Back in July our Michael Feinberg published an article titled 5 Things I Wish I Was Told in Music School. That turned out to be – by far – the most viewed post of our blog, which made us realized that musicians out there are particularly interested in learning from others’ experiences. Coming from that perspective we decided to make a […]
Applications of Long and Short Strokes with Jazz Brushes In the first installment of this two-part post on jazz brushes I explained how to produce long and short strokes with lateral motions, and I promised that today I would introduce ways to use this technique musically and creatively. Here I am to keep my word and share with […]
Drawing Parallels Between Conceptual Art and Free Jazz I stumbled across this video today and couldn’t help but draw parallels between conceptual art and free jazz. As a music student I loved free jazz and the avant garde, the more “out” the more I enjoyed it. As I developed my craft, learned the history of […]
As a developing musician, improving your time and rhythm is one of the most important technical aspects to prioritize, regardless of what instrument you play. After all, it is thanks to time that we can make sense of music, and if we didn’t organize it in some fashion (rhythm), all we would hear would be […]
Lessons Learned Playing Bass On Tour in Japan Growing up in Jersey (cue the Sopranos theme) and living in NYC, I’ve had my fair share of great pasta cooked by Italians. You could imagine how surprised I was, when the best cooked pasta dish I had ever eaten, was prepared by a Japanese chef in Chōshi, […]
There are so many obstacles we confront as students of music. In jazz it’s expected to have a deep understanding of harmony, be able to play all tempos, be fluent in various styles, have a large repertoire, etc. With so much to learn, practice, and incorporate into our playing it’s typical for students to feel […]
Moving to New York to become a professional musician was always a dream for me as a kid. I did everything I could to soak up the knowledge that I thought I needed if I was ever going to “make it” which included studying at the Berklee College of Music, The University of Miami, and […]