455: How to Learn a Piece

How do we learn a piece?

That’s a question thatI recently put out to the Contrabass Conversations community.  The responses I got back were fascinating.

While we all have a different approach to learning a piece (as you’ll see in this episode!), there are certain recurring approaches that I discovered:

1. Listening to recordings
2. Watching videos on YouTube.
3. Beginning with a “bird’s eye” perspective
4. Playing along with recordings.
5. Working in chunks.
6. Connecting small chunks to form bigger chunks.
7. Slow practice.
8. Identifying key notes in phrases.

This podcast episode consists of advice from Ed Maxwell, Cristóbal Caballero, Dennis Bergevin, Gaelen McCormick, David Feldman, Marcel Villaflor, David Goodwin, David Heyes, James Lambert, Kurt Muroki, Paul Cannon, Paul Sanwald, Martin Zuinglio, Peggy Johnston, Nathan May, Sharif Ibrahim, Danielle Meyer, Joshua Henry Endo, Chantal Incandela, Peter Tambroni, and Ayrian Yasar.

We also feature excerpts from past interviews with Paul Cannon, Peter Tambroni, Leon Bosch, and Diana Gannett.

Book recommendations:

• The Art of Practicing by Madeline Bruser
• The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green
• The Musician’s Way by Gerald Glickstein

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Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

D'Addario Strings

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