The Hard Truth About Learning Music

This was awesome!! Thank you Open Studio

I’d go to this church

it's funny how when i was starting to enjoy playing music 2 years ago i played so freely and actually make decent music but now it's just more theory and less playing and it get to the point where it's just sound soulless, 4 on the beat perfect Rythm with 4 chord cycle.

I definitely found listening to my body when practicing helps, if you don't feel it, put your instrument down and do something else for minute. If you really want to play and are meant to play, you'll want to in time.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Brought me to tears. Brilliant speech and beautiful playing in the background

Merci Adam pour ces superbes mots, merci Peter pour ces notes inspirées. I feel much better this morning, after a week of frustration feeling targetless. I'll keep the 5 rules from now.
Thank for all❤

Piano piano va lontano....Andante ma non troppo, gracias por sus palabras, son m'usica para mis oidos...

I needed to
Hear this. Thank you

"In the eyes of infinity, we'll always be children.."
Great vid!

Absolutely love your videos in which you teach and share music, and I love equally these videos that focus upon the mental aspects of our music journey. Thank you so much for all you do!

Love the noodles

I have been working on memorizing jazz standards. I play vibraphone and drums.
I have been using the approach of saying the key changes outl oud while I play.  
Learning a lot of tunes this way seems like an endless task, even though there are progressions and changes common to many tunes.
Is there point where you just hear the chord quality and the chord changes without thinking about it ? Should I be putting more importance on training my ears to hear the quality of the chords or will this improve on its own ?

Great speech thanks !!!

it's always great to hear that my struggles are common. i was always obsessed that i need to know all the theory before i start doing something. now i will try to just take more fun from playing guitar and making beats. thank you!

Your "woke" choice displaying so many b. guys in your little videos excerpts was f. tiring.

Man you got me on my feet! I saw you and Brian Owens do a masterclass during my undergrad at Webster a few years ago about similar topics and it left an impression on me. This video is a nice reminder, thanks Adam.

Loved the video. Really helpful. Thank you so much.

Great video, I agree that without mentoring or guidance is very tough, but I wonder if of you guys are available for online lessons or mentoring any of the Open Studio members?

I have none of these thoughts but it's interesting to know others do.

The only time I play music period is to record my next song. No practice. Never noodling. Everything I play is just to record something musical and get it out there.

My advice is find a song that you can easily play then play the heck out of it then play it for (or with) friends. My beginner song was Horse With No Name by America. Being able to play it along with the radio motivated me to keep going for another 50 years.

Thank you so much for this video. You have affirmed my intuitions as I have started to work on learning an instrument from scratch with a teacher, exercises, etc. (Not really working.). I had concluded what would be best is just to play around with the instrument for a while rather than taking formal "lessons.". This video is excellent and right on time. Thanks again.

great video but next lower the volume of the background music

Some very good advice here sir. Thank you for the refresher! :)

Sage advice that should help anyone who uses it. It immediately brought to mind an interview that Eric Clapton gave decades ago. When asked about his proficiency, he replied, "the secret is to 'just play. Don't put a time limit on it, just use everyday to play.'" EC was talking about the "process of discovery" where a musician might discover something completely by accident that hadn't occurred to them or solved a mystery on "how that is done." Then the next steps to "learn it" by practice so that it becomes a "part of the player, a tool that the player can use."

A story of practical application is the one that Joe Walsh tells. Joe routinely practices and warms up in the dressing room prior to an Eagles concert. One night as he was practicing, Glenn Frey rushed into where Joe was working. "What's that song?" Frey asked. Joe replied, "it's not a song, it's just a little exercise I use to warm up."

Frey sat down and had Joe run through the chord progression to learn it. Then he got up to say, "I gotta find (Don) Henley. This is an Eagles' song!" The two knocked heads together and came up with one of the Eagles' signature songs built on Joe Walsh's exercise. The name of the song? "Life in the Fast Lane."

There's this thing call myelin sheath that is more pliable at a younger age. Not a lost cause as you get older but it takes many more repetitions to facilitate a change in neuron transmission speed, receptivity, etc.

Thanks buddy

Peter Martin just murdering it in this video

I’ve been teaching piano for quite some time. I’ve radically changed the way I teach in the last 2 years from being militant about reading, to encouraging students to play by ear, make mistakes, JOIN THE SCHOOL BAND. Of course I’m applying it to my own playing as much as possible and my teaching and playing are much, much better. I was terrified to play piano with other people. Now I’m enjoying the hell out of it and getting better much faster improvising. There are so many different aspects to learning music and they all need to be nurtured. Most classical teachers miss this and many of their students lose interest in music and quit.

Great Video Sir...from my journeys it seems also to be about NEW Neural Pathways...and the young mind is an empty "psychic sponge"...unhindered by all other adult responsibilities...
{of course their are the physical aspects of the muscles of the hand and their young/or older already formed aspects too}...but music IS just like Martial Arts...there MUST BE a beginners mind at all times to grow...

You have to play... It's that simple 😌

Is it about literally play anything? Without thinking of anything?

The best players play by ear. You dont need to understand what youre doing, just do it, flow :)

So, you mention that "it's nurture!" ... you are not wrong. As a behaviour analyst, I can confirm that it is whatever happens in the environment that sets up for learning and reinforces that learning (at least if organised correctly).

Wow... Pure wisdom... Thanks 🙏

zen mind, beginner's mind

Adam this video is genius on every level. Love the production and the live soundtrack by Peter! And there were some wonderful tips in there that I didn’t expect.

IMHO part of why we older music students tend to feel frustrated is in part due to entitlement. Older students may have disposable income and been successful in a professional career. They literally don’t have the awareness of just how much shedding it’s going to take. For example they wouldn’t question years of studying law or medicine but forget the music can be equally demanding.

I used to make this mistake of wasting my music lesson with psychological questions around practice or lack of progress. My theory now is don’t waste any precious time with a music teacher on psychology, if you need therapy go get that separately 😂

Be kind to yourself, find community like OS pro and have fun! Play on!

You guys are so helpful and creative...

Don't know when this vid was made, but that "Hit Me Peter Martin!" is the "shizzle"... & yes, you are VERY, VERY, VERY fortunate to have Peter Martin at arms reach!

I'm so thankful for my community orchestra. A place to play, to be inspired, to inspire, to perform, to grow, to connect with other, and to learn.

Beautiful. Very insightful.
Thank you. Much appreciated

I love this! Funny thing is, I already know and I still love to be reminded. Grown-up life is habitually serious, and (just going to say it) almost everyone is habitually self-critical a lot of the time, especially when trying to get better at something.
A lot of the best musicians I know say that when you practice, you should practice hard and keep at it until you get it to sound the way you want, and then when it's time to play, forget about practicing and just play.
Accomplishing anything in any art comes from doing both: practicing hard in practice, then letting go of practice and being playful when it's time to play. Each mental state is its own type of genius: practice builds mental and physical intelligence, and play brings emotional intelligence. It all really requires a lot of work along with plenty of time of no-work.

Great vid - wise words. Thanks.

great video -- applicable to many areas of life beyond music too!

Love this!!!!!