I have a few sites up and running that are in various states of development. Today I spent a little bit of time leaning a bit more about using Wordpress and getting the site a bit more tight. I think there is quite a bit about Wordpress that I haven’t really hit upon yet, so now and then it helps to check out more of the online documentation.

Essentially, my Wordpress site is a music blog. I think I originally envisioned writing about history and politics as well, but I would say almost all of it is about music…and not very deep at that either. As I progress with this blog I need to take steps to write more substantive posts. So far, I just blog a paragraph or two about what I think or feel about a particular piece of music or musician. I need to bear in mind that potential employers may look at this site, and I don’t want them to be particularly underwhelmed. Even just a bit more substance would really help dress it up.

This freewriting blog has also turned out to be mostly a music blog, but in this case I write about my own musical practice rather than the music of others. Freewriting is a good way for me to think through my direction and my progress as I continue to try to become a better musician. In I had any critique of my use of this blog, though, it would be that sometimes I spend more energy on contemplating musical practice than I do actually practicing. That’s a bad habit I’ll need to deal with.

That being said, I have noticed an improvement in my musical practice since I’ve been writing about it. I am more focused on developing a performance repertoire than I have been in a long time. In the past I have spent my energy on things like practicing chord voicings or scales in isolation from music. Now I’m practicing these things, but within the context of learning tunes. I have to say it is much more satisfying stuff to practice since I now feel like I can, for instance, sit down with a guitar and actually entertain a few people. In the past I have actually forgotten what the fucking instrument it for - playing music.

And music is not dots on a page, it is sound. Jazz has its own vocabulary that the ear needs to become accustomed to. I find that, more and more, I am remembering musical phrases according to how they sound rather than how they are fingered. What I mean is that, in the past, playing guitar was mostly a matter of memorizing fingerings and hoping they would sound right. Now I seem to be remembering the sound of the music, and that leads me to the correct fingerings. This is the best way for a musician to think about music, and because of my habit of writing about musical practice I am seeing it happen as it happens. This is very cool, for sure.