Search the Community

Best Practice: Inspiration and Ideas for Traditional Musicians Practical Advice for Adult, Self-Taught Musicians Available from Amazon, in Paperback ($19.99) and Kindle ($9.99) and through direct order Free Shipping for U.S. direct orders via Media Mail "Practicing" is a Practice Turn practicing into a joyful activity you engage in for its own sake. Work Efficiently, Progress Faster Practice more effectively, using the advice of great teachers and scientific learning. Become Your Own, Best Teacher Identify the traits of the best teachers, and use them to teach yourself. Integrate Mind and Body Learn practical methods that will help you play with ease and fluency. Start with an Intention Begin each day’s practice with a concept to help you stay focused and positive. Play More Musically Learn to make your playing more musical, engaging, and listenable. A Chapter for Every Day You Practice 197 self-contained chapters each offer a single idea or technique. Read one whenever you practice, or once a week, or whenever you want. Read them in order, or pick one that looks interesting. Musicians' Praise for Best Practice "This is a fabulous book! Judy makes us want to apply her methods, often right after reading a sentence. The bonus is that the tools she gives us for practicing music can really apply to myriad areas of our lives. This is the kind of book I imagine every musician will enjoy." Liz Carroll "Filled to the brim with practical insights, solid advice and wisdom that will benefit all traditional musicians, regardless of instrument, style, genre or skill level. There are vast wells of information in these pages that you can dip a toe, swim or dive deeply into. This is a rich and finely wrought work and I highly recommend it." Happy Traum "A very lively, entertaining and friendly book which I'm sure will be a boon to players everywhere. Contains a wealth of exceptionally useful advice for musicians of any level." Kevin Burke "A wealth of ideas and tools for making progress as a musician, all presented - in keeping with the book's own advice - in small, clear, achievable steps." Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, founding editor, Acoustic Guitar magazine, author, The Complete Singer-Songwriter "A veritable bible of a practice guide. Players of all levels and all styles will benefit from reading this very well thought out, very thorough and accessible approach." Natalie Haas "A highly organized, empowering approach to the practice of practice." Shannon Heaton "As a resource for any musician who wants to improve on their own, this book has it covered. A treasure trove of ideas in a concise and easy-to-access format." David Leonhardt, renowned jazz pianist "Having this guidebook is a godsend. I highly recommend it for all musicians, regardless of instrument, level or genre." Mary Flower, award-winning guitarist Buy direct: wwww.judyminot.com/bestpractice [free shipping on U.S. orders] or order through Amazon

I just took out some old time fiddle instruction books, trying to play tunes on the EC. I used to play fiddle years ago before having neck problems so I do understand the techniques. I was intrigued by the idea of duplicating shuffle bowing on EC by alternating pull and preess. I remember being told that this can wear out the bellows. A few years ago I was at NESI and there was a workshop on jigs with a technique of changing bellows direction on certain notes (can't remember details) Does anyone have experience with this? Just fooling around with it for a few minutes, it seems to have some promise. Also I seem to naturally change bellows direction for empasis. (I play Anglo shanty style). Comments and helpful links welcome. Bob Lusk

Hi all - need some tips from the experts, here. I would like to play my C/G Anglo while walking in a parade in September and need some advice (I normally sitting with the left side on my left knee). Does anyone have some tips on how to play standing without A) hurting my concertina, playing the notes I actually want to play. No need for ornaments, just want to hold it up and play the basics of the tune. I don't think I can tighten the straps enough to make much of a difference because of my hand size. I have thought of building something to perch the wee thing on, but can't quite construct how that would work - so thoughts on that might be useful too. Thanks for your time - looking forward to hearing your ideas, Claire