Take a moment to think back to the best performance
you've ever had. Maybe you were playing
for a sold-out crowd, jamming with a group
of incredible players, or maybe you were just
sitting in your room. Somehow from the moment
you started playing, everything just clicked.
You weren't worried about missing notes
or how you looked and everything worked together
to become almost a supernatural experience.
Unfortunately, for most of us, these moments
are few and far between. I know from personal
experience how it feels to spend hours and
hours working on a piece of music only to
have it fall apart or feel unnatural once
I try to perform it or play it in a lesson.
The problem is that most of us spend so much
time practicing techniques and theory that
we forget to work on ourselves and how we're
approaching music in the first place. If this
is you, don't worry. You're not the only
person to feel this way. In fact, there are
loads of books that deal with this very issue.
I've put together a list of some of the
five books that have made me a better musician
without teaching me a single note and in this
video, we're going talk about each one of
them and what they're good for. If you want,
the links to each of these books or the Amazon
links to each of these books will be listed
in the description so you can pick them up
from Amazon without needing to look around.
Up first, is a book called the music lesson.
This book was written by the great bassist,
Victor Wooten. It's completely different
from any other book I've ever read. It uses
a narrative to teach the fundamentals of music.
In the story, the author is just sitting around
when a mysterious man just randomly shows
up at his house and takes him through all
different kinds of adventures to teach him
about what music really is. Wooten argues
that there are ten elements that are essentially
the building blocks of music. Unfortunately,
most musicians really only focus on one of
those elements, the notes. Victor Wooten argues
that even if you play all the right notes
you could still only have one tenth of the
song done. He also uses this book to argue
for a teaching and learning method that resembles
the way children naturally learn to talk.
It's a clever and fun way to teach a holistic
view of music and it's a great read for
any musician. But it's particularly useful
for anyone that teaches. I chose this book
to go first because it kind of sets a good
foundation for all of the books that will
come up by giving us a larger view of what
music is so that as we kind of continue down
to try to approach it, we have that good foundation.
Up next on the list is the book, Effortless
Mastery, by Ken Werner. As you can see, this
book has been taken through the ringer quite
a few times. Literally, the cover's being
held together by tape. I've read through
this book over and over and over and it really
is my favorite book of all time. It's the
kind of book that if I was stuck on an island
and only got to choose one, I'd probably
take this. I first read this book when I was
studying music at East Tennessee State and
I was having a lot of trouble with stage fright
and anxiety. Music wasn't something I enjoyed
anymore and I'm sure I made all of my friends,
family, and bandmates miserable when I hung
out with them. It came to a breaking point
when I was playing in a contest. I missed
a note and totally froze. I knew that something
had to change, and I had read some articles
that Ken Werner had written in Downbeat Magazine
and they really spoke to me. After some research,
I found out about this book and bought it
right away. The basic idea of the book is
that a lot of musicians practice, perform,
and teach based on fear. We're all afraid
of missing notes, looking ridiculous, or not
becoming successful. This book helps the reader
to identify and change those problems. I'm
not going to say that I'm a master musician
or even a master with the techniques in this
book but I will say that I never thought I
could be as comfortable performing as I am
now and I'm truly thankful to Ken Werner
for that.
The third book on my list is called The Inner
Game of Music. In my opinion, this book would
work really really well as a follow up to
Effortless Mastery. It was written by the
bassist, Barry Green after he read the book,
Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey.
He was so inspired Gallwey's book that he
took the same concepts and applied them directly
to music. Like Effortless Mastery, the book
aims to help musicians be able to perform
more naturally and develop a deeper connection
to the music they�re playing. I think that
Effortless Mastery does a little bit better
at identifying the problems and helping musicians
address those issues conceptually and the
Inner Game of music does a good job picking
up where Effortless Mastery left off by offering
more practical exercises.
The fourth book on my list is called Musician's
Yoga by Mia Olsen. I was a little skeptical
about this book at first but a friend recommended
it to me because I was having a lot of pain
in my forearms from over practicing, a lack
of warmups, and a lack of stretching. Unfortunately,
a lot of musicians don't consider the physical
toll poor practice habits can have on your
body and your performances. It's not uncommon
for musicians to face issues with carpal tunnel,
tendinitis, tinnitus, or more. After all,
whether you're singing or strumming guitar,
it's still a physical action to play music.
This book helped me develop a better stretching
routine and posture which then helped my playing
feel and sound more natural. It also helped
me deal with my breathing which is a great
technique if you deal with stage fright.
The last book on my list is called the Growth
Mindset by Carol S. Dweck. This book isn't
directly written for musicians, but it still
has a lot of information that's very relevant
to us. It basically calls into question the
idea that talent is everything. In this book,
the author argues that the average person
has one of two mindsets: the fixed mindset
or the growth mindset. The fixed mindset says
that we are born with certain skill or traits
that we can't change. If you've ever heard
somebody say that they have no rhythm, they're
basically working from a fixed mindset. The
Growth mindset, on the other hand, says that
with work and perseverance, we can develop
the traits and skills that we really want.
It's basically a scientific approach to
the idea that practice makes perfect. Honestly,
when I read this book, I thought that I had
the growth mindset until I finished the first
couple chapters when I realized that that
really wasn't the case on a deeper level.
To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure that
I was accidentally instilling fixed mindsets
traits into many of my students. After reading
this book, I was able to put its techniques
into my daily practice as well as adjust the
way that I work with the people I teach. I'm
happy to say that there has been a noticeable
difference in the motivation and ability of
both me and my students.
Hey guys! Thanks so much for watching this
video, it really means a lot. Hopefully I
gave you a good idea of the next book or five
to read. If you did enjoy the video, please
subscribe to my page. There are new videos
coming out each week. You can also support
me on Patreon or check out my website, www.rwesleycarr.com.
Before you go, I'd love to hear in the comments
some of the best music books that you've
ever read. Until then, I look forward to the
next video and happy pickin'.
