“The elderly Mr. Withers leaned over me and whispered, “What? You’ve been practicing it for three minutes, and you still can’t play it?”
-Benjamin Zander (pg 5 ‘The Art of Possibility
Zander conducts the Boston Philharmonic and is an accomplished musician himself.
He made this statement at a young age when he attempted playing a difficult passage three times and did not quite get it.
It probably seems silly to you.
As I have been studying physics, sometimes a single problem can take many hours to solve. And it won’t necessarily be solved the first day I looked at it. Mastery of anything takes time.
Playing music isn’t always easy. It takes persistence and dedication.
But keep at it!
Benny goodman gave his daughter lessons and was also surprised she could’nt play something he felt was very easy. Take your time play slow and increase speed until you can play it at the tempo you want. don’t let anyone discourage you with statements that make you feel bad about yourself. Don’t let people build skyscrapers in your mine. The great band Irakere from Cuba is an awesome group which plays fast passages that are incredibly difficult. check them out.
I spoke with the son of Chucho Valdez the great pianist and leader of this group. He told me Chucho would rehearse the rhythm section early in the morning taking everything slow and building up the tempo until it was where he wanted it. later that day he takes the sax section and other horns and does the same thing. slo to fast. when it’s right the whold band gathers and they rehearse the tune. Bam , the tempo is right wher he wants it and it only took all day to do it.
o course these are great cats but they still rehearse slow to fast and then you get this incredible magic. i was glad to hear this because i didn’t think i would ever be able to play a tune like they do at that tempo at first sight. the magic of practice, we all do it. Parker said improvisation is 99 percent perspiration 1 percent inspiration. even bird had to practice.