When do you stop....?

You might notice that I always start my Heads Up posts with a question. That's to get you asking, ".........what?", and then you might read the little piece of musical advice I have for you today.

Now I'm sure you want to know what it is, so I'll tell you.

Have you ever gone to a concert with someone you know who plays music. You both sit down in row J and you're having a nice time. Then, about 15 seconds after the second song starts,
the person you went out with says, "I think it's a rhythm changes." In the fourth song, they say, "There's a lot of ii-V-Is." Fifth song, "It's an AABA." Last song, "The pianist is comping---" and then you cut them off to say something like the title of the post?

Now, here's the important word that comes after when do you stop. That word is....

Analyzing.

That's an important thing that we "jazzers" have to do. We analyze songs when we listen to them because that makes us better at music. It trains us to notice things when we hear them, and possibly add them to our own playing.

But here's the thing, which I've heard referred to as the "curse of a musician", we can't stop analyzing. We can't just listen to a song.

I almost got into that trap which I told you about above, when I went to a concert just this Wednesday. When I heard something the bassist was playing, I instantly started listening to the notes. A few seconds later, I wanted to say, "It's a rhythm changes," but I knew that no one would understand me because not everyone does this, uh, music thing.

So if you play an instrument, feel free to keep analyzing your songs as long as you're not saying too many confusing terms to other people. And if you don't want to worry about that, feel free to get them involved in music too. Because music and alone don't go together.