What REALLY Made Me Improve as a Musician (Not What You Think)

In this week’s video, I’m sharing something a little different. Instead of a specific exercise or technique, I want to talk about 3 powerful lessons that completely transformed me as a musician — not just on saxophone, but in how I hear, think, and create music.

These are lessons that go beyond scales and licks. They’re about experience, awareness, and how you approach music as a language:

🎵 1. Personalize Your Language
For years I sounded like a robot, just copying licks I memorized. The big shift came when I started transforming everything — changing the rhythm of a scale, rephrasing an etude, reshaping a lick until it became mine. Take one idea and spend an entire practice session exploring it: stretch it, twist it, and create your own phrases. That’s when music becomes personal.

🎵 2. Expand Your Rhythmic Vocabulary
Everything in music is rhythm. Back at Berklee, I used to walk around constantly singing rhythms, absorbing ideas from jazz, funk, Latin, and every style I could. 60% of my improvement came without my instrument. You can do this anytime (what I call NET – No Extra Time). Sing rhythms, feel them in your body, absorb them from different genres. If you can’t improvise rhythms with your voice, you’ll struggle to make your instrument truly speak.

🎵 3. Make Music (Not Just Exercises)
This one seems obvious, but too many musicians get stuck in the practice room. The real growth happens when you make music. Play with friends, record yourself, produce tracks, go to jams. Every week in LA, I record duets, full tracks, or live sessions — and then I listen back as a listener, not as the player. That’s where I discover my gaps, but also the magic moments I want to build on. Recording and listening back has been one of my greatest teachers.

✨ These 3 shifts — personalizing your vocabulary, expanding your rhythmic language, and actually making music — changed everything for me. They’ll do the same for you if you start applying them.

If you enjoy this video, I also put together a Free Training where I show you how to transcribe rhythms from your favorite solos and instantly use them in your playing. You can check it out here 👇

👉 https://www.tonealley.academy/rhythmt...

And if you’re ready to go deeper and surround yourself with other motivated musicians, you can join us inside the Improv Mastery Circle for live coaching, resources, and a step-by-step roadmap 👇

👉 https://www.tonealley.academy/jazzimp...