Musicianship Mastery with David Lane

How can you plan a music rehearsal that is efficient and effective? In the world of musical theatre, the music director is responsible for planning music rehearsals to teach all vocal parts to a cast where not everyone sings on every song.  There's also only a few rehearsals available to teach everything.  Planning good music rehearsals requires organization and creativity.  In this episode, I use recent productions of INTO THE WOODS and ROCK OF AGES as different examples of how I prepare for music rehearsals. Technical note: The microphone sound is not quite as good as normal.  I will hopefully improve the issue for the next episode. 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

One possible part-time or full-time job for many musicians can be as a music director for a church.  Bob Moore is a composer with much experience as a music director for Catholic and Episcopalian churches.  David Lane is a composer with much experience as a music director for Baptist and Methodist churches.  In this episode, we chat about the musicianship tools needed to do the job well. Bob Moore's website is: https://www.bobmooremusic.com/ Technical note: The microphone sound for the host is not quite as good as normal, especially in the intro and outro. 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

If you want to succeed in music, how important is talent?  I shared a strong opinion on this way back on Episode 3 of this podcast.  I've thought about it a lot since then, and have since changed my mind about some of it but still feel strongly on other points.  With the 2024 Summer Olympics being a recent event that featured a lot of developed talent, I thought this would be a great time to revisit the topic.  Talent is a real trait that has a real say in what opportunities there are for you in music, but how much?  Also, listen to why using "You're so talented" as a compliment to young performers is potentially harmful. 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

The final core performance skill to explore is the ability to improvise.  This is a skill that is very natural to some musicians (and even non-musicians) and very mysterious and perhaps even scary to others.  And yet, it's the oldest of all the skills, the earliest way to create music.  It's also essential for every genre other than classical (and there was a time it was expected there as well).  Finally, it's the most pure way of learning how music works by disassembling it and putting it back together based on your own experience and understanding.  As with the previous episodes in this series, there are 10 exercises to get you started with improvisation. This is the 5th of a 5-part series.  If you missed it, check out the previous episodes in this series: The Four Core Skills Part 1: An Overview of the Skills The Four Core Skills Part 2: Sight Reading The Four Core Skills Part 3: Playing by Ear The Four Core Skills Part 4: Transposing   ALSO MENTIONED: Composing Your Own Practice Etudes | Ep37 Piano Improvisation Live in Concert 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Transposing is unique among the core skills in that it's the only one that is dependent on one of the other skills.  Being able to play well while reading music or by listening is required to give you a starting point.  The ability to take a piece of music from any source and change it to any of the other keys is a distinctive skill because it focuses on understanding music from a relative sense rather than absolute.  It requires you to think about WHY you're playing a certain note or chord rather than just WHAT to play.  As with the previous two episodes, there are 10 steps you can take to developing your core skill of transposing. This is the 4th of a 5-part series.  If you missed it, check out the previous episodes in this series: The Four Core Skills Part 1: An Overview of the Skills The Four Core Skills Part 2: Sight Reading The Four Core Skills part 3 - Playing by Ear 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

The 4 Core Performance Skills are the big skills that every musician should strive to master to be the most balanced and well-rounded musician possible, and to have success as a performer in EVERY situation.  The second of these core skills is playing by ear, or playing music with accuracy after hearing it played elsewhere but having no written score.  Whether you're a professional or a dedicated amateur, playing by ear is freedom.  You don't HAVE to find sheet music in order to play something you've heard.  Playing well by ear obviously involves time in ear training, but this episode discusses this and the other things you want to develop in order to be able to play something well just by listening. This is the 3rd of a 5-part series.  If you missed it, check out the previous episodes in this series: The Four Core Skills Part 1: An Overview of the Skills The Four Core Skills Part 1: Sight Reading 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

The 4 Core Performance Skills are the big skills that every musician should strive to master to be the most balanced and well-rounded musician possible, and to have success as a performer in EVERY situation.  The first of these core skills is sight reading.  Sight reading not only gives you essentially a head start on learning new music, it is ESSENTIAL for many jobs such as accompanists, studio session players, and theatre musicians.  Orchestral musicians get such little time with their music before a concert that without good sight reading skills, they will be way behind.  However, much like other core skills, learning it is often over-simplified into advice like "Just play new music" or "Keep your eyes moving ahead."  These are all fine approaches, but without addressing other aspects of your practice, it will be hard to become the best sightreader you can be. This episode offers actionable practice tips to improve your sightreading. This is the 2nd of a 5-part series.  If you missed it, check out the previous episode in this series: The Four Core Skills Part 1: An Overview of the Skills Past sight-reading episodes on this podcast:  Sight Reading Maverick (with Erica Sipes) Improving Sight Reading By Touch (with David Holter) Also check out Deciphering Written Rhythms (with David Krosner) For improving your speed and confidence in recognizing written notes, you can watch this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3a0tgr-X-0 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  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.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

There are many skills you need to become a great musician such as developing good technique, being good at ear training, and having a good knowledge of music theory.  None of these are the Core Skills but they help improve all four.  The 4 Core Performance Skills are the 4 types of situations that you might be expected to do in a performance.  Most people are better at one than the others, and only a small percentage of musicians take the time to become excellent at all 4.  If your practice leads you to develop all 4 skills as well as you can, you are going to find that you understand music from every angle and are the type of flexible musician who will be extremely valuable! This is the 1st of a 5-part series.  In this episode, learn what the 4 skills are and why I chose them.  The next 4 episodes will each focus on one skill at a time. Previous episode mentioned: Music Theory Checklist | Ep31 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  You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can also find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Simply put: you can't play music well unless you're subconscious mind is driving the bus.  If you're aware of having to think about each note, each rhythm, each aspect of the music before you play it, then you're still practicing with your conscious mind.  When you train your technique and repertoire beyond the point of awareness where your hands just seem to play by themselves, you have entered the subconscious zone with your music, and this is where the fun begins!  In this episode, learn how these two minds work and how to practice in one mode so that you train the other. 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  You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can also find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Have you ever thought you had a piece memorized only to play it for someone and you start having memory slips?  This is one of many common problems that can be solved through a process of troubleshooting, the same that an auto mechanic or computer technician might use.  Dr. Larry Weng of Wake Forest University talks about this approach of problem solving for your practice to find out what is really going on when surprises happen.  We also discuss a common question of high schoolers:  "SHOULD you major in music?"  In addition, we talk about philosophies of memorization, an inspirational story of someone who only took music seriously to become a professional after the age of 40, the complexities of a music career, and why you need to become your own teacher. Links: Dr. Weng's website Icarus Quartet 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  You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/. If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice.  You can also find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1 This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling.  Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.