David Cutler: Monday YouTube Fix

David Cutler is a dear friend and a creative genius.  I hope he doesn't read this because it will go to his head but he is one of those people who seems to always being thinking a couple of steps ahead on the creative front.

Here is his version of "Oh Christmas Tree" for prepared piano which he performed many times when he joined Boston Brass every year for the expanded Christmas lineup.  I always looked forward to his solo performances during every gig.  You never quite know what he is going to come up with.

Enjoy!

"Oh Christmas Tree--Why Is There So Much Junk in My Christmas Tree???" AKA "Oh Christmas Tree: Are You Prepared for Christmas????" AKA "Oh Christmas Tree--What Would You Think If I Cut You Down, Made You Into a Piano, and Gently Placed Ping Pong Balls on Your Strings?????"

The "Do You Give A ****?" Test (Otherwise Known As Scales)

It is that time of year again when college students are set to perform their juries and high school seniors will soon be taking their college auditions. Almost all college auditions and juries require scales. So do all district and All-State auditions.

(Note: One of my most popular blog posts over the years is this Quick Guide to Juries which addresses everything you need to know to be successful.)

Everyone knows they need to know their scales. But scales don't actually test what you think they do.

It of course can not be pointed out too many times that scales are the building blocks of all tonal music and positively must be mastered by all musicians. This is not news to anyone.

But what scales, in the context of a jury or audition, are really testing is whether the student gives a ****.

No, I'm being serious.

Learning scales or modes only involves one thing: commitment. It just takes a concerted effort over a sustained period of time to become familiar with them. Once you do that, they are ingrained.

I rarely practice scales any more, and I mean rarely. That's because I have put the work in to the point where they are rote. I have them ingrained in my ear and into my muscle memory.

There is nothing tricky about them whatsoever. Even melodic minor scales (different on the way up than on the way down which struck me as insane as a kid!) are not complicated. It is the exact same pattern in each of the 12 keys, as they all are!

If you accept the premise that there is absolutely nothing tricky about any scale then all you are left with is whether you have bothered to take the time to learn them.

That's it. Do you give a **** enough to have spent the time? Pretty simple.

I'm not saying that a C-major scale is of equal difficulty as a D-flat major scale on a C instrument. The latter is obviously more difficult.

But neither one is very hard at all if you've bothered to take the time to do the work.

So believe me, you have told your potential school or the faculty at your current school an awful lot about how serious you are about this whole music thing by how prepared you are to play your scales.

#endrant

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For a little practicing inspiration, don't miss "Practicing Summed Up In Six Sentences" courtesy of Doug Yeo.

Victor Wooten on Music as a Language: Monday YouTube Fix

Victor Wooten is one of my heroes and this video is awesome.  In under five minutes, Victor touches on the importance of embracing mistakes and of playing often.

Warning: You are going to need to watch this video twice.  He is narrating over a video of him performing Amazing Grace and the performance is stunning.  I inadvertently blocked out all of the speaking the first time because the playing is so gorgeous even though I clicked on the video to hear him speak!

Rest assured, the message is just as good if not better than the playing.

Enjoy!

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/victor-wooten-music-as-a-language Music is a powerful communication tool--it causes us to laugh, cry, think and question. Bassist and five-time Grammy winner, Victor Wooten, asks us to approach music the same way we learn verbal language--by embracing mistakes and playing as often as possible. Lesson by Victor Wooten, produced by TED-Ed.

How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain: Monday YouTube Fix

"Playing a musical instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once."

This less than five minute video digs into the neuroscience of both listening to and playing music.  Why is it that we're always having to save school music programs from the chopping block?!

Enjoy!

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-playing-an-instrument-benefits-your-brain-anita-collins When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What's going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians' brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

Links That Make Me Think

Here are a few articles I recently crossed paths with that I found interesting:

• More and more companies are using computer software to weed out resumes before a human being ever even lays eyes on it. This article examines how to get your resume past the resume bots.
   
• This article from the Harvard Business Review about time management might as well have been written specifically about practicing, like how the term time management is a misnomer, that it's really all about productivity. Just like the practice room!
   
• Any freelance musician should read this piece on the 7 essential skills every entrepreneur must master. You may not consider yourself an entrepreneur, but the most successful freelancers sure do think like one.

A cloudy pier awaiting a cruise ship in Juneau, Alaska, taken on a Boston Brass trip there to perform with the Enso Quartet in 2013.