Don Menza Retires
February 22, 2004 in Articles
From this article in the Las Vegas Sun. Don has a number of very valid points. He should know, he’s been in the business 53 years. I think he raises a number of valid points, that the record business is more into looks and flash than actual music. I mean, look at all the “pop” artists out there.
Don, why not start you’re own label? Or team up with like someone who revolted like you?
Loading ...
zibalatz said on February 22, 2004
Finding a good way to practice is one of the challenges every musician has to face. The problem exists in different forms, for the beginner to the professional but it is a problem nonetheless.
To me there are only a few basic things that one should be concerned with as players: sound, time, technique, and creativity. When I practice, depending on how much time is available, I try to keep my focus on which of the above categories I am working on and stick within that category for a “reasonable” amount of time.
In the “sound” category falls everything related to tone production, so that means harmonics, long tones, playing ballads, tonguing exercises, working on tuning, altissimo, multiphonics and other extended techniques, etc.
In the “time” category falls everything related to rhythm and pulse, so that means practicing scales with the metronome, practicing tonguing exercises with the metronome, fast tempos and slow tempos, 8th note feel, quarter note feel, metric modulations, phrase starting and ending points, etc.
In the “technique” category falls everything related to pure digital speed and dexterity, so that means practicing scales, arpeggios, patterns, awkward finger movements, classical etudes, sight-reading, etc.
In the “creativity” category falls everything related to improvisation and “art”, so that means improvising on tunes, standard chord progressions and turnarounds, free improvisation, transcription and analysis, composition and arranging, group-playing, repertoire-building, etc.
There are of course many other things to practice but I feel that, for the most part, they fall into one of the above categories. Although your teacher will give you exercises for each of these categories, it is up to you to prioritize them and to come up with your own exercises that focus on your own particular weaknesses.
To me, the trick is to isolate only a few items that I really want to work on for a long period of time (say 6 months or a year). For example, although I am not working as much on sound/tone production exercises as I used to be, I am currently focusing mostly on sight-reading, digital patterns with minimal finger motion, use of alternate scales over common chord progressions (such as wholetone/altered/diminished over dominant chords), and a couple of standards.
I don’t think the problem of practicing is at all of a trivial question. Once you’ve put things into the above categories and have exercises for each element of each category, you’ve also got to ask yourself whether the exercises are actually benefiting your playing or not. For example, when I was working on sound/tone production, I spent a lot of time doing straight long tones and harmonics and I didn’t find it was making much of a difference (this was over many months). I switched and focused more on ballad playing and cres/decresc long tones and I noticed an almost immediate improvement.
Anyway, hopefully this post will give you something of a starting point for developing your own regimen. You just need to decide what you need to work on, find or develop exercises that work on those elements, and, after giving those exercises a fair run, determine how to tweak them to best benefit your development.
ericdano said on February 22, 2004
Here is a link to the concert the DVC Night Jazz Band did with Don Menza. He played his a** off that night.
ericdano said on February 22, 2004
Oops, my bad. They are from 2000 not 2001. December 2000. Close enough I guess…..