Best Practice for Musicians
Claim This Podcastby Judy Minot
Podcast Overview
<p>Interviews, Inspiration and Ideas for Musicians: Host Judy Minot interviews musicians and thought leaders about how to improve - as a musician, and in other areas of life as well. </p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/16/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 15, 2026
Mel Biggs: Carving the Air
<p>In this 55-minute interview, English #accordion player and teacher Mel Biggs talks with author Judy Minot about making music and practicing. As a teacher she has plenty of tips for amateur musicians, and anyone who wants to learn music. She offers #practicetips on learning by ear, finding your way in sessions, playing in rhythm with dancers, finding the similarities in tunes to boost your repertoire, calming the inner critic, working with a metronome, and the benefits of super slow practice, and listening "beyond the tuned sound." She and Judy discuss their plans for their upcoming workshop at Halsway Manor in England, titled "Practice Smarter, Play Happier."</p><p> </p><p>Links/Resources</p><p> </p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/melbiggsmusic" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/cw/melbiggsmusic</a></p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.melbiggsmusic.co.uk" target="_blank">www.melbiggsmusic.co.uk</a></p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://www.folkunbound.co.uk" target="_blank">www.folkunbound.co.uk</a></p><p> </p><p>Judy Minot</p><p>Website <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.judyminot.com/bestpractice/" target="_blank">https://www.judyminot.com/bestpractice/</a></p><p>Patreon <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.patreon.com/c/BestPracticeforMusicians" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/c/BestPracticeforMusicians</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><b>Memorable Quotes from This Episode</b></p><p>"We learn to take the air knife and we go into the tune like it's a block of marble. And we've spent ages hewing this block of marble, and we've got the tune. It's right there in front of us, but now we can go in with our air knife, and we can carve bits out of it and soften certain bits and smooth them over.”</p><p> </p><p>"I had lots of quick chord changes on at the time, unfamiliar chords, because on the melodeon there's kind of like three positions you can have your chord inversions in... they're all slightly different shapes for the same chord. And I would give them names like Dagger and Sword because a dagger’s a short blade and a sword is a long blade. And it was just like, you know, just telling my fingers how far to stretch."</p><p> </p><p> "if you [practice] really slowly, this magical thing happens at speed, where you've got the muscle memory and you've got the strength in your fingers because you've done the weights at the gym really slowly,"</p><p> </p><p><b>Guest Mel Biggs</b> is well-known on the UK folk scene as a musician, melodeon teacher and Morris dancer. Mel has a strong reputation as a thoughtful, perceptive and mindful teacher, with an ever-expanding library of videos on practice and playing. As a performer she performs with the Anglo-European trio Moirai, and plays for the vibrant Harlequin Morris. Mel has also made a name as a podcaster, with her series of interviews with great melodeon players.</p><p> </p><p><b>Podcast host Judy Minot</b> is a music educator, musician, and author of the award-winning book Best Practice, Inspiration and Ideas for Traditional Musicians. Judy is an evangelist for the power of trad/folk/roots music to bring richness to our adult lives. A lifelong musician but never professionally, she enjoyed a long and successful career in broadcast television and in digital marketing, picking up two platinum records and a platinum video, multiple awards. She holds a 4th degree black belt in the martial art of aikido, is a certified yoga teacher, a regular contributor to Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and has sung on the stage of Carnegie Hall. She teaches Best Practice concepts online and in person around the world.</p><p> </p><p>If you enjoy Best Practice for Musicians, subscribe now so you don't miss an episode.</p><p>Start transforming the way you practice - and play.</p><p><b>Rate, like, comment, and share.</b></p>
June 14, 2026
Shannon Heaton - Tucking into the Pulse
<p>In this 45-minute interview, #irishflute player and singer <b>Shannon Heaton</b> talks with author <b>Judy Minot,</b> focusing in on issues for amateur musicians and anyone who wants to learn music. She offers #practicetips on breathing, phrasing, musical expression and overcoming challenges. Shannon talks about fitting in to Irish traditional music sessions, breathing and phrasing, intonation, consistency in practicing, recording yourself, addressing your inner critic, being a beginner, and setting goals. #musicpractice #irishtraditionalmusic #irishmusic</p><p></p><p><b>Memorable Quotes from This Episode</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>"If you're really not fluent with a language, you don't just jump in on the high level conversation. But just to say, "hi, how are you?" you just need a couple of words just to sit down and play a few tunes."</p><p> </p><p>"Listening is a thing to do."</p><p> </p><p>"Have high expectations for yourself. How much more beautifully can my rhythm hit? Nobody's going to say, 'Oh, my gosh, she's like, too rhythmic!' It's never going to happen. 'Her rhythm is too clean. Her rhythm is too, too lovely!'"</p><p> </p><p>"Nobody said it better than my friend Alexandra. She said her biggest hurdle to learning by ear... was overcoming her own impatience with herself... At the end of the day, it's just exposure therapy and getting over your own impatience."</p><p></p><p><b>Guest Shannon Heaton </b>is a world-class American performer with Irish roots and universal appeal. She's also a prolific and creative composer and arranger. One reason I wanted to talk to Shannon is that she's passionate about making Irish music accessible to players and listeners of all levels and backgrounds. She's done this with her duo with guitarist Matt Heaton and with her podcast Irish Music Stories. Shannon has created free resources for Irish traditional musicians, including the Virtual Guided Session, the long-running tune of the month video and podcast series, and four books of tunes oriented to beginning and intermediate players.</p><p></p><p><b>Chapters:</b></p><p>00:00 Teaser Open</p><p>00:48 Intro</p><p>02:10 Irish Music Stories, tunes, and Irish music sessions</p><p>04:00 Building blocks: Preparing to play in Irish music sessions</p><p>07:46 Learning to have a defined sense of rhythm</p><p>09:08 Active listening</p><p>13:09 Checking in on your pitch</p><p>14:08 Shannon's latest projects</p><p>15:58 A 3-minute consistent warmup routine helps with focus</p><p>17:21 Playing in the car, playing in the closet</p><p>19:15 Recording yourself</p><p>21:05 Being discerning vs being critical</p><p>21:43 Patreon info</p><p>22:08 Breathing</p><p>26:24 Phrasing</p><p>27:47 Being a beginner at things. Learning by ear as an example.</p><p>31:02 Finding time and motivation to practice</p><p>34:25 Setting higher goals and challenges</p><p>36:30 Composing</p><p>38:09 Irish Music Stories podcast</p><p>39:03 Working through mistakes and difficulties</p><p>40:44 Metronomes and the Casio beats</p><p>42:17 The In Harmony tune book</p><p>43:14 The importance of learning "session standards"</p><p>46:46 Outro</p><p></p>
May 14, 2026
Dallas Vietty - Developing Musical Fluency
<p><b>Memorable Quotes from This Episode</b></p><p>"The magic ingredient is feeling like you're able to do a thing. "</p><p> </p><p>"Music is a language. But it's not one language. It's a whole bunch of different languages. The idea is to treat it as a language so that when we are spoken to by another musician, we can understand what they said to us."</p><p> </p><p>"The ideal is to keep our ears, to keep our fluency of hearing and speaking up, along with the fluency of our nervous system."</p><p> </p><p>"At the end of the day, we are building reflexes. Because the conscious effort that we have is limited."</p><p> </p><p>"For every musician, some sort of inventiveness or creativity with what you're given is possible, and fun! And should be part of your daily playing."</p><p> </p><p><b>Guest Dallas Vietty </b>is a world-recognized accordionist and band leader, most well known for playing American jazz, European swing in the tradition of Django Reinhardt (gypsy jazz) and French accordionists. His groups have performed at some of the top U.S. festivals including TEDx Philly, Djangoary Festival, and Djangofest Northwest. He has performed on Broadway, at Lincoln Center, and at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, as well as many performances in New Orleans and the Auvergne region of France. Dallas is also a thoughtful and attentive teacher whose accordion program is well known among aspiring jazz accordionists.</p><p> </p><p><b>Podcast host Judy Minot</b> is a music educator and musician, and the author of the award-winning book Best Practice, Inspiration and Ideas for Traditional Musicians. Judy is an evangelist for the power of trad/folk/roots music to bring richness to our adult lives. Judy herself has never been a professional musician. She enjoyed a long and successful career in broadcast television and in digital marketing, picking up two platinum records and a platinum video, multiple awards. She holds a 4th degree black belt in the martial art of aikido, is a certified yoga teacher, a regular contributor to Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and has sung on the stage of Carnegie Hall. She teaches Best Practice concepts online and in person around the world.</p>
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- What is Best Practice for Musicians?
<p>Interviews, Inspiration and Ideas for Musicians: Host Judy Minot interviews musicians and thought leaders about how to improve - as a musician, and in other areas of life as well. </p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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