Sound is Everything – Tone

Focus on tone.

Listen deeply to what you are practicing. Think good tone. Let your body do it. It will adjust.  (You may have to stop and study why good tone is not being produced, depending on your level and experience. )

I often multitask or let my mind wander. I have found this may be the single biggest mistake I have made. Tuning out, just repeating, letting my mind wander, hoping that when I tune back in, the sound will be there. I am often deluded into thinking that I am still tuned in, but I am not. It takes effort.

If you are bored, listen more deeply. If still bored, changed the pattern you are practicing. Or the exercise. Do a circuit.

When you tune out, return your thoughts to the tone.  Speed will come. Other exercises focused on speed on used.

Focus on tone.  Speed without tone is worthless. If you can hear the notes, it doesn’t matter how fast they are.

Focus on tone, not technique. Think sound. Let the technique happen. Much other practice is spent on technique. Especially with the mirror. Spend much time on tone.

You will learn the sounds more deeply. They will be useful in your improvisation and composition if you know them intimately, by sound.

Take breaks. Concentration is hard.