Dear Brad:

The obvious answer is to develop your sightsinging and rhythmic awareness chops!...

There are some helpful programs, put out by IBIS Software, called *Rhythm Ace* and *Play it by Ear* or *WinEar* that can help you with both aspects....

Melodically, though, nothing quite matches the efforts of whistling and/or singing through new music....You might want to join a church choir, for example, to gain experience in reading new music(community groups don't seem to learn new music anywhere near as quickly, imho, as church groups who don't have several months to learn each new piece)...

Rhythmically, too, it can help to work with some really good percussionists(especially helpful with mixed and/or odd-metered tunes)...

Finally, though it sounds banal, work on your scales and arpeggios--patterns in music abound, and the best preparation is good *muscle memory* which is established by accurate practice of the basics....

Hth, let me know if you need more detail....

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Take Care!
Jeanne G Pocius