Bebop for a Better You

Bebop isn't my favorite music. As a jazz musician, maybe I shouldn't admit it, but there it is. I don't hate it, but I haven't gone out of my way to listen to it, at least until recently. I personally prefer music that has a singable melody and sounds simple, even if it really isn't that simple. My favorite types of music reflect my easygoing personality. Even if the music is difficult, I like it to sound relaxing. With its angular lines and frenetic pace, bebop is far from relaxing.

Although bebop isn't my first choice in music, I've been playing more and more of it recently. Why? Because it's great for building technique. I spend a lot of time practicing Godfrey and Guy music – learning new songs, memorizing our repertoire, and working out guitar arrangements. Most of our repertoire is of the "Fly Me to the Moon" variety, straight out of the Great American Songbook. My technique has improved over the years as I've work on this highly melodic style of music, but nothing gooses my technique quite like working on bebop, which is why I've started working on bebop tunes again.

I don't have an outlet for performing bebop, and I'm not using these tunes to build repertoire anyway. Instead, I'm treating each bebop tune as an etude – a musical study. (My current "etude" is Billie's Bounce.) For me, bebop tunes are etudes in technique, transcription, and learning licks. For technique, I'm working the melody up to speed, or as close as I can get. Because bebop often has unusual lines, the melodies can expose holes in my technique or pose fingering problems for me to solve. For transcription, I'm learning the melodies and at least one solo chorus by ear. For licks, I can use the chord changes to practice new licks, plus I can take parts of the melody or a solo to learn one licks. Each tune is a long study. I'll keep working at it until I get what I need out of it, and then I'll pick another.

Already, I've noticed that my improv solos tend to be more creative when I'm practicing bebop, so I must be onto something. The Great American Songbook is my bread and butter, but bebop will continue to be in the mix.

Tips for Memorizing Music

When I was a classical trombone player, I rarely memorized the music that I played. Much of it was orchestra or band music, but I even used music when I played solo recitals. Now that I'm a jazz musician, I memorize music all the time. I'm constantly working to memorize Godfrey and Guy's repertoire as well as my own. When I was a trombone player, I was in awe of those who performed from memory. Now, I realize that it's nothing to fear. You just have to work on it as you would any other skill. The good news is that, the more often you memorize, the easier it gets.

Here are some tips I've picked up along the way that may help you memorize your music.

1. Memorize frequently. Even if there is no immediate need, spend some time each day memorizing something. If you're a jazz musician like me, you can memorize the melody or chords of a standard. If you are a classical musician, try memorizing an etude or a section of a solo. The more often you memorize, the easier it gets.
2. Sing. If you are learning a tune from the Great American Songbook, sing the melody. If you are memorizing an instrumental, or if you are memorizing a classical piece, sing it anyway. It'll help cement the melody in your head, and you may find that you play more musically.
3. Learn the words. Even if you never plan to sing the song in public, learning the words is another great way to keep the new song in your head. You may also find that the music takes on new life and meaning when you learn the words, and it will help you to be a more sensitive accompanist.
4. Find patterns and and forms; analyze. The more deeply you understand the music, the easier it will be to remember. Finding patterns in the music will speed up the process of memorization. When I first began memorizing chords to songs, I memorized a chord at a time, which was tedious. Later, I realized that the chords for jazz standards often follow similar patterns. It's much easier to recognize a typical 1-6-2-5 pattern than it is to memorize C6, Am7, Dm7, G7. 
5. Practice away from your instrument. Are your chops tired? Fingers aching? Sing the music in the car. Run through the music in your head while you're going to sleep. Visualize. Imagine the feel of the instrument, the fingerings (or slide positions) you'll use, etc.
6. Memorize a little at a time. It can be daunting to memorize a big piece of music. But you don't chop a big tree down with one swing of the ax. You chop away, one swing at a time. Start with eight measures. If that's the most you can memorize in that practice session, that's fine. It's eight measures more than you had memorized before you started. Build on that.
7. But still play all the way through. Even while you are memorizing a little at a time, still practice the rest of the music. By the time you've memorized most of the music, you may find that the last section is nearly memorized from sheer repetition.
8. Put it away and come back to it. My main reason for memorizing is to be able to perform my repertoire without the printed music. When you perform, you need to get it right the first time. There can be only one "first" time you play a piece of music on a particular day, but I've found that the next best thing is to go away from that music and come back later. After I've memorized a song, I will often play that song and then put it away, even if there are some mistakes I want to fix. I'll practice a few other things and then go back to the song again, keeping in mind places my memory may have blanked the first time. I'll just play it once and then repeat the process: practice something else and then come back for another run through of my memory song.
9. Constant review. Once I've memorized a song, I don't take it for granted. All of my repertoire needs constant review. Fortunately, I play a few weekly gigs in which I have a chance to cycle through my repertoire, but to me, that isn't enough. Part of my daily practice involves playing through my repertoire. I have an alphabetical list that keeps growing longer as I continue to memorize. I'll play through 10-15 songs a day from my memory list, just to keep everything under my fingers and in my head.

If you make a practice of memorizing your music, I'm sure you have some ideas of your own. If you have any tips for memorization, feel free to add then in the comments section below.

Five Stages of Jazz Guitar Arranging

Writing arrangements for solo jazz guitar is a special joy of mine. Some of my arrangements are purely instrumentals, while most of them are written as solo choruses to vocal arrangements for myself or for Godfrey and Guy. Arranging for solo guitar is challenging and rewarding. I always learn something in the process. These are my five stages of jazz guitar arranging:

1. Glee – I like a song so much that I can't wait to arrange it for solo guitar. Or Lori, my music partner, likes a song so much that I am required to write an arrangement.
2. Despair – After sitting down with the new song and trying different approaches, I realize this is harder than I thought it would be. In fact, I can't think of a way to make it work. If it's my own song, I might find it difficult to find chord forms that will allow me to highlight the melody. If it's a Godfrey and Guy song for Lori, it's a sure bet that she sings it in a key that is too high or too low for the guitar, forcing me to get creative with octave displacement.
3. Hope – After fiddling with the song for a couple days, or even a week, I figure out a good way to play a phrase. If I've figured out how I can play one phrase, I know I can write the rest.
4. Determination – After a week, or possibly a month, I've written the entire arrangement. The end is in sight. Now I have to learn how to play what I wrote. This can take a while. Sometimes I can play my arrangement right away, and sometimes I need to spend a lot of time playing it in super slow motion before working it up to speed.
5. Pride – Finally, I can play my new creation at a gig – usually a background gig where people are more worried about getting refills than whether or not I'm debuting a shiny new song. That doesn't matter to me, though. I mostly care that I took the time to write a new arrangement for a song that I like, and that now I have a new song in my repertoire.

Saying Goodbye and Making Room

Last week, a parent of one of my piano students told me that her son would be "taking a break" from piano lessons. We all know what this really means. A few years ago, this news would have disturbed me on two fronts. I would have found myself wondering what I did wrong that this student would quit, and I would have sorely missed the money! Fortunately, I'm now in a position where losing a single student is not a major financial setback. I've also learned that losing a student isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Some students click with certain teachers, and some don't. I have a fairly regimented approach to lessons, which is well disguised with a laid back teaching style and bad jokes. The basic idea behind my teaching is that if you can master the material I give you, you will be able to teach yourself to play anything. When I was a classical trombonist, I never had to bring an ensemble part to my teacher, because everything I played for lessons was much more difficult than anything I played in band or orchestra.

While this approach works with most of my students, it doesn't work with everyone. Some students (and to be frank, their parents) want me to get right to the "good stuff." They want to be able to play the music from their favorite band right away. I don't play that game. If we jump right to that favorite song, they're going to miss some crucial steps. This isn't to say that we don't explore music from their favorite bands, but I'm not going to let them play it if I don't think they're ready for it yet. If they (or their parents) are patient, they'll eventually be able to play whatever they want.

I have a fifth grade guitar student that I would love to hold up to other students his age as a great example of how to practice. He has been diligently doing everything I tell him to do for the past three years…a rare student! He has worked his way through three levels of method books, and now we're on to more advanced material. He is a good melody reader and has a solid knowledge of open chords. We're working on major scales, the chromatic scale, pentatonic scales, and Barre chords. As soon as he develops enough strength to handle Barre chords, the fretboard is really going to open up to him. He's going to be more than ready to try out for middle school jazz band when it comes time.

Another example is a high school guitar student whom I've been teaching since she was 10. Although she likes to perform Taylor Swift and acoustic/rock/folk songs, she enjoys working on jazz standards with me. She told me that since she started playing the jazz standards, all the other music she's been playing has become easier. She no longer needs my help in learning pop songs.

While I would have liked to continue working with the piano student who is now "taking a break," lessons with him never felt right. I never quite felt like I was getting through. There's nothing quite as painful as watching a student try to fake his way through his lesson material. I could never quite convince him or his mom that practicing the "current thing" would get him to the "next thing," in terms of both physical skill and understanding. While I don't think I was the right teacher for this student, he has musical talent, and I hope that he eventually finds a teacher that can motivate him.

In the meantime, I'm happy to report that I'm going to be working with a brand new student in a couple days. I hope we click.

Looper Practice

I set up my own practice room a few days ago. Since this spot in my apartment is dedicated to guitar and only guitar, I can leave my essential practice tools set up and ready to be used at any time, including the small pedal in front of the chair in the picture. This is a looper, which records what I play and then plays it back through the amp. I use a bigger version of this looper for some gigs. I'll record the chords while I'm accompanying myself or someone else, and then I'll improvise solos while the chords play back. This is a fun way to use the looper, but it's also an amazing practice tool.

Now that I have this little looper permanently set up at home, I use it a lot. In practice sessions, I use it mainly as a super fast, easy way to record myself and listen to the playback. Have you ever heard a recording of yourself talking and thought, "That doesn't sound like me?" The same goes for playing an instrument. Your own perception of your sound as you play is usually quite different from the way it actually sounds.

I have recently begun using the looper to listen to my improvised solos. (I can't believe I haven't thought of this before.) Improvisation is such a fleeting thing. When I improvise, I rarely remember much about what I played 10 seconds ago, let alone an entire solo. Up until now, I would improvise to Band-in-a-Box tracks and congratulate myself when I played over the changes comfortably. I never thought too much about my style and delivery.

Say hello to my little friend.
Almost as good as a teacher.

With the looper, I can play through the chord changes once. After that, I can add layers to the loop, which enables me to record an improvised solo over the changes I just played. What an eye opener! In some respects, I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard. In general, I tend to play lines that are melodic and singable, which is exactly what I'm going for. Sometimes there are licks that surprise me. I'll hear the playback and think, "Wow! Did I play that?" On the other hand, my relative youth as a guitar player shows through, especially in my timing. When I'm navigating through tricky chord changes or I'm just not quite sure what to play next, I'll start playing ahead of the beat, as if I can't wait to get through some challenging measures. Being made aware of this tendency, I'll take another crack and the solo, and 9 times out of 10, I'll sound more comfortable the second time. It'll be easy to forget to play more deliberately in performance situations, because there are other things that demand your attention, but the more I focus on improvising with a more relaxed feel at home, the more it will become a habit in the real world.

If you own a looper, I highly recommend using it as a practice tool. If you sing or play an acoustic instrument, you can record with a voice memo app on a smartphone or with an inexpensive digital recorder. After the initial shock of really hearing yourself for the first time, you'll be amazed at how quickly you can improve your playing or singing. It's almost as good as having a teacher in the room. In some ways, it may be better, because you can hear for yourself what needs to be fixed.

The Power of Slow

My young guitar and piano students believe everything I tell them…almost. The one thing they never seem to believe is that their playing will improve immensely if they practice slowly. They want to play fast right away.

One of my brightest students is an 8 year old piano player. I lost count of how many times I told her to slow down today, especially when she was sight-reading. I actually got her to slow down once, and – surprise! – she played more accurately. It didn't matter. She just played faster again. I can certainly understand an 8 year old's impatience, so I don't take her resistance personally. I'll just keep reminding her to slow down over and over until I eventually wear her down. In a few years, she'll have progressed enough that I'll have to hand her off to a more advanced piano teacher, and then the new teacher can tell her the same thing.

If there are any young musicians out there reading this (or parents of young musicians), here are some reasons to practice slowly.

• Playing slowly improves accuracy. If you are having trouble playing something quickly, and you continue practicing it that way over and over, you are going to get really good at making the same mistakes. If you slow down, you can pinpoint where you are having problems. Play at a tempo in which it is almost impossible for you to make a mistake, and then gradually speed it up.
• Playing helps you play more relaxed. If you are playing too fast, you build up tension in your fingers, arms, shoulders, and the rest of your body. If you are tense, your body tends to lock up, and you can't play as fast. If you start slowly, within your comfort zone, you will be learn to be more relaxed as you build up speed.
• Playing slowly helps you learn to play expressively. Playing fast is impressive, but if all you can do is play fast, listeners will soon get bored with your playing. You also need to learn how to play with good phrasing, dynamics, and nuance. In playing slowly, you'll learn to develop the power of expression.
• The pros all practice slowly and build up speed. That's one of our big "secrets." If the pros practice slowly, why not you?

I hope that all of my students will be turned on to the power of slow at some point in their development. Until then, I'll keep saying the same things over and over in my lessons…"slow down!"

Practice Room

Back when I was in college, I spent many hours in practice rooms. A typical practice room was basically a jail cell with a wobbly stand, an uncomfortable chair, and a battered piano. The rooms in which I practiced were either a) not soundproofed, enabling you to share your practice session with the rest of the hall, or b) soundproofed so heavily that the sound of my trombone died immediately. (I was a trombonist before I was a guitarist.)

For most of us, particularly those of us who played loud instruments, the practice room was the only place to practice. Sitting in a practice room for a multi-hour session, I would sometimes dream of the future, when I would be able to practice at home.

Be careful what you wish for. I can practice at home now, but there are also many distractions at home, especially the computer. If I practice in front of – or even near – my laptop, I find it difficult to resist the urge to check email, look at Facebook just for a "little while," or visit YouTube to watch "just one" video.

There is something magical about a tiny practice room. When you sit down to practice in one of those cubicles, it's just you and the music. There is nothing else. You forget about your cell-like surroundings and focus only on improving your musical skills. My greatest period of musical growth took place when I was spending hours in college practice rooms.

To replicate the practice room atmosphere, (minus the trombone player blasting The Ride of the Valkyries a few doors down), I just set up a room in my apartment as a practice area. Until recently, I practiced near the computer and my phone. No more! I've carved out a small space where it's just me and the music once again. I have my own college practice room with a few upgrades, such as windows and air conditioning. No computers or mobile phones are allowed. I've already noticed a difference in the quality and duration of my concentration.

I like my new practice room, and I'm looking forward to more quality practice sessions in the future.

Join-In Choir

We tried something new at Northwest UUC last Sunday. Instead of a traditional, rehearsed choir, we held the first ever Northwest Join-In Choir. Singers of all ages were invited. No one needed to know how to read music. The join-in singers joined in with the regular Northwest Choir, and they were accompanied by the Northwest Band. I taught them the music in one rehearsal, and they sang in the service.

Join-In Choir was a hit! I had been hyping the Join-In Choir for at least two months. My nagging fear was that, after all the articles, emails, special announcements, and one-on-one conversations, nobody would show up. I was pleasantly surprised when ten new singers appeared. Four singers had confirmed they were coming, so I was expecting at least that many. It was terrific to see six others stroll in, including two that had left the regular choir a couple years ago because they could no longer make the time commitment.

Rehearsal was lots of fun. It was a powerful experience to hear my small choir beefed up with ten more voices. I actually had trouble singing the first two songs in the service; I was so moved by the sound of the Join-In Choir that I was choking up a little. As I was looking around the congregation, I was pleased to see non-choir people enjoying the music. I think they were as surprised as I was by the power of the extra voices, and I saw some big, big smiles on the faces of some visitors.

One thing I learned is that even though my regular choir is fairly small (around 18 members), several people in our congregation have a desire to be part of Northwest's music making. There will probably be even more singers next time. Two join-in singers were out of town but will sing next time. Two more young singers will probably join next month. Our minister plans to sing with us, and there may be some others who join us next time after seeing us have so much fun the first time.

Now that we have successfully launched Join-In Choir, we'll offer it once a month. Five years ago, a typical monthly music schedule at Northwest was alternating one Sunday of piano music with one Sunday of traditional choir music. Here's what our schedule looks like now:

• 1st Sunday: Northwest Band
• 2nd Sunday: Northwest Choir
• 3rd Sunday: Northwest Band and Join-In Choir (includes regular choir)
• 4th Sunday: Piano

Aside from a relentless marketing campaign, there were some other factors that contributed to a successful launch of Join-In Choir.

• Easy Music – The music was easy enough that I could teach it to the join-in singers in one rehearsal. For example, we sang "Blowin' in the Wind." I sang the verses while the choir hummed, and the choir sang the chorus. In our rehearsal, we spent a few minutes repeating the chorus over and over so the singers could find harmony lines. I stressed that someone needed to sing the melody, so it was not a big deal if they couldn't find harmony notes. Also, the hymns for the day involved a lot of call and response. For example, I led the congregation in singing "This Little Light of Mine," and the choir echoed each phrase.
• Regular Choir Musical Support – Although I could have easily waited until Join-In Choir day to teach this music to the regular choir, we rehearsed the Join-In music lightly in the couple weeks leading up to Join-In Choir day. The Join-In singers were surrounded by people who were already confident in the music, so if they weren't quite sure what to do, they just had to listen to whoever was standing next to them.
• A Welcoming Choir – I knew the regular choir would be friendly and welcoming, but I also wanted to make sure the Join-In singers felt they had a place in the choir – literally. We made sure that the regular choir members left empty chairs. The last thing I wanted was for the regular choir to be bunched around the center while the Join-In singers sat on the periphery. 
• The Band – Although the Join-In Choir was in the spotlight, the band was a huge part of Sunday's success. The Northwest Band had already rehearsed their parts, so on Sunday, I was able to focus nearly all my attention on teaching the music to the singers.

It took me a while to warm up to this Join-In Choir idea. I first heard about it a couple years ago when I was talking with someone at the UUMN Conference in Dallas. It seemed like an interesting idea, but I didn't do anything with it. Still, the idea was rattling around in my brain. One of my own choir members brought up the idea not long after that conference. I still didn't do anything with the idea. Finally, I heard that another Atlanta UU congregation had started a Join-In Choir, and that it was a lot of fun. Why did I wait so long to offer this opportunity? If this past Sunday was any indication, this is going to be a popular and permanent addition to Northwest's music program.

Seven String Transfer

Tonight, I began the slow process of learning to play my Godfrey and Guy duo material on the 7-string guitar. I came up with a great sounding accompaniment for Take Five. I patted myself on the back before reminding myself that I have well over one hundred more songs to relearn! I also spent time working up Black Coffee and I'm Beginning to See the Light, and I'll start in on Girl from Ipanema tomorrow.

Funny how just one more string can change the landscape. I love the extended bass notes that the low A string offers, but taking advantage of those notes often requires rethinking a chord voicing or comping in a different area of the neck than I have been using for a particular song. The new chord voicings that I'm learning aren't that difficult, but the little changes start to add up, and my brain eventually overloads.

When I play the traditional 6-string guitar, there are certain devices that are burned into my muscle memory so completely that I can play them without a second thought. Those devices transfer to the 7-string, but I have to think about them again as I learn to incorporate the 7th string into the mix.

With this first set of songs, I'm starting the process of reprogramming my muscle memory. As I work through a mix of swing, blues, and bossa songs, I'll gradually get comfortable with the 7th string and the possibilities it opens up. The process won't take quite as long with the next set of songs. By the time I've worked my way through a couple dozen songs, I'll have worked up a handful of useful licks and tricks, and things will get easier and easier…or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Comping is one thing. Then there is solo playing. I've worked up a lot of solo arrangements. I'm going to have to totally relearn those solos. That'll be interesting.

Fortunate One

At last night's weekly Godfrey and Guy gig at Noosh, a customer asked the manager to ask us to turn down the music. I don't believe that the customer is always right. We use the volume knob judiciously, and as a guitar/voice jazz duo, our music tends to be gentle, with a lot of space. The rest of the customers were so loud that we could barely hear ourselves. Maybe the customer felt like the only thing she could possibly control was the music, because she certainly couldn't tell the other customers to be quiet. We grumbled through the rest of the night about this.

As I woke up this morning, I reminded myself that, despite the occasional annoyance, I'm very fortunate to be doing what I'm doing. As a matter of fact, things are really coming together this summer, and I find myself doing exactly what I want to be doing. I teach private guitar lessons three days a week, hold down two weekly gigs, and work part time as a church music director.

Am I satisfied? Well, not really. There is always another hill to climb. I'd like to find another weekly Godfrey and Guy gig. I'd like round out my student roster by filling in the remaining slots on the days I teach. I'd like to land a few more corporate and wedding gigs. I'd like to build the Godfrey and Guy duo into a full fledged jazz band. But honestly, things are humming along. It feels like the pieces of my life's puzzle are finally coming together. I'm lucky to be doing what I'm doing, even if I have to turn to volume down sometimes.

New Solo Gig

I'm thrilled to add a new weekly gig to my schedule. There are two L'Thai restaurants in Atlanta – one in Tucker and one in Smyrna. Both places have music Friday through Sunday. There are a few musicians who rotate. I'll mostly be playing at the one in Tucker, and mostly on Sundays, except when I'm not. Clear as mud? If you live in Atlanta and would like to drop in and say hello on one of my nights, the best thing to do is check my Facebook page, where I'll be announcing when and where I'll be playing from week to week.

This is solo guitar, no singing. This gig is going to be good for me in many ways. First, it's a gig! We musicians like to collect and keep them. Second, it's always good to be out in public. I have a website, a profile on Gig Salad, and I keep things up to date on Facebook, but there's nothing like being out in public where you can meet potential clients face to face. As a matter of fact, on my first night, I was approached by a guy who produces music for a local recording studio. He really liked my playing, took my card, etc. I looked up the studio, and they record commercials for some impressive clients, Indie films, and documentaries. It's not like I'm expecting a call tomorrow, but you never know where these kinds of contacts will lead.

While the L'Thai gig is great for publicity and gig hunting, I'm mostly excited because it gives me an outlet for developing my solo guitar chops. Performing with Godfrey and Guy every Friday at Noosh Persian Bistro already provides a good opportunity to bring up my solo guitar playing, but sitting down and playing solo in public for a couple hours each week will help me bring that aspect of my playing to a new level.

Next up, I'd like to find an additional weekly gig for Godfrey and Guy. I have the solo gig – great for solo chops. We have the duo gig – great for duo chops. I'd love to find a place where we can field a small combo to develop a group.

Four Years

In a few days, I will have completed my fourth year as Director of Music at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation. I have been attending NWUUC since 2004, when I first moved to Atlanta. I served as an interim music director three times, keeping the music program going while various search committees looked for new music directors. After serving as interim for the third time, I thought, "enough of this interim stuff," and applied for the position.

I've been a freelance musician most of my adult life, doing this and that to make ends meet. Except for my four-year stint in the Air Force, this has been the longest I've held anything resembling a normal job. Maybe "normal" isn't quite the word I'm looking for. This music director job is far from normal!

As I've grown more comfortable with the job, the music has evolved and grown at Northwest. When I first started, the music program was very traditional, with the choir singing two Sundays each month, me providing the music once a month, and the pianist providing music on my Sundays off. My initial goal was to simply keep the music program going as it was while I got used to the job, but soon the program started to reflect my own musical tastes. Before I took over, the music was classically oriented. It still is, but I've introduced a lot more jazz, rock, and folk into the mix than there used to be. I used to perform the music alone on "my" Sundays, but our minister suggested that guitar alone didn't always feel right; there needed to be more. So I recruited a bassist and a percussionist from the congregation to play with me. This grew into an official church band, with a lead singer, two guitars, flute, bass, piano, and percussion.

This year, I experimented with combining the band and choir for two services. It was a hit. The band loved playing with the choir, and the choir loved singing with the band. After a summer break, we are going to combine the band and the choir once a month. On top of that, the band/choir Sundays will feature a "join-in" choir, meaning that absolutely anyone can sing in the choir that day as long as they can be at the pre-service rehearsal that Sunday morning.

I learn every day from this job. It certainly has taken its twists and turns. The combined band/choir is something I never would have anticipated when I first began serving as Director of Music. Where does it go from here? Who knows? We'll keep the band/choir ensemble rolling for a while, and I imagine something new will evolve over time.

Simple Is Good

"Less is more." It's a cliché, but it's true. It's a lesson I find myself learning over and over again. Examples:

I lead a band at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, made up of two singers, two guitars, piano, bass, and percussion. When I begin learning a song for the band, I tend to play very rhythmically and with full chords. With two guitars and a piano, there is a lot of overlap in comping, so this full out approach usually doesn't work when I play with the band. As I listen to what the other players are doing, I invariably find myself playing less and less. I'll just play offbeats or some other simple rhythm, and I'll play 3- or 4-note chords instead of full guitar chords. On hymns, which tend to be simpler than the band songs, I sometimes find that it sounds best if I don't play at all. It's humbling to find the band sometimes sounds better when I lay out. On the other hand, it frees me up to be a more effective song leader for the congregation.

The larger the group, the less you have to do. I play guitar in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra, a 17-piece big band. My role as a rhythm guitarist is to help keep time and to outline the basic harmonic movement. Rhythmically, my job couldn't be simpler. I'm playing quarter notes 95% of the time. (Notice I said that my job is simple…not easy. Believe it or not, there is an art to playing quarter notes.) Harmonically, the less I play, the better it sounds. The bass player covers the root notes, so I leave those out. The piano player plays all the extensions (9ths, 11ths, 13ths), so I leave those out. That leaves me with the guide tones, sometimes called shell voicings. Unless I have a solo, which is rare for a guitarist in a big band setting, I usually play 2-note chords. By themselves, those shell voicings don't sound like much, but they're wonderfully effective in a big band.

Being the sole instrumentalist in the Godfrey and Guy duo, you'd think I could play all sorts of crazy stuff, but no. As much as I'd like to think otherwise, the main focus of the listener is on the vocals. If I get overly fancy with my guitar accompaniment, I get in the way of the singer. I have more freedom to branch out in Godfrey and Guy than I do with the church band or the SJO, but I still find that a strong basic groove sounds best…a walking bass with rhythmic stabs, simple quarter notes, a basic Bossa beat, all in support of the song. And if I feel like throwing in a little lick now and then, it's more effective when it jumps out of a simple texture. As a bonus, when I'm playing a 3+ hour gig, my hands get less fatigued if I keep it simple.

As I delve deeper and deeper into jazz guitar, I'm constantly working to improve my technique, solidify my time, and open my ears. I'm not setting the world on fire, but my technique is far better than it was five years ago, and I'll keep working to improve. But even as I continue to stretch my own boundaries, I keep reminding myself of the basic rule that less is more. Simple is good.

Things I Didn't Expect as a Guitarist

When I started learning the guitar 10 years ago, I knew it would be different from classical trombone. Some of the differences surprised me.

Fingernails
I never dreamed I would give so much attention to my fingernails. I don't keep my nails extra long like some classical and fingerstyle guitar players do, but I file them every morning to maintain a certain length. If I chip a nail, it's a tragedy. On the plus side, I stopped biting my nails the day I picked up a guitar.

Numb Fingertips
When I first began playing the guitar, I could only play for a short length of time before the pain in my left hand fingertips grew too much to bear. I gradually developed callouses, and now my left hand fingertips are permanently numb. Interestingly, my fingertips will start to burn toward the end of a gig that lasts 3 or more hours. So my left hand fingertips either feel pain or nothing.

G.A.S.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or in some cases, Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. When I was a trombone player, my gear consisted of a trombone and mutes. As a trombone player, I would see someone on stage with an acoustic guitar and marvel at how simple it looked. Not until I started gigging did I realize that the guitar was just one piece of the puzzle. I also needed an amp and cables. Batteries. Effects pedals if I was playing a musical or in a rock band. For many venues and every wedding gig ever, you need to bring a PA system. And there are the guitars. I've owned several guitars over the past 10 years. Now I'm down to four that I play on a regular basis. The only things left on my wish list are an AER Compact 60 amp, and a wireless microphone. Once I get those two pieces of equipment, I'll finished buying new equipment. Really. I can stop any time I want.

Gig Hunting
As a trombonist, I never had to look for gigs. I was in an Air Force band. Someone else booked the gigs. My job was to go wherever someone pointed and play a show. As a freelancer, things are very different. I count myself very lucky to have found a steady Friday gig with Godfrey and Guy, but I'm still on the hunt for wedding gigs, dinner parties, and another steady gig on a different night. Who knew that looking for work would be more work than the actual work itself?

Diversification
As an Air Force trombone player, I didn't need to diversify. I was hired to play in the concert band, and I was a decent section player in the jazz band. That was about as diverse as I got. Today, I'm a guitar player, church music director, music engraver, and teacher.

Teaching
I never planned on being a guitar teacher. At the time I began learning guitar, I was music engraving full time. The plan was to engrave and practice during the day, and to gig on weekends. I didn't expect the guitar to take over as much as it did, to the point where I do very little music engraving. Somewhere along the way, I began teaching private lessons and discovered that I really enjoy it. I'm branching out as a teacher, too. I've begun teaching beginning piano lessons and exploring the possibility of teaching general music to youngsters. Teaching used to be "Plan B," but it has become one of my favorite things.

Being a Soloist
When I was a classical trombone player, it was intimidating to play a solo. Most of my playing was in bands and orchestras, where I was part of a section. As a guitarist, and particularly as a jazz musician, I am usually the only one playing a guitar. Unless I'm playing in a big band like the Sentimental Journey Orchestra, I'm going to be called upon to play a lot of solos. Playing a solo gets my adrenaline pumping a little bit, but it's not nearly as scary as it used to be.

Improvising
While it was rare for me to play a solo as a classical trombonist, it was rarer still that I had to improvise. If playing a solo intimidated me, then improvising was downright terrifying. When I first began playing guitar, I intended to be a folk player. The plan was to come up with some nice arrangements and interesting accompaniments, but never to improvise. Little did I know that I would meet up with a teacher who would get me hooked on jazz. I'm not the greatest improviser in the world, but I'm making progress and having fun with it.

Fun!
Classical trombone was fun in its own way. I enjoyed the music, and I was part of a small, quirky community of low brass players. As much as I enjoyed trombone, I enjoy the guitar even more. Part of it is the diversity of styles. Depending on the situation, I might be playing jazz, blues, rock, acoustic, or even faking my way as a classical player. As a jazz player, I enjoy being able to just show up and sit in with a group on a gig and hold my own. I've always been a music theory geek, and I find that jazz guitar to be an endlessly fascinating puzzle.

I knew that playing guitar would be fun, but I had no idea! My body is beginning to betray me as my knees and back are slowly giving out, but guitar is going to keep my spirit young for a long time.

Branching Out: Musikgarten Workshop

I just finished an intense, weeklong Musikgarten workshop called "Music Makers: At the Keyboard." The purpose of the workshop was to provide us an overview and hands on instruction in how to use the curriculum.

To be honest, I wasn't enthusiastic going into this because I was still worn out from the UUMN Conference in San Diego the previous week. Fortunately, this workshop was in Atlanta, so not only was I in the same time zone, but I was able to crash at a friend's house only five minutes away. (I took over her oldest son's bed and spent the week sleeping on Transformer's sheets in a bed that was just a little too short for me.)

I sure am glad I attended. The workshop was excellent! I knew it was going to be a learning experience, but I had no idea I would learn so much or be so excited about it. Our instructor, Mary Louise Wilson, was excellent – easily one of the best teachers I've ever worked with. It also helps that Mary is one of the authors of the books.

In general, the "Music Makers: At the Keyboard" curriculum is about much more than playing the piano. The main focus is on the piano, of course, but the piano is a vehicle toward musicianship and not an end in itself. Children generally start this 3-year series at age 6 or 7. By the end of the curriculum, the children are able to play the piano competently, sight-read, sight-sing (in solfege), play musically, have an understanding of basic music theory, and even take musical dictation, which is something many college music majors dread.

The classes keep the kids (and teacher!) jumping, sometimes literally. In addition to the keyboard work, there is plenty of singing, moving, and drumming away from the piano. If you had been able to watch this workshop, you would have witnessed several adults sitting on the floor in a circle (some of us were pretty creaky), singing children's songs, dancing, drumming, galloping like horses, and in general acting a little silly, but with a clear purpose.

A few months ago, I was able to witness the end result of this piano curriculum as I watched an advanced class of Lynnette Suzanne's sight-read and sight-sing music. I can think of a few people I went to undergrad with who would have had problems with their music dictation. At the workshop, I was thrilled to witness the beginning of this process. As part of our teacher training, we observed Mary work with a group of children for four days. This was a typical group of kids. There were no "ringers." I was impressed that these kids were beginning to read and understand 8th note patterns on the fourth day.

I'm so glad I attended this workshop, and that I'm excited to be teaching a piano class at Tessitura starting August 12. Not only will this give me an opportunity to branch out into the world of early piano teaching, but I can use many of the same concepts to become a better guitar teacher.

The only drawback to this week is that I have a whole new repertoire of children's songs stuck in my head. It's hard to get back to sleep when you have "See the pony galloping, galloping down the country lane" rattling around in your brain.

2014 UUMN Conference Last Day

Sunday, the final day of the 2014 UUMN Conference in San Diego. The conference itself was done. All that remained was to participate in two morning services at the 1st UU Church of San Diego. These were regularly scheduled services, heavy on the music, and the regular congregation was in attendance.

The mass choir sounded wonderful. There were too many singers to fit in the choir loft, so the choir sat in the middle of the sanctuary, facing the chancel. The band remained seated on the chancel through the entire service, so when the choir was singing, we had the best seat in the house. The band was a big hit. There were even people dancing in the aisles at times. Do you know how hard it is to get Unitarian Universalists to clap, let alone dance in the aisles?

I compared notes with Susanne, our bass player. We were both grateful for our experience in sitting in front of congregations for extended periods, pretending to be attentive. I like to call it "fake awake." Although the services were nice, we were exhausted. We managed to stay upright during the services, but we were tired, and the sanctuary was warm. Susanne snuck into the choir loft and took a nap between services.

Following the second service was the closing circle. I'm not a touchy feely kind of guy, but even so, I found myself wandering around the circle, hugging people goodbye, and looking forward to seeing them in Boston, where next year's conference will be held.

Some random thoughts and memories from the week:

• Sitting in a bathroom stall in the Atlanta airport, I was startled by a voice announcement that sounded like it was right outside my stall. "Hello! This is Mayor Kasim Reed. I'd like to welcome you to Atlanta."
• I was grateful for the chance to play guitar often. I'm uncomfortable socializing, but the opportunity to play with others helped me make connections.
• The Traveler guitar was my conference buddy. I'm glad I bought that little guitar. It doesn't even compare to a full sized guitar. I was happy to be reunited with my Taylor when I returned, but it sure was convenient to have a travel sized guitar that fit in an overhead compartment and was easy to tote.
• Two years in a row I have been fortunate to have good roommates. And by that, I mean roommates who are pleasant, interesting…and who go to bed early!
• My favorite session was the workshop on children's songs, musical games, and dances. I can't wait to spring those on the children at NWUUC.
• It was nice to see some colleagues who work near me, in particular Don Milton from UUCA in Atlanta and Amber Fetner who is music director in Athens, GA. As always, it was great to see Sarah Dan Jones again.
• I had booked a red eye flight back to Atlanta, so I figured I had seen the last of the conference goers by the time I got to the San Diego airport. No! I was walking through the food court, looking for an overpriced meal, when I heard "Tom!" There was Amber Fetner. And then there was somebody else, and somebody else. And somebody else.
• I had a LOT of downtime at the airport. I took a nap and woke up with a workshop idea for next year. I had enough time that I was able to outline the entire workshop. Soon I should see a submission form for workshops at the 2015 conference. If my idea is accepted, I'll write more about it.

Overall, this year's conference was a tremendous experience for me. On the one hand, I had the opportunity to play often and contribute in ways that I am strong. On the other hand, I attended workshops that challenged me, offered fresh ideas, and helped bring up my weak areas. It was a perfect balance. I'm looking forward to being in Boston next year!

2014 UUMN Conference Day 4

Saturday, the third full day of the 2014 UUMN Conference in San Diego.

Heading to a spot by the pool for a guitar warm-up, I had to laugh when one of the other conferences goers looked at me and said "Another terrible day." I have no complaints about the weather in San Diego. I brought a little bit of Atlanta's rain along for my first day in San Diego, and I do mean just a little bit – just a sprinkle, really. After that first day, it was sunny, beautiful, and in the 70s.

We started the day with a remembrance service, which was moving. During part of the service, the worship leaders listed names of members who passed away this year. I haven't been in the UUMN long, so I didn't recognize most of the names. As I continue to come to conferences and participate in UUMN activities over the years, I'm sure to recognize more and more of them. Whether I recognized the names or not this year, they are all an important part of the continuing history of Unitarian Universalism.

After the service, I helped Sarah Dan Jones with a reading session. Her partner, Abby, played piano on most of the pieces, but a few of them called for a guitar. Most of the reading sessions were for choral music, but in this session, we read through Silliman Competition winners, honorable mentions, runners up, etc. The Silliman Competition was established to promote the writing of music suitable for Unitarian Universalist congregational singing. There were some really nice pieces, many of which I'll be ordering. You can click here to read more about the competition and this year's winners.

After the reading session, I scurried over to band rehearsal. By now, the band was sounding really good. It was all starting to click. We rehearsed with the singers for the entire rehearsal this time, putting it all together for the next day's services.

Following rehearsal, I attended Don Milton's excellent session, "Going Beyond Warm-Ups." I got a lot out of this session – a LOT. So much that I was both inspired and overwhelmed. Fortunately, Don is also in Atlanta, and I offered him a deal. I will be buy him dinner if I can bring along a recorder and have him sing through several of these exercises again. I'm looking forward to applying his ideas and exercises to my own choir rehearsals.

I skipped the next session. By now, I was beginning to wear down. I wasn't particularly interested in any of the sessions in the final workshop slot, but I was keenly interested in taking a nap. I managed to find a room with a couch, and I quickly fell asleep.

After my little nap, I attended the final reading choral reading session, which focused on easier unison, 2- and 3-part music. We sang a few pieces that I'd like to order for my choir. Between this session, the Silliman session, and the first choral reading session, which focused on UU composers, I have quite a list of music that I'd like to order. I can't order it all. Pretty soon, I'll have to sift through the list and choose the ones that really spoke to me.

After the reading session, I headed home and once again spent some alone time with the guitar in my hotel room. All workshops and rehearsals were done. The next day, we would participate in two morning services and then say our goodbyes.

2014 UUMN Conference Day 3

Friday, the second full day of the 2014 UUMN Conference in San Diego. This was my favorite day of the conference.

Like many of us from the Eastern Standard Time zone, I had difficulty sleeping. I woke early, headed outside to practice guitar, and then walked to the host church, the 1st UU Church of San Diego. The walk to the church was only 25 minutes, but most of that was up a steep hill. Practicing guitar at 6 in the morning helped me maintain some amount of finger dexterity. Walking up that hill provided my exercise. And doing both allowed me to feel a certain amount of smugness throughout the conference. If the conference had been extended for another week, I'm pretty sure I would have taken the buses like most everyone else.

After the initial service, I attended an excellent plenary session focusing on creating a good flow in the service. I took away some good ideas from that, and then went on to band rehearsal.

Although there were still some rough patches, the contemporary band was noticeably tighter than it was the previous day. The singers joined us toward the end of rehearsal, which I enjoyed very much. They sounded great, and it was nice to be able to hear the complete arrangements, including vocals.

Following rehearsal, I met with Sarah Dan Jones for a quick rehearsal. Sarah Dan would be leading a reading session the next day, and she had asked me to play guitar on a few pieces. I'm glad we got together. Being jazz oriented, I had a very different concept of the songs than Sarah Dan had! We ironed it out, and I was ready for the next thing, which was Scott Roewe's "Creating a Jazz Service" session.

Dana Decker, who led the contemporary band, had asked if I would be interested in playing for Scott's jazz service session. Of course I was interested, and I was happy to learn that Scott would let me play. I really enjoyed the workshop. Scott treated it as a public rehearsal, showing the attendees how to put together a jazz group and how you can adjust harmonies and accompaniments in hymns with jazz styles. Throughout the "rehearsal," Scott took questions. The band members all had microphones and could chime in when needed. Typical of me, while I don't talk much in "real life," I didn't have any problem piping up on stage with a microphone in front of me. I have to admit that I got lost in one song. I think that we were supposed to play the 1st 8 bars as an intro, but I didn't realize that at the time. I got to the bridge, and realized that something was wrong. There's an old adage, "when in doubt, lay out," which is exactly what I did until I figured out where we were. Unfortunately, this particular song was videotaped and posted on Facebook. I will not provide a link to that video. :)

After the jazz service workshop, I broke down my gear and scurried to Sarah Billerbeck's session, "Sing, Move, Dance, Play: movement activities, dances and music games for children of all ages." That's a long title. It was also hands down my favorite workshop of the entire conference. If all I could have done was attend Sarah's workshop, it would still have been worth the trip to San Diego. This past church year, I attempted to start up a children's choir, but I was met with scheduling challenges. Although I still plan to have a children's choir at Northwest UUC, I can only do so much with 15 hours a week. Instead of a formal children's choir this year, I'm planning on venturing into the realm of RE (Religious Education) and working with the kids in the classrooms. This will be brand new territory for me, and this workshop couldn't have come at a better time. I've returned to Atlanta with a great starter kit of songs, musical games, and dances for children. I can't wait to use them in RE! On top of the great information and resources, the workshop was tons of fun. How can you not have fun in a room full of adults playing, laughing, and literally rolling around on the floor? I left that workshop full of new ideas and buzzing with joy from the sheer fun of it all.

Following the children's music workshop was another choral reading session. This session was focused on more difficult material. It was fun to sing this music, but I won't be ordering from that list. Some of the pieces were pretty difficult, and my choir wouldn't be able to sing it. Someday they'll be able to handle that level of difficulty, but not this year.

There was no service this night. Instead, there was a banquet and talent show, which I skipped. By the time the day was over, I was ready to not be around people for a while. While most everyone else was at the banquet, I was recharging by practicing guitar in my hotel room.

This was such a great day. I played a lot of guitar, which is always a plus, but the best part was the children's music workshop. Nearly a week later, I still smile when I think about it.

2014 UUMN Conference Day 2

Thursday, the first full day of the 2014 UUMN Conference in San Diego. This was the beginning of what would be a magical, exhilarating, and exhausting three and a half days of learning and music making.

Each day of the conference began with a 45 minute service. A few days before the conference, Keith Arnold, a fellow UU musician, asked me to play guitar with a band that was being tossed together for the Thursday morning service. So I got up early Thursday morning to grab breakfast and take myself through a guitar warm-up. Getting up early was not a problem this year, since my body was still used to Eastern Standard Time.

The first service was excellent, and the band sounded good. I was thrilled to participate. Throughout the conference, I found myself playing for and with others often. I loved it! I find it difficult to meet people, even when they are as friendly and gregarious as the UUMN crowd. I'm less inhibited if I'm holding a guitar in my hands. Having the opportunity to rehearse and perform with others helped me make connections with people I may have otherwise shied away from.

After the first service was the annual meeting, but I played hooky. Last year, I went to everything, and I came home with a cold. This year, I purposefully skipped a few things as a matter of self care. I'm glad I did. I'm still exhausted (just slept 12 hours), but I'm in better shape than last year. I need to take it easy this week anyway, because I'm attending an intense week-long piano class teacher workshop next week.

So anyway, after the meeting, which I skipped, I attended the first band rehearsal. This was great fun! This is the first year there has been an official conference contemporary band, and I loved it. We had three horns, two keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and singers. We spent the first rehearsal getting to know the music and each other. All the musicians were terrific and super nice. The instrumentalists in the band were coached expertly by Dana Decker, who has a gentle way of demanding perfection and encouraging teamwork. At home, both inside and outside Northwest UUC, I lead nearly every group I perform with. It was rather refreshing to sit back and have someone else tell me what to do.

After band rehearsal, I attended Don Milton and Anne Watson Born's workshop, "It's Not Just Learning the Notes." I just finished my third year at Northwest UUC. While I'm an experienced musician, I'm just a baby at this whole church music thing. I would say that for the first year, maybe two, I was unaware that a church choir is more than just a music making machine. This is a real community for the singers, and it means a great deal to them, otherwise they wouldn't put up with being corrected for 90 minutes every week. This workshop helped reinforce the lesson that I am constantly learning: that the choir is a community. I came out of it with new ideas for nurturing my own choir's community and building relationships.

Finally, I attended a choral reading session. The reading sessions are a highlight for me, because they expose me to new choral literature. Thursday's reading session focused on choral music written by Unitarian Universalist composers. Throughout all these reading sessions, I made note of pieces that I'd like to order for my own choir.

After the reading session, there was a dinner break and an evening service. I found a Mediterranean restaurant with kabobs. It was okay, but I'm spoiled by the excellent food at Noosh Persian Bistro, where I play every Friday with Godfrey and Guy. Noosh does things with rice that you wouldn't believe. But I digress. I skipped the evening service. As a matter of fact, I skipped every evening service so I could go back to the hotel, practice guitar, and recharge.

The first full day of the conference was awesome, and it just kept getting better.

2014 UUMN Conference Day 1

Last year, when I attended the UUMN conference in Dallas, I faithfully blogged about the experience every night. This year, I purposefully left my laptop at home. I didn't miss my laptop at all, but I wasn't able to blog. I did take notes. This and the next few articles will describe my time at this year's conference, which was held in San Diego.

On my minister's orders, I arrived in San Diego a day early to enjoy the city. There is so much to do in San Diego. I knew that if I tried to do it all, I would have been toast before the conference even began, so I just did a couple things. It just so happened that my biggest music engraving client, the Neil A. Kjos Music Company, was located 5 minutes from my hotel. The editor to whom I most often report, Ryan, picked me up at the hotel and took me on a tour of Kjos, where I met other members of the editorial staff and visited the warehouse and the printing press. It was pretty cool to walk by stacks of concert band music that I had engraved. I used to work for a small music publisher, so I was somewhat familiar with the equipment, but I wasn't prepared for the enormity of their main printing press. When I worked at Mark Foster Music Company, the press occupied one small room. The printing press at Kjos was huge! It was at least 100 feet long. It was amazing to watch it in action.

I realize that visiting a music publishing company isn't exactly a "San Diego-ish" thing to do, but I enjoyed the tour immensely. It was also nice to meet the folks at Kjos in person. All of my work with the company has been handled through email and by phone. After the tour, Ryan treated me to a seafood lunch and then dropped me off at the San Diego Zoo at my request. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the zoo and then took a cab back to the hotel.

That was the end of my free day. The next day was Professional Development Day. I didn't get as much out of Pro Development Day as last year, when we explored creative problem solving in the workplace. This year's theme centered around Unitarian Universalist musical heritage. It was okay, even fun at times, but to be honest, it felt like we spent 5 hours patting ourselves on the back in the guise of exploring our motives behind making music. That's just my personal opinion. I'm sure others got a lot out of it. I think I am more driven by intuition and feeling than the average person, but I'm much more driven by logic and problem solving than most musicians, or at least most UU church musicians.

That being said, there were some beautiful moments in Pro Development Day, particularly whenever we sang. There's nothing like being in a room full of musicians singing their hearts out. The emotional impact of this took me completely by surprise last year, when I could hardly sing because I kept choking up. I was braced for it this year, but it didn't lessen the beauty of the moments when we all sang.

Early in the conference, I realized one thing: I would never eat alone. Breakfast? I sat down alone with my eggs and bacon. Two bites into my meal, I heard the words "may I join you?" Next thing you know, the table is full. Lunch? Same thing. For an introvert like myself, this was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the thought of actually conversing with someone, especially at 6 a.m., filled me a certain amount of anxiety. On the other hand, I was partly at the conference to make connections, which is super easy when you are surrounded by gregarious musicians.

The first full day of the conference began the next day. This would turn out to be a truly marvelous few days, as you will see in the next articles.