Amateur Musicians & Music Practice

[stephen w]

Thoughts in the first few months of learning to play the harpsichord:

Relaxation:

Once again I’m reminded to what extent relaxation is part and parcel of listening and hearing. Having got myself upright, and relaxed; and managed for a few moments to maintain this – I have a real moment of hearing the music. It seems that an awareness of eg the arms, shoulders, breathing, facilitates an awareness of sound. (So obvious, maybe: but not until you’ve experienced it for yourself).

So for a few bars I hear the melody singing out – and realise that ‘a singing tone’ on the keyboard is not restricted to the piano.

I see then that one of the basic challenges (more basic than stylistic skills) is how to maintain a relaxed, upright, open body – whilst also giving 100% attention to the music! A ‘challonge’, as Inspector Clouseau might say.

The better the poise - with all that implies of posture, muscular freedom, breathing, relaxation, alertness - the better the quality of the attention available for the music.


Driving to work Wednesday morning, it strikes me that it is unrealistic to expect that I will be able to suddenly ‘relax’ my fingers, wrists, elbows etc when I sit down at the harpsichord, if I’ve been gripping the steering-wheel tightly, over-tensing the arm changing gear, using too much force with the key in the front door etc etc all day long. In other words, if I want to make progress during music practice with technique, then I need to be aware of the ‘hand/object interface’ during the rest of my day (ie most of it).

One thing’s for sure: I won’t make real progress with technique, unless I can make progress with relaxation. Control (of note lengths, phrasing etc) is only going to come with control of the body, so the ability to relax is fundamental.




How much practice do I really do?

It’s apparent that I need to have an honest appraisal of what’s practical. The reality of the budget ot time available – 7 – 9 hours at work; 4 hours travelling; 5 – 7 hours sleeping = approx 18 hours, leaving approx 6 hours free for everything else. Hmm – doesn’t sound too bad until I suddenly remember that competing with music practice is shopping, cooking, eating, loading the dishwasher, tidying, washing, reading, interaction with family and friends.. . lucky there’s the odd day off as well..

But I’m not going to have this thing sitting in the corner of the room as a beautiful piece of furniture. I resolve that if I havn’t made genuine progress in a year, I’ll get rid of it.

I will aim to do at least 30 minutes practice a day / 4 hours a week; not less than 200 hours of practice by 1st October 2010. This may seem a pathetically small aim – but as the Open University never tires of reiterating in its language courses and study guides– little and often, is the path to success.


How to make progress?

When working out the best way to make progress in a subject, it is often within the structure of a course – and in that way you slot yourself into a program that motivates you towards short-term goals, and anchors you into the security, warmth and excitement of long-term aims. When you’re on a course of study, you have, at least part of the time, outcomes you are working towards that are structured by someone else. And an integral part of how do-able it is, is that it has date of finishing as well – a deadline for success or otherwise.

It’s not nearly so clear how to progress, where you have a permanent interest in your life which will always be with you, closer to you in a sense than your partner or your dog. It’s part of you. How to keep up the momentum? Also, if you have a dog, you love it and care for it, but you don’t normally think of the whole thing in terms of getting better at it. But with music, you don’t have much choice, it seems a need to work at improving is inherent in the activity.

I think most of us work better if we have someone to work to: so a teacher seems a very good idea.
I’m also helped by that OU Language Learners Good Study Guide, written for people attempting the difficult task of autonomous language learning. It speaks in terms of

o Motivation
o Defining objectives
o Prioritizing objectives
o Planning your study routine

I shall proceed with these in mind!

[fivelive]

Keep a stout heart!
Just enjoy

[stephen w]

Originally Posted by fivelive

Keep a stout heart!
Just enjoy

??? What - you mean I'm supposed to enjoy it?!

[fivelive]

Of course!!

[The Sparrow]

I strive to practice an average of 45 mins a day. With that I DO make progress. Maybe not as quickly as I would like, but work/life/sleep get in the way.

You'll make progress. Just find the right teacher. Not a classical teacher who tries to apply classical interpretation to baroque music!

Frescobaldi prefaced one of his collections with instructions to play it "affetti cantibile". You hit it on the mark. The harpsichord is a singing instrument, not a percussive "picky pick picky" instrument.

[stephen w]

Originally Posted by spotty

I strive to practice an average of 45 mins a day. With that I DO make progress. Maybe not as quickly as I would like, but work/life/sleep get in the way.

Yep! So true. But I like that word: strive.

Originally Posted by spotty

You'll make progress. Just find the right teacher. Not a classical teacher who tries to apply classical interpretation to baroque music!

Encouraging - I appreciate that. In fact last night I got an email from a hpscd teacher in Norwich (not that many of them around), and my first harpsichord lesson is scheduled 9am Thursday 19th November! (mixture of trepidation and looking forward to it, of course... )

Originally Posted by spotty

Frescobaldi prefaced one of his collections with instructions to play it "affetti cantibile". You hit it on the mark. The harpsichord is a singing instrument, not a percussive "picky pick picky" instrument.

So much to discover.

Thanks for the feedback.

[violinmusicfan]

Yes, I realized that relaxation is extremely important. It is always so easy to have all your attention on a music's technical difficulties that you forget about thinking about how the phrases are going to come out. As you said, once I managed to relax, I was able to be more aware of the sounds I was making.

I also find myself, after an hour or so, straying from what I set out to practice in the beginning. For example, after practising scales over and over again, I might start pulling their tempi apart and start to vibrate the notes (out of boredom?). So, the time I spent on the instrument might not have been utilized to its fullest. So, its important to have a clear structure designed to ensure maximum improvement that you can follow through.

[stephen w]

Originally Posted by violinmusicfan

Yes, I realized that relaxation is extremely important. It is always so easy to have all your attention on a music's technical difficulties that you forget about thinking about how the phrases are going to come out. As you said, once I managed to relax, I was able to be more aware of the sounds I was making.

I also find myself, after an hour or so, straying from what I set out to practice in the beginning. For example, after practising scales over and over again, I might start pulling their tempi apart and start to vibrate the notes (out of boredom?). So, the time I spent on the instrument might not have been utilized to its fullest. So, its important to have a clear structure designed to ensure maximum improvement that you can follow through.

Thanks for this: Spotty mentioned that he aims for 45 minutes practice a day. This seemed an honest and do-able aim, so I decided to start writing down what I actually achieved - and set myself an aim of 30 minutes a day. Unsurprisingly, I discovered that what I thought I do, is different to what I actually do. Since 6th October I have achieved that in one week only. Almost anything, it seems, gets in the way.

[The Sparrow]

My teacher spends about 6 hours a day at his instrument. Awesome work ethic!
Of course, that's his career though.
Most of us have day jobs.

I just try to make sure that the FIRST thing I do in the evening is practice. All other interests are secondary. After that I'm free to do what I want.

Its worth the work.

What you achieve can't be 'bought'. Its not like new shiny rims for your car for example. It can only be obtained through work and patience. That's something to be proud of.

[stephen w]

Originally Posted by spotty

I just try to make sure that the FIRST thing I do in the evening is practice. All other interests are secondary. After that I'm free to do what I want.

Definitely right.

Originally Posted by spotty

Its worth the work.

What you achieve can't be 'bought'. Its not like new shiny rims for your car for example. It can only be obtained through work and patience. That's something to be proud of.

I'm glad you said this: my thought exactly. Something as mundane as practice, is also an exciting journey.