Practice Journey With Bill Cheatham
Overview
In this workshop, you’ll learn to make your practice fun and productive with a chunk from Bill Cheatham. The goal is to implement these strategies, teachings and games into your daily practice.
To do that I suggest you write each teaching on an index card. The cards can act as reminders or prompts.
This is part of the “Play Every Day” learning system I’m working on. You can play a series of cards to take a “practice journey.” That’s what we’ll do in this workshop!
Front of card
Back of card
Think of it as a general template for taking your own journeys. Practice this way with tunes you’re currently learning. Feel free to customize the journey as you see fit.
Video replay
Prepare for the journey
Things to learn, review and practice:
- Bill Cheatham, B Part First Quarter
- Slur Two-Separate Two Bowing
Intermediate and advanced students who are learning chords can review these lessons:
Outline
Pick a song you’re currently learning. Imagine it’s a ship that will take you to exotic lands where you’ll have adventures. Here’s a map of the journey.
Sheet music for Bill Cheatham
Focus
Use the “Plan-Do-Reflect” process of Deliberate Practice to practice a chunk of a song.
Bill Cheatham
B Part, First Quarter: (A2-3)-E0-A2-E0-3-1-A3-E1-3-2-3-4-2-3
Chunking
Break our main chunk into smaller sub-chunks:
- E0-A2-E0-3-
- E1-A3-E1-3
- E2-3-4-2-3
Find the hardest part of the hardest part.It might just be two notes:
- E1-A3
- E3-4
- E4-2
Single Reps <> Loop
Practice with a single rep, take a breath then repeat. When you feel ready, loop on the chunk.
Song <> Skill
Alternate between the song and a skill. Today we’ll practice Slur Two-Separate Two. This creates the Perfect Challenge, or Desirable Difficulty.
D0-1-2-3
Alternate between the song chunk and this skill. Then try to apply the skill to the song.
Other skills you can practice:
- Double stops
- Vibrato
- Georgia Shuffle
Music In Your Mind
Try to “hear the melody in your head.” A preliminary step is to sing it, then to hum it.
Transpose
Transpose smaller then bigger chunks, then play with a drone:
A to D Major: A0-D2-A0-3-1-D3-A1-3 | A2-3-4-2-3
G Major: D0-G2-D0-3-1-G3-D1-3 | D2-3-4-2-3
Then, Chain each transposition to create a bigger, new exercise. Try to play this straight through. Don’t use a drone for this.
D0-G2-D0-3-1-G3-D1-3 | D2-3-4-2-3
A0-D2-A0-3-1-D3-A1-3 | A2-3-4-2-3
E0-A2-E0-3-1-A3-E1-3-2-3-4-2-3
If you do this, then you’re introducing improvisation into your practice.
Re-order notes
Take the notes of the first two bars and arrange them as notes of a scale:
E0-A2-E0-3-1-A3-E1-3
⬇️
A2-3-E0-1-3
Play this scale a few times up and down.
Then simply rearrange the notes to create new melodies. Feel free to repeat notes as well as lengthen or shorten them.
That’s it. Don’t overthink it. Just start fiddling around. Use the A drone to make it more fun.
A drone
Reflection
- What was challenging?
- What did you learn? Try to put it into your own words.
- How can you use this in your own practice?
Lesson Chat
Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments below.
Zoom chat
Further
Further practice
Take this journey on your own with different songs you’re learning. You can even take journeys with different parts of a song.
Further learning
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Hi Jason,
I think the video replay here is from the lesson on Auld Lang Syne rather than Bill Cheatham?
Thanks for speaking up about this, Joanne. We will get it swapped and let you know.