Timothy's Blog

Timothy's blog on dulcimers, music, nature and life!
JUN
08

The great value of 'Repeat One'

The great value of 'Repeat One'

One of the great advantages of digital recordings --- CDs, .mp3s, etc. --- is that you can set up playback for shuffle/random, for repeating an album or playlist, or for repeating one track.

That last one, repeating a single track, is wonderful for getting your fill of a favorite piece without having to hit the ‘return’ button each time (or in the case of magnetic tapes of all kinds, setting zero and rewinding to it); but I also find tremendous value in the ‘repeat one’ feature of any playback system: for learning something new!

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4925 Hits
MAY
05

Isolating a musical passage for practice

Isolating a musical passage for practice

If you’ve practiced music for a performance or audition or jurying, you’ve probably run across a passage that’s especially hard to get just right; in Classical music in particular there are lots of downright ‘virtuoso’ spots that need to have every note in place, or else they’re just wrong….

So it’s commonly known that you need to isolate a tough passage and play it over and over till it’s ready to be joined with the easier phrases.

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6539 Hits
SEP
04

Playing in an ensemble

Playing in an ensemble

Although nowadays I play solo most of the time, I love to join with other musicians in ensembles when I can, and have a series of different groups planned throughout the rest of this year: church worship team, acoustic duets, trios, quartets, even an Old-Time/Celtic sextet!  If you play with other musicians, you need to make many decisions about how each player’s role fits into the overall picture.

I as an improviser tend to look for ways I can come up with special countermelodies and textural enhancements --- as well as creative, meaningful interpretations of the melody when it’s my turn to play lead, or improvisational breaks when called for.

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25458 Hits
JUL
31

Crossing thresholds

Crossing thresholds

Often when musicians are practicing a new technique or working toward mastering a passage, we find ourselves coming up against the proverbial brick wall:  It sure looks like we’re working in vain!  Yet a few more earnest runs through the series of movements of our hands, and we still seem to be making no progress….

Maybe it’s time to give up…. We’ll never get this one to the way it’s supposed to be….

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23016 Hits

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