Articles of interest

I recently went to Mackay and Hamilton Island for a holiday, and to attend performances by the Jazz Students of the Central Queensland University Conservatorium of Music.

The end of year concert at Mackay was wonderful, and we then travelled to Hamilton Island where the students formed into five combos, and for the next five days gave performances each afternoon and evening at various venues.

As a friend of one of the students I was invited to attend two workshops conducted by Professor Mike Tracey from the University of Louisville, Kentucky (USA). Mike is the Director of the Jamie Abersold Jazz Studies Program, and as well as playing piano/keyboard, he plays tenor sax magnificently, Mike has performed on stage with Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Hamlish, The Four Tops, and The Temptations, so he really knows his stuff.

I found his words of advice to the students very interesting, so will pass some of them on to you, I am sure you will have heard some of these comments before, but you may pick up something new.

On Practice

“Mechanical” practice will only help you maintain your current standard, it won’t help you improve, it will just stop you from going backwards. To improve, you must set challenging but achievable goals.

Regardless of your practice regime, don’t expect a gradual constant improvement, you will improve in steps, and then plateau for a while, (sometimes many months), before suddenly jumping up to the next level.

Don’t keep playing the same few difficult bars hoping it will come right, if you are going to fix something, you have to know what’s wrong, then how to fix it.

Play a few pieces of a different genre of music, it will help you overall.

Listen to recorded music of the type you wish to play, particularly by the artist/s you want to emulate.

Memorise as much as you can.

If you close your eyes, (while playing memorised pieces), you do actually hear better.

Practice, not until you can remember a piece, but until you can’t forget it.

On Performance

Think about your audience.

With a small to medium size combo, think about your stage positioning, keep it tight, and so that you can easily see, and communicate with the other members of the combo.

Show that you are enjoying your own music.

Always play to the best of your ability; you never know who is in the audience.

Use dynamics, your audience is more interested in how you are playing, than what you are playing.

99% of your audience won’t know if you have played a “wrong” note; so if you do, don’t make them aware by facial expression.

What you do at the end of a piece is more important than all of the rest of it.

On Solos

If you are using a mike then really use it.

If you are following another soloist, play a contrasting solo, if he or she has played a lot of short notes, then you should play long notes to add interest, and contrast.

You don’t have to begin your solo straight away, let the rhythm section play a few bars to keep the audience guessing what will come next, and to enable you to really get in the groove and play the notes you want to.

John Severino