Monthly Archives: February 2015

The Universal Scale Game

Posted on February 25, 2015 by jazzpanflute

In my last post I mentioned Taffanel and Gaubert’s daily exercises. One of the most popular of these has been nicknamed the Scale Game. It might be more accurately named the Pentachord Game as it only covers 5 notes of … Continue reading →

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The Other Jazz Scale

Posted on February 21, 2015 by jazzpanflute

Every now and again, you’re working on a piece and you hit a passage that keeps tripping you up and you don’t know why. When that happens, it’s a sign you are about to embark on some brain re-wiring. I … Continue reading →

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Your Three Instruments

Posted on February 16, 2015 by jazzpanflute

1st Instrument : your horn Learning to be a musician begins with mastering your instrument. An instrument is supposed to be that thing that you bang or blow out notes on. Your voice. Why is it even called an instrument? An … Continue reading →

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Musical education, the wasted years

Posted on February 3, 2015 by jazzpanflute

I am sometimes asked: What is the best way to learn to read music? How can I learn to “read flyshit off a wall”? The best tip I can offer is to make sure it’s music that you really want … Continue reading →

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You get back what you put in

Posted on February 2, 2015 by jazzpanflute

One of the dangers of transcribing music, often encountered by ethnomusicologists, is that of forgetting that what you write down and the music itself are two different things. Or as I keep saying, the map is not the territory. I … Continue reading →

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