look at this measure and tell me what you feel:
doesn't it just send shivers down your spine?
it's not even a percussion excerpt - it's the flute excerpt from firebird suite. but when i look at this, all the terrible moments of percussion repertoire come rushing back to me.
flutists and non-flutists alike look at that measure and say, "what the f#@%, stravinsky?!"
it's because we have excerpt baggage.
aka the emotional memory of practicing an excerpt for hours or days (or even years) and it still sounding like garbage.
why does it feel like with you can WORK and WORK and WORK, and no matter what you do it's just the same as when you started?
or maybe WORSE than when you started?
the problem is the actual strategy you use to learn notes
if there's any kind of "secret sauce" with my playing or my auditioning, it definitely starts with the way i learn notes. i use a system of learning notes that is so secure, so foolproof, and helps me play so confidently that i pretty much use it for everything.
i also have students who play strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, timpani, harp, piano and guitar who swear by this process. (i even had a student pick up the harmonica and tell me it was effective.)
the way i overcame excerpt baggage is through my note-learning process, which i call the ROAM method. so i'd like to show you how i do it.
today’s video is about how to learn notes accurately.
i'm going over:
why slow practice doesn't work for me
the ROAM method
my attempt at learning that crazy firebird moment
