Further Your Jazz Education by Listening with a Positive Attitude

Now this kind of deals with your attitude about music, it has to do with cultivating a positive attitude about music and learning and other musicians and about life.

There’s always something to learn from any music that you listen to. Always seek to find the elements that you like. Even if it’s outside of jazz or another genre that you are not usually listening to, it’s better not to be judgmental. Be open-minded and see if there is something in that music that you can learn from and enjoy and bring to your own music. Always seek to find the elements that you do like. If there is something in there that you don’t like and doesn’t resonate, then consider how you can make it better. Again you need to be proactive and positive.

For instance, if there is something wrong or you are seeing a younger performer play or somebody sits in on a jam session, if you are sort of an egotistical player, you will judge them and put them down to make yourself feel better. Now that is not a way to be. If you’re a positive confident player, you will look at them objectively and you will find the good things, something you like: maybe they have power when they play, maybe their tone, rhythmic approach is kind of unique, whatever it is. Maybe they chose a cool tune to play—whatever it is, find that element that you can enjoy and learn from.

If there are things that are standing out and you really don’t like—intonation is off or something sounds off to you—then try to figure out what it is that you are not digging or what you do not like. Try to figure out what you would do differently to improve it. What would you tell that person if they were a student of yours? What would you tell them to improve? What would you tell them to work on to improve? What would you do if you were playing that solo? What would you do differently to make that solo sound better? Listening is about learning as well as filling your creative mind with ideas.





This sort of approach of always listening objectively and always listening to improve and be proactive will get your creative juices flowing and give you ideas. Stay away from negativity—it only drains you. I am not saying that you have to like all music or respect all music; this is not like a feel-good approach to music. Of course, there are going to be players playing things that you don’t enjoy or like. But instead of writing them off or judging them, just determine what you would do differently. Everybody is at their own place in music. Respect that and learn from it and figure out how you would improve it. You can learn from that, even from seeing players who are not performing up to a standard that you set for yourself. If you can still learn from that you can still strengthen your foundation. And you can still feed your creativity.

And if it is music that you just don’t like, the style, the execution, or performance, fine. There still may be some creative element, maybe the way they played or the uniqueness of the form or the time feel or the emotional expressive elements within the music. Always listen positively to music. Find what you like or be proactive and ask how you would improve it. What would you do to make it sound great, so that you like it?

Chris Punis is an active jazz musician in the northeast, an accomplished jazz educator and author of “The Monster Jazz Formula.” For more information about his teaching methods and to receive your free lessons, “21 Great Ways To Become a Monster Jazz Musician,” visit www.learnjazzfaster.com.

Further Your Jazz Education by Listening with a Positive Attitude / Author: Chris Punis