Help organizing practice

[vicks7]

Dear all

Over the last few years, I have been trying to progress my jazz piano and with this in mind have built up a huge collection of jazz piano books including: Jazz Keyboard Harmony, Jazz Piano Book, Jazz Theory Book, Four Way Keyboard System (Alan Swain), Real Book Vol I and II, Classical Approach to Jazz Piano, Various Jamey Aebersold Jazz Books including II V I and Ear Training.

I am now a little overwhelmed by the amount of material and would appreciate advice on how I can use all or some of these resources in a more organized way. Should I for example just work through one book or use a variety?

As I currently live in Brazil it is difficult to find a decent jazz teacher so I am hoping to progress for the time being through self teaching and hopefully with the advice of many of you on the forum!

I appreciate this is quite a broad question and I am available to respond to any suggestions to narrow down the scope.

Look forward to hearing from you all

Thanks

James

[m1469]

First, make clear goals for yourself in what, exactly, you are aiming to achieve through your study, and through your study of each part of the discipline.  Write those goals down so you don't forget them because they can seem very clear before you start working towards them, and then it can get easy to lose your way after you start digging in.

Then, set up mini goals for yourself which add up to the larger ones.  

I also think that you can do all the planning in the world, but if you don't know how you personally really get the most out of your effort, then the planning itself won't be of much help.  You will need to be aware of what inspires you to keep learning along the way, and to be prepared to include that/those things to help with your motivation to achieve your goals.

Right now, I think of accomplishing a lot as a form of juggling.  Of course it's easy to feel as though that's what we're doing when we become involved in a multi-faceted life but I mean more specifically than that.  With juggling you start by getting something going on a smaller scale.  You get the rhythm, you get the flow, you get it working and functioning ... and then you add more bit by bit.  Eventually you're juggling intellectual fire batons and knives   .  Something to consider along those lines, I recently heard a quote regarding juggling and its relevance to life, that the trick in juggling is not in catching, but rather to keep throwing.  I think that's interesting to ponder!

For example, if I had 20 pieces to learn, I personally don't do well starting with all 20.  I personally need to feel like I'm really getting somewhere right away so I might start with 1 (if *everything* is brand new) and really get something happening with that one first.  Once I've got that to a certain level, or if I'm completely bored and need inspiration, I'll add another that I intend to work at over time.  If I've got those going well, I'll add more pieces, working at them in certain amounts of time and with specific goals in mind each day, with the understanding that I will work to accomplish them over time.  By now, I've got an entire movement of a sonata "up and running" and being refined, I've got a reasonable chunk of another piece, I've got 2 pages of 2 etudes (with the goals of learning those in 6-7 days), and I'm feeling ready to add something else.

So, start small, get some success going to create momentum, add more bit by bit and never lose sight of your goals.