Vision Music

[Mark]

Hey Guys,

This is a subject that I haven't addressed at length over the years, but thought I'd share the concept with anyone interested in better organization of their practice material. It relates to my ongoing philosophy that you should only practice something that you would actually play for someone.

Here's how it works...

As you develop a repertoire of tunes, regardless of genre or whether your role is intended to be within an ensemble or as a solo guitarist, you need a way of logically organizing your material for review. What has worked very well for me has been the practice of creating phantom "set lists" that simulate what you as a listener would like to experience. This not only succeeds in organizing your repertoire, but does so along the lines of a "real world" method that can directly become performance (live) or recording (CD) projects. In other words, the goal is not only organization but to actually have something to show for your study time beyond just a daily review.

Since the average performance or disc contains approximately 45 to 50 minutes of material (everyone needs to take a set break, eh? ), you build the set aiming at that time frame. Although this can vary, figure roughly 3 to 5 minutes per song which will mathematically translate to anywhere from 10 to 15 songs per set. I'm just using round numbers to make things relatively easy on the organizational front. Understand that as you continue to build these set lists, eventually you will have a large number of tunes in your repertoire, in a manner that makes reviewing them a very pleasant playing and listening experience. So part of the goal involves expanding repertoire itself. In time, the music will dictate who you are as a player, as opposed to abstract classroom knowledge that is meaningless to an audience. People often ask me how in the world did I ever get to a point where I had hundreds upon hundreds of tunes (jazz, blues, rock, pop, latin, classical, etc) under my belt? Well, now you know.

This "set list" concept is yet another extension of the many articles that I've written in my Coach's Corner series on the subject of getting more out of your practice time. All for now...

- Mark
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"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple" - Mingus

[nylenny]

Thanks Mark. This is a fantastic tip. It's interesting that this is exactly what classical musicians do -- they constantly learn pieces in preparation for recitals.

[Mark]

[Larry_DC]

I've heard a lot of musicians say they have 2 or 3 hours of music memorized and that the material changes depending on what they're currently working on for study or performance. I spend so much time studying different material that I forget songs after a few weeks and have to practice them anew if I want to play them through.

[Dean]

I have thought of this many times,and just never seem to do it.It makes perfect sence,and I have yet to do it.I guess the only thing I can add other then ,I will get this done,is we are our own worst enemy.
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What don't kill you makes you stronger

[nylenny]

Larry said:

[Mark]

[nylenny]

Thanks Mark. I really appreaciate all of the information you share on this forum. This is such a treasure trove of information. I compared it to a couple of other teacher forums out there, and I found that the other "teachers" weren't even participating in the discussions! Bravo! You deserve a lot of praise for all of the work you put into this site.

[Dean]

Well ,I did it,started my list and am adding to it weekly.I have set a goal of one new song a month, right now.Will do shorter intervels as I progress.Guess it was about time.Thanks for getting me started ,guys.
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What don't kill you makes you stronger

[Mark]