Learn Music Without Destroying The Magic
We all know music has power. It’s magical. Music lessons, on the other hand, are boring. They are hard work. Concerts can be magical, but scales and music theory are not.
It’s true that you can create magic using scales and music theory. I taught that way for years. I thought I could make scales “fun”. But I’m starting to think there’s a better way.
What if experiencing the magic of music on a regular basis is the best way to learn?
For many years, I wanted to help people learn the skillset that allows me to play by ear, make up harmonies, improvise, and easily jam with anyone. It’s such a fun and useful skill to have. I called it being “fluent” in the language of music.
But if I’m being honest, I’ve never fully taught anyone this skill.
To become “fluent” requires a decade of intense study. That means practicing an hour or two per day consistently, plus rehearsals and gigs. Most professional musicians aren’t fully fluent. Most music teachers aren’t fully fluent. If you are lucky enough to enjoy the boring aspects of learning fluency, and you have the necessary obsession, you can learn it from my book.
But I can’t promise to teach this to anyone. It’s too much to ask. And besides, learning fluency kills the magic.
I had one student tell me this plainly. She had been a student of mine for a few months, and I had helped her craft original songs. But I thought she needed fluency. When I tried to practice fluency with her, I could see the pain on her face. She said it felt like she was killing a part of herself. I quickly steered the lesson in another direction, but she stopped taking lessons from me a few weeks later.
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“The best way to kill the spirit of a thing is to get professionally trained in it.”
Isn’t that the truth.
I know it from personal experience. When I was doing my music degree, music was a dead thing for me. It was an intellectual game. In my third year of studies, I remember finally feeling something at a concert. Before that, concerts impressed me, or entertained me, but didn’t move me.
That was 12 years ago. To this day, it takes a lot of focus for me to see the magic in music. I have to turn off my brain and sink into my body. The way I learned fluency requires treating music like a math problem. You have to see notes as numbers and rhythms as fractions. It destroys the spirit of the thing. It’s like going to a magic show, but being told in advance how the magician does all his tricks.
That’s not the way it has to be.
I had another student tell me explicitly she didn’t want to learn any music theory. She just wanted to play. She sang, improvising words and melodies, sometimes writing a more structured song, sometimes just going with the flow of the improvisation. I simply played along on my guitar.
She had a great time. She healed herself. Teaching her fluency would have ruined it. I needed fluency to play along with her, changing the chords to match her melody. But for her, fluency would have destroyed her spiritual experience.
What does this mean for music mentoring?
Here’s my promise: If you sign up for music mentoring, I will not kill the magic unless you want me to. If you want to learn fluency, I’ll ask, “Are you sure?”
Practicing scales and doing ear training exercises might be the most “efficient” way to learn fluency. But it’s not magical. It could ruin your experience of music. Let’s be careful here.
I would prefer this: Let’s create some magic together in each music mentoring session. Let’s support each other to integrate music into our daily rituals. Let’s experience the power and meaning of music at its best. Who knows, maybe this is the best way to learn music after all. Maybe scales and ear training exercises are a waste of time.
The language metaphor is still a good one. I thought I could teach music by explaining the grammar. In reality, that’s not how people learn a language. If you asked me to explain English grammar, I’d be stumped. As a child, I learned by being surrounded by English speakers. No grammar lessons needed.
Let’s recreate that for music.
If you think going to concerts is magical, playing music is even better. That is, if magic is the aim.
Practical details
After contacting me, we'll set up a time to chat, free of charge. We'll get to know each other a bit more, and see if Music Mentoring is right for you.
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If you choose to sign up for one-on-one sessions, I charge $60 per hour, $50 for 45 minutes, or $40 for half an hour. We could do weekly or bi-weekly. No commitment required.
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It's easiest to create magic in person. But online sessions work too.