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1,377 Posts
Practice, Performing and The Business
"...That's one of the secrets of performing. If you're thinking about being up on the bandstand, if you're conscious about what you're playing and what's going on around you, you're not 'playing'. Too many players want everything tightly organized and arranged; that gets too mechanical. When you're playing, forget about all the scales and chord progressions and things you've learned; just go out, let your fingers do the walking, and see where the music leads. Another way of looking at it, if you're laying in bed and you're aware of laying in bed, then you're not sleeping. And when you're dreaming, you're not thinking about dreaming, you're just dreaming. It's the same with music; if you're thinking about playing, you're not playing!
Don't let distractions take you away from the music. You can be aware of things without having to think about them. Tune into the musicians around you, to what they're saying, to where they're going. Slip into the rhythm. Be free within it..."
https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/Jon-Smith-1.html
"…We were still a pretty high profile band, still getting good service from the national music press, playing large prestige venues to thousands of screaming girlies, yet we were all stony broke. You only can live on adrenaline for so long; one thing is for sure, it doesn't pay the bills...People assume that because you have graced the same stage as the star act, in front of thousands, you must be reaping similar financial rewards. This is a complete fallacy..."
"URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Resources/JohnBarrow.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Resources/JohnBarrow.html[/URL]
Roadmaps, Keith Richards, Influences, The Recording Studio
"..We were playing 300 gigs a year. Every month, the manager would hand us the itinerary. Sometimes, it seemed like we were playing every little town on the map, including towns that weren't on the map and that no one had ever heard of! By 1988 -89, we'd recorded our first album for Virgin records in America. It was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida with the legendary producer Tom Dowd (who also had recorded John Coltrane and King Curtis)..."
URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/JohnnyFerreira1.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/JohnnyFerreira1.html[/URL]
Expectations, Perfectionism, Performance
"...Worry turns you inward, cuts you off. I used to think that if I made a mistake, the entire set was messed up and horrible. But, if you really break it down to the first song, then the second, and so on, some will be good, some less so, and you suddenly realize that out of two hours, maybe only 5% wasn't that good. But that 5% shouldn't be the only part that you remember and therefore make you feel bad about your playing. The memories of that negative emotion can carry over to the next gig, and after a while you're in trouble.
"People are going to listen to what they want to listen to, and even if there was a part that wasn't that good, they will fly past that with their memories and remember more of an overall feeling for performance. The more you focus on yourself and worry that you'll make mistakes, you won't be positive and that's what the audience will leave with; not that you played bad, but you weren't positive and confident about your music...."
URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Jazz/KenFornetran1.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Jazz/KenFornetran1.html[/URL]
"...That's one of the secrets of performing. If you're thinking about being up on the bandstand, if you're conscious about what you're playing and what's going on around you, you're not 'playing'. Too many players want everything tightly organized and arranged; that gets too mechanical. When you're playing, forget about all the scales and chord progressions and things you've learned; just go out, let your fingers do the walking, and see where the music leads. Another way of looking at it, if you're laying in bed and you're aware of laying in bed, then you're not sleeping. And when you're dreaming, you're not thinking about dreaming, you're just dreaming. It's the same with music; if you're thinking about playing, you're not playing!
Don't let distractions take you away from the music. You can be aware of things without having to think about them. Tune into the musicians around you, to what they're saying, to where they're going. Slip into the rhythm. Be free within it..."
https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/Jon-Smith-1.html
"…We were still a pretty high profile band, still getting good service from the national music press, playing large prestige venues to thousands of screaming girlies, yet we were all stony broke. You only can live on adrenaline for so long; one thing is for sure, it doesn't pay the bills...People assume that because you have graced the same stage as the star act, in front of thousands, you must be reaping similar financial rewards. This is a complete fallacy..."
"URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Resources/JohnBarrow.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Resources/JohnBarrow.html[/URL]
Roadmaps, Keith Richards, Influences, The Recording Studio
"..We were playing 300 gigs a year. Every month, the manager would hand us the itinerary. Sometimes, it seemed like we were playing every little town on the map, including towns that weren't on the map and that no one had ever heard of! By 1988 -89, we'd recorded our first album for Virgin records in America. It was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida with the legendary producer Tom Dowd (who also had recorded John Coltrane and King Curtis)..."
URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/JohnnyFerreira1.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Rock_n_Roll/JohnnyFerreira1.html[/URL]
Expectations, Perfectionism, Performance
"...Worry turns you inward, cuts you off. I used to think that if I made a mistake, the entire set was messed up and horrible. But, if you really break it down to the first song, then the second, and so on, some will be good, some less so, and you suddenly realize that out of two hours, maybe only 5% wasn't that good. But that 5% shouldn't be the only part that you remember and therefore make you feel bad about your playing. The memories of that negative emotion can carry over to the next gig, and after a while you're in trouble.
"People are going to listen to what they want to listen to, and even if there was a part that wasn't that good, they will fly past that with their memories and remember more of an overall feeling for performance. The more you focus on yourself and worry that you'll make mistakes, you won't be positive and that's what the audience will leave with; not that you played bad, but you weren't positive and confident about your music...."
URL="https://www.saxontheweb.net/Jazz/KenFornetran1.html"]https://www.saxontheweb.net/Jazz/KenFornetran1.html[/URL]
