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Bobby Shew

These notes are from a Jazz Master Class that Shew gave at CU Boulder on November 28, 2001. Please note that there is no trumpet or flute technique on this page.

"Pick one critter, talk to it nicely for a few hours and go on to the next one!" - Bobby Shew talking about the millions of problems in his playing!

• Playing:
  • Two Important things:
    • Ease of playing
    • Quality of playing
  • Keep your body as stress-free as you can when playing
• Improvising:
  • Sing it before you play it
  • Skat is a very useful tool
  • "Make it Swing!"
  • "If you sing stiff, you will play stiff"
  • Devices (to spice up your playing):
    • Don't use to many devices when playing.
    • Don't let the devices play the piece
• Clinics
  • Tape Record Clinics and Masterclasses
  • The mind can only assimilate so much in 2 hours
• Musicians
  • Teachers don't make great players, the players make great players
  • "You are your own best teacher"
  • Guru/Disciple Syndrome- Not Good
    • Guru, The teacher, and Disciple is the student
    • This is where the Disciple tries to be exactly like the Guru
    • "Soon the Guru has little Disciple getting 6-packs for him!"
  • "Teach the student to not need me"
  • Don't Clone!
  • "If you don't listen to the type of music you want to play, then how are you going to be able to play it?"
  • Two types of listening:
    1. Hanging out listening to music
    2. "Locking yourself in a room and listening to it"
    • Idea is not to copy
• Practice
  • Don't Practice to much
    • Practicing to much can damage muscles
    • Don't tell a beginner to play for an hour straight. Tell them to play a few times a day for 10-15 minuets. Too much practice at one time will result in lactic acid build up that will destroy the muscle.
    • Don't practice until your are tired
  • "If you go into a practice room with the attitude that "you have to practice" you should do yourself a favor and go see a movie!"
  • Practice little bits, for small amounts of time
    • "Hay! That lick I used to trash, Never Again!"
  • "Never get satisfied with your playing"
    • When you get "satisfied" with playing then you no longer have anything to learn.
  • Hear what you play, never see what you play.
• Talent
  • Talent is a lack of barriers
  • A person with "talent" just has fewer barriers