Are you using.....?

Ah....once again, a question mark post. Actually, the first since Seven come Eleven, which was 6 posts ago. I said back in my Maybe post that I would give you the songs from a while back after 25 posts. Seems like I don't keep my promises, huh? I was only one song over the mark, though. So you can expect the old songs (hopefully) a week from now. I'm hoping that you haven't decided not to trust me with any future plans I reveal.

Now, I should probably start my post. This one was inspired by two things which both border on the same concept. The first was an article on Learn Jazz Standards which talked about improvising with awareness. This basically means playing without thinking about other stuff, which can be quite difficult since life is filled with so many distractions. This causes our attention spans to shorten and creates problems for musicians because we are constantly separated from what we are playing.

But if you've gotten "into it," then you're hardly thinking about anything. You've forgotten your worries about what's going to happen. The emotions behind your playing get clearer and more obvious. One can't just put themselves into that state, but practice in using your thoughts the right way makes this a lot easier. If we observe our minds and realize how we are getting distracted while playing music, it becomes a lot easier to solve the problem and let go of our self-conscious thought.

The second thing was yesterday's concert, which was made up of performances by all the students at the college that hosted it. It was a bit hard for me to find a convenient time to go, but now, I'm glad I went. I heard many different styles of jazz that I hadn't heard before.

The key word of this post - using - comes in again. Using your ears is one of the most important things you can do when you listen to a new song. If you're saying, "I can't learn anything by listening to varying styles of music," then you've got no ground to stand on. 

If you don't know what to do with your time, use your eyes and ears and look at something. As the LJS article suggested, why don't you ask yourself questions about what you can see, hear, and feel around you? How do those observations make you feel? There's always something new to observe and explore in the world that we usually take for granted. You might discover something you never noticed before, and you may be surprised at how it can take boredom and distraction away.

Take the things you have, your ears and your brain, and put them to good use. There isn't anything to lose by listening to songs and thinking about the world around you. It's good practice for anyone who wants to play music well. In fact, I think I'd better get cracking on the list of "Food for Thought" questions that the article suggested. I think I'll start with this one, which is real easy when I'm listening to music: "What am I hearing?"