In the last lesson we talked about being on a mission. It’s your purpose for playing music. You might decide to change your mission in a year or in a week. But all of your musical energy right now is focused on fulfilling your mission.

Now, let’s talk about the map analogy. Suppose for a minute that your mission is to visit the largest cities in the US. First of all, that’s a bit general. What do you mean by “largest”? Is it according to geographic area, population size, or something else? Once you’ve determined that, I would also add a number; your mission could be “to visit the top 5 largest US cities.” That’s clear and measurable. You can tell when you’ve accomplished your mission. But it’s still pretty vague. You could simply drive through the city and consider your mission accomplished. So you need to determine exactly what you want to do or accomplish while you’re in those cities.

Let’s say you now decide to visit the most popular jazz club in the top 5 largest US cities. Now you’re getting somewhere. Next, you need to decide who you are going to see perform at these top jazz clubs in the largest US cities. Ok, now you know who you want to see, what clubs you want to visit in what major cities. Great, you’re done, right? Let’s pack the car and get going.

Wrong. There are a few unanswered questions. Like WHERE ARE YOU? Even if you have a map, you can’t get anywhere if you don’t know what road you’re on and what city you’re in. How are you going to get to the 5 largest cities? Do you have a car? Do you have money for gas? Do you know the way to each major city?

Once you know exactly where you are and exactly where you want to go, you can connect the dots. Suppose your mission is to become excellent at bebop. You can pick the top 5 bebop musicians, the top 5 bebop tunes and the top 5 musical skills you need to acquire. Then you can keep getting more and more detailed, all the way down to what you are going to learn to do in the next 30 minutes of practice.

Sample Practice Plan: Learn the rhythm of the first 4 bars of “Ornithology” by ear. Tomorrow learn the notes. The next day learn the accents. The next day learn the articulation. Then repeat with the next four bars…

Two week later you have the tune memorized, and you can play it along with your Charlie Parker CD with the same articulation and accents as his and up to tempo. Now here’s the kicker: When you go to learn your next bebop head, you’ll do it faster. And the next one even faster, and so on.

Now, what you decide to practice depends first on what you want to achieve and secondly, but equally importantly, on where you’re starting from. If you don’t know how to put your saxophone together by yourself yet, well, you’re not going to start off by learning “Ornithology” by ear. However, if you’ve just spent the last 10 years studying classical piano and can improvise in the style of a Bach fugue, your plan will be a little different. Either way, you must know where you are going and you must know where you are.

What if you don’t know where you are? Or what if you can’t figure out how to get where you want to go? Simple: Don’t be afraid to ask for directions. Find another musician and ask him or her. Read a book. Search on the Internet. Or, best of all, get a great teacher. Find someone who is already doing what you want to do and learn from him or her. But what if you’re from a small town with no musicians, or the library doesn’t have any books about jazz, or the closest jazz club is 50 miles away? Or what if you only have one computer in your house and little brother is always on there playing video games? Fooey! Those are all just excuses. If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen. Figure out where you are, figure out where you are going, buy a good map and before you know it, you’ll be putting a check next to that goal and you’ll be planning your next.

Action Step- Decide exactly what you want. Using your mission statement as a reference, choose a goal that fits into your “Major Definite Purpose.” Be sure that you make it as specific as possible and, most importantly, make sure it is measurable. You should be able to track your progress and know exactly when your goal has been accomplished.




Chris Punis is an active jazz musician in the northeast. He is founding member of the critically acclaimed group Gypsy Schaeffer and a member of renowned saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase’s group The Explorer’s Club. Chris is also 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