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practicing

A Key to Jazz Improvisation Success: Boredom and Repetition

August 24, 2019 by Steve Leave a Comment

Here’s a great article that a fan of my site emailed to me a few months ago.  Although the article is dealing with the martial arts, the principles written about in this essay can just as easily be applied to music and jazz improvisation. When the writer writes about “kata” imagine that he is referring […]

Filed Under: Jazz Education, Jazz Improvisation Tagged With: boredom, Jazz Improvisation, lesson, practicing, repetition, success

Practicing with Neff Video Practice Sessions

February 16, 2019 by Steve Leave a Comment

In 2018, I started an experiment in the Member’s VIP Learning Area of the site, where I started recording myself practicing for an hour at a time so that subscriber’s to my website could learn from my example.  As of this blog post, I currently have 21 hours of practice time recorded that member’s of […]

Filed Under: Learning at Neffmusic Tagged With: Jazz Education, learning, Neff, practicing, video

Great Chris Potter Performance and Interview

November 13, 2014 by Steve 6 Comments

Here’s a great interview with Chris Potter that I came across just now on Facebook. Chris Potter is one of the top tenor saxophone players in the world.  There is an unbelievable solo performance in the beginning of the video and this is a very insightful interview.   Chris talks about practicing and different aspect of […]

Filed Under: Jazz Videos Tagged With: chris potter, Improvisation, interview, jazz music, practicing, tenor saxophone

Practicing away from your instrument! Part 1

September 17, 2009 by Steve 3 Comments

I had a lesson the other day with a student and I realized that he was really having a hard time coming up with melodic ideas and phrases.  I asked him “Do you ever sing?”  “No!”  “How about humming?”   “No!”  “How about in the shower?”   “No!” This really got me thinking about things […]

Filed Under: Jazz Improvisation Tagged With: Jazz Improvisation, practicing, singing

Practicing Jazz Saxophone With Focus

June 14, 2007 by Steve Leave a Comment

One of my biggest weaknesses when I was a kid was practicing without a specific focus. I wanted to do it all, play everything, be the best. I wanted results now. I would spend endless hours in the practice room practicing everything. The problem was, I wasn’t focused. I didn’t set goals. Instead of getting […]

Filed Under: Jazz Education Tagged With: focus, habits, Jazz Improvisation, practicing, saxophone

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