Wallitner Weekly 4
Hello everyone!
A lot of productive things happened this past week.
I have spent the week reinventing the way that I record videos. I like the format of the previous videos, but it relied too heavily on video editing and that took way too much of my time. So I will be doing the videos a little differently from now on. Hopefully you like this new format, as it saves me a ton of time. I’d love to have your feedback.
I have launched the Wallitner Weekly Archive AND the Wallitner Music Members. The archive is a place where you can go on my website to read the past Wallitner Weekly’s. So if you haven’t been here since the beginning you can see how it all started.
The Members page is where I will be posting more detailed/longer videos explaining music theory. I will also be posting ear training tutorials. AND composition tips. Members will also get access to theory worksheets and answer keys which they can use to practice the concepts in the videos. As well as a bunch of other stuff. (More Information linked below)
I have a lot planned for next week too!
Next week I plan to keep recording, editing, and posting videos. These will be available on Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok, as well as extra videos on my website for Wallitner Music Members. I am almost at 100 followers on Instagram, so I am going to try and reach that milestone by next week!
“The more I practice, the luckier I get”
When practicing golf, you practice by hitting hundreds of golf balls a day. You practice certain distances, certain scenarios, certain clubs. You practice being consistent. (I don’t golf, but I read and that’s what I learned). When you’re a golfer practicing like this and you land what seems to be an impossible shot, the announcers and the audience will say “Wow what a lucky shot”. They don’t seem to notice the hundreds or thousands of hours that the golfer put in hitting that exact same shot.
I always thought that “The more I practice, the luckier I get” was a quote thumbing its nose at the people who constantly discount the hours of work that these people put in.
This quote was originally said by a golfer. However, I saw it all over the walls in the music building when I was in school. It was always next to a cartoon trumpet player joyously playing music in a practice room. I always laughed when I saw it because whenever I see trumpet players practicing - It’s not joyous. Their faces are red, either with rage or lack of air from playing too loud and too high for too long. And whenever they make a mistake or frack a note, there is usually a lot of cursing afterwards. But that’s beside the point.
I liked this quote for the wrong reason. I always hated it when people called me lucky, or talented, because I felt like it disregarded the hours and hours of time I spent refining my craft.
Then one day my bass instructor enlightened me. She said that when opportunity knocks, that’s luck. But when opportunity sticks around for dinner and moves in, that’s hard work. SO the more you practice, the more opportunities come around and stay a while. That was when I made the decision to practice for the next gig, BEFORE I got the next gig. That way, when opportunity knocked I would be ready.
The morale of the story: There is a difference between being lucky and being prepared. And in any field, but especially in a field like music, you need to be a little lucky. But you cannot survive on luck alone. So whatever you do, do it well. That way when opportunity knocks, you’ll be ready.
