Jazz Education

Preparing for Stage Performance

Quite often people ask me about how long I have played guitar, how many hours a day I practice, and things of that nature.

I think the more important issue is “how” and “why” I practice. I’d like to convey to you a painful, but ultimately great – story from my past regarding practice and stage preparation.

Maybe this will resonate within you, and give you some ideas about what you need to be doing, practice wise.

I was 15 years old, and was a classical guitar student at the Bloomingdale House of Music in NYC. Each year, they had an end of year recital. I was an older advanced student, so other’s (and my) expectations of my playing were high.

I had been learning the Courante of Bach’s 3rd cello suite, and could play it pretty well – but only from reading the score.

So…I went out on stage thinking I knew it, and fell on my face. Had to stop playing after 3 bars.

My mind went blank.

My stomach sank.

Lather, rinse, repeat. I tried 2 more times, and fell on my face.

The piece just pooped out after 3 bars. Oh God!!!!

Parents were holding their hands over their faces in horror. It was the ultimate “knot in the stomach from humiliation” moment for everyone in the room. Horrible, thunderous silence. Zero humor.

The director of the school came onstage and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Now everyone,” he said “what do we do when this happens?” Oh great, now he was making an example of me. Was this supposed to make me feel better?

I wanted to die.

I then played a piece I knew “Adelita” by Tarrega…and…shuffled off.

Afterwards, everyone was telling me “No, really you were good. Don’t feel bad, that has happened to us all, and can happen to anyone.” Yeah right. They tried to make me feel better. It sucked – they knew it, and I did too.

This was the worst moment in my life up until that time….but little did I know the fantastic lesson contained therein.

Now, when I practice my arrangements, I repeat, repeat, over over over. I vowed that this would never happen again. And it hasn’t.

Sometimes at home I STILL practice pieces I have played 10,000 times, and I wonder if I am crazy by doing them once more…and then I realize….being “bulletproof” for stage is more important to me than being “creative” on stage. Creativity has a different place, for me.

I still practice “Superstition”, “Billie Jean” and all the songs I could play onstage years ago. Just to keep em in check.

And 2 nights ago I played a 1000 seat theater after a plane ride, car rental, hotel check in and a frozen TV dinner as my meal.

I was exhausted, but the performance was solid, bulletproof and the people loved it.

What do you think served me and the audience on stage?

What served me was the ability to slam dunk 2 bulletproof arrangements. This only comes from repetition, repetition, repetition.

By doing this repetition, the fingers and music are auto pilot – in a sense.

This way you have mental resources to deal with everything else: communication with the audience, nerves, exhaustion, a weird crackle in a patch cable, lights shining in your face and so on.

Now….get to work! 🙂

How To Write a Song – (Reprise – A la Seth Godin)

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

You can have the best mics, preamps and converters.
You can have Logic Pro.
You can have all the plug ins.
You can have the samples.

You can have the look.
You can have the groove.
You can have the online presence.
You can have 100 bazillion youtube hits.

You can have the lyrics.
You can have the dance moves.
You can have the sex appeal.
You can have the “gigs” in the hip spots.

You can have the intellectual explanation.
You can have the university teaching position.
You can have the “chops.”
You can have the harmonic know-how.

=-=-=

All of that is fine and good and adds tremendously to a musical experience.

I’m not dissing any of that. It’s all very good and excellent stuff!!!

However in the end, after all of that….

Sing me the melody.

How to Write a Song

By Adam Rafferty 24 Comments

I know this is a very bold title to a post, but after reading some horrifying information online yesterday on the topic of songwriting, I felt like I had to throw my hat in the ring on this subject.

On a portal “expert answer” site I saw an article that looked like “well, you have written some words, and some chords, and now you need to find a good melody.”

Editorial opinion: you have not written a song yet if you have “chords in search of a melody.”
[Read more…] about How to Write a Song

Music: There’s More Than One Way to Do It

By Adam Rafferty 42 Comments

Greets friends. I am riding the train across Germany on a gorgeous August morning. Now I’m just passing Bonn – Beethoven’s hometown.

This past week I taught a small workshop with 6 attendees. A few of the students were semi-pro players. Over dinner one night, a very interesting discussion arose with the students. [Read more…] about Music: There’s More Than One Way to Do It

Everyone Needs a Coach

By Adam Rafferty 6 Comments

A few days ago I walked out of my apartment, on the way for a Starbucks coffee and lo! I saw 2 young fellows and one of them was stringing an acoustic guitar.

He was winding the pegs slowly by hand, so I had to pre-empt the Starbucks trip.

“Hold on, let me help you.” I went back upstairs, snagged a pegwinder (with clippers) and an extra set of strings, and a CD as a gift.

“Gimme that” I said. I showed him how to wind strings on quickly using this tool. I offered him the strings as a backup, and the CD was simply to inspire him.

I asked the guys their plan.

“We’re gonna play in the subway and see if we can make some money.”

“Cool, kick ass!” I told ’em.

On the way back from Starbucks, they were still in front of my building, rehearsing.

“Hey do you guys have a postcard or something to give out to people?” I asked.

“Um, no.”

“What if you draw a crowd and people dig it? You gotta hand them something otherwise they’ll have no idea who you were. They’ll forget about you in 10 minutes.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

We went on with a few other topics, but my point is that these guys needed a coach.

My years of experience allowed me to call up “bullet points” in seconds, and quickly identify the “holes” in their strategy.

That made me think “Heck, I am no different. I need a coach, since there are probably things slipping past me too!” (In fact, I’d love to still be taking guitar lessons…)

I went home immediately and called Rick Goetz – (http://musiciancoaching.com/) a well respected music coach – to set up a session for myself. I meet him at 4:30 today.

With a the new “I Remember Michael” CD out – I bet there’s something that Rick can teach me strategically.

I’ll let you know how the meeting goes, I am excited.