I took lessons in drumming some years ago. About six months in I had a lesson with a dep teacher (my usual teacher was away on a gig). He asked what bands I was in. ‘Oh no!’ I said, ‘I’m not good enough to be in a band.’ ‘Nonsense!’ he replied. ‘You can play a […]

Practice slowly. Yep, every music teacher says it, but it’s so tempting to play the easy bits full-speed ahead only to stumble on that fiddly phrase. Practicing slowly can be so effective though, so it’s worth persevering. Muscle memory takes time to develop. A conductor likened playing a tricky passage to regularly parking a car […]