I’ve been following Jeff Berlin’s educational posts for years and had the opportunity to attend one of his education clinics in Nashville this past weekend. The goal of the session was to improve basics in playing. There were five bassists of all skill levels from all over the country in attendance. Jeff with his bass took each of us to the ‘front of the class’ and started out with harmonically tuning instruments by ear. Jeff gave us each pointers on tuning this way.
Of course everyone in the hot seat at the front of the class was nervous about being in front of the group, but we all quickly discovered that we could all learn from watching others and listening to Jeff’s coaching. I learned a lot from my class mates. Throughout the day Jeff stressed the difference between practice and performance which made a great deal of sense to me. He then had each participant play a tune they were familiar with and made suggestions about timing and technique. There was a noticeable improvement in everyone’s playing after Jeff’s coaching. Jeff then had each person read a short piece of music at their reading skill level. He had non-readers reading music in time after about 10 minutes. Throughout each participant’s instruction Jeff was patient, funny and provided well thought out answers to all questions.
If the other folks left feeling the same way as I did they’ll be motivated to put the lessons we learned to good use and continue to grow as a musician. Thanks Jeff for a wonderful learning experience!
