LJS 104: 11 Listeners Give Their Jazz Tips and Advice
Learn Jazz Standards Podcast - A podcast by Brent Vaartstra: Jazz Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur
Welcome to episode 104 of the LJS Podcast where today we are celebrating our 2 year podcast birthday! To do that we are having on 11 different special guests on the show. They are special because they are listeners just like you! They all give excellent jazz tips and advice and have great stories to share. Listen in!
Listen to episode 104
Today is a very special episode because it marks two years of the LJS Podcast. That's right, it's a birthday celebration! Now, our blog and website has been around for much longer than that, but when the podcast started it brought something very special into the mix.
Around two years ago, Justin Kellerer, the tech manager for Learn Jazz Standards, convinced me I should start a podcast. I was apprehensive at first because I wasn't entirely sure the effort of producing a weekly podcast would be worth it. But 104 episodes later, we have many thousands of listeners from around the world tuning in each week.
One of my favorite comments I get is "I feel like I know you." Even though I don't have the privilege to meet and talk with all of you personally, It's a good feeling to know that I can serve you each week and that you can get a sense of who I am and what I want to accomplish. All of this has made the podcast worth it 10 times over, and I look forward to many more years of the podcast.
Today's episode features 11 special guests who are all listeners just like you. They come from all around the world, with different levels of jazz experience and different stories to share. These are some of the most valuable kinds of guests in my opinion because they are people we can all relate to.
Here's a list of our guests and what they talk about:
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Jerry from Ontario talks about how a little bit of music theory can go a long way (4:52).
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Anne from Berlin talks about how giving up is not an option and to approach your jazz learning from all angles (7:46).
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Pedro from San Paulo talks about how all kinds of music can teach us something and give us inspiration (10:11).
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Rebecca from London talks about the importance of learning to play by ear and getting your eyes off the page (14:25).
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Aidan from Louisiana talks about how listening is the most important thing you can do for your musicianship (18:48).
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Camila from Columbia talks about how playing music from a communal approach is the best way to go (23:19).
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Christopher from San Antonio talks about how when the musical journey gets tough to not get discouraged, and remember nothing is impossible (27:18).
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Simon from Sydney tells his story about how his saxophone took him to places he couldn't have imagined it would (28:47).
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Olivia from Paris talks about the importance of setting precise goals for your playing for maximum results (32:32).
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Michael from Chicago talks about how ear training and transcribing solos was a game-changer for him (36:18).
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Grant from San Francisco talks about how composing can help you solidify the musical knowledge you have (40:25).
I want to thank everyone who contributed recordings to today's show and I also want to thank those whos recordings weren't shared today. There were so many and it was just impossible to do all of them.
I learned a lot from today's episode and was very appreciative of the kind remarks given by all!
Important Links
Zero to Improv
How to Play What You Hear
Birthday Raffle