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Hi Active Melody family!
It’s time for the July 2026 Site Member Challenge!
For this month’s challenge, the focus is space. Rather than filling every beat with notes, the goal is to leave room, using pauses and silence as part of the performance. It is a chance to see how much feel and tension you can create by holding back rather than adding more.
You can apply this to a solo, a rhythm part, or a full composition, in any style or tempo you like. The space itself should be a noticeable, deliberate part of what you play, not just an accident of running out of ideas.
You might be surprised how much a well placed pause can do for a piece, sometimes more than the notes around it.
The submission date for this challenge will be Sunday, August 16. You can start submitting Friday, August 14.
If you need assistance with how to record yourself and post to the forum see this post
GROUND RULES FOR PARTICIPATION:
Post your Youtube, Vimeo, or Soundcloud links of you playing your chosen lesson anytime between Friday, August 14, through Sunday, August 16, 10:00 pm CST. Please do not submit earlier. I think it is fun to see everyone’s posts at once.
Submit individually in the “Active Melody Member Challenge Response Submissions” forum. Title your posts “July 2026 Challenge Response – [Your AM Screen Name]” and let everyone know how you approached the space and silence idea.
Please submit only a single video or audio file for this challenge.
Have fun and don’t be intimidated by these challenges!!! Use these challenges to help you set goals and complete them by a deadline. You can also use this as an opportunity to chat with other Active Melody members and share tips or tricks on this challenge that you think are useful.
It is better to show progress versus perfection with these challenges. So if you are a beginner and can only manage simple ideas with clear pauses, that is completely ok. The point is that you are trying something new and growing as a player. Remember we are all here to support you no matter what your current playing level is.
I look forward to seeing everyone’s posts! 🙂
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Awesome challenge idea. This requires more work because it has to be composed as opposed to improvised, at least for me anyways. The telling the story thing is really something I need to work on.
And John, I think he forgot to edit out that first part of the video. But now I know how he does it, just keep starting over and edit it out later.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
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