Find Out What Helps Us Continue Playing the Instrument We Love

Tips to help you stay on track with your learning diligence, whether you are a professional or an amateur musician. This article gives advice on memory techniques, practice routines, and even the use of mantras.

Recently one of my online students asked this intriguing, interesting, and very important question: "Do you have any advice for discipline and diligence when it comes to learning?"

He went on to say "I find myself too often putting my lessons off in favor of other needs, then I get frustrated that I am only at lesson 26 still.

Is there a routine or a mantra or something you can recommend that supports learning diligence?

Sorry for the weird question but I find its something that does not often get discussed when learning an instrument."

He may well be right in saying that the issue of learning diligence does not often get discussed. We (both the teacher and the student) can easily assume that all is well with our learning as long as we see and hear some kind of progress with our vocal or instrumental studies.

In my face-to-face lessons, I will bring up the topic on a need-to-address basis, i.e. when I find students becoming somewhat complacent about their desire to progress. Such a discussion is usually just a one-time event; however it can benefit lifelong maintenance of learning discipline - not only for their bass playing, but also for other aspects of their life.

If you find it easy to get distracted in your vocal or instrumental studies, you are not alone.

Although everyone is different, with different needs and desires, I will give some generic tips and advice on the topic of "Learning Skills and Learning Diligence".

My tips will be divided into three broad categories

A) Why continue learning

B) What helps us learn best

C) Learning disciplines and suggested routines

Why continue learning?

There is always a primary reason why we begin learning an instrument or vocal studies (or any other skill, for that matter) in the first place. You must ask yourself what that reason was for you. I am a bass player, and I remember my reason very well, although it was more than 50 years ago! I did not start playing bass quite that long ago, but the reason was already there when I was a young boy. My reason? The sound. Yes, the sound was, and still is, my primary attraction to the bass. (In the meantime I have figured out many of the reasons behind this attraction, but that may be left to another article.)

The day I began my studies of classical double bass at the conservatory, I was invited to sit in on a lesson of an advanced student. We had a chat after that lesson and he told me that I would encounter many obstacles along the way. His advice for when I was in doubt was to "remember why you are playing bass in the first place". That remembering would put me back on track. He was right. It helped me a lot. There were several circumstances throughout and beyond my course that put me in doubt about my skills and diligence. To get beyond my doubt, I remember "the sound" and all becomes good again. For me, the sound of the bass creates enthusiasm for the bass.

Your reason? I am sure you can easily figure that out for yourself. Sometimes it is not evident before you begin playing your instrument, but at some stage there would have been a feeling of "This is it!". Find that moment and see if you still feel the same now - we usually do. When you become aware of that feeling, your enthusiasm becomes evident again.

What helps us learn best?

I am continually surprised at the very high percentage of people (of all ages) who do not know how they learn. Let me explain using the term "learning technique".

We all have prominent learning techniques. These techniques are usually not known until we consciously assess the way we learn. The way we learn has a lot to do with the way we remember. Once discovered, making optimum use of our memory techniques leads to optimum learning. We therefore create optimum results, leading to optimum joy in our achievements as well as their positive bearing on our lives in general and those around us - what a result!

Here are a few learning and memory techniques for you to take a look at. Find out if any of these techniques apply to your learning.

Learning by rote - this may include mental and mechanical repetitionVisualization - anything from pre-seeing, pre-hearing, pre-feeling etc, to photographic memoryAssociative memory, i.e. associating something you are learning with something you already know (such as a name)Learning and remembering with the aid of colors - this technique is often a favorite of the female learnerAlthough there are other learning and memory techniques, it is up to you to investigate and become aware of your best learning technique - then put it to good use.

Learning disciplines and suggested routines

First, you should work out your circadian rhythm, the way your "body clock" operates. It is of no value if you have the time to practice at 2PM if that is your physical and mental downtime. Find the times of day or night that suit both your schedule and your body clock.

For some people it is more beneficial to do a few short practice sessions as opposed to one long session. Some trial-and-error attempts will help you find what best suits your lifestyle.

Accept that you have to practice to improve your skills. Without acceptance your sessions will be tedious and fruitless instead of constructive and bountiful.

Before you actually practice, work out what you are going to do and the process of your actions. You may need a reason for what you are practicing today, be it part of your long-term goal or something more pressing, such as mastering your part of a song for tomorrow's band rehearsal. (Practicing and rehearsing are not the same.)

Practice what you can't do first! This is crucial... and I'll tell you why. At the beginning of a session, our minds are generally more able to concentrate, and therefore our intake of new material is higher than at the end of a session. Furthermore, what if we get interrupted during the session and cannot continue? We have learnt nothing new and leave the session with a sense of incompleted-ness, possibly leading to a bad conscience, resulting in too many negatives.

End your session with something you were already familiar with before the session (such as playing over a chord sequence) but add what you learnt during the session. This creates great satisfaction and a sense of true achievement.

Most musicians start their practice session jamming with something they already know. Instead, I advocate to have your jam at the end of your session, incorporating your new skills.

Below is a suggestion for a daily 30-minute practice session for an instrumentalist. All elements of this routine can and should be changed as often as required to suit your circumstance.

1. NEW ITEM - Note identification 5 minutes

2. Sight-reading 5 minutes

3. Technique development 5 minutes

4. Groove playing 5 minutes

5. Playing a song 5 minutes

6. Revision 5 minutes

Along the way, either with or without instrument in hand, you may find it helpful to use mantras to help your learning. Mantras are very powerful in the most positive way. They can be as simple and focussed as "C is on the third fret of the A-string" to something more general, such as "Every note is coming through my instrument in its best possible form to suit the purpose of the song".

In summary

Find the reason that enthused you in the first placeFind your best learning techniqueAccept that you are practicing for a purpose

Besides being an innovative and highly respected music educator, George Urbaszek plays double bass and bass guitar. He has over 3500 performances and 120 recording sessions to his credit and has toured Australia, Central Europe, Canada, USA and the Pacific Islands.

George has performed with artists ranging from Rolf Harris through to Judith Durham, Beccy Cole, Marina Prior, Thelma Housten, and the New York production of Porgy and Bess. His former students include Brendan Clarke (winner of the Australian National Jazz Award), Kim Khahn (Robbie Williams, Mel C, Natalie Imbruglia) and Rory Quirk (John Butler Trio).

After lecturing for thirteen years in the Jazz Department of the Australian National University, George is now residing near Byron Bay, Australia, where he works from home teaching students from all over the world using an innovative approach of step-by-step online bass lessons which include Beginner bass lesson videos. These lessons cost less than $5.00 US each and are available at http://www.creativebasslessons.com/ You can even sign up for a few free bass lessons.

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How To Sing - Being Authentic Helps Overcome Stage Fright

For most of us, the idea of singing in front of others is a terrifying prospect. It brings up our worst fears: showing our emotions in front of others and exposing our vulnerability.

We feel we're going to be judged, found lacking, and then we're right back in the school yard again, feeling five and mortified.

It doesn't have to be this way, however. All the fears expressed above are ones we all share, usually learnt very early on in life, programmed responses. The answer is to change the programming, over time. Being comfortable in public is a learnt response the same as any other.

The challenge when we sing is to get out of the head (the home of the ego and our fears) and into the body, the energy of which is centered in the heart. Heart to head creates thinking, head to heart creates wisdom of feeling.

When we're in head energy we are expressing a big 'no', questioning and judging everything we do, controlling the song with an uptight diaphragm (a huge wall of muscle in the center of the body we use to breathe and emote) and not giving ourselves a chance.

When we're in heart energy we're having much too good of a time to worry about stuff like that. We're in the moment, we let go and have fun with the attitude of 'let's see what happens and what I'm capable of'.

Because when we try desperately to control the song so we don't mess up, or words pertaining to said action, we stop ourselves from ever finding out what we're capable of, which can only happen when we let go.

Try this experiment:

Close your eyes and imagine yourself singing. Feel the resistance and fear and whatever comes up. Now take your attention down to the center of your heart. Just open your mind and feel its energy for a minute or so. Try to let go and not to judge, and notice any resistance you have while doing this.

Now laugh and feel it in the center of the solar plexus (bottom center of the ribs to about 2 inches below). Try to laugh and 'surrender' to the diaphragm, like jumping off backward into a pile of pillows. Let it do the laughing. Now sing a note and let the diaphragm feel and express the note.

This should feel very different from the fear you felt only a few seconds before. The trick is to do just that - trick the mind into heart energy so that it works with you rather than against you.

And the path from resistance to change is to go gently, first simply noticing, then showing the subconscious the path you'd like to change.

Be Authentic

The mind tells us we have to be 'good' to sing. Put two singers on a stage, however, one of them trained with a good tone and no soul, and the other with no training, an average voice and lots of soul, and the audience will like the singer with soul every time. Of course, put a singer up on stage with skill and soul and they'll be ecstatic, but people tend to be a lot nicer and forgiving than we give them credit for. To us, we've been dreading it the past two weeks, for them it's four or five minutes out of their lives that will be forgettable or not depending on our performance.

The irony is although all of us work so hard at keeping it together, when we see a performer who risks just being themselves, we love them for it. Because that's something we all would like to do, but are trained pretty much from birth not to do. Which is why singing is so challenging. To sing with any true integrity, we have to let go and allow ourselves to be vulnerable in front of an audience, and simply sing the song for ourselves and be authentic, who we truly are.

Walking around in our heads all the time translates as a constricted and tight diaphragm as we stress and/or rush around. When we surrender, and give the power of the song to the diaphragm, we find that it knows how to sing and we're just along for the ride.

The diaphragm was made to sing and emote, not just breathe. And so when we give it the power it can stretch out and have some exercise and freedom. So, in essence, when we sing we're doing it for ourselves. Because it feels good and because the diaphragm needs to be given the emotional car keys and then takes us out for a spin. Singing then feels fun, and a release, like flying.

How do I 'surrender', you may ask? As you emotionally let go, try to do so with the idea of 'let's see what happens'. If you feel resistance to that, nervousness for example, then try and include rather than reject the feeling. The more we reject our feelings, the more they become our primary focus of attention! Say 'yes' to the feeling. Once we know that it is OK to be afraid and we accept that emotion, it loses so much of its power and we're able to let in other, truer feelings.

Once again, this is a learnt response, but if you can program it in your body, you'll find yourself enjoying singing, connecting with your true voice and gradually finding the audience and their opinion of you a secondary concern, which in turn will help you (and them) relax and enjoy the experience.

As you can see from the article above, singing isn't as difficult as it might at first seem. It's relatively easy to find your true voice and connect with the joy of singing when you understand your instrument and how to use it. To learn more, view comprehensive singing lessons online, develop your voice and join our ever growing community check out my website at http://singingfromthecenter.com/

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