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Any of you guys remember Angelo? He played vibes until he was I think 94 or 96. There are some posts on here about him. Pretty amazing.

Here's a 92 year old vibe player! These are inspiring to me because I will have to play and gig till I kick! So! I like to see 92 year old vibe players out there working!

https://www.cleveland.com/friday/index.ssf/2018/08/his_love_of_afro-cub…

Check this out everyone.

https://jamesclear.com/lay-a-brick

Allyson sent this to me. He's the guy doing all the posting these days. He's on fire and wants to be a great vibe players.

I thought this short read really sums up the process.

Over the last 33 years, I have worked a day job in addition to being a professional performer. During that time, the rest of my life has sometimes limited the time I spend with my instrument (a situation I have now resolved in retirement).

Out of necessity, I have learned how to practice more efficiently.

If I had known this when I was young, I would have advanced much more quickly and likely would be a far better player.

In the spirit of sharing what I know, especially with the younger performers on the site, here are my thoughts on practicing efficiently:

It was brought to my attention that Behn was talking about this at the workshop in Philly last week. I thought I should address it with this series of posts. That said, I openly admit that I need to elevate my game on this one. What I generally have been doing for the last 47 years isn't working on this level. :)

What you do on stage between tunes?

Here is a list of things on the website, lessons I liked a lot or thought were important. For me it's all of them I guess.

Can any of you guys copy a link of something you thought was interesting and help and put it in the comments? I'll Building on this. This would be especially for new comers to the site or players who don't know what to practice. Pick something from here!

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Looking For Something to Study?

Careers in Jazz By Bill Anschell www.billanschell.com

Have you guys seen this site?
https://doublemalletgrips.wordpress.com

All the grips are on there! It's pretty cool.

What is your favorite grip and most importantly if you didn't use the grip you use, what grip would you use next (can't be the same one :-).

My grip is on there and credited to Gordon Stout. I think Gordon uses one grip in his left hand and one in his right hand?

A cpl peepul haf eemaled mi aboot my speling in the noosladders.

I know it's terrible. I need to get my act together, however I never have enough time to get these newsletters out. My life is a 14-16 hour day of Bull*$*#, teaching and practicing.

But I will work on it.

Very sad news. Mike Balter sold his company to Zildjian. I saw it in an article in a newspaper online. I kind of wish I would have known in advance, as it was a bit of a shock.

I love Mike Balter. Like Steve Weiss he is an icon in this business. Mike is also a really good percussionist and drummer. It was great to endorse a company like his, as it felt like being part of a family business. We will see what the future holds. Mike said to me "Everything will be the same!". I laughed and said back "Nothing will be the same!". Mike is one of a kind.

I've been going back and doing some curating here.

Although the quality is not great, here's a whole series on Stella. I think it's worth going through while you work on the tune!

https://www.vibesworkshop.com/book/stella-starlight/tonymiceli/050316