JazzAura Music

Secrets in Music

20231204, Mon
Well, I believe that musicians are notorious for taking drugs because most of them produce wrong energy with their instruments and they do not know that. If you are smoking, for instance, you could try out several techniques that come to your mind, and if the intervals between the cigarettes get bigger, if you like to play your instrument instead of smoking, you produce right energy. Non-smokers should look at the movements in the brain. Is it a strong or a weak movement? Does a movement occur at all? When one can relax while making music, it is likely to be right energy. For sure, it works also with coffee. The less one has to drink, the better the musical energy. Music can be quite powerful, but also in a wrong direction.

20231104, Sat
Typically, it is happening in an individual’s youth that some star musician makes a juvenile want to make music as the star is doing it. And it’s good, it is a kind of driver. But one’s own music is the easiest. One shouldn’t wonder when one cannot do the same as the stars. That does not mean that you couldn’t do it better. You can make music in your way that other people cannot really do. It’s a matter of time an exercise. If you believe that drugs let you play longer in this respect then you do not consider the damage from drugs that you would get over the years, which results into imprecise play. A musician with big hands can do things that a musician with small hands cannot do physically, and vice versa. If you concentrate on your own style, it will get harmonious, no matter what.

20231101, Wed
One’s own music is the best. Everybody can make music in his or her personal way. Do not look solely at others’ judgements of your style! Be independent, but let small influences flow into your ideas. Present yourself, but put more weight into making music in small circles. If I see what an acoustic guitar can do, concerning the absolute resolution coming in your ears while jamming, I know that a large audience, listening over speakers, can never have the same. The audience could reach a similar, individual experience as top musicians have. See the benefit and power in music-making for your own! By such an attitude, you do not need drugs, and you are not exposed to dangerous stress, or such. Anyway, a flexible world does not need touring. Digital music distribution is a solution.

20230619, Mon
By comparing the possible keys of a chord type – like the three options of a “m7” – with other chords and their options, one finds that the fourth tone of the chosen key is always one of the tones in all the other chord types as well if one always uses the brightest key option. If one focuses on the fourth tone of a scale, one can easily build a chord out of some key of this scale if the fourth tone of a key and at least two other tones of this key are chosen, so that one gets the brightest and friendliest sound. And when one works with scale alterations, one needs the alteration tone of a key of this altered scale in addition to the fourth tone and any other tone of this key to be definite and brightest. It works with all chords.

20230516, Tue
Avoid free jazz, where you would rather create noises, and get good music when playing with chromatic tunes. There starts to develop a sense for your next tone or tones while improvising, because the instrument and the chromatic scale are more familiar to you, sooner or later. At the beginning, the chromatic seems to be hard to play, since you are accustomed to something else, but, by practice and regularity, it should get easier than playing in keys. It’s the way one plays! One can sound depressive and one can sound joyful, deliberately. Stress makes a lot, and not necessarily speed. A secret is precision. Precise melodies are more pleasant, but computer melodies are too mechanical and too cold. Bring life into your music by taking tempo alterations as a sort of rhythm. Much can be done.

20230410, Mon
It makes really sense to play a couple of different guitars as a guitarist. Especially when one is sitting much, generally, different positions that result from the forms of the guitars do not strain the back as much as always playing the same guitar would do. And divergent types of guitars do otherwise train your techniques by itself because one has to accustom oneself to the form difference at the beginning of a session. If one would always walk with the same shoes, probably, the feet or knees get damaged. In life, variety lets one live comfortably. We need experiences, otherwise it is all too boring. Modern guitars are available at affordable prices, and I believe that one does not need super-perfect instruments, but some that one likes a lot.

20230307, Tue
Improvisation is composition with the little difference that one cannot repeat it exactly. One combines some instrumental technique with rhythm or melody, and is simply jamming. Composition would usually be the piecing together of notes, and one can so repeat it. In the head, in the playing moment, the iteration ability is constrained, also because one is distracted by the creation, by listening to one’s own musicing. Composition would also be putting a story into the music by arranging the melody, or whatever, to be connected to the meaning of the theme, to the narration. Content can but be expressed in improvisation as well. It is just more difficult. One needs experience and knowledge. In my opinion, improvisation is easier, because one can safely correct mistakes, one can play oneself out of them, one can improvise them back.

20230219, Sun
The way one walks the rhythm makes the difference. Music can be a protection. If you focus on the frame, on the beat, it’s likely that you come slightly out of it, because we are no machines, we cannot always be concentrated, and such. And these imprecisions rob the protection. But if you fly over the beat, with small delays and decelerations, there is built a rhythm that can swallow the imprecisions. Tempo alterations that get waves in the melody let you find such a rhythm with practice. Naturally, one starts leading the tempo waves in the beat sooner or later. The beat is just the skeleton. It should be in the background. That’s when they say that music can be therapeutic.

20230215, Wed
Fine differences can bring the desired effect. Be experimental. Some say that music has to do with mathematics. It’s true, but rather make it with your feeling, because music belongs to the creative arts. There are so many possibilities. One has to try them out, and see what happens. The more you have tried, the better you are in trying. Dive into the unknown, into something that the other musicians don’t do. It’s a secure way to create new things. Don’t go for velocity in music! Typically, that is too burdensome for the audience, and too mechanical for yourself. Well, the fingers are not really made for extremes. It wouldn’t go for long safely. One needs something relaxing in the modern world. It’s quick enough outside. Make music in a therapeutic way.

20221209, Fri
The modern world offers plenty of musical instruments everywhere. It is quite easy to get some at a typical music store. And then, eventually, a beginner piano is in your home, and you simply try to play. There is actually no real rule of how to start, nor are there serious rules of how to play later. Think about this: both hands with black and white keys, as you like. That would be chromatic. Simply start playing, and see what it does to you. Over time, it necessarily gets better, until you maybe like to know more of music. Here, a new musician cannot let it anymore. Some play all the time. Play regularly and perhaps you are such a person in a couple of years. Look, the piano makes it for you!

20220731, Sun
In modern societies, there are so many possibilities. Music-making gets neglected naturally, because one has a lot to do computationally. In my opinion, the musician of today won’t reach the level virtuosi of the past reached, even when one is training and trying to perfect one’s techniques with a computer. The taste is missing! A strategy for sweetening the practice on your instrument would be ‘playing the things that one likes to play, the things that are working easily’. They all talk about fun in music. Musical complexity isn’t fun, as it does not sound pleasant usually as well. A couple of weeks ago, I had all eased my music. It is so valuable when one can relax while playing an instrument.

20220422, Fri
Playing an instrument has to be learned, and it is a process of years until the things run smoothly. A teacher functions as a person who knows about the matter, so that tricks can be applied to simply learn quicker. Some individuals do it themselves and try out anything that comes to their minds. There are ups and downs. It cannot always work perfectly. And sometimes, one just does not make it without mistakes where nothing helps. Here, a reliable secret in many cases, the musician should distance himself/herself from these troubles that don’t let them play flawlessly, and come back again after a rather long period of time. In between, the brain orders itself and approaches the instrument differently then. It could be a violent thinking of music that blocks a precise performance.

20211126, Fri
We live in a world where the camera is the door to an audience that cannot be at the places where entertainment is happening. It is often used to beautify the musicians. Some people would argue that music videos are better than stage performances, but this is individual. When I discover perspective mistakes in my recordings, for example, I learn from it, and do it better next time. Aesthetics in music makes sense, because usually there are performance videos nowadays. The way you hold your guitar, or the way you touch your piano makes a difference. A nice tool for improving the appearance of one’s techniques is the mirror, and it can also be a digital mirror, projecting yourself onto a screen. Work on it. Sometimes, there are ideas. Bring them into being, and see what happens.

20211023, Sat
Tuning one’s guitar is very important, especially if you play with other musicians or if you make overdub music. The biggest difference constitutes a typical guitar pick, compared to tuning by finger picking. The tuner gets the frequencies more accurately. A second crucial factor is the weight on the neck of the guitar that one exerts if you move the mechanics. Here, one should always get away with the tuning hand after the rotations. And maybe not so decisive but significant is the time interval one waits, after the guitar was taken up, until you actually tune the instrument. If the guitar is on your shoulder, its own weight forms the wood onto the breast or body. One also has to take care of the intended position the instrument will be played. In my experience, a five-minutes-wait is enough, and you simply come a greater distance until you have to tune the guitar once more.

20210716, Fri
Some musicians have the piano as their main instrument and are playing really much. Soon, music is sport, or comparable to it. In my experience, sitting for two hours without any interruption lets get weak the concentration naturally. A simple trick to regain attentiveness is to stand up and move a bit, for only five minutes, for example, most favourably in fresh air, to bring the blood circulation back in a swing. Surely, tiredness disappears as well, at least for some time. But maybe one should not play the piano for too long without doing something else in between anyway. A one-sided way of making music brings boredom in the end.

20210423, Fri
Especially for people with a mental disorder, who like to make music, it is important how one plays the instrument. Nothing can avoid trying out the things. Typically, one works with an instrument as others are working with it already, but sometimes one needs to adapt it to one’s handicap. Well, I had found out myself that fingers give a specific energy with a certain position, as there is a difference between sitting and standing. There are possible many combinations usually. Once you have found a better energy flow, one just needs to practise the technique for some time still, and it would turn out if it is right indeed also. In my case, there are regularly new, little findings that help. Gradually, one forms a unique style that has the potential to overcome troubles.

20210307, Sun
New things are always great in music. Instrumental discoveries make a session eventually really intriguing, and one should try to ride the wave as long as possible, because new things soon fade away in their drive. Maybe, you get a thrill by a brand new instrument, and for sure it is inspiring also. On the other hand, one should try to see greatness in things that are in your possession for ages, which does exist, one only does not see it anymore. Especially things that you liked enormously bear that property, I think. Perhaps, it is a change in an attitude towards an instrument that got boring to play that makes it kind of new again, provided that the instrument is not damaged. One cannot rely on novelty since musicians have to be strong, and have to make great things out of simplicity or poorness.

20201224, Thu
Naturally, children start singing, sometimes, when they are playing. It’s a sort of speaking that would also develop further by itself if you let the child sing simply. Especially in jazz music, one has parts where the vocalist would sing some tunes. All that is an expression directed towards describing a particular thing. And the vocalist is distinctive for his or her tunes. Ten or fifteen years ago, I had rather troubles to write some lyrics, and I worked with singing melodies instead. Now, I know that this has improved my song writing where text has to get a tune. One does not have to do that all the time, but regularly, and certainly when one is happy. Children unconsciously show happiness when they are singing. These tunes are more important than others.

20201030, Fri
In a world full of technology, kids grow up differently. Probably they have other interests, and do not develop a sense for appreciating a relationship with an instrument. Making music is most effective if one practises regularly. Also adults would have troubles if their play does not make fun. But how is fun brought into the world of music? For sure, there are several ways. Eventually, all is done with a special attitude. If you tell yourself that making mistakes is not that important, you would not stubbornly play just to get better. It would then be more about music itself, and about enjoying the musical moment. It is true: mistakes are unavoidable, and should therefore be of secondary focus.

20200925, Fri
It is true that many musicians take drugs, but not necessarily this has to be so, because music alone is a mediation that does replace drugs. If you believe that tunes and rhythms feel better under the influence of certain substances, you are misled by the substance, since the drug only exaggerates the feelings physically, and deceives your impression. It has nothing to do with the ability to play better. It brings the senses onto an untrue level, and makes you loose your track eventually, due to a weak concentration. Not long ago, I realized that making music is a flight in my case. Well, there are certain troubles that I cannot get rid of, but music makes me forget them to a great extent.

20200808, Sat
The world of music has the best places for creative individuals. It is not given that they tried out everything in the 1960s, especially because we, here, have new sounds with which we can go into new combinations. A reliable way to stumble over something that has not existed yet is to go your own road. Me, in my case, has to trick out the mental disorder, and this involves, for example, strict diversity. With this stance, I would eventually only change my position, and would find myself in the midst of another behaviour and other feelings. It makes a difference if you are sitting, or if you are standing. To keep up the fun, do everything that comes to your mind.

20200618, Thu
Improvisations are great! One gets better and better, and the ability to relax increases as well. For sure, it is not everybody’s thing, but mine indeed. For years, I have not been working with notes which let me improve jamming. Virtually, I am improvising on any instrument. And obviously, by simply playing, all the styles have developed into progressiveness. The more constant the technique is, the more likely it is that one falls into dreaming. Sometimes, I realize that there was a part in a session where I cannot remember what I was doing. Harmonious uniformity is the reason for increased performance, I think.

20200513, Wed
Making music is actually not easy. A child would think so, but, as it will turn out later, the things are quite difficult. One says that twenty minutes practice a day are enough to get better on the instrument. A professional musician believes that she or he needs to practise all day long. In my opinion, this is not really true. One should spent much time with the instrument, but one does not have to play all the time, especially when one plays cleverly. Regularity will do the most part, I think. So, the track won’t be lost, starting on the next day where one had stopped. Music can be a kind of painkiller if it is done right. It should be rather about the tunes and rhythms than about the playing length.

20200403, Fri
Around ten years ago, I started to buy myself several instruments, like a violin, a bass, parts of the drums, and percussion things, in addition to the guitar and the piano. Well, I thought that I am skilful enough to also play them, and it has proven right. Variety in music is something great. I myself could not play a single instrument the whole day, but I can make music the whole day, switching lively between many instrument types. In the end, one has created a bigger sense for melodies and rhythms, in my opinion. The modern world is easier, for example, one does not necessarily need to tune an acoustic piano anymore, playing on an electric piano, and has so more time for music, more or less. Variety is good for the soul.

20200206, Thu
One’s own instruments are beautiful usually. One possesses and plays them, because one likes to possess and play them. I am astonished of how many instruments I do like. My music world has become big and will even get bigger. Not long ago, I realized that all the musical instruments need a place in the session room, and because my life is more ordered now, I started to place them nicely. And exactly that has a positive effect on the mood. There are situations where one needs to decide what one will do next. An attractive visibility of the instruments gives the musician a taste to play them.

20191210, Tue
If you change the sound landscape of an instrument, for example, loudness or another technique, the ears deal with a new situation and need to adjust themselves. I know it from playing the violin. Usually, I use a mute to bring down the volume, because the instrument can be very loud, and without mute, if one played for some time already, there is a big difference. Probably, it bothers you at the beginning, but soon it should be fine. Going back to playing with the violin mute again, causes as well a different situation, and it is not so interesting at first. The ears take some time with its adjustment. One should not care, I think. One should concentrate on the tunes.

20191129, Fri
It’s not possible to start a flawless session. Maybe, virtuosi can do that, but they are rare. It would be luck if you don’t make mistakes. Each time you play an instrument, the muscles need to adapt themselves. Until everything runs smoothly, it takes at least twenty minutes. And then there is a big difference between the morning, or if you start a new session during the day. One can make music without a warm-up, but one should not wonder why the tunes don’t come that exact, or why the rhythms are not that precise. In improvisation, I can do something that makes sense greatly. I play the instrument and am waiting for more advanced techniques. I try to adjust the strength of my fingers and hands onto the situation. One needs to let it come!

20191110, Sun
One cannot play an instrument all the time, nor can one make music the whole day. For example, after two hours of jamming with an electric guitar, the shoulder starts hurting, and it becomes uncomfortable. Music should not be a fight. Some time ago, I realized that other instruments are important too. Playing the drum sometimes is a nice change. The best thing about it is that all the instruments are interrelated somehow. You practise the piano when playing the drums, you half-practise the violin when playing the guitar. One needs to set and think the things also, and so the melodies in the head get more colourful. One’s fingers get more skilful which is extremely weighty in music. It makes great sense to work with several instruments, in my opinion.

20191004, Fri
Listening is probably the most important thing in music. But how to train and fine-tune the ears? For sure, there are many possibilities! Certainly, one would be playing an electric guitar unplugged. It’s far too silent to have the full spectrum of the frequencies, but trying to get the stuff that one usually gets should improve the capacity to listen. Maybe, the difference is only small in the end. Every little thing counts. If one does not believe in small chances, one should also not take them.

20190923, Mon
Sometimes, modern psychology advises people who are mentally disordered to make music. For individuals who are new to that field, music therapy should be effective. All the different sounds of the instruments are funny for them maybe. Because I am mentally disordered myself, I know how it is, and can say with absolute certainty that such people should keep away from highly difficult instrumental techniques. As I have found out, slowness makes a great deal. To that can be added, if you as a musician are accomplished and advanced already, a kind of delaying the melody or rhythm from the ground beat. It gives you a falling feeling, slightly. Professional jazz musicians can play this way.

20190915, Sun
It makes a big, but literally fine, difference to use this or that pickup of an electric guitar when tuning the instrument. Lower frequencies are taken well with the pickup that gives tones full in bass, whereas higher frequencies are taken better with the pickup that gives bright tones. Probably, it is a matter of the tuner anyway. But also, it depends on the type of electric guitar. Some guitars are tuned more accurately with brightness on every string. And, contradictorily, as it looks, the sixth string always requires the brighter pickup for accuracy in tuning. One does not need to change the strings so often if one knows which pickup is best for the tuner.

AUSTRIA