ve got the keys to the kingdom.
I remember when Michael Brecker bought my loft from me in 1971 and I went to visit him. He had music paper all over the floor, patterns, solos and even some of my stuff. He was obviously very organized at that time and was going through his musical development in a very direct way tackling it head on.
He knew his gift was technique, and to master that he had to practice. I’m not just calling practice waking up and blowing a few long tones. Choose to be a virtuoso which obviously Michael did, and you have to put in the time.
It also helps to have a mentor or teacher from whom you can learn the important things. Most great artists had somebody who took them down that path – usually someone older. School doesn’t replace that function. It helps with networking and experimenting and that’s important. But I’m talking about someone who at four in the morning has a couple beers with you and asks what did you play today?
I was extremely lucky to have Pete LaRocca, Miles, and Elvin Jones as the triumvirate of heavy artists who affected me. Each one of them influenced me in very different ways. I still carry their lessons with me….. even their ways of talking. I sometimes fall into sounding just like I remember them because their personalities and mannerisms made such an impression on me.
Richie Beirach on finding a good teacher (From Teaching and Learning Jazz)
Any teacher that you consider should be able to play well for you and demonstrate the things he or she is teaching you. I don’t believe in teachers who don’t play for their students. I think that occurs more in classical music at a much higher level where the master no longer plays but just gives students astute criticism.
But I’m not talking about old classical masters. For jazz, you need a great teacher and player to cut a path for you and show you how to practice, what to practice, and when to practice. You need someone who can assess your strengths and weaknesses to help you create a personal practice schedule that covers the skills on which you specifically need to work.
There are some very good jazz teachers within major universities who are academically trained and can play pretty well, but have no real professional experience recording, touring, or performing. They’re not likely to inspire you as much as a more known and experienced player.
Conversely, if you study with a more experienced jazz player, he or she won’t be teaching every day week in and week out because they are out in the world performing. They might come in for a workshop or a master class that will inspire you. You might end up gaining more from that irregular appearance than six months of weekly lessons from a full-time professor.
Find an experienced player who loves to teach. Again, there are guys and gals who can play very well and know the material, but they don’t want to teach full-time. You can sense this in the difference between a focus on you and your development and their greater focus on themselves and their own playing career.
A teacher’s love of music is infectious and a good teacher passes on his passion to his student. I always say that you can tell a great teacher if the student runs from the lesson to go practice. I believe teaching is 50% inspiration if not more, and 50% information. Find someone with a balance. A teacher who only inspires will not give you enough of the knowledge you need, and a teacher who just provides the information won’t inspire you enough to do the required work.
Find a teacher who will focus on your personal needs. After all, you are probably paying him or the school to teach you. This is one problem with university jazz education. You might be assigned a teacher who has been there 10 years or more and is no longer creative or caring enough about each individual student’s needs. He uses prior year’s lesson plans and simply goes through the motions of an ingrained course curriculum repeated over years and years. A sign of that can be the habitual passing of out old lesson plans instead of considering the individual needs of the student(s).
Jazz is a music of individual expression. It attracts people who want to express their personal feelings through improvisation. Classical music is different, partly because it is focused on the composer, and not as much the performer. The classical player expresses himself through the music of the composer, not as a spontaneous personal expression.
So musicians who are serious about jazz must learn from someone who is going to honor their individuality even if they are at the very beginning stages. They will not only to honor your current stage of development but will nurture it and guide you through your development.
After learning the skills to develop a great improvised solo including technique, knowledge of harmony and the ability to swing, what is truly most important? The individuality of the particular player. After all, that is the premise of jazz. As great as he was, the world doesn’t need another Michael Brecker. The world needs you and what you have to say musically.
The student will eventually reach a point where he’s learned the repertoire, developed a strong harmonic sense, and has started to create a unique approach. He now has to go out and perform.
Performing requires musical consistency, business skills, and a heightened knowledge of the world. Performance is also the test to see if one is skilled enough to make a living playing music.
A great teacher provides a balance between giving the student what the teacher knows he should be studying and the student’s desires.