Tim Price Bloggin' For D'Addario Woodwinds- Style, personal vision & personal agenda.

~Improvising means creating music that is spontaneous, of the moment, and uniquely your own. So think of it as the instrument becomes a process of self-discovery, finding out what your music really sounds like. You develop a period of looking within, stripping away the excess and listening for the simple voice that really is our own. It’s there, listen for it. Being able to improvise on I GOT RHYTHM changes appears much more as a puzzle or study that must be negotiated than as an opportunity look within and reach for new sounds you hear. Improvising means creating music that is spontaneous, of the now, and your own. It will not get played if you yourself don’t play it, and try. You have to focus your practicing for maximum progress towards creating a powerful forward motion as a player. Add personal guidance of a master teacher and artist, and you’re poised to grow as a musician and as a performer. Todays student needs substance ! Plus how to focus practicing of improvising on the essential elements,the actual substance of what to play and how to develop it in your personal style, and dealing with practicing of specific vocabulary. It's what I call, what to shed! Then you got to understand jazz is part of culture. Bird, Prez,Basie,Pee Wee Russell, Roland Kirk, Duke, Hawk and all those giants who gave something to culture. What did they have? They had the the building blocks of jazz improvisation. MELODY ! Then guide-tone lines, and melodic Rhythm. Real world building blocks of jazz improvisation. In a word- BASICS that last for your career. Just some thinking on subjects we all love and are close to our agenda.

..Living a life of purpose reflects who you are deep inside, your beliefs, values and passion for living. It is about following your heart and doing what you love to do with passion and purpose. This may initially feel overwhelming and go too "deep" but that's exactly where you need to go - deep into your heart, beyond the busy, superficial day-to-day chores and demands of life. Beyond the fast paced day of the modern mom who typically deals with her career, various children's activities, computer viruses, proverbial household cleaning, - overall role of superwoman who never had or has had a chance to do some real soul searching for real meaning in her life. Do you feel like you're spinning of the hamster wheel and getting nowhere? Just talking...and talking.Do you wonder if your life counts for anything? Despite the many resources of self-help tools available today via magazines, books, tapes, videos, and seminars, many still feel unfulfilled and lacking purpose in themselves, family and career. What ever happened to just getting together- making some coffee and playing some standards ad blues.Life is about choices - good, bad, happy, unhappy, purpose filled or void. It is important to intentionally and passionately seek to pursue joy, fulfillment and purpose despite the situations or people who may seem to be trying to take it away from you. Your choices should be reflective of who you are and what you believe in vs. the standards and beliefs of someone else.Are you really hearing the music- or going for just who's popular? The following are wide sweeping key components that require considerable processing in their own right in order to most fully develop your own true purpose and are full length topic discussions within themselves - please be sure to process them in your own time and according to your specific needs.Each person holds unique and very individualized gifts. Allow yourself to really explore your current and past skills - even some you may not even be aware of yet. But also....Recognize them, write them down and then think of how you could integrate your most compelling skills into an area of your life now....Strive for tone & see you next week- Tim Price for D'Addario Woodwinds.