10 ways to improve your musicianship with a computer

ByBret Pimentel

laptopIt seems like there’s very little I do these days without a computer. Here are some ways I have used a laptop to boost my practice sessions.

  1. Listen

    With hard drives large and cheap, there’s no reason not to have your music collection with you anywhere you can take your instrument and your laptop. Absorb the music of your old or new favorite artists, borrow or steal their best ideas, and find inspiration for your own creations. With iTunes (free), you can even use the Store feature to search for short previews of music you don’t own, and buy it inexpensively for instant gratification. Check out YouTube, too, for lots of free music (and then support the artists by buying a nice legal copy of the stuff you like).

  2. Record yourself

    A built-in microphone or an under-$10 add-on is enough to reveal perhaps more than you want to know about what you really sound like. To really get every painful detail, pay a little more for a quality mic. I have one of these, which works well for me because it’s a standalone recording device and can also be used as a computer microphone. Free (or bundled) software like Garage Band or Audacity gives you a quick and easy way to hear yourself, plus tons more features for power users.

    Also, try using a webcam and bundled software to get a look at things like your posture, technique, and facial expressions while playing.

  3. Make goals

    After you’ve listened to yourself recorded in digital clarity, you may have a few ideas of what needs improving. Fire up your word processor of choice, and make a list of what needs fixing and what you can do about it. Goals that don’t get documented don’t get done: “if you think it, ink it” (or, even better, type it). Make specific, measurable goals, and refer back to your list often.

  4. Track your progress

    Spreadsheets like Excel are perfect for keeping track of measurable goals. Use them to keep track of your speed at something, or how many measures or lines or pieces you have learned, or which days you practiced a certain skill. If you want to get really fancy, make a chart to show your rate of progress, or to reveal when you’ve hit a plateau and need to rethink your practice strategy.

  5. Play along

    Play along with favorite recordings to try out performance tempi, get a feel for accompaniment parts, and do an overall reality check. Or try various kinds of playalong software, like Band-in-a-Box or SmartMusic. Or, just have your favorite playalong products like Aebersold recordings or the Tuning CD right at your fingertips.

  6. Use notation or sequencing software

    Used in combination with a MIDI keyboard, notation software can be a quick and convenient way to transpose or arrange parts, or even to check out what complicated rhythms sound like. (With most software, you can do it without a MIDI keyboard, too, but it’s more work.)

    Or try creating your own playalong recordings. These can be as complicated as complete orchestral accompaniments in your favorite key and tempo, or as simple as long tones that you can play along with in unison to check your intonation. Or how about a custom click track with your preferred tempo changes?

  7. Use analysis tools

    Try the freeware Spectrogram for visualization of your sound. Only your ears can tell you if it sounds right, but a look at a spectrogram may tell you something interesting about the harmonic content or amplitude of one note compared to another. The simpler amplitude visualization provided by software like Audacity can also help you recognize when, for example, there are unwanted bumps in your phrases.

  8. Use online texts

    There’s a wealth of valuable information online on how to improve your playing. One of the best examples of this is the online archives of the Double Reed, the International Double Reed Society’s journal—decades’ worth of solid gold articles by the world’s best oboists and bassoonists. There’s sheet music to be found, too—see my recent post about the IMSLP.

  9. Communicate

    There are lots of excellent message boards and discussion forums devoted to playing musical instruments. The Clarinet Bulletin Board is an example of a discussion board that is well-established, frequented by genuine experts, and generally polite. One of the benefits/dangers of these fora is that anyone can contribute, so you’ll have to use your best judgment to sort the good ideas from the bad.

    Or, if you’re feeling bold, look up the website of one of your favorite players, and send him or her a polite email expressing your admiration and asking for a suggestion on something you’ve been trying to improve in your playing. They are busy people, so be patient and understanding if they don’t respond right away, or even if your email seems to have slipped through the cracks permanently.

  10. Control distractions

    Use your computer to enhance your practicing, but when games or favorite websites become a temptation, turn it off! If your willpower needs a boost, try the LeechBlock Firefox extension or the Mac program Self Control.

Similar Posts

  • Triplets don’t swing

    ByBret Pimentel

    It’s common among non-jazz musicians to think of “swing” rhythms as having a triplet-like feel, and it’s equally common among jazz players to regard that as hopelessly incorrect. That conflict over swing style has been widely discussed elsewhere, so I won’t rehash it here.

    But there’s another layer to the swing/triplets issue: It’s important to understand that real swing rhythms are essentially duple. The primary subdivision of the beat is into two parts, even though those parts aren’t equal in length.

    So, writing or playing lots of triplets is a common mistake that non-jazz musicians make when they are trying to imitate a swing sound. That’s not to say that triplets can’t or don’t exist in swing rhythms, but they aren’t the underlying subdivision, and in most cases are best used sparingly.

    For example, this can be played to sound like an authentic swing/jazz line:

    And even this notation, while problematic, can be translated into something authentic-sounding:

    But, to someone who knows jazz style well, this one never quite sounds like swing:

    It might pass for a shuffle or something else, but it’s hard to make it swing.

    When a well-written swing line does include a triplet, a fluent jazz player might play it to sound distinctly un-triplety:

    That approach (one of several possibilities) might make sense to a jazz player because they are stretching the downbeat note, and letting the subsequent notes fall later in the beat—a very similar approach to playing a pair of swung eighth notes.

    Written or improvised melodies, background figures, drum fills, and other things that are supposed to swing in an authentic way should avoid excessive triplets. Extensive listening and study of great jazz writing, interpretation, and improvisation are crucial to understanding real jazz swing style.

  • Learning fingerings as shapes

    ByBret Pimentel

    I observe that many woodwind players, when learning a new fingering—whether a beginner learning a standard fingering or an advanced student learning a new alternate fingering—tend to think of them as sequences: “This finger plus this finger and this finger and this key over here.” Sometimes my students even want to recite the fingering aloud as they add one finger at a time, and then finally play the note. The problem with this is that there is obviously no time for such a procedure when playing music.

    I now occasionally find that I have the opposite problem: a student will ask about a fingering, and I will discover that I am not prepared to verbalize it. I need to pick up the instrument, do the fingering, and then explain which keys I am pressing. My fingers know how to make the right shape, even if I can’t immediately recall the list of keys involved.

    Photo, Bassonist26
    Photo, wfiupublicradio

    To learn new fingerings in the most efficient and practical way, move as quickly as possible to the “shape” stage. I suggest this method:

    • With instrument in hand, think through the fingering, referring to a fingering chart if necessary. If you need to, think in sequence about each finger that will move and where it will go, but don’t move yet.
    • When ready, move the fingers all at once, in a crisp and snappy way.
    • Freeze, and think through the fingering again. Did you form it correctly? If it is incorrect, don’t fix it “in place,” by moving a finger or two into place; release all fingers and start over. Fixing it in place habituates a sequence of events, rather than a single shape.
    • Put the fingering into context (a scale, a musical passage, etc.) using a metronome set on a very slow tempo. The object at this point is to succeed at forming the fingering shape accurately and on cue. Speed up only as you are certain that you can maintain 100% accuracy. If your fingers don’t move simultaneously, you are wasting time cementing a sequence.

    Practice hard smart!

  • Why my college band chair placements ended up not mattering a bit

    ByBret Pimentel

    Over 20 years ago, I was a brand-new music performance major. This is a story about that first year of college that I’ve told many times to my own college students.

    I arrived at college with the confidence granted me by a freshly-minted high school diploma and a track record of first-chair saxophone school band placements. I eagerly auditioned for the university concert bands and jazz bands, and was gutted to find myself placed not only in the lowest groups (the #3 band in both cases), but doubling up parts with other players. Devastatingly, a fellow freshman saxophonist landed spots in both the #1 groups.

    It was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I hit the practice rooms hard, gradually worked my way up, and in my senior year finally got spots in both top bands. By that time I had gotten serious about woodwind doubling, and earned a fun and important spot in the top concert band outside the saxophone section. And I got the lead alto chair in the top jazz band (and couldn’t help but enjoy a little that the classmate I had envied so much was sitting second).

    Had I gotten the seats I wanted right away, maybe I would have coasted through college. And it’s possible I never would have developed an interest woodwind doubling, which now is central to the career that I enjoy so much. Looking back now, having those particular chairs in those particular semesters seems very unimportant, but my growth during those years laid the groundwork for two graduate degrees and a life in playing and teaching music.

    Whatever your current stage in your musical development, there are bigger and better things to come. How you measure up to others matters much less than what you’re doing to get to your own next level.

  • Three Fingering Diagram Builder tutorials

    ByBret Pimentel

    Back in the olden days (2002), I wrote a paper for a college class on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s simultaneous playing of clarinet and saxophone on “Creole Love Call” from the 1967 album The Inflated Tear. (When I started up this blog, the paper retroactively became a blog post.) In my paper, I included two fingering charts—one for right-handed clarinet, one for left-handed saxophone—that I thought looked pretty good and only took me a few hours to make. Ah, how young I was.

    Right-handed clarinet fingering chart. Click for larger.
    Left-handed saxophone fingering chart.

    Clearly, the time has come to update these sad old charts, and the Fingering Diagram Builder makes it fast, easy, and, dare I say it?—fun. I’ll show you how it’s done, using three particularly cool features (if I do say so myself) of the FDB. We will take a look at the FDB’s custom styles, custom keywork presets, and Dropbox integration.

    Custom styles

    For now, my plan is just to create enough diagrams to replace the ones in these old fingering charts—just the fingerings I figure Kirk must have used. But I don’t think Rahsaan would want me limiting myself to just those fingerings in the future. I’d better set up this project in such a way that I can come back later with new one-handed fingerings I’ve discovered, and add them to the charts with a minimum of fuss.

    The problem is that, what with the FDB’s highly customizable diagrams, I may not remember tomorrow whether the ones I made today have lines that are “medium” or “thick” or “heavy,” or whether I sized them “small” or “tiny,” or whether I was saving the diagrams as .PNG files for onscreen use or .TIF files for better printed results. The FDB does, of course, remember my current settings between sessions all on its own, but I like to work on several projects at once (Rahsaan would approve, I think) and I’ll use the FDB’s “custom styles”  to keep each project’s configuraton a click away. Here’s how:

    1. First I will set up things just the way I want them. Currently, settings that can be saved as part of a custom style are: diagram size, line thickness, color, file naming procedure (let the FDB name them automatically, or specify each filename myself), file format, save-to location (my computer or my Dropbox), and, if I’m using Dropbox, which folder to save the files in.
    2. Once everything is just right, I’ll click over to the “Custom styles” tab in the FDB’s menu to review my choices, and select which ones I want to save.

      As you can see, I’ve set the diagrams to be small, heavy-lined, colored in gray, .PNG-formatted, and saved to Dropbox in a folder called “kirkismyhero.” I have un-checked the box for “File naming,” since I don’t want the FDB to remember that for my purposes on this project—I’ll just go ahead and use whichever system I’m already using that day.
    3. I’ll type in a name (“kirk project”) for my custom style, and click the “Save current settings” button (or press Enter).

      I’m done—that’s all there is to it. In the future, whenever I want to create more diagrams like the ones I’m making today, I can just go to the “Custom styles” tab and click on “kirk project.”

    Read More “Three Fingering Diagram Builder tutorials”

  • Getting past frustration and burnout

    ByBret Pimentel

    Every musician (and music student) goes through periods of frustration and burnout. But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Here are just a few ideas to consider:

    • Talk to someone. It might be a colleague who can directly relate to what you’re going through. Or a friend or loved one who cares about you. Or a mentor who can offer wisdom. Or a professional counselor who can listen dispassionately and offer coping strategies. Or maybe all of the above.
    • Get organized. Sometimes taking control of your life can bring some calm and make problems seem more manageable. Clear your desk, make a to-do list, review your calendar, clean out your instrument case, make your bed.
    • Get inspired. Go back to what gets you excited about music. Listen to or play through some old favorites or something new you have been wanting to try. Go to the opera or a rock concert or a jazz club.
    • Do some self-care. Get some exercise, get some sunshine, get some sleep, get some air, stock the fridge with nutritious meals, meditate, worship, or do whatever else makes you feel balanced and healthy.
    • Take some time. If you can, take a little break to recharge. Depending on your circumstances, that might mean going on vacation for a couple of weeks, or spending a quiet weekend at home, or just taking a few minutes between practice sessions to rest and recover.
    • Ride it out. Bear in mind that frustration and burnout are extremely common complaints. When appropriate, it may be helpful just to recognize and accept the negative feelings, and forge ahead anyway.

    To expand on one point from above, if you find that you are no longer finding happiness or fulfillment in your musical pursuits, and the situation seems to be more than the usual ups-and-downs, consider checking in with a professional counselor. (If you are part of a university community, you might have no-cost or low-cost access to counseling services on campus.) Counseling isn’t just for people who are “sick” or “crazy”—most of us can benefit now and then for talking things through with someone who is good at it, and who, if and when needed, can identify issues that are treatable with medications or other therapies.

    Have more ideas on coping with frustration and burnout? Please share in the comments.

  • Fix fixable problems now

    ByBret Pimentel

    Just about every day I have a student show up for a lesson with an etude or repertoire movement they have been working on for a week or more, and there are little, silly problems that haven’t been fixed:

    • A spot where a fingering choice needs to be made, but hasn’t.
    • A page turn in an awkward spot.
    • An unfamiliar foreign term that hasn’t been looked up.
    • An ambiguous accidental that need to be double-checked against the piano part.

    It’s easy for them (or me) to ignore or procrastinate small but easily-fixable issues while busily drilling technical passages. But I know they—and I—are doing our best work when those details don’t slip through the cracks.

    It’s not worth it to spend a week practicing something in an incorrect or compromised way because you haven’t gotten around to fixing the fixable problems. Would any of these help you solve those issues more promptly?

    • Print an alternate/trill fingering chart and keep it with your practicing stuff, or bookmark an online one on your phone.
    • Put a few dollars on your copier/printer card/app so you can photocopy a page when needed.
    • Keep a good music dictionary in the pocket of your instrument case.
    • Keep your piano score and solo part together so you can always use them in tandem.

    Consider what other easily-fixable problems you haven’t bothered to fix, and ask yourself what you can do to remove friction so they get solved right away next time you practice.

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments that take a negative or confrontational tone are subject to email and name verification before being approved. In other words: no anonymous trolls allowed—take responsibility for your words.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.