Quotes from Jonathan Harnum

People are flowers. Music is water. Musicians are the hose.

Beginners often can't perceive errors unless they're big ones, massive clams that cause the musical endeavor to come crashing to a halt. At this point, beginning practicers usually compound the error by returning to the top of the tune for another attempt, instead of fixing the error immediately, like experts do.

A painter paints pictures on canvas, but a musician paints pictures on silence.

There is no such thing as maintenance. If you're not trying to get better, you're getting worse.

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Wayne Dyer, author (b. 1940)

The fact that mirror neurons are activated when you hear and see a performance only reinforces why hearing live music is such a great idea. What kind of practice could be more enjoyable than kicking back and watching master musicians perform? I

If you are irritated by every rub, how can you be polished?

If you're not engaged and active in a learning situation, you probably won't get much out of it, just as Serge's example illustrates. Get the most out of your practice by coming to lessons—or any learning situation—with specific goals in mind. One of the most powerful things you can learn from a teacher is how to practice. Some teachers

Practicing slowly (combined with active listening) is the first concrete practice technique I've

Taking practice apart for analysis kills something that is a dynamic, variable, and highly complex personal endeavor.

You have to be careful about practicing, because we start to practice practicing. We need to practice performing.

Focus on mastering the music as deeply as you can, and worry less—or not at all if it's possible—about impressing others

I'm singing for the love of it, have mercy on the man who sings to be adored.

I never practice. I always play.

Playing jazz is an art that is absorbed through intense listening, focused imitation, and fearless experimentation. The jazz masters learned on the bandstand. Literally.

The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it. ~ H.G.Wells

When you know what something is, you have power over it.

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.

the use of "the blues" as a term for feeling down came from a Native American tribe in the south who would cover their bodies with a blue dye when they were in mourning. Slaves in the area saw the practice and coined the term "feeling blue.

Sharing music with others and the joy of making music is the main reason so many people practice so diligently. Money has nothing to do with that pleasure. Great live music is one of the best gifts you can give or receive. Good live music is social glue, and making music with others is its own reward, one that reaches far beyond mere monetary compensation. However, if you're interested in supporting yourself financially with your music, I humbly offer up the following advice.

Goals are in a near-constant state of revision, especially the shorter-term goals, because as you come up against the reality of learning something, you have to adapt to adjust to that reality.

It's exciting how much there is to learn; several lifetime's worth, really.

In an interview with Charlie Parker, another jazz saxophone legend, Paul Desmond, asked Parker if his fantastic ability came as a result of practice, or from performing a lot. Parker said, I can't see where there's anything fantastic about it at all. I put quite a bit of study into the horn, that's true…. I used to put in at least from 11 to 15 hours a day…over three or four years.[1]

Experts who accumulated 10,000 hours of practice weren't trying to accumulate those hours; their focus was elsewhere, on the task at hand.