LJS 102: Blazing Your Own Trail Towards Musical Success




Welcome to episode 102 of the LJS Podcast where today we feature the story and advice of a podcast listener, Staci from North Carolina. In this episode, Staci shares some breakthroughs she had in her jazz playing when she learned how to utilize the tools that worked for her and shifted her mindset. Listen in!
Listen to episode 102







Today's episode is a lot of fun. A month or so ago I asked listeners of the podcast to submit recordings of their own jazz advice and tips. A lot of listeners did just that and I was blown away by the participation and the great stuff coming from our jazz community!
This month we are celebrating our 2 year podcast birthday month (psst...don't forget to enter into our raffle). So in our upcoming episode 104, our birthday episode, we are going to be featuring a bunch of listener tips and advice. It's going to be a value-packed episode.
But to lead into that, today's episode and episode 103 we are featuring a few submissions that were a bit longer and are worth spending an episode talking about.
Today's guest is Staci from Jefferson, North Carolina. She plays the piano and talks about how she had some big breakthroughs in her jazz playing when she learned to strike out on her own musical path, use the tools that were working for her, and started enjoying her musical journey.
Here are some of my main takeaways from her talk:
1. Find good tools, then use the ones that work best for you.
2. Let the music teach you how to play.
3. Focus on having a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset.
I want to thank Staci for the great tips and advice, and for sharing her story. I learned a lot and I am sure you will too. If we can learn to approach music more like Stacy has learned to, we will most certainly start seeing some incredible results.
Important Links
"Mindset" by Carol Dweck
Podcast Birthday Raffle







Read the Transcript
Brent: All right. What's up everybody? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website learnjazzstandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Thanks so much. Whether this is your first time ever listening, or whether you're a regular listener, I really appreciate you. If you've been listening to the show for the past several weeks or so, you probably know already that this month is our two-year birthday celebration month of the podcast.
In episode 104, coming up here, we are going to be celebrating two years of this podcast. Now, our blog and other resources that we've had going on, have been around for a lot more years than that, but two years of the podcast, and it's all thanks to you guys. I'm going to thank you guys a lot this month, so bear with me. Thank you so much for listening. You guys are the ones that make this thing happen. Without you guys, I wouldn't be doing this, and so I really appreciate you guys. You guys are super awesome, so thanks for ... Give yourself a pat on the back. Thanks for listening.
In today's episode 102, I'm really excited. As you know, I like to have special guests on the show, and we've had some good ones on lately but these particular guests are going to be unique. Normally, I have on professionals to share their tips and advice with you, but this time around, I'm having you guys, my listeners, come on the show and tell all of us your stories, your advice, your tips. Now, I asked you guys about a month ago if you could submit some recordings to me and just share with the community,

Om Podcasten

The LJS Podcast is the podcast where you get weekly jazz tips, interviews, stories and advice for becoming a better jazz musician! Hosting the show is the jazz musician behind learnjazzstandards.com, author, and entrepreneur Brent Vaartstra, who’s one goal is to answer any question about playing jazz music you may have. Jazz can be a challenging music to learn and play, but it doesn’t have to be so hard. Each episode features a specific musical challenge that jazz students may come across, where it is discussed and answered. Special jazz guests frequent the show, sharing their expertise on an array of different musical subject matter. Listeners are invited to call in with their jazz questions to the podcast hotline, where it could get answered on a future LJS Podcast episode. Join thousands of other listeners getting free jazz education every week!