Energy follows thought. Energy follows thought. I sit down to write a song and the melodies kind of drip off my fingers as I pluck the guitar. I brim with gratitude at these sacred moments (hell yes, they’re sacred) but I know that this. didn’t. happen. overnight.
It took some serious life shifts, mind shifts, and heart opening to be unstoppable as a creator. And there are some rules of thumb I know to make the difference in easing me into my creativity.
True life: Thom Yorke's guitar isn't built for a 4-year old.
Just for a minute, picture yourself going to an art class. You wouldn't bring your No. 2 pencils to a pastels class, right? No way, Jose - you need some pastels!
If you brought the wrong materials, it would be useless. Even though pastels and No. 2 pencils are related, they are used in two totally different settings, with two totally different methodologies.
The two art tools are just not the same thing. And the same goes for guitars. And this is exactly what young students (and their parents) do with their guitars.
Despite being the first chair flutist, lead vocalist in the jazz choir, and bandleader of a 7-piece funk band, I had no freakin' idea how to unpack the depths of Music Theory Land.
Now that I run Free Spirits Music, I've devised a super-easy way to deliver this information to my students in our first lesson together.
For five days straight, I tried to get my boyfriend's son to practice the drums.
Oh dear god, it was like pulling teeth. And this is my job.
By Day 5, he was rockin' his drum part like nobody's business.
Mammas and pappas, I feel your pain. Parents flock to Free Spirits Music, desperate for coaching around getting their kids to practice at home.
I've spent some time exploring the psychology of practicing and what I've realized is: it starts with you.
