Ok, so we as musicians aren’t really known for our attention span, having the cleanest rooms, or for that matter our organization skills. In fact, here’s a quote I live by- “Creativity is messy and I am very creative.”
That doesn’t mean you should strive to be the messiest person you know! Keeping your music organized can actually make you ten times more effective and efficient as a musician. No more spending 20 minutes looking for that one missing sheet of music! Let’s get organized so you can get rocking quicker!
1.Binders, binders, binders!
If you’ve taken one lesson here with us at Littleton School of Music, or 100 lessons with us,chances are you’ve been told to bring a binder. Because they work! Keep all your music in one easy to find binder or folder. Also be realistic! If your binder has 2,000 sheets of paper in it- maybe it’s time to let go of some of those sheets from 2 years ago. If you still need all 2,000 nuggets of information, don’t be afraid of having two binders.
2.Sections of Knowledge
Music can really be split into 2 easy sections- Songs and theory. Instead of looking through every page of your binder for that one song, keep all your songs in one section. Use dividers to help you find your subjects easier. My guitar binder has the following sections: Scales, exercises, chords, solos, songs.
In my career as a musician and teacher, I’ve learned well over 1,000 songs. Could you imagine trying to remember that many songs? I sure can’t! The best musicians I know have binders dedicated to only charts. Chances are you probably won’t remember how to play every song you’ve ever learned. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play them. The skill is still there- Just listen through the tune while reading the chart and it’ll come back to you. As your repertoire grows, keep charts of your favorite tunes and alphabetically organize them to easily find them later.
Yes we are creative people full of inspiration, but there’s always a method to madness. Don’t let disorganization get the best of you. All work and no play can be dull but I promise you a tiny bit of work keeping everything organized will give you more efficient practice time, band practices, and lets face it- it’ll take away the stress of tearing your room apart looking for one piece of paper. Reach out to Littleton School of Music today and let us help get you on the right track to becoming a more organized, effective musician!