One of the best tips I can give you on being a great musician is to vary what you practice to include stuff you wouldn’t normally play. Let’s face it, we all have our favourite music style or band to listen to and a lot of us tend to drag the same old stuff out each [...]

I auditioned a while back for a local jazz band. As always it was a very interesting night. You get to meet new people, learn new music and try to make a good impression all at the same time. Auditioning for a band or show is, or should be, a fun experience and one where [...]

There is an old sporting saying that applies very well to music. Play on your strengths, train on your weaknesses. Put simply it means that a performance is not the time to try out your new stuff. One of the greatest assets you can have as a performer is confidence. Confidence comes from knowing “your [...]

Band competitions can be a great way to get some stage experience and to get your music in front of a crowd. I’ve had the pleasure a few times of stage managing a band competition. The last one in particular was a great experience. There was some great young talent on display playing some really good [...]

A few years back I had the honour of being a judge at a 2 day Country Music Talent Contest. The standard was quite high which really made the task very hard. I did notice though, just like Band Competitions, that many of the contestants were making small but not unimportant mistakes that could have lifted [...]