Jonathan Harnum's Blog, page 40
March 10, 2016
Rare Footage: Hendrix Concert, 1969, Royal Albert Hall
Before it gets yanked, check out the hard-to-find footage of the whole 1969 Jimi Hendrix Experience concert at Royal Albert Hall.
Hendrix practiced all the time, and was absolutely in the school of “leave it out.” He took his guitar everywhere: bed, bathroom, and beyond. Everywhere. You think that practice time doesn’t add up? Here’s evidence that it does:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, live in 1969.
March 8, 2016
637 GB of (free) Classic Jazz (1921-1991)
Want to hear what Billie Holiday sounded like when she just started out? Ooo, are you in for a treat. There’s a bit Ms. Holiday’s tough history before the music starts. Have a listen.
There’s way more music and history in this archive, but this is a great place to start. You can download or stream any of these at the Niven Jazz Collection on the Internet Archive (you know, the good peeps responsible for The Wayback Machine).
Details about the David W. Niven Collection:
650 tapes · 1,000 hours · 1,378 WAV files · 637 GB · 691 JPEG scans of cassette liner cards & literature. Meticulously Collected, Compiled, and Narrated by David W. Niven, 1930-1993. Generously Donated by David W. Niven to the Foxborough High School Jazz Program, Stephen C. Massey, Director, 2010. Archived to CD-Quality Digital Audio by Kevin J. Powers, 2010-2011.
March 6, 2016
The Great Udini: Renato Martins
Brazillian percussionist Renato Martins plays the udini, a smaller version of the udu, sometimes known as “water udus” (see the vid below to find out why “water” is in the title).
The udu is one of countless percussion instruments of African origin, and in my opinion, maybe the coolest. But Africa is a BIG place, full of thousands of different cultures and musics. We’re talking Nigeria for the udu, in Western Africa, where there is a lot of rhythmic invention.
You can buy an udu for yourself here. I’m still looking for where to buy an udini….
Check out Renato Martins playing the udini, then an udu solo from the same artist. Cool sounds!
Wonder what an Udu solo from Jason sounds like? You know, the hockey-mask, knife-weilding psycho from Friday the 13th horror flick. Look no further. It’s here. Or check out this udu solo.
March 3, 2016
Losing Your Marbles: Wintergatan’s Wondrous Musical Machine
I don’t have the words to describe how wondrous I found this, but I’ll just show you the videos and see if you agree. This is a real device, made by the musician, who I believe to be Martin “MacGuyver” Molin, but am still checking on that one. The set of skills he has in the woodshop is amazing all by itself. See the “making of” videos below for more on that.
Check out Wintergatan for more about the band.
Here’s the end-product video, after 14 months of work in the woodshop. I’ve done enough woodworking to know that the problem-solving alone for this project is staggering, let alone the amazing creative spark to come up with the design in the first place. Amazing.
And here are the “building of” videos (7 of them):
March 1, 2016
Sax With Nozzle
What? You don’t have a sax mouthpiece for your bass saxophone? No problem. Here. Take this tuba mouthpiece.
February 26, 2016
You Never Got to Play These Recorders in Grade School
These people never stopped playing recorder after grade school. See what you’re missing? I bet you’ve never seen/heard a contra-bass recorder before. Beautiful.
The Royal Wind Music, directed by Paul Leenhouts.
Boost your practice ability, learn to read music, and more. Sol Ut Press
How to Play A Wooden Plank Like a Boss
To practice is human, to play, devine. We all practice something. The focus of this blog is music practice.
In the coming months, I’ll be posting interesting videos of people making music, showing the fruits of long hours of practice.
Little (or no) commentary from me. The music will, I hope, speak for itself. That’s what music does best anyway, right?
Here’s an example of a Romanian Monk calling others to prayer by playing on a wooden plank, a version of the group of instuments called Semantrons. Curious to learn more? Read this. Stick with it until he really gets going. Superb rhythm!
February 23, 2016
What if Feels Like to Learn a New Instrument
Destin over at Smarter Every Day creates such fun, informative videos. This one has nothing to do with music, but everything to do with learning (and unlearning) a complex motor neuron task, like playing an instrument. Think you could ride this bike? I bet you can’t.
You may not pull anything useful out of this for your music, but for me, it was a reminder about how crucial it is to take a new task VERY slowly. Learn more in The Practice of Practice.
ANd you can BUY this crazy bike! How cool is that?
February 20, 2016
No Instrument? No Excuse.
Instruments are expensive, especially the good ones. A bow for an upright bass or a violin can easily be found for $40,000 or more. A freaking bow.
Still, not having an instrument shouldn’t stop you from making music. Check out these guys playing on a broom guitar, and shovel bass.
Below are some more videos of people jamming on home-made instruments.
You can come up with percussion instruments, at the very least.
And that’s to say nothing of mental practice, practice away from your instrument. There’s a chapter on the techniques of mental practice in The Practice of Practice.
Eat Your Veggies. Or Play Them. Whatever.
February 16, 2016
Finding Flow in Practice: Glenn Gould
Alberto Guerrero (standing) with Glenn Gould, circa 1945.
There’s a lot to like about the video of pianist Glenn Gould below. I’ve highlighted three things that happen in the video (see clips below).
As the great Robert Krulwich (of Radiolab and NPR) pointed out in a post, Gould appears to be deep in a Flow state, practicing Bach’s Partita #2.
For me, achieving Flow is one of the biggest motivators to continuing to practice, because it’s a transcendent experience and feels wonderful. Part 2 (of 6) in The Practice of Practice covers helpful aspects of motivation, including Flow, in greater detail. Some players, like drummer Allison Miller, told me that sometimes they’ll go into a practice session with no other goal beyond getting into that Flow state, or a meditative state.
Here’s what Mr. Krulwich said, and as to the last clause, I couldn’t agree more :
How one gets there — that’s still a mystery. Practice is important. Tenacity matters. Talent helps. When you find your “flow,” your brain changes. Dopamine and noradrenaline kick in, GABA neurons get suppressed; sex, hunger, thirst matter less, you are free to play more deeply with stream-of-conscious associations; you are chemically released and can now roam far and wide. Yes, you have no idea where you are or how this is happening; but that it’s happening must be one of the most wonderful experiences ever.
Another gem from this video is at 1:36 (cued up below), when Gould shouts, “Na!” at a mistake. You can see him bear down, sing more precisely, and practice that little flubbed passage again. It’s a golden practice moment, and a bit hard to catch, because it’s an error that only an expert in this music can hear.
Gould was infamous for being difficult to record because he usually vocalized when playing. It’s another trait most master musicians (no matter their instrument) do when playing: Oscar Peterson is another pianist who vocalizes comes immediately to mind.Singing is one of many mental practice strategies that pros in all genres of music use, covered in Part 6 of The Practice of Practice, chapter 31: Going Mental. Check Gould out at 1:59 when he actually gets up from the piano to sing a tricky bit of the Bach.
Finally, there is another important aspect of practice that’s often overlooked: the role of a teacher. Alberto Guerrero was one of Gould’s teachers (picured above), and it was Guerrero who taught Gould a simple practice technique, called “finger tapping,” that another of his students explains below. Learning on your own is great, and everybody does it, but a teacher can shave years of practice off with just a few tips. The different kinds of teachers for different stages of ability are covered in Chapter 14: Hot for Teacher, in The Practice of Practice.
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