💡✍️ADN #066: The Art Of Practice
Feb 25, 2024Friday night, I was sitting in a dressing room at Carnegie Hall with Rett Madison.
Rett is the first signing to War Buddha Records.
For context, War Buddha Records is owned by my bandmate, business partner, and friend, Jaren Johnston and me.
The label is a joint venture with Warner Records out of Los Angeles.
A year ago, one of Rett’s managers mentioned an event called “The Piano Recital.”
It is a unique, one-night-only event put on every year at Carnegie Hall.
It is a night of music based around artists performing songs on a grand piano.
It was a dream of Rett’s to perform at Carnegie, and her manager began working on landing her a slot on the lineup for 2024.
We heard she got added to the gig in the winter with an excellent, eclectic lineup of artists.
Here’s the thing…
Rett is a good pianist, but her main instrument is guitar.
She doesn’t perform live on piano.
So, now she has this show where she will perform two songs, solo on piano, at Carnegie Hall.
No pressure!
Ok, so, back to the dressing room…
Because it’s Carnegie Hall, there is a piano in every dressing room.
Thirty minutes before her performance, she walked over, ran scales on the piano, and did vocal warmups.
This continues for 5–10 minutes before she works her way through her first song, “Don’t Know Better Till You Do,” a couple of times.
It was a masterclass in pro-level practice.
This vocal warmup is something she does before every gig.
Typically, it is with a recording of piano scales that she sings along to, but tonight, she ran it live at the dressing room piano.
“La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.”
“Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.”
Over and over until her voice was warmed up.
This is the equivalent of an NFL kicker practicing the same kick repeatedly.
It’s the same as rehearsing a speech until it sounds like a conversation.
Similar to the practice of handwriting lyrics before you begin writing a song.
This exercise is something Rett has been doing for years now.
It not only shows her dedication to her art and to practice, but it acts as a grounding mechanism before every performance.
Sitting there watching her backstage at Carnegie Hall, I couldn’t help but think of the many hours, over many years, she’s done this, hoping for a moment like the one she was about to take on.
Next thing you know, we are walking to the elevator, down the stairs, and to the stage door.
While waiting for the song before hers to finish, she asks me to pull up her song on my phone.
She wants to check the tempo one last time.
- Practiced
- Attentive to detail
- Focused
- Caring
- Intentional
At that moment, she was all five.
Then, she went out and nailed the performance.
Before her next song, what did she do?
She went back to her dressing room and practiced.
Then, she went back down the elevator and nailed the performance again.
At the show’s end, the whole lineup decided to do an impromptu version of “With A Little Help From My Friends.”
They asked Rett to sing the third verse and do the big vocal runs at the song’s end.
What did Rett do?
She went upstairs, listened to the song on repeat, and practiced.
Then, when the moment came, she stole the show.
The crowd screamed while she belted.
You have to put in the reps to be ready for a moment.
I now know that Rett has the reps to own a Carnegie-sized moment because of the art of practice.
It was inspiring and something I will carry when unsure why I’m working on my practices.
No matter where you are in your artistic, business, or life development, the art of practice is worth the time.
You never know when your Carnegie Hall is coming, but with enough practice, you’ll be ready when it does.
Action Item:
What is one thing you could do for 15 minutes a day that, if you did, you know would help you achieve a goal?
Answer this question and then drop a reminder in your calendar to do that every day for a month.
Shoot me an email and let me know if you do this, and I’ll check in with you once a week for the next month to see how it’s going.
Have a great week,
Neil
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