If you are a serious musician and want to improve quickly, I recommend you seriously consider using a portable digital music recording device, such as a Zoom recorder. If you have never recorded yourself before, I can assure you that you will learn about aspects of your playing that you were never aware of before. It's a great way to quickly identify your strengths and weaknesses. When you are practicing, you are too bust concentrating on the music and mechanics of playing to really concentrate on what you really sound like to other people. When I first tried recording myself using my own personal favorite Zoom recorder, the Zoom H4N, I was amazed by how much I learned about my particular playing habits, including the good, bad and the ugly.
It's also a great tool for monitoring your improvement over time. When you first start a piece, record yourself and then record yourself at regular intervals after you have practiced. You can listen to the recording and quickly identify which parts your need to practice. You can even use the in-built metronome to practice a part slowly and then gradually increase the tempo. Or use the in-built tuner if you are having intonation problems. If you are preparing for an important performance, then you should definitely record yourself prior to the performance and listen critically to your performance while reading the music. Compare your recordings to recordings by professional musicians playing the same piece. This is a great way to really identify what you need to work on.
One of my favorite things to do with my Zoom H4N is multi-tracking. Find a duet, trio, quartet or larger ensemble piece and try recording all the parts. The H4N makes it very easy to synchronize all the parts. Besides being great fun, it's also a great way to learn ensemble skills such as the ability to listen carefully to all parts so that phrases start and end at the same time. You will also have to pay close attention to intonation otherwise the chords will not be in tune.
Using a digital recorder is not only important for individual musicians, it's also a vital tool for larger music groups (bands, choirs, orchestras etc). Record your rehearsals and performances and you will quickly identify what you need to work on.
A Zoom recorder, such as the Zoom H4N is very high quality portable recording device which is easy to use and very quick to set up. You don't need to carry out large pieces of expensive equipment with you to rehearsals. Another advantage of using these devices is that the music files can quickly be downloaded to a PC for further editing. You can create MP3 files which you can then e-mail or post on a website.
So if you're a musician, try using a portable digital recorder and see how useful a tool it is for yourself. There are many very high quality, inexpensive recorders on the market so go ahead, give it a try and see how fast you improve.
Jeff Binns is a euphonium player with over 30 years experience. He has played in some of the top brass bands in the UK and USA. My goal is to help fellow musicians understand the outstanding benefits of recording their practice sessions.
To learn more and to obtain 10 Free Practice Tips, please visit my website by clicking the link below.
Zoom Recorder.
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