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In the Monk doc Thelonious Monk: American Composer, BH says he heard Monk practicing Lulu's Back in Town and Monk played it in tempo for 2 hours.
I've had it. Realized my biggest weakness is time feel so I'm going to practice 1 tune in tempo for an hour straight every day.
The doc:
The BH quote is at 35:20.
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09-19-2023 02:46 PM
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Barry Harris has described that at different occasions with the important additions that after practicing one tune for two hours Monk was ready to go for a gig (of course relating to the time before Monk would no longer get up from his bed, allegedly solving difficult equations in his head). So this was his warm-up routine.
I have thought about this method as well and the question for me is what to do in this one or two hours.
Two things come to my mind:
1.) Trying out all different kinds of exercises, starting from scale outlines à la Barry Harris to trying out all kinds of reharmonisations on the fly and everything in between I know or everything else that pops up during playing to finally really improvise on the tune.
2.) IIRC it was Peter Bernstein (or Bruce Forman?) who suggested playing the tune over and over until the mind gets so bored that variations and embellishments will naturally occur. This method is probably close to what Monk was doing as he set value on improvising from the melody.
How would you folks fill your two hours on one tune?
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Agree. Play it constantly until variations arise and also to get to the point where you can execute everything correctly in good time feel.
I'd practice just running the tune, bass and comp exercises, vocab exercises with licks and with base theory.
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I had a lesson with Bernstein where he said he liked to play the melody for a tune and repeat it over and over trying to change one tiny thing each time. He said he liked to see if he could play it fifty or a hundred times and still hear the melody in his solo.
Originally Posted by Bop Head
Not what you’re talking about but in the same vein, I suppose.
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I imagine a hierarchy of play, practice, rehearse, perform.
Play is what I do most days, with no particular goal in mind, just a general hunt for discovering new things. I may play a song with frequent stopping and experimenting, exploring, etc. before resuming. I always play until I uncover something new to examine... about an hour.
Practice is what I do to prepare for performance. I only play songs through schematically, not in real time, focusing on the form and harmony patterns. I don't touch the guitar the day of a performance until we start.
Rehearsals serve to decide which tunes to include on set lists for performance, so a high level quality control. Some time is spent running through new songs to see if we like them and will suit our listeners.
Performance is where I really continue to learn how to play; the vast majority of what I have learned is directly from performance.
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This does not answer the question at all: How to spend one or two hours on playing one single tune in tempo. Originally Posted by pauln
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^ If we're talking doing it like Monk, just power through the tune constantly lol!
I did my hour today on Solar and I just ran the tune, soloed, and did bass and comp.
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How to do it? Just do it, I suppose!
I would think that starting out 30 minutes might be a lot. I'm going to try it. I think you'll find yourself repeating yourself a lot at the beginning...that's kind of the point, I think. to play through that. Practice isn't always pretty.
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Yea... Jimmy,
I use to do workshops and even at some of the Jams I use to host.... Play same tune in different styles and meters etc.
Even play with the Form. It's almost like making an arrangement. And in the process.... you become aware of the musical organization of the tune and how the parts can work together.
I still do this at gigs... a lot. Verbal head arrangement right before performance.
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Yes, that's the idea haha, and I think the Monk way. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
30 minutes would be effective, I'd imagine. I knew 2 hours would be overkill and probably not sustainable daily. I've made it through my hour the last couple days. I can tell this is going to be effective at shaking out my technical skills better. Yes, the idea is to just play through it.I would think that starting out 30 minutes might be a lot. I'm going to try it. I think you'll find yourself repeating yourself a lot at the beginning...that's kind of the point, I think. to play through that. Practice isn't always pretty.
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I'm sure 2 hours is amazing. I'd be even more amazed if there were 2 straight hours that existed in my life without interruption. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
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Playing a tune over and over again for an hour or two is a great way to internalize it. I want to feel the structure, the way the chords move, how it flows, etc.
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For sure! If I had 2 straight hours to do anything I would probably spend them shocked that I was not interrupted. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I'm not the greatest, so how to practice is something I think about a lot. I think I'll do this very exercise sometimes. Last night I spent over an hour on "out of nowhere", last week I probably played over "so what" at least 1 hour each time for 3 days. I write down what I'm working with. For "so what" I had: variations on melody 4x times, arpeggios 4x, Dm only 4x, Dm to Em 4x, full modal 4x. Then I'll add variations to variations, only the bottom 3 strings, only the middle strings, avoid high E and on and on. Then I end the session with "free jazz" haha, my version of just play and let the concepts from the practice session find their place in my real life playing.
When I do it this way I never get bored with the tune. When I just let it rip and play what comes naturally I'm bored after a few times through the form.
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Barry told the same story about Bud Powell. The guys would show up and Bud is playing a song and says 'nah you go without me' - guys come back hours later Bud is still playing the same song.
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I just finished 2 hours on Blue Monk in Db. I could feel myself actually making progress and wanted to keep going lol. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Cool. When I practice a tune for two hours (usually I'll take a break half way though) I break it down as follows:
20 min: head
30 min chords
10 min: bassline
20 min: perpetual arpeggio exercises
20 min: perpetual scale exercises
20 min: improv
Do you break the time down in this manner, Jimmy, or do you just play whatever for two hours? (Personally I would find that a bit daunting, hence organising the time as above).
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I like your organization of the topics. I have just been playing whatever because my main goal with these sessions is to get my technical skills shaken out and grab material in good time feel since I've been having trouble with that. However, I end up covering the head, chords, bassline, and improv. I usually do an hour but today I did 2. If I get all messed up, I'll stop, refocus, and resume. I use other practice sessions where I target other topics like scales, arps, or vocab.
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