A few of you have mentioned this recently : too much on your list, and once you start on one thing you might fall down a rabbit hole or end up somewhere else entirely and lose a practise session to it. It's a real hurdle, and it's harder than it used to be. The internet is throwing new, exciting concepts at us constantly, and it's easy to end up burnt out on information and stuck in practice paralysis before you've even picked up the violin. Here's the structure I use myself, and with my students. It's not an exhaustive list of everything you need to work on, but it's a solid shape to hang a session on: 1. Scale work, either a major or minor scale over a drone (I've got a bunch of variations on this) or an enclosure exercise (you probably know by now I have hundreds of these). 2. Transcription, either starting something new, or working different lines and ideas out of a transcription I've done recently. 3. Creative but challenging, usually taking ideas from step 2 and applying them over a sequence. 4. Creative and easy, playing over a tune I already know well and I'm comfortable on. If I get all four into a session, I feel like I've actually gone somewhere, rather than just spent time. Here's the thing though, structure alone isn't going to solve all your problems, firstly knowing how to fill that structure isn't always easy and sometimes too much self direction can lead to self doubt really quickly. Especially at the start of your journey into learning something new, If you want help with that, you can always book a call with me below. 👉 https://scheduler.zoom.us/matt-holborn/jazz-violin-chat

A quick chat about Skool Levels. As you post or comment on other posts, you get "likes". Each "like" that you get gives you 1 point. It takes 5 points to get to level 2. Once you get to level 2, you get access to my free jazz bowing course over in the classroom. Basically over here on Skool, the thing that actually keeps this community moving is people showing up for each other. Replying to someone's practice video, telling someone their playing is coming along, encouraging someone in the "5 Day Challenge" who is completely new to jazz. Liking is just how Skool turns that encouragement into points behind the scenes. So it's not really about chasing the level, it's about noticing what other people are doing in here and saying so. The unlock is just a nice little extra. (you can see where you rank in the "leaderboards" section up top) 👉 Go find one post from someone else today and tell them something specific you liked about it.

The main issue developing jazz musicians face at some point is practice paralysis. We keep taking in new information with excitement and wonder at the start. The more exciting it is, the more information we seek, until we have a brain filled with scattered ideas to work on. Maybe we spend a week looking at one new aspect of playing (let's say it's enclosures) then we remember something else from a video we saw a while back and we jump over to that. The more ideas we consume, the more we yo-yo around, until every time we go to practise we are jumping from topic to topic every ten minutes. Coming away feeling lost and a bit stressed out. I've been there, and I would be lying to say it doesn't still happen to me too. Here's my way around it. If I'm ever feeling like I don't know what to work on, I listen to some records until I find myself excited about a solo I hear, and I start to learn it by ear. I have a bunch of different steps I take once I've learned the solo to try and use the material. It's my go-to thing to help me get out of that cyclical confused practice state. It's fun (if I pick the right solo), it's a medium term goal (because it takes me a few weeks to get it learned usually), and it's basically the tried and tested method that jazz musicians have always taken to learn the music. That's indisputable. Thing is, most violinists don't have the tools that I do to actually use this material. That's what my community is there for. Here's how I help. 1. Practice Club. Each month I take an etude, break it down, teach it step by step and take you through pathways to getting the material into your psyche. It's like having me show up to your practice session to guide you through something that will actually push your playing. All participants are on mute and follow my playing as a guide through the material. It runs Monday nights at 6pm UK, and I post the recording, exercises and etudes each week for anyone who can't make it. It comes with VIP membership.

Premium member @Jean Rene Wautriche had a question about getting difficult lines down. This method helps you practise the swing feel at the same time as playing the line slowly. Try it out!

Iv never been one for a full method for teaching jazz violin. Everyone has a different goal in terms of style and musical output. However I do think Iv developed a unique method for engraving melodies into your playing. People in my practise club probably know this already. Some of you who have taken my courses may have got the idea a little too. It’s simple to me but maybe not to others (a few people have even pushed back on it) I take a melody that I like, like a lick or a little section of a lick. I work out if I can extract the concept of it: the shape of it and any enclosures it has. Then I try and move it up the major scale that it’s based on. It helps me work out “what” the line is made of which in turn helps me work out “how” I can use it later and then perhaps “why” the line is so nice. It turns a single line into 7 other lines that might be useful later and helps me really learn the major scale, which is the basis of all western harmony.