Author Archives: rileylaurie

Consider what would happen in a dramatic theatre production if all the actors read their lines from a script, instead of memorizing them. It wouldn’t make much of a play. Learning their lines allows them to express and emote, to live the play. Likewise, memorizing your music allows you to live the music. Memorization seemsContinue reading “So You Think You Can’t Memorize?”

When you decide to learn a tune, it may be because it’s been assigned by a teacher, or because you’re in an ensemble or band that’s playing it, or because you have it in a book and it looks interesting, or because you’ve heard it and liked it. All those reasons are valid. Ideally, you’llContinue reading “Expressing the Indefinable: What You Hear vs. What You Play”

  In Part 1, I wrote about air travel with your instrument. But of course we must take equally good care of our instruments when we travel by car, bus or train, when camping, or when shipping an instrument to your destination. By Car It doesn’t matter where you live or even what time ofContinue reading “Part 2 – Traveling with your Instrument”

There comes a time when almost every musician  must decide how to handle traveling with an instrument. Whether it’s a road trip, a music camp, a backpacking trip, a weekend at the beach house, or a performance tour, there are considerations for your instrument’s safety and the logistics of transport. Let’s look at various scenarios:Continue reading “Traveling with Your Instrument – Part 1”

Please click on the UPCOMING WORKSHOPS button (at the top of this page) for a list of workshops and retreats I’m offering in Washington State and Arizona in 2014.

Although this post may seem quite basic, there are musicians at every level of skill  – even some professionals  –  who really need this information. Wandering tempos are a real problem for many. We may or may not be aware when we’re wandering, we may think we can’t do anything about it, or we mayContinue reading “Rhythm Challenges, Part 3: Wandering Tempos”

Although we learn to count rhythms and beats when we learn to read music, being rhythmically adept isn’t, of course, dependent on reading music  –  people the world over, in all cultures, can follow or create a beat, and most don’t study music formally. For those who have trouble, it’s important to know that rhythm-impairmentContinue reading “Part 2: More on Rhythm Ability”

Please click on the Workshops page for a list of workshops I’m teaching in Seattle, Sedona and Spokane (banjo, harp and ergonomics).

Many musicians feel rhythmically challenged, at least at some time, and not just the beginners. It may happen when learning a new rhythm pattern, a polyrhythm, or playing with a metronome or ensemble for the first few times. And some believe they have no sense of rhythm at all. Is it really true that aContinue reading “A Sense of Rhythm – Do You Have It?”

At some time in our lives most of us, musicians and non-musicians alike, have played and re-played some favorite recording until, from repeated listening, we know every note of it. But did we realize this is actually a form of practice? How often do we treat recorded music as something more than background ambience? HowContinue reading “Listening – Really Listening!”