I'm coming back to Substack after a long reset that was triggered by my time in the hospital in the fall of 2023. (All better now.)
I'm starting fresh with a new slant on an old idea. It seems like a good new organizing principle for Practice Better, Play Better.
The old idea is this:
Enjoy your practicing.
My new slant is this:
Why is it that when I get up in the morning I can't wait to start practicing?
Writing about that will, I think, do two good things:
It will help me sustain and extend my enjoyment of practicing.
It will help people who read what I write find, sustain and extend their own joy and enjoyment in their own practicing.
And, of course, when that happens, we'll all practice better, and when you practice better, you play better.
So that's my new organizing principle:
Explore my joy in practicing and share what I find.
“Explore the joy” sounds good but it's not very specific, so there will still be a lot of nuts-and-bolts stuff in Practice Better, Play Better. Some will be familiar, mostly because I've mentioned them here before and I still find them helpful. And some will be new.
For example:
I use a metronome a lot, but lately I've been practicing against a clave (KLA-vay), and I like that a lot better. If a metronome is walking, or plodding, a clave is dancing.
Clave is a rhythmic pattern that will be instantly familiar when you hear it. It's fundamental to Afro-Cuban music, but has spread way beyond that. (Think of “Iko Iko” or “Not Fade Away.”)
My metronome doesn't want to play a clave, so I've been using YouTube videos, of which there are lots. Clave is just as rigorous as a metronome, but less mechanical and more musical. It has has a distinct pattern of beats and accents, so there's more to work with and more to be interested in. It has an infectious “feel,” as well. Where the metronome is insistent, the clave is suggestive.
For me the clave is more fun, and this may be where the joy comes in. It inspires a looser, more inventive, but still rhythmically precise type of playing. It's more engaging. It's a little like playing with another person. It's like having an interesting teacher instead of a dull teacher. I want to play against the clave more than I want to play against a metronome. So I enjoy it more, and therefore do it more.
Try it and see, and let me know how you do.
By the way, clave is also an instrument - two hardwood sticks that you click together. I bought a pair, and I’m using them to play along with music I like. It has only been two days, so, in deference to the millions of people who play clave for real, I’ll wait a little before I talk about how much fun I’m having.
so glad you are back with more "joyful" ways to practice!
And a big go ahead to explore new instruments.
Delighted that you are back, and looking forward to more about joy.