why practice when you can have fun a practice guide for the full time musician

[diverse379]

Hello LGm

I am back fine and in good health
I was handling some political stuff going on in my church new pastor new Minister of music

new house

and new classes in school
so a lot has been going on


thank you all who corresponded with me and inquired about me

I am flattered and honored

well on to this topic

we all know or have heard that practice makes perfect

some of us practice more than others
some of us need more practice than others

and some of us have a difficult time practicing

When I was the solo musician at my church I just learned whatever I was going to teach
but now I dont choose the music
so I have to be flexible
I decided just learn all the church music I can it will make me better able to pick up music when I hear it




I have always been big on practicing
but lately since I started going to school
I found it very hard to practice what i want and need b ecause school was just being too much of a time consumer

well I took a trip to visit my father for a week
and I had access to a piano but only for an hour
and i devised a practice method that fueled my playing it is similar to a method I outlined a little over a year ago

where you divide your practice tiime between technique reading ear
styles etc

For this practice method you will need

a hymn book African Heritage  or a cD of hymns or churchy songs

a technique book like hanon or berringer or piscna

A chord substitution book and a chord book

a gospel technique book or an instructional DVD

the idea of this method is to hit it and quit it

dont spend too much time on any one thing

if you have an hour the two biggest chunks of time would be on technique and songs

harmony and style get little chunks

the four areas you are building
are
technique  (melody)
harmony (chords voicings substitutions)
style (how to make your music sound like you want it to sound)
repoitoire (having a bag of songs at your finger tips to play

this method is fast and pretty fun
after a while you will start hitting on things that are pretty incredible

I started with hanon
since i used to do it a lot
i was able to get up to about hanon 17 right away
on the first day  10 minutes

then i played all my scales in all 12 keys  7 minutes

and appeggios

once i finished them i stopped immediately

and i opened up a substitute chord book
i read one concept just one 

played it a few times transposed it to about 7 keys
then stopped put that book away   5 minutes 

so far about 25 minutes have passed

i then opened up
gospel piano by kurt cowling  (yes I still have that book )

I opened up to a concept played that took it through all the keys
and then closed the book
about 5 minutes
next i opened up my hymn book
and began playing one of the songs
on page one which was bless the Lord oh my soul
since i knew that song pretty well
i went on to the next song
Come let us worship the lord


i played that until my hour was up


I did this method for a week

when the week was up I noticed a definite improvement in my technique
my harmonic instincts
my timing
and I learned how to play 4 new songs by the end of the week



now it is three weeks later

I am up to hanon 34

I have completed one new chapter in the kurt cowling book

I finished all the substitute concepts and I now am working out of a chord book
(one chord through all the keys)

and I have learned 10 new songs from the hymn book
and I am sight reading these



I also have been invigorated to get into my dvd library


here is the low down
we should practice
and if we do we should make it fun

if you spend a little time on the tedious stuff
consistently you will get better
but not so much time you burn yourself out

if you have any technique book it doesent have to be hanon

incorporate it because technique will allow you to execute everything you do with more polish

if you have any book on harmony
utilize it
read a concept or two apply it practice the one concept around the cycle and put it away

it could be a two chord progression
a substitution idea
or a new chord voicing

if you cant read then get out a cd of hymns or your favorite songs and begin to learn them from the record


I think what makes this practice method work is
A) it doesent take too long  it can be done in as little as an hour or as long as 5 hours

B )  It covers a lot of areas at once so you will be developing in several areas at the same time

C) your vocabulary is growing because you have style book
like Gospel Piano or your favorite instructional DVd
and you are building little by little

D) you are learning new songs whether it be from the hymn book or a cd
you are learning authentic music and that can only help build you,


I am very happy with this new practice method
I find that I have lot of time to spend on the things I enjoy like learning new songs and just playing and making beautiful music

I used to spend a lot of time on harmony and voicings
but that really wasnt that enjoyable
now
by learning the songs from the hymn book
I am learning all sorts of new ideas and methods
and accompanying strategies

try it for a couple of weeks and let me know how it works out
or what changes you may make that work better

[Fenix]

This is good stuff. Can you recommend any good chord substitution book? Thanks.

[chevonee]

Wow this is very helpful information. Thanks for sharing this and its good to see you back.

[Mysteryman]

Yeah real good stuff. Maybe I will get back on it.

[elio]

All I can say is - you're BAAAAAACK!
Good to see you mate.

[diverse379]

This is good stuff. Can you recommend any good chord substitution book? Thanks.

there is a substitute book that I used for this method that I bought from the Hampton conference
it can also be bought online at ntime music

its simply called chord substitutions
gospel piano resource
the chords are not written in notes but letters
and chord qualities

I believe the author is debbie hess

you can order online also at
www.jazzchristian.com

I have another substitution book that I also recommend but I cannot locate it now to give you the author

the first book is simple and it is geared to gospel
so i do recommend it
for this practice method outlined above.

[musallio]

This is good stuff. Can you recommend any good chord substitution book? Thanks.

This is great stuff Diverse..

Fenix man, I try to come up with my own subs..By doing so, I find that I can retain the stuff better.
Obviously I take the chords from here & see how they fit into what I already know..I then integrate them into my chorded scales chart which is on constant upgrade.