Drop a comment telling me what you are up to! I’m doing a little brushing up of some difficult melodies for a gig playing Djangos later music at Pizza Express Jazz Club coming up tomorrow Ever tried this one?

Il be honest, I’m doing nothing jazz violin related. I’m at the Islay Whisky festival in Scotland this weekend. Today I’m at the Lagaluvin distillery day and sampling the distillers edition bottle… However I’d love to know what people are working on this weekend I’d that’s how you are spending this weekend.

Today I’m mainly just with my son but I when he’s napping I’m going to be doing some last minute Ute practise for my gig tomorrow. It’s a gig paying tribute to the “big 3” of jazz violin; Venuti, Grappelli and Stuff. Playing tomorrow afternoon at the great Ronnie Scott’s. Check out the setlist in the photo. I’m basically…. Cramming melodies (the Venuti ones are the hardest) Doing some arpeggio exercises with the changes of the tunes that I don’t know that well Making sure I can totally play my own tunes properly Listening through rehearsal recordings to make sure I know the arrangements by heart. Btw if you are in London and you fancy coming, check it out below. https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/matt-holborn-giants-of-jazz-violin What are you up to this weekend?

What is everyone practising right now? For some people, the weekend is the best time to get some practise in (not for me, I have a toddler at home so if I'm not gigging, I’m out at the play park!) If you are using the weekend to get some practise in, what are you up to? Tell us in the comments!

One of the things that signifies you’re past the early stages of learning jazz is being able to play a whole set without reading anything. That doesn’t mean you play everything perfectly, and it doesn’t mean you’ve mastered all the tunes that you play. But it really is the moment that you know that you’ve got past that early stage. I spent years being attached to the page, even if it was just for chord changes. And I see a lot of people with this issue as well. At jam sessions and gigs, needing to stare at paper or an iPad for the whole performance, even on simple tunes. In my opinion, at least 50% of the time, people don’t need to be doing this. But it becomes a crutch, and it’s a hangover from learning classical music. So how do you get out of this? It depends on where you are, but really the time to start is now. If you’re just getting into jazz violin, I would suggest trying to do everything from the start via your ear. That does mean learning simple tunes, and it does mean working with simple material. That’s where my Jazz Violin Foundations course is useful. It’s for people who have been playing the violin for a long time, but are new to jazz and want to get into it via their ear, working with simple but doable material. Get it here https://www.skool.com/jazzviolin/classroom If you’ve been playing for a while, it really is just a case of starting to do it. Give yourself a goal. Maybe the next time you play a jam, you don’t allow yourself to read anything. Or if you’ve got a gig coming up, spend some time committing the material to memory. You will end up in situations where you don’t know things, but that’s where you start to use your ear. That’s how you actually practise having a good ear. You just use it.