Hal Galper - Attitude is Everything

Book: Forward Motion
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Recording: Cubist
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halgalper.com Pianist / Composer / Teacher discusses the importance of attitude, for musicians.

[@UkuleleAversion]

Hal Galper here has basically explained everything that is wrong with how I play and how I can improve in this one video.

[@soulgriot]

Substitute "I" with "we" and you've nailed it for all of us . . . .

[@Andrew_Whiteford]

@12:44 "You can't be creative if you're afraid. If you're not approaching the playing situation with absolute joy at the opportunity to have some fun, something's wrong with your attitude...."

[@yogran1]

This guy is the Alan Watts of the music world.

[@mahendarsparrow]

well said

[@apzzpa]

Watt's was influenced by Eastern philosophies such as Zen, and psychologist Jung

[@rjmoney9]

@@apzzpa yes just like how Hal’s lectures are largely a synthesis of original work/discovery by others, Hal is always talking about this or that book by so and so for where he first got these ideas from. Hal and Watts were both synthesizers whose main skill as teachers was their ability to make it all highlyunderstandable Watts is kind of a gimmick though, and he’s super vague. Whereas Hal is legit and very clear

[@rik-keymusic160]

He’s very accurate! But what i find hard is that you have to listen to all these masters while you are seeing where you are at your development...

[@jazzerson7087]

"Mistakes open a window, stop having a negative attitude towards them". So true, I've discovered so much by making mistakes and experimentation!

[@alvarov.j]

"Didnt hit the pregnant nun..." hilarious

[@tahoecoyote]

The notion regarding fear of making a mistake was so well demonsrated by the Grateful Dead. They were fearless and without ego. Great video here, thanks.

[@mariostoumbas6531]

What an amazing man and artist! I am a 53 year old jazz professor and pianist, a Berklee graduate and I learned so much in these 15 minutes of him taking about performance.

[@madbuzz90]

This is Zen.

[@PabloVestory]

Mr. Galper, Mr. Video Guy, THANK YOU FOREVER

[@ericharding92]

This is probably the best lecture i have heard on this subject Bravo to Hal for adressing it. Wonderful! Thanks again Bret.

[@fotofavoloso267]

This is so spot on..............I wish someone said this to me 40 years ago. Thank you Hal !

[@JazzGuitar420]

This is great stuff. Hal's the man!

[@nightscriber8338]

Jesus christ this changed my life not just music

[@JazzVideoGuy]

glad you found him

[@nightscriber8338]

thanks

[@somaticspirituality]

I am a vocalist in the black and death metal traditions and I’ve listened to many of Hal’s lectures and deeply internalized them. For a non-jazz genre where musical interaction and improvisation are not so heavily emphasized it is possible I think to practice a playing attitude in your room. But the more that I do that I also notice distinct features of the little world that’s created in the “process-oriented” state of playing. For example the part of me that notices when I have to increase my breath and diaphragmatic support. But that’s different from evaluating my sound as I’m trying to play. I used to try to do that and it had pretty abysmal results. So I’ve since been able to very consciously and steadily work on enhancing my capacity for quickly entering into the semi-dissociative “playing” state. I really owe it to Hal for this and other concepts that loom very large in my day-to-day understanding of music and my role and responsibilities with my instrument and as a musician.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

well said

[@marccontet7480]

So true !! Thank you for the great piece of advice.

[@kennybradshaw2122]

Excellent.

[@NatLawrenceMusic]

Play music the same way you play playstation, play soccer, or play make believe. Play, like a game. This is great advice

[@thejazzguitarschool]

YES!

[@JazzVideoGuy]

Jazz Guitar School Indeed.....

[@jeffrey3498]

Brilliant!

[@michaeldahan8464]

This is one of the most instructive videos I've ever seen. Thank you 👍

[@richc47us]

One of the best lessons ever!

[@lorenzopasini8309]

Illuminating.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

It's quite thought provoking.

[@BruceSaunders]

This is really brilliant. Love his playing and delighted to find his teaching just as brilliant.

[@pianist007]

One of the most insightful handling not only of music making but life as a whole. Thanks for posting that gem!

[@gibbonscreative8670]

This is so well articulated, excellent advice!

[@Riddlemewalker]

Required listening for jazz learners. Thanks Hal!

[@frederickthorne2496]

This reminds me of session work where all the best takes are tracked following the ice-breaking mistake and the 'fuckits' kick in.

[@chauncywashington2227]

Wish I would have heard this years ago.......could have been having a lot more fun! But every day is a new day........

[@saxfish]

Yes, playing is like surfing ! Wisdom !

[@mraoma6985]

Very Well Said, Great advice for a Great Musician!!!

[@trvewarriorproductions751]

Awesome dude! Changed my attitude

[@curiousnomad]

The truth being spoken.

[@gerryrogers2452]

Sooo helpful! Thank you for uploading this.

[@jazzlives]

Hal's always been a great teacher as well as performer. He cuts the crap and thinks deeply about things. I first received personal instruction from Hal around 1980 at a Jamey Aebersold camp. He taught my combo several hours a day several days in a row.. He was a gentle grandfather, always throwing out rich food for thought and never cutting anyone down.

[@fran6b]

Those camps are for sure really inspiring ! I've been on a couple of ones, but shorter than yours, with great jazzmen instructors and there are not a day without me remembering one of them teaching something inspiring.

[@gunthertobias3909]

Thank you for sharing Hal"s genius. HE is and always has been brilliant, First saw him in duo with Konitz. Huge fan of this channel and massive respect for Hal on so many levels

[@elquetocapiano]

Masterclass!!!

[@AdamBHarrisHarpist]

His book on booking a tour is one of the best music biz related book buys ive ever made, doesnt surprise me this video was great.

[@friendlyletters]

Yes that does help indeed

[@Herehear49]

Like the saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. That came to me when I was thinking about how nice it would have been to have heard this teaching when I was a young player...some 50 years ago!

[@greatgable1]

Best advice i have ever heard,.....

[@brnt034]

"Attitude is Everything" sounds like a great band name!

[@petergoddart4673]

wow! This guy knows his stuff thank you for sharing the wisdom

[@shirishmalhotra3653]

THIS IS GOLD.

[@mindbending11]

Manna from heaven - cheers Hal.

[@bgorrell]

We just had Mr. Galper and his trio as guest artists at the UCO Jazz Lab. His perspective is brilliant, and this video is gold for anyone taking the time to listen!

[@stanleyhall6801]

You hit the nail on the head 1 million percent

[@MM-rr1kp]

these ideas apply universally, whichever job one does. Mixing a deep sense of caring and preparation with a healthy dose of not giving a f@%* is a very balanced approach and builds in the space and freedom to really go for it.

[@dingoswamphead]

'I'm not playin' 'til I'm l'm playin' what i don't know' - gonna be my motto, along with 'Everything I do gon' be funky from now on'. Thanks for sharin' this. And don't hit those pregnant nuns.

[@RicardoUrquizaMusic]

I love when this kind of people have a speech and make you want to go practice because you're feeling so positive, sadly I've had only experiences in jazz schools where teachers make you feel like absolute shit and ramble about 30 minutes on how much you suck because you hold the 11 on a major chord.

[@LUig43]

pure gold,,no seriously he should spread this speach all over

[@kermitdriscoll204]

I know very little about Hal, but his advice here is total wisdom. The impression I got during my many years at SUNY Purchase was that he had little or no respect for my "free jazz" ensemble. ( which was really "anything is valid " ensemble) maybe I didn't get his irony. All I know now is that this lecture really illustrates what it is like to improvise. Keith Jarrett said " the worst thing that can happen on the bandstand is that someone gets an idea " Hal sys that here..

[@tomwashatka6016]

I always thought Galper was a bit full of himself but I was wrong … this is brilliant and all my students will see this!

[@MaxItani]

Thank you Bret! It's wonderful! And a big thank's to Mr.Galper. Best Regards to you guys

[@danjameson1572]

to quote Chesterton, "an inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."

[@ALTERED13TH]

Brilliant talk about practice, perception, learning and delivered from a fifty thousand foot level right down to the ground and everywhere in between with humor.

[@Jackenapes86]

i love this. applies to any kind of performance.

[@johndrury425]

This is WONDERFULL stuff to my ears!

[@bebopclownshow]

Awesome

[@y34r]

What a great eye-opening talk. if you are jazz musician, this is gold.

[@wyeth1023]

2:15 Divergent thinking; it's like a painter flipping his painting in order to see how to tighten up the work. The painter doesn't have to think how to do this, once he flips the piece, what it is that he needs to do becomes known to him (seemingly) without any conscious effort.

[@kmvenezia4337]

Thnx Hal, Great advice.

[@jacquelamontharenberg]

Great advice. He is right. When I am in the studio recording, the first take always has more feeling and emotion. It sounds the best. Practically impossible to duplicate..

[@woodbell67]

Wonderful- gold! thank you Hal and Bret.

[@edwardpritchard1782]

Finally, between Hal and the posts, jazz talk with which I can agree. I'm not a jazz giant but I'm very good at what I do including teaching improvisation,. I don't read, dote on how to videos, websites, play-along CDs, solo transcriptions and endlessly practice. They can assist what has to already exist, the Me brought to the experience. We play because we have to. There is a visceral enjoyment as we play. Every song provides a playground and sometimes there's a park to explore. Had I utilized the advice of the above mentioned sources I'd have greater range, endurance and gigs. Would I trade those nuts and bolts for what I have? No way! I'm often amazed by giants playing un-arranged standards from sheet music...songs I''v played many times, many ways. Play me a tune that's new to me and before the end I can enjoy adding a chorus. My experiences just differs from those usually posted. Thanks to Hal and the poster people..

[@howardwoodard4754]

This helped me so much. He is able to make the intangible tangible.

[@edbettex3998]

Excellent advice and philosophy. Thanks

[@johnvalentine3456]

If you squint, the music stands in the background look like a piano keyboard

[@thebreathalyzer]

wow, totally

[@JungRocksFreud]

That's very valuable and golden. Great teachings...

[@uc1180]

Cool stuff! I wish it could help me silence my ego while at a jam session...

[@UkuleleAversion]

Yeah, it's so hard! This video made me realise that is what's going on with my playing, I take this music so damn seriously because I love it but it's made me hate it and stopped me from having actual fun and interacting with others when I play in a band. I believe we can all improve though, good luck to you!

[@gracenotesguitar]

Excellent stuff, spot on!

[@mikeleza]

Thank you, great words

[@geoffmenzer]

These lectures are excellent.Although it is obvious what he says,I'm sure many young people are not experienced enough to KNOW this..My only codicil to this,is that one can not al;ways PLAY what you hear in your mind.So one has to have a certain level of experience and technique.BUT to play off the MELODY,rather than by learning mechanically about scales and patterns to use against certain chords SHOULD be an EAR thing rather than MECHANICAL.Guys like Wes Montgomery who were unschooled,and perhaps didn't know how to DESCRIBE what he did,were able to approach it instinctively using the EAR,both externally and INTERNALLY. At this standard,the guy would have difficulty in playing a second take which sounded anything like the first one.That is,UNLESS you play the same tine for many nights,then you build up a "head arrangement" consciously or sub consciouslyThat is,you keep the bits that worked that you liked and build on them.I hope this adds to the lecture in a way that benefits the receiver....?

[@vivianheo9595]

Very good! Thanks!

[@SepLeBelge]

As a (swing/jazz/blues)dancer, it's fun to replace 'playing music' by 'dancing'. As valuable for me Hal, thank you!

[@Lisanna61]

So illuminating, even for classical musicians like me!

[@Massy012]

thanks for this gem

[@mariannakokavesi]

Even as a classical musician, this video was really helpful and it definitely changed my perspective. It helped me get rid off my stage anxiety and start to care more about the music rather what other people think.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

so glad

[@dougnickerson]

Effin' brilliant !

[@racylaserjet]

This is like gold.

[@EzyoMusic]

Agreed - this IS gold! :)

[@TomMarkson]

Care free playing is good enough for me.

[@brnt034]

This guy is a genius! Subbed!

[@dhaerle100]

Good stuff, Hal!

[@ericharding92]

Only one problem...in classical music one is not permitted to make mistakes. Its the nature of the music. Thats high pressure and takes a lot of the"fun" out of it. Jazz is improvised music for the most part and mistakes are part of the process which sets it apart from classical. As i said, I think this is a wonderful lecture.

[@Veaseify]

Jazz Buff If you ever watch footage of Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin playing with each other you can see exactly what you are saying. In the composed parts they both play beautifully but when its time to jam Grappelli goes off on wonderful soaring flights of fantasy while one of the greatest classical players ever is reduced to repeating the same phrases over and over because he is lost without a score.

[@btanonymous]

+Jazz Buff The mind set still stays true when applied to classical music. It's about having fun. If you're pressuring yourself to not make mistakes it can take the fun out of it. The best performers in the world look playful and at ease when performing. Of course they know the music very well but the attitude carries over to most healthy performers.

[@wanmomusic]

Jazz Buff Yesir, when jammin mistakes don't exist. We just gotta keep on flowinnn

[@md7306]

I've said the same things for years!

[@btanonymous]

pure gold

[@edgarvanasseltmusic]

brilliant lecture :)

[@paulmason6470]

This is excellent.

[@dennis9242]

Great stuff.

[@JazzVideoGuy]

Glad you think so!

[@LYSHEmusic]

wonderful

[@e.d.1642]

Best video on youtube

[@JazzVideoGuy]

one of them, that's for sure

[@RalphBrooker-gn9iv]

A lot of what you say, and I think Lennie Tristano may have been the first to get along this method (Lennie spoke less of fun than of feeling), is also true of writing (not music). You cannot dissociate yourself - your ego, as it were - from what you’ve written. Later you forget how hung-up you were when you wrote; how hung-up you were about how you you write it. As a philosophy student I was so hung up about writing in a certain way. Of hitting ‘A+’. A very perceptive tutor told me it’s not about grades. It’s about how others think of you as a philosopher. *Windows* is my favourite record of yours. And I knew Lee a little. His attitude was possibly even more severe than yours since his goal was not to repeat himself, or to avoid repetition (licks, easy riffs, what you’ve already done) so you could say Lee came to the bandstand or studio in a kind of intellectual state. Lee didn’t agree with this. But this would take us to psychology. I found your talk really helpful. Thanks.

[@acedrumminman]

Reminds me of something Elvin Jones said..."Get your head out of the damn music and just play!" Know your material!

[@TheMusicmak3r]

“If you think you stink” -Mr.Big

[@bogbrushify]

Just discovered you Hal - very interesting stuff (I'm a drummer). It seems to me that many of your ideas relate strongly to those of the teacher G.I.Gurdjieff - about conscious and automatic thinking, the different speeds at which the head, emotions and body work and so on. Have you come across him? My hunch is that you have. Continue the good work! Ashley

[@leandroharo]

Which lecture from Gurdjieff would you recomend to a beginner in his work?

[@jetn8654]

Get this book: "In Search of The Miraculous" by PD Ouspensky

[@johnf.hebert1409]

My teacher Joe Solomon says the exact same things. He's was a student of Lennie Tristano.

[@gauthierostervall4849]

I love this, but somehow I can't put together "play with a playful attitude" and "play exciting, not excited"

[@nicholasmarin5945]

more, give us more.. harpoon jams!

[@nicholasblay8343]

he sounds like John Goodman

[@Bati_]

With all due respect, about 03:46, modern neuroscience findings and theories suggest that the brain works massively parallel so presumably, it's not working in a merely serial manner.

[@billroger2]

Would or could this information about playing without regard to making mistakes - can any your wise advice be applied to playing classical music?? I am a amateur classical pianist. Thanks.