Musicianship Mastery with David Lane
Do you want to be a great musician? A well-rounded musician? Maybe you’re already a good musician, and you want to take that next step. To do that, you need to be able to sight-read well, play by ear, compose or improvise, understand the art of practice, and be versatile in many other ways. Musicianship Mastery (formerly known as The Musician Toolkit) explores these tools, how to improve them, and how you can apply them to a variety of gigs and musical careers whether you’re a professional musician or a committed artist who makes your income outside of music. Join us on a quest to improve your musicianship and to make you the most well-rounded musician you can be!
Episodes
The label "professional" is misunderstood across many levels, including music. While the average professional will be more accomplished than the average amateur, the label isn't about skill itself. The term "amateur" can apply to musicians who are just getting started as well as those who have been at it for a while but for whom music is more of something to dabble in as time permits. Then there are the dedicated ...
I've discussed Dr. William Schirmer no less than 4 times on this podcast before. He was my music composition professor for 4 years as well as an extremely prolific composer in his own right. He sadly passed away very recently, and this episode is a chance to tell the world more about this bonafide musical genius as well as the lessons he taught me and my friends that still influence how we see the world of music today.&...
When you get your first gigs for things like weddings, musical theatre, recording sessions, or even film scores and other opportunities, how do you make such a good impression that you rise to the top of the call list and stay there?
As someone who has worked to be top of mind in this area for many such gigs, and as a music director who has hired more than 100 musicians, it's understood that your musical skills need to be good enou...
What do I wish I had done differently as a piano student? As I look back on my time studying music before I officially began my professional journey, there are several things I wish I had either done better or not avoided the way I did. I hope this video will help inspire you to maximize as well as enjoy the time you have as you study music.
Book a free trial lesson with me online for piano, music composition, or music theory.
What's one thing you can do to get better at playing music sooner? Most students wish they could progress faster, but don't feel the sense of urgency that they should to learn all of their technique, in every key, played as accurately and as fast as possible. Technique is treated as some bit of trivia that might come in handy sometime, when actually...it's EVERYTHING. Give me 20 minutes, and I'll do my best to persuade you why this...
At some point in your music goals, you may want a private teacher. With so many teachers to choose from, how do you find the RIGHT one for you and your needs? In this video, I offer the idea of a menu that you can customize for yourself and use in the interview process of choosing the right teacher. Hopefully I make it clear that I myself am not the right teacher for everyone, but I am for some.
Practicing an instrument does NOT require you to spend days or weeks practicing the same music with little to show for it. You can and should change how you structure your practice to always see progress. Practice should be fun, and always seeing progress is how you make sure it's fun. This episode will share how I make sure that I never go any longer than 5 minutes without a LOT of progress.
Why is practicing music hard? Why aren't you making more progress than you think you should? There's a mindset skill that is essential to understand and embrace before any other tips or approaches will have any effect on you getting better and better at music.
If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic....
No talk on musicianship skills this week. Instead, I wanted to chat with listeners about some recent changes to the podcast that you may have noticed, changes going forward, and why these changes. Looking forward to returning next week with another music lesson.
If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find all episodes of this podcast at https://www.d...
No matter what instrument you play, singing will make you a better musician! Basic vocal skills will enhance your musicianship in a profound way that never quite gets developed without them. This episode will talk about the unique qualities of musicianship that only singing can offer, some basics of good singing, as well as a plan for how you can guide yourself to improve your vocal skills. This is the 2nd of a 2-part series....
Regardless of your principal instrument, if you want to be a well-rounded musician, it's essential to have some basic intermediate piano skills. In this episode, I talk about why it's considered essential by most conservatories, what types of skills you should know, and how you can guide your self-education.
This episode may best be appreciated as a video on YouTube where every technique that is mentioned is also shown.
If you want to build a successful career in music, this is not the 1990s, nor is it even the 2010s, when the path was much different. A few things never go out of style, such as practicing well and networking, but nearly everything else is different from when I began my journey nearly 30 years ago. My definition of a successful career is modest: I've been able to pay all of my bills and have enough money left over for moderate enjo...
Why is it that you stop practicing on a piece or a technique, and most of it is gone within a year if not a few months? That's been true for me too. However, there are plenty of exceptions - pieces I could ignore for over a year and sit down to play from memory like I'd practiced it yesterday. In this episode, I talk about what the pieces that stick all have in common versus the ones that just disappear, and what you can do to make...
The art of being an accompanist is applicable to all sorts of situations, including playing in an ensemble with other musicians without a conductor. I've accompanied hundreds of musicians for at least 35 years, and these are my thoughts on how to do it well.
Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit.
If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can find al...
Even if conducting isn't a major goal, every good musician should know what to do if presented with an opportunity to lead an ensemble in rehearsal or a performance. This episode will introduce you to the basics of preparing for a rehearsal, how to lead the rehearsal, how to lead a performance, and the basics of baton technique and other hand instructions.
Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit.
This is the third and final episode of sharing my notes on Molly Gebrian's fantastic book, "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best. In this episode, we talk about how to get truly ready for performance and how to make sure your memory of all your repertoire is reliable.
Musicianship Mastery is for...
This is the 2nd of 3 episodes where I share my notes on one of the best books I've read recently: Molly Gebrian's "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best. In this second episode, we talk about how you can improve your sense of internal rhythm and techniques you can use to get your music up ...
One of the best books I've read recently was Molly Gebrian's "Learn Faster, Perform Better", a book about how the brain scientifically responds to learning music and how we can approach practice to maximize what the brain does best. This is the first of 3 episodes where I share my notes. In this first episode, we talk about the basics of music and neurology when it comes to learning, how to schedule your practice effect...
You've heard of composing and improvising, but there are 3 other ways you can choose to create music. This episode goes over each, and a summary of what you need to do to get better at each one.
Musicianship Mastery is formerly known as The Musician Toolkit.
Let me know your thoughts on this episode as a voice message to possibly share on a future episode at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit
Have you ever heard that classical musicians only like classical music, or that composers are free spirits who are guided by the muse, or that they all love to stay up late at night and get up late in the morning? Stereotypes are fun because each one is true for SOME musicians, but not for all and often not for most. Sometimes musicians themselves may fit a stereotype and not realize that many other musicians aren't the...
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