216: Pathways - Sharilynn Horhota

12/18/19 • 78 min

Today we’re excited to share another Pathways story with you! We are joined by Musical U member Sharilynn Horhota. Before her engineering career and three children, Sharilynn was headed towards becoming a professional flute player. Now she has returned to the flute in a surprising way.

Sharilynn has been sharing her journey on her Musical U Progress Journal. The Progress Journal, or PJ, is a system we use inside the Musical U site for members to share their progress, ask questions, and get feedback and support from the Musical U team and Musical U community. Sharilynn has made fantastic use of her PJ so we had some sense of her interesting backstory and all the cool activities she’s been up to - but as you’ll be hearing, Musical U is just one part of all the resources she’s been drawing on and all the ways she’s been stretching herself since returning to flute.

In this conversation we talk about:

• How studying Alexander Technique in Finland let her feel much freer in her playing and opened up her sound

• The specific resources and exercises that have helped Sharilynn start to improvise, and in a way that feels like she is truly expressing herself, rather than just improv-by-numbers following chord tones.

• And the two clever variants on traditional exercises, scales and long notes, which she now gives her flute students to help them improve faster and enjoy practicing more.

Part of the intention with this Pathways series is to share stories of music learners who are perhaps more relatable than the world-leading experts we’re so fortunate to have the chance to interview here on the show. But we’re not sure Sharilynn quite fits that bill, because as you’ll discover, she is one seriously impressive music learner! You will surely find a lot to relate to in her story - and pick up some handy ideas and pointers that you can apply in your own musical journey.

Have you picked up useful ideas or techniques in your own musical journey so far that you think could inspire or help others on their path of exploring their musicality? Get in touch by dropping an email to [email protected]! We are always looking for new guests for Pathways and would love to share your story next.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 216

Links and Resources

• The Complete Guide to The Alexander Technique

• Michael Lake - Alto Bone

• Aimee Nolte Music

• Musicality Now - Explaining the Musical Ear, with Aimee Nolte

• Jeffrey Agrell books

• Musicality Now - Making Improv a Game, with Jeffrey Agrell

• David Reed - Improvise For Real

• David Reed - Sing the Numbers

• Musicality Now - How to Improvise For Real, with David Reed

• Brent Vaartstra - Learn Jazz Standards

•

In this conversation we talk about:

• How studying Alexander Technique in Finland let her feel much freer in her playing and opened up her sound

• And the two clever variants on traditional exercises, scales and long notes, which she now gives her flute students to help them improve faster and enjoy practicing more.

Subscribe For Future Episodes!

Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube

Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 216

Links and Resources

• The Complete Guide to The Alexander Technique

• Michael Lake - Alto Bone

• Aimee Nolte Music

• Musicality Now - Explaining the Musical Ear, with Aimee Nolte

• Jeffrey Agrell books

• Musicality Now - Making Improv a Game, with Jeffrey Agrell

• David Reed - Improvise For Real

• David Reed - Sing the Numbers

• Musicality Now - How to Improvise For Real, with David Reed

• Brent Vaartstra - Learn Jazz Standards

•

Previous Episode

215: What Music Practice Really Means, with Jonathan Harnum (The Practice Of Practice)

Today we’re talking with Dr. Jonathan Harnum, whose PhD research was focused on the topic of music practice. Dr. Harnum studied how a wide variety of musicians think about and execute practice to be able to reach such high levels of ability.

The result of Dr. Harnum’s research is a book called The Practice Of Practice, which we strongly recommend checking out. The Practice of Practice is a highly-readable treasure trove of all the latest ideas, understanding, techniques and insights on what makes for effective music practice and how you can learn better and faster.

From a classical upbringing to an exciting 2-year road-trip of discovering improvisation, Jonathan Harnum’s own musical journey is fascinating! We were excited to have the chance to speak with him and share some of the ideas from The Practice of Practice to inspire and accelerate your music learning.

If you heard our recent interview with Gregg Goodhart on the topic of practice then you’ll find this is a beautiful counterpoint. Although the broad topic is the same, this is a very different conversation - but similarly packed with insights and nuggets that can pay off for your own music practice.

In this conversation you’ll hear about:

• A simple way to reframe how you think about difficult things which can immediately transform frustration and helplessness into empowered eagerness.

• The neurological research which proves that watching live music can be a highly valuable form of practice too.

• How “guerilla practice” can help you fit in genuinely effective music practice even amid the busiest of lives.

You’re going to really enjoy Dr. Harnum’s insights on improvising, creativity, broadening the idea of what music practice can be, and some of the very specific actionable ideas he shares along the way.

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 215

Links and Resources

• The Practice of Practice

• Practice Like This by Jonathan Harnum PhD (Free PDF)

• Jon Harnum - Author, Teacher, Musician

• Dr. Jonathan Harnum - Books on Music Theory and Trumpet

• Kenny Werner - Effortless Mastery

• The Musician’s Ear - Active Listening Course

• Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart

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Next Episode

217: Rewind: Reflections

We’ve had an incredible year at Musical U! Since switching from audio-only to video interviews at the beginning of 2019, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with amazing musical experts from all over the world. In this special Rewind episode of MusicalityNow, the Musical U team reflects on some of the episodes from 2019 that had a big impact on our musical lives.

We’ve all learned so much and were really excited to share some of our a-ha moments with you! We are so grateful to have the honor of gaining insight from such powerful musical minds - and we don’t want you to miss any of the golden nuggets of information and inspiration packed into the vaults of the Musicality Now catalogue.

Dive in to this special Rewind episode and unlock an excitement for musicality to propel you to your musical goals!

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 217

Links and Resources

• Musicality Now - How to Earn Your Inspiration, with Mark Cawley

• Musicality Now - More Mindful, More Musical, with Susanne Olbrich

• Musicality Now - Boosting Musical Brainpower, with Josh Turknett (Brainjo)

• Musicality Now - How Composers Improve, with Matthew Ellul (School of Composition)

• Musicality Now - In Perfect Swinging Harmony, with The Quebe Sisters

• Musicality Now - Nature, Nurture, and your Duvet of Music, with Robert Emery

• Musicality Now - How to Learn Like a Genius, with Gregg Goodhart