Adapted by Ron Malanga from "Ideo-Motor Action" by Jamie Andreas
I have written quite a bit on tonal learning and rhythmic learning because they form the core of musical development. I've written little about technique (muscle learning) because I believe traditional teaching overemphasizes technique; sometimes to the virtual exclusion of musical development.
As evidence for my belief I cite the depressing frequency with which I hear about students who (after years of lessons and demonstrable technical skill) give up playing altogether; often citing boredom.
Importantly, these students don't give up music. She doesn't go home and smash her iPod the same day she quits her piano lessons. Rather, she resumes listening & moving to the same type of music she enjoyed before lessons began. Musical enrichment eluded her, even as her own hands were ostensibly performing enriched music. In actuality, she trained her muscles (technique), and her understanding of the logic of notation (theory), but did not do much to educate her musicianship (Tone & Time).
She was accurately typing away at the piano, producing sounds in languages (Tone & Rhythm) she herself didn't musically comprehend. You see, no one wiggles their fingers for pleasure. Even 'air guitarists' are thinking musically!! Without musical thought, technique is just pointless finger wiggling. That's why it get's boring and that's why she quit.
As evidence for my belief I cite the depressing frequency with which I hear about students who (after years of lessons and demonstrable technical skill) give up playing altogether; often citing boredom.
Importantly, these students don't give up music. She doesn't go home and smash her iPod the same day she quits her piano lessons. Rather, she resumes listening & moving to the same type of music she enjoyed before lessons began. Musical enrichment eluded her, even as her own hands were ostensibly performing enriched music. In actuality, she trained her muscles (technique), and her understanding of the logic of notation (theory), but did not do much to educate her musicianship (Tone & Time).
She was accurately typing away at the piano, producing sounds in languages (Tone & Rhythm) she herself didn't musically comprehend. You see, no one wiggles their fingers for pleasure. Even 'air guitarists' are thinking musically!! Without musical thought, technique is just pointless finger wiggling. That's why it get's boring and that's why she quit.
That said, muscles do, of course, have a role to play in instrumental learning, albeit a much smaller role than most persons realize. I believe technique should occupy less than 4% of what we have our students work on. This is because a student who is properly developing tonal & rhythmic skill will largely discover for herself how to get her muscles to do what her musical mind is calling for.
It's Tone Texting
Think of playing instruments as tone texting. Nobody gave you technique lessons--hour after hour of alphabetic work--in texting. You taught yourself to text and continue to get better & better at it independently.
Here's how. Your mind demands a message: "Honey, I'll be home later." Your fingers do a little dance; your muscles diligently attempting to obey the thought. You look at the screen and it says, "Honey, I'll be gome jater." The momentary confusion you experience upon seeing the outer product not match the inner thought quickly gives way to simply teaching your muscles a more accurate dance to get the result you intended. You're making muscles mirror thought.
Now, instead of words, call up a musical thought. Muscles can & will diligently obey these as well. Think the opening 9 tones of Beethoven's "Fur Elise." Go to a piano and play it, but start on a C instead of the original E. If the musical thought is clear, momentary confusion (as you might play a wrong note here or there) will give way to you teaching your muscles a more accurate dance until movement mirrors thought (and you find yourself playing 'Fur Elise' in F Minor as opposed to the original A minor.)
A mind that calls out clearly for a particular message will beget muscles that find a way to deliver that message, be it musical or linguistic. This is why we should emphasize tone & rhythm development. They are the stuff of musical thought (audiation). They comprise the musical messages we intend our muscles to execute.
Certainly even absent musical thought, we can teach students to play instruments--even with seeming expertise--through rigorous technique work. But we shouldn't be surprised when, once the external reinforcements vanish (be they parental pressure, the esprit-de-corp of band, those ABRSM or Trinity College certificates, or those Solo & Ensemble medals) they quit. They were not comprehending the sounds they were producing. In other words, they were not making music in the first place, it only sounded that way.
Simply put, a fairly robust aural comprehension is the true readiness for instrumental work; not age or hand size or lung capacity. Teach them to sing in tune, rap in time. Next teach them how to identify Major vs Minor, and Duple vs Triple by ear. Then, add instruments and watch 'em soar!
A mind that calls out clearly for a particular message will beget muscles that find a way to deliver that message, be it musical or linguistic. This is why we should emphasize tone & rhythm development. They are the stuff of musical thought (audiation). They comprise the musical messages we intend our muscles to execute.
Certainly even absent musical thought, we can teach students to play instruments--even with seeming expertise--through rigorous technique work. But we shouldn't be surprised when, once the external reinforcements vanish (be they parental pressure, the esprit-de-corp of band, those ABRSM or Trinity College certificates, or those Solo & Ensemble medals) they quit. They were not comprehending the sounds they were producing. In other words, they were not making music in the first place, it only sounded that way.
Simply put, a fairly robust aural comprehension is the true readiness for instrumental work; not age or hand size or lung capacity. Teach them to sing in tune, rap in time. Next teach them how to identify Major vs Minor, and Duple vs Triple by ear. Then, add instruments and watch 'em soar!
A Big But
BUT--and this is a hugely important caveat--I have seen many instances where impoverished technical development can humble even great musical thinkers. Persons who are unable to physically play what they can mentally conceive (audiate) due to technique deficiencies.
Consider this: citing his 'claw of a left hand' (his words, not mine), Billy Joel hired Richard Joo to record Joel's classical piano compositions for his CD called Fantasies & Delusions. When the Piano Man needs a piano man to play piano, man, technique is important!!
BUT--and this is a hugely important caveat--I have seen many instances where impoverished technical development can humble even great musical thinkers. Persons who are unable to physically play what they can mentally conceive (audiate) due to technique deficiencies.
Consider this: citing his 'claw of a left hand' (his words, not mine), Billy Joel hired Richard Joo to record Joel's classical piano compositions for his CD called Fantasies & Delusions. When the Piano Man needs a piano man to play piano, man, technique is important!!
So...
Avoiding The Road to Quitsville
"Think of what you want, not what you don't want" my voice teacher yelled. He said this because he saw the worried look on my face as I got ready to execute an upcoming high note by tensing practically every muscle in my body! Well, "execute" is exactly what I did to the note; murdering its tone with my constricted throat. Not a good way to prepare for a high note, but a fine way to prepare to be disappointed! Isn't this precisely what most of us do as some big musical moment approaches? (Yes, I quit those lessons.)
Pathways of Mind & Movement:
William James investigated body movements that are actuated without volition; movements we don't have to think about (an example would be the way you gesture with your hands as you speak). James said "Every mental representation of movement awakens, in some degree, the actual movement. And it awakens it in a maximum degree whenever it is not kept from so doing by an antagonistic representation present simultaneously in the mind."
For musicians, the last part of this sentence is extremely important. It means that if there are no contrary thoughts present, our movements can mirror our thoughts. But if we lack clarity in our musical thoughts, or have doubts and fears, these will impede the 'delivery system' of our muscles.
How Muscles Work
Like computers, we think electronically. Thought takes place by electrical signals traveling along "wires" called neurons. Neurons also carry the signals that tell muscles what to do.
There are only two types of signals that can reach our muscles. Excitatory signals tell muscle cells to contract. Inhibitory signals tell muscle cells to not contract. Note, I said 'not contract.' Inhibitory signals do NOT tell muscles to relax. If only, if only!! Now, sadly for those of us who dream of graceful technique, it is possible to send both excitatory and inhibitory signals to our muscles simultaneously.
Thus, if we are unclear about what we want musically, we send contradictory signals to our body. Also, if we have doubts about an action, those feelings can manifest themselves as isometric contractions. Our fears and/or weak ears can quite literally lock-up our muscles.
On the other side of the coin, if our musical conception is clear and compelling and we have no contrary thoughts and feelings, then our musical conception manifests as movement, producing music. Muscles mirror thought.
How Muscles Learn
When Shinichi Suzuki famously said, "Practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent," he was not just exploding a widely-held myth, he was also pointing us towards more efficient musical growth.
You see, it's critically important to understand that, muscles learn indiscriminately through repetition. They simply do what they've done. They neither understand nor care if a movement is right or wrong; graceful or clumsy. Muscles are automatons. Repeated motions program these automatons.
So if we practice with undue muscle tension, our muscles burden us later with rigidity. Practice haphazardly--with proper technique one moment and improper the next--and our muscles betray us when we least expect it. Play a wrong note 10 times then finally fix it once, and the odds are only 1-in-10 that our muscles will deliver the correct note when performing.
However, if you understand proper technique---relaxed control nurtured through consistent correct repetition---and have the discipline to adhere to it, your muscles will reward you with faithful, graceful, economical movement. Since practice makes permanent, we must practice with the type of technique we wish to have...permanently!!
Perhaps most importantly: students with a richly stocked musical mind rarely encounter the types of technical problems that bedevil most young players, because their clear & compelling musical conception sends uncluttered signals to their muscles from the outset!! (How to richly stock a musical mind: Rhythmically or Tonally)
The preceding leads to the following (slightly unrelated) philosophical musing:
Head, Hand & Heart, Music Reveals our Reality
While developing as musicians we will be confronted with who we truly are; not who we wish to be. Whether we are musical or unmusical, brave or fearful, profound or vapid, disengaged or passionate, our playing or singing will reveal it.
So as we move ever closer to the ideal of unencumbered musical expressivity; with our outward movements effortlessly mirroring our inner musicality, we must observe ourselves comprehensively & fearlessly; head, hand, & heart. We must remedy what is missing or weak in our musical minds, we must diligently infuse proper technique into our muscles, and we must exorcise the fears that bedevil our hearts.
As we grow our audiation, perfect our automation, and shrink our consternation, we move ever closer to the ideal of pure, unfettered musical expression.
More on Technique? Tips To Improve Technique
That last sentence, in bold is awesome and a bit scary. It explains the life journey of honest musiciasns. Thank you for your writings.
ReplyDeleteThank you, anon! This art form certainly terrifies and inspires me!!
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