At this time last year, I made commitment to learn or relearn a tune a week for 52 weeks. There were some weeks where I had to put it off and learn 2 tunes but for the most part, I stayed true to my goal of learning a tune a week for an entire year. … More Making a commitment
I’ve been training for a bike race coming up in the spring. I hired a personal trainer and I have daily exercises I need to do to help build muscle and increase my endurance. Some days, however, life gets in the way and I can’t get on my bike, or I don’t have time to … More Taking a break gives perspective
With all sorts of software that allows you to slow down a tune without changing the key, it makes it pretty easy to learn even the hardest of tunes. However, every now and then it is fun to try to learn a tune up to speed. It’s not always easy, as some tunes are so … More Learn faster
This week I joined a group bike ride for more miles and at faster pace than I normally ride. We got out of the gate and I was feeling good in the middle of the pack. But as we started climbing, one by one, I heard “on your left” as each person on the ride … More Keeping up with the pack
Now that we’re all vaccinated it’s been so fun to head out to the Wednesday night session at Radio Bean in Burlington, VT. And although I have been diligently practicing for the last year and learning new tunes, resurrecting old ones has been, well, interesting. Sometimes those old tunes have a bit of dust on … More The dust is reel
As a marketer, every year I have to write a marketing strategy complete with tactics and measurable goals. I’ve been in this field for 25+ years so these have become my modus operandi. So much so that without thinking about it, I used the same strategy when beginning A Tune A Week. I started back … More Setting SMART goals in music
Recently, I’ve been attending a local session on Wednesday nights. There is really nothing like a session to not only keep you on your toes but to introduce you to new tunes, and force you to practice old ones. A session is not just about playing the latest tune you learned, it’s also about listening … More Listen, learn, play
A few weeks ago my band and I were practicing for a gig. While we were practicing a particular tune-set, I kept messing up the notes and stopping in the middle of the tune. Instead of stopping with me, the band played on. Which was the right thing to do. When first learning a tune, … More And the band plays on…
Playing a tune slow can often prove to be harder than playing it fast. Learn more. #tunetuesday #atuneawaeek … More Going slow
Fiddlers love the keys of D and G but not so much the key of F. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because D and G are some of the first scales we learn early so we train our fingers and it sticks with us. Or maybe it’s because we just don’t like those damn … More What the F?
Session Obsession 