The following fantastic list of advice comes courtesy of legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, a musical genius who died exactly 30 years ago, on February 17th of 1982. The list was transcribed by saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1960.

Enjoy.

Transcript follows.

(Source: Heck of a Guy; Image above: Thelonious Monk, via.)

Transcript
T.MONK’S ADVICE (1960)

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT A DRUMMER, DOESN’T MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE TO KEEP TIME.

PAT YOUR FOOT & SING THE MELODY IN YOUR HEAD, WHEN YOU PLAY.

STOP PLAYING ALL THOSE WEIRD NOTES (THAT BULLSHIT), PLAY THE MELODY!

MAKE THE DRUMMER SOUND GOOD.

DISCRIMINATION IS IMPORTANT.

YOU’VE GOT TO DIG IT TO DIG IT, YOU DIG?

ALL REET!

ALWAYS KNOW… (MONK)

IT MUST BE ALWAYS NIGHT, OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN’T NEED THE LIGHTS.

LET’S LIFT THE BAND STAND!!

I WANT TO AVOID THE HECKLERS.

DON’T PLAY THE PIANO PART, I’M PLAYING THAT. DON’T LISTEN TO ME. I’M SUPPOSED TO BE ACCOMPANYING YOU!

THE INSIDE OF THE TUNE (THE BRIDGE) IS THE PART THAT MAKES THE OUTSIDE SOUND GOOD.

DON’T PLAY EVERYTHING (OR EVERY TIME); LET SOME THINGS GO BY. SOME MUSIC JUST IMAGINED. WHAT YOU DON’T PLAY CAN BE MORE IMPORTANT THAT WHAT YOU DO.

ALWAYS LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE.

A NOTE CAN BE SMALL AS A PIN OR AS BIG AS THE WORLD, IT DEPENDS ON YOUR IMAGINATION.

STAY IN SHAPE! SOMETIMES A MUSICIAN WAITS FOR A GIG, & WHEN IT COMES, HE’S OUT OF SHAPE & CAN’T MAKE IT.

WHEN YOU’RE SWINGING, SWING SOME MORE!

(WHAT SHOULD WE WEAR TONIGHT? SHARP AS POSSIBLE!)

DON’T SOUND ANYBODY FOR A GIG, JUST BE ON THE SCENE. THESE PIECES WERE WRITTEN SO AS TO HAVE SOMETHING TO PLAY, & TO GET CATS INTERESTED ENOUGH TO COME TO REHEARSAL.

YOU’VE GOT IT! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY, TELL A JOKE OR DANCE, BUT IN ANY CASE, YOU GOT IT! (TO A DRUMMER WHO DIDN’T WANT TO SOLO).

WHATEVER YOU THINK CAN’T BE DONE, SOMEBODY WILL COME ALONG & DO IT. A GENIUS IS THE ONE MOST LIKE HIMSELF.

THEY TRIED TO GET ME TO HATE WHITE PEOPLE, BUT SOMEONE WOULD ALWAYS COME ALONG & SPOIL IT.

Posted by Grosse Pointe Music Academy Staff

Grosse Pointe Music Academy is a private music institution offering private lessons and group classes in musical instrument and voice.  We have locations in Grosse Pointe on the Eastside of Detroit and on the Westside of Detroit in Canton Township.

Is February 20th special?  Heck yeah it is!  Not only is it our own David Bolla’s birthday (Happy birthday Dave!), but all these cool things happened on this day as well:

1745 – The birth of composer Johann Peter Saloman.

1770 – The birth of composer Ferdinando Carulli.

1791 – The birth of composer Carl Czerny.

1802 – The birth of composer Charles-Auguste de Beriot.

1940 – Larry Clinton and his orchestra recorded “Limehouse Blues”.

1949 - Ricky Nelson joined the cast of his parents’ radio show.

1964 – The Beach Boys recorded “Don’t Worry Baby”.

1969 – “Goodbye Cream” opened in Baltimore. The film was of Cream’s November 26, 1968 farewell concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

1969 – The X-rated film “Candy” premiered. It was Ringo Starr’s first non-musical role in a film.
Today in Beatles History

1970 – John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” was released in the U.S.
John Lennon apparel and gear - Today in Beatles History

1974 – Cher filed for separation from husband Sonny Bono. She filed for divorce not long afterwards. They had been married for 10 years.

1976 – KISS placed their footprints on the sidewalk outside the Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Official KISS Store

1982 – Singer Pat Benatar married musician-producer Neil Geraldo in Hawaii. It was Benatar’s second marriage.

1992 - Paula Abdul and actor Emilio Estevez announced their engagement.

1996 – Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and a bodyguard were found not guilty of first-degree murder. The jury was deadlocked on voluntary manslaughter charges resulting in a mistrial.

1997 – Ben and Jerry’s introduced a their ice cream Phish Food. It was named after the rock group Phish.

1998 – The first of two concerts honoring the late Nicolette Larson was held.

2000 – ABC-TV aired the “Little Richard” TV movie.

2002 – In Los Angeles, CA, a jury awarded a woman $40,000 for wrongful termination from James Brown’s company in 1999. The woman had also claimed that she had been sexually harassed.

2003 – In West Warwick, RI, 99 people were killed when fire destroyed the nightclub The Station. The fire started with sparks from a pyrotechnic display being used by Great White. Ty Longley, guitarist for Great White, was one of the victims in the fire.

2012 – You decide to take music lessons at Grosse Pointe Music Academy.  The lessons you learned there were the foundation for an outstanding musical career!

Did we miss anything?  Maybe your band did something sweet on February 20th in the past.  Let us know in the comment section and we’ll be sure to add it to our archives.

posted by Grosse Pointe Music Academy staff

Grosse Pointe Music Academy offers private music lessons for instrumental and voice.  We have locations in Grosse Pointe and the Plymouth Canton Area.

Many people consider learning an instrument as an adult.  If you’re thinking about it then just do it.  Some may say this and some may say that but if you want to learn music then learn.  You don’t have to be the best at something to become well educated and well trained.  Before you decide whether you want to play guitar, piano, drums, violin or whatever, there is a something you must establish.  That something is how much time you will dedicate to practicing everyday.  This is something that you must be realistic with.  Don’t just say that you will practice an hour a day without realizing what type of commitment that is.  You can always add time to your practice later.  The main thing is that you have to set a manageable amount of time that you can and will practice.  The key is to make your practice a normal part of your life.  If you do it everyday then 15 minutes will soon not be enough time because the better you are the more you’ll enjoy it.  The more you enjoy it, the less you will notice how much time is going by while doing it.

If you’re shopping for an instrument but haven’t nailed down a plan for a practice routine then we need to back up a bit.  Many people buy an instrument with great intentions.  It’s okay to fantasize about being on stage and performing with the band of course.  If you’re serious about learning though, then figure out your practice time and space and commit to it.  That is the only way that you will progress and learn to play a musical instrument.  Staying organized and stay consistent and you will see results.

Private lessons are a vehicle for success with music.  Most people will benefit greatly from having lessons 30 minutes – 60 minutes in length weekly.  More important than the material learned is the critique you’ll get from having individual music instruction.  You can save quite a deal of time by avoiding bad habits and pit falls while learning your musical instrument.

Grosse Pointe Music Academy Music Teachers are University Trained with most holding Degrees in the instruments they are teaching.  This ensures that no critical part of the musical learning process is inadvertently omitted from the instruction you receive.  Our teachers are capable of teaching those that want to become professionals as well as those just looking for a new hobby.  We are committed to helping you reach your goals in music!

by  musicguru

Grosse Pointe Music Academy Staff

“Music is a higher realization that all wisdom and philosophy” – Ludwig van Beethoven.

Is this a blanket statement by Beethoven or does anyone believe that this is true.  Is music actually a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy?  Is music a revelation at all?

Anyone born in the last 50 years or so probably has had access to music in more ways that Ludwig van Beethoven could have ever imagined.  Technology has made it possible for us to listen to virtually any song at any time.  People don’t actually need to go to a concert at all to experience music everyday and all day long.  Beethoven died in 1827 and during his time if you wanted to hear music you had to listen to yourself or somebody else play.  If music is indeed a revelation, we probably don’t look at it that way now because there is so much of it and it is taken for granted.  I can only imagine how powerful it was to see a live performance in the 1800′s and earlier.  I guess that is an experience that I will likely never realize unless I take away all my musical gadgets for a few years and never listen to radio or TV.  That’s not going to happen so I guess I can only speculate.

If Beethoven’s famous quote is the truth or even close to being true then wouldn’t that make music one of the most vital things to understand?  If wisdom and philosophy are secondary to the revelation of music then certainly there would be nobody talking about cutting music programs from our elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools.  In fact it would be a subject that requires students to learn and excel.  It would be just as important as Math, Sciences, and Language.  I personally think that music should be integrated into all subjects but that is a topic for another day.

In my own experience with music, I would say that it has been a revelation for me.  It has impacted my life in so many ways that it’s hard to quantify it’s importance.  All I can say that it has been a vitally important function in my life.  It has helped with my imagination, creativity, discipline, and so many more things.  I don’t think life would be much fun without it.  I can’t say music is a revelation, but I also cannot say that it’s not.

by musicguru

Grosse Pointe Music Academy Staff

I’m most definitely not looking to start a debate on creation,  religion or anything like that with posting this video.  If you want to comment from that point of view then that’s totally fine, but I just wanted to be clear that it’s not my intention.

More and more scientists seem to be in acceptance of the idea that all matter is actually sound or particles being held together by sound.  The video shows examples of sand vibrating to form different patterns and shapes.  This got me thinking about the effect of our music on the natural world.  If I sit here and strum the guitar, what exactly am I creating?  Are the sounds that are coming from the guitar actually forming something even if it’s at a very small level?  If so, then what type of impact does it actually have on my life?  Am I getting too deep?  I’m thinking that it makes the music we create very important to ourselves and those around us.  The human being contains a musical rhythm with it’s heart beat and a melody with the voice.  We are pretty much living musical instruments.  I think this is why each and every person, whether they admit it or not, have a deep yearning for music and music education.  Anyhow, I can ramble on for hours, so please watch this video and let us know what you think.

Comments from Youtube.com on this video:

The law of vibration says that everything in the universe is in a constant state of vibration. Everything, whether solid, liquid or gas is made up of energy and all forms of energy are constantly moving and vibrating. A rock, a person or a car may appear to be still but they are in fact slowly vibrating at the sub atomic level. Other forms of energy like heat, light and sound are also vibrating but at a much faster rate than objects that appear to be solid.

Vibrations emanate sounds, imagine the strings of a guitar vibrating, the different thickness and tension of the string the different the sounds. As we have learnt, all things vibrate but solid objects appear to not to give off any sound, however as vibrations increase we can start to hear low pitched sounds and the higher the vibration the higher pitched are the sounds. Within the law of vibration, vibrations can increase to the point where they become so high they are inaudible to the human ear. The same principle also applies to our ability to see colors. We can only see the colors within the spectrum of the rainbow. However there are other colors like ultra-violet that exist but are vibrating at such a high frequency we are unable to see them.

The law of vibration is in effect throughout the entire universe and in the universe there are no two things exactly the same. This is due to the fact that everything is vibrating at a different rate. Considering the principles of the law of attraction, like is attracted to like, we can understand how vibrations are attracted to other vibrations of an identical frequency. Your thoughts are a form of energy with their own unique frequency and as your thoughts are sent out into the universe they gather energy vibrating at the identical frequency and bring to you circumstances and people who reside on the same frequency. The higher the vibration the more positive the events or people you attract and likewise, the lower the vibration more negative will be the people and events you attract. This means it is important to raise your core vibration rate and in turn the thoughts you send out will be of a higher vibration. By understanding the law of vibration you can use it to your advantage.

President Harry S. Truman, the man in the White House when the United States intervened on behalf of the millions of innocent people who were being displaced and massacred by Hitler’s Nazi Germany, claimed to have practiced his piano lessons for two hours every morning during his childhood. Likewise, President Warren Harding was said to be able to play every instrument except the trombone and the clarinet. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) played the organ. Of course we all remember President Clinton and his saxophone, but did you know that President Nixon was an accomplished pianist?

And more recently a girl who was a musician long before she became an academic and then a world-famous diplomat, our own globetrotting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a very accomplished classical pianist. As she was growing up in the Rice home music was a family affair, and as early as age 3 Condi played piano at family gatherings. Her Dad was a minister and she often accompanied her organist Mother in church. The name “Condoleezza” is from the Italian phrase con dolcezza, which refers to playing music “with sweetness.” While other kids in her neighborhood were playing outdoors, she was more likely to be found practicing the piano or reading a book. Shadows of things to come?

The list goes on, but the real question is why do people with musical training tend to achieve more in life? There are differing theories about that, but studies have shown a direct correlation between music and the brain’s ability to adapt to the world around it. One such test showed that people that had listened to just ten minutes of Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major” and then took a spatio-temporal reasoning test (which is a part of a standardized intelligence test) scored 48% higher than the control group while a second study done at the University of California, Irvine on what has been called the “Mozart Effect” shows a increased IQ score of nine points.

In another study the Bulgarian psychologist George Lozanov discovered that playing Baroque instrumental music in the background had a profound effect on student’s ability to learn and retain a foreign language. The key is that highly structured, highly organized music seems to help the human brain to function in a more organized and efficient manner while further studies have shown that discordant music actually has a negative effect on the brain.

Studying music is the perfect way to derive its benefits. At least one study has shown that young children can gain the spatio-temporal reasoning effects mentioned above just by learning to play the piano or organ. Likewise, through the study of music we have the discipline of practice to expose us to great music regardless of our age. Besides for the effect of the music, studying music teaches discipline and the relationship between hard work and reward and there is little in life more rewarding than to hear beautiful music coming forth as a result of one’s own effort.

“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford, former President, United States of America

Not listening to Opera or Rap

So what’s wrong with rap and opera? Not much, really. Except that last week when we asked readers to name their musical blind spots (genres or bands they ignored, either by choice or neglect) a distinct refrain emerged within the responses. Two examples:

“Oh, and by the way, rap is not music. It is mostly a bunch of meaningless drivel by people with no real talent and who certainly should not get paid.”

“Very little of opera is worth bothering with and even then only as instrumental music rather than as the sounds of tortured cats.”

It was clear that opera and rap, more than any other genres, hit some kind of nerve with people. And it’s a fact that seems to hold true far beyond our highly unscientific social media polling. But why?

For some people, taste — why we dislike one thing and prefer another — is complicated. It’s connected to self-esteem, personal branding and creating social divisions based on things like class and education. In a 1996 article for the American Sociology Review, Bethany Bryson attempted to show that people use their musical tastes to erect what she calls “symbolic boundaries” between themselves and others.

There’s little doubt that both rap and opera have traveled with significant prejudicial (if stereotypical) baggage: Opera is for rich, white, elderly snobs; rap is made by poor, young, black thugs. Some people reject both groups, while others relish degrees of perceived inclusion. Bryson would say perceptions help determine musical choices and vice versa.

On a less academic level, I asked a couple of my NPR Music colleagues to weigh in. For Bob Boilen, creator and host of All Songs Considered, social structures, he says, have nothing to with it. It’s all about communication. The languages of rap and opera just don’t speak to him. “If the crux of the music is focused on the words and if the words don’t relate to the listener then it’s all is a big disconnect,” he says. But he’s willing to admit exceptions, including the mournful strains of Portuguese Fado: “I don’t care what they’re singing about, I’m with them.”

Frannie Kelley, who swims in the world of rap like I do in opera, agrees that at first glance the two genres would appear to have little in common. Digging deeper, one can argue that there are many connections, not least of which is the obsessiveness of each genre’s most dedicated aficionados.

Opera fanatics incessantly evaluate all aspects of singers, conductors, directors, composers, set designers and opera companies. True geeks know the intricacies of how the human voice works, and how it should work in any given operatic role vis-à-vis any given singer. Opera roles are like clothes, which singers “try on” to varying degrees of success. Certain voices fit certain roles perfectly, but singers often try on roles a size or two too big. Not pretty.

In the higher realms of rap, Frannie says, you have to navigate the interior social strata, the subtleties of sampling and layers of meaning behind the braggadocio and how it relates to selling records. Rap, like opera, also has complicated “cast lists.” Keeping up with who appears on whose singles, mixtapes and remixes can be as confounding as keeping track of who sang what on the famous Knappertsbusch Ring cycles. And with rap, like opera, there are a huge amount of regional variety, from Compton to Atlanta to the Bronx, London and Istanbul.

And then there’s the language, as Bob mentioned. Both the actual language that each genre uses in performance and the cryptic vernaculars each has engendered. Opera and rap rely heavily on words, many of which are not immediately discernible. Rap can have complex poetry (and profanity) zipping past at indecipherable speed. Opera often has foreign tongues and high flying phrasing, requiring CD listeners to run to their printed librettos and opera houses to install supertitles.

Opera and rap take work to appreciate — perhaps more effort than many of today’s music consumers are willing to expend. In an age when more and more music is available to anyone’s ears, are we turning into lazy listeners? Is it too easy to download too much, to acquire everything but actually hear nothing? Does any time remain to fully appreciate a complete hip-hop album, let alone an entire opera? It also takes work to enjoy music that’s as in-your-face as opera and rap are. With all the melodrama, social consciousness, violence and intense vocal styles, they certainly are not musical wallpaper.

Opera and rap. Who knew they could be so far from each other and yet so close? And who really knows exactly why they both act like lightning rods when it comes to musical preferences?

by Tom Huizenga – NPR

Posted by Grosse Pointe Music Academy Staff

When you’re creating your sound at the piano, one of the most important concepts is foreground vs. background. Melody vs. accompaniment. However, many pianists erroneously equate the idea of balance at the keyboard as the need to play all voices at the same level. As you play multiple voices, sameness of tone between the hands can often result in a bland sound with a melody that is much too soft and an overbearing accompaniment.

As pianists, we need to think like recording engineers. What is most important in a musical texture? What do you want the audience to hear? What technical decisions do you need to make in order to be able to bring out these differences? More often than not, performances that we dislike tend to be ones that all sound the same.

Here is some terminology that I’ve been developing over the last while in order to better explain this concept in lessons and classes:

According to the Times of India…

LONDON: Pop superstar Prince believes playing the electric guitar his entire life has stopped him from going bald.

The 52-year-old pop legend, who can play 27 different instruments, is convinced the electricity that flows through a guitar when he strums it is the reason he still has luscious locks, Daily Mirror online reported.

“Playing electric guitar your whole life does something to you. I’m convinced all that electricity racing through your body made me keep my hair,” Prince said. He also admits he can’t “function” properly if he can’t record songs.

This is great!  Who needs the Hair Club for Men or Rogain anymore?  Guitar Playing grows your hair back!  Does this mean that now we can charge for lessons by the graft rather than the hour?  Now that thinning hairline or balding vertex you have been obsessing about has a real life cure!  To think that you can simultaneously become a virtuoso guitar player in the process makes this doubly as awesome.

Clearly the reason Prince has kept his hair over the last 52 years must absolutely be because of his guitar playing.  I mean, what else could it be?  It’s surprising to me that none of the other 26 instruments that he plays helped him to grow tall!  Okay that is just a joke.  I’m not certain if this is something he really said and who knows he may be right.  It does seem like a lot of those long hair guys from the 80′s still have all their hair.

Does anyone out there have any further evidence on Prince’s claim that his Guitar Playing is what kept his nice and healthy and full all his life?  If so please share your stories, pictures and videos in our comment section.

It isn’t clear yet whether or not playing guitar will work for people that currently are experiencing hair loss.  I think it would be worth a shot anyhow.  Worst case scenario is you still don’t have any hair but at least you’ll be jamming out on the guitar.  For those of you that are concerned that it may happen to you then take preventative measures and start playing guitar now.  Don’t lose a single follicle of hair!

posted by Grosse Pointe Music Academy staff

Grosse Pointe Music Academy has 2 locations serving Metro Detroit in Grosse Pointe and Plymouth Canton.