The Practice of Practice: How to Boost Your Music Skills by Harnum Jonathan

Author:Harnum, Jonathan [Harnum, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Sol Ut Press
Published: 2014-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

There are many other fantastic musicians who take a creative approach to practice. I haven’t come across a good player who doesn’t practice creatively, whether it’s something as simple as a change of lighting or playing barefoot, or something more musically creative. New York Philharmonic trumpeter Ethan Bensdorf invents exercises as needed to address issues he’s working on; singer-songwriter Nicholas Barron completely retuned his guitar so the fretboard would be unfamiliar and interesting to explore. The musician who is the most deliberately creative practicer I’ve spoken with is Ingrid Jensen.

Ingrid is a New York jazz trumpeter, originally from Nanaimo, British Colombia on Canada’s west coast. Ingrid has been nominated multiple times for a Juno (Canada’s version of a Grammy), and won the award for her album Vernal Fields. She’s played with jazz legends like Clark Terry, Ron Carter, and Mulgrew Miller, plays regularly with the Maria Schneider Orchestra (including playing on their Grammy-winning album), singer Madeleine Peyroux and other musicians both nationally and internationally. Ingrid has frequently appeared in the top five Downbeat critics’ poll as an artist deserving wider recognition. All this is my way of telling you that Ingrid has some serious chops and has worked hard to achieve and maintain them.

Ingrid said she deliberately incorporates a creative approach in her practice from the moment she picks up her horn. She said that one goal for her practice is to engage her listening and imagination immediately.

In order to do that I have some really basic exercises I do that are all about getting my ear involved from the beginning. Not my brain or my thinking...but really using the imagination from the beginning.

Taking this creative approach makes a lot of sense, especially if you’re an improviser. Ingrid continued, saying that

our bodies and minds are constantly in a state of flux, especially as improvisers. Therefore it makes sense to me that we change [the warm-up] daily, making us more prepared to deal with the creative zone that jazz and improv are designed to take us into.

The foundation for Ingrid’s warm-up is based on the music she’ll be working on during the practice session. Ingrid said she’ll often use drones to warm up, selecting a drone that is the tonic, or fundamental pitch, for the key she’ll be working on. Then Ingrid can play any note against that tonic pitch and in that way she can hear and feel how those tones sound against the tonic.

Beginning the practice session by playing creatively with the tonic pitch is helpful, Ingrid said, because “in the warm-up, you’re already immediately involved in the sound in a manner that relates to something you will be playing when it’s time to play with people.”

Ingrid said she starts by aligning her body, ears, and feelings with the moment and then begins to play sounds around the chosen pitch center. She said she might eventually add a beat to work on her rhythmic sense, or she might incorporate the tune she’s working on and “develop the ideas in relation to that sound that’s still going dronedronedronedrone.

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