Never give up on completing your goals

Never give up on a piece. If you grow tired of it or need to work on new repertoire then set some realistic goals to complete. I’d recommend you either:

1. Perform the piece either casually or on stage
2. Record the piece so it is documented
3. Solve the three biggest problems with the piece

If you don’t do any of the above then all that time your poured into practicing it might go to waste. Problem solving is learning and you always want to be learning.  If you don’t fix the problems then the next piece you play will have the exact same problems.

Understand why you set the goal in the first place

Students who clearly understand why they have set a goal with a piece of music often understand why it needs to be completed. However, if they do not understand or forget what goal they set they are more likely to give up and move on to the next piece. This is particularly obvious in an etude where the musical and technical goals are very clear. Consider these leading questions:

• Are you just playing the piece or are you accomplishing your goals?
• Are you letting yourself get away with bad habits?
• If you stop playing the piece have you gained any actual skills from it?
• Are the problems in this piece going to appear in other pieces as well?

Understand your level

I often ask my students to identify the main problems that are present in a piece they play. I do this because there might be a million things they need to work on before playing at a professional level so I don’t wish to clutter them with too many goals or goals outside their level. The student needs to have priorities and the three biggest problems, if addressed, will often make a world of improvement to their playing.

More articles on practicing and goals:

• Practice with Priorities for Better Performances
  
• The Difference Between Playing and Practicing
• Practicing Well: Positive Success Ratios
• Emotional Detachment During Music Practice

Although the amount of practice done on one’s musical instrument (including the voice, as for singers) is likely the single greatest contributor to performance success, it’s not just a matter of logging time on that instrument. Researchers who have studied music performance expertise have defined practice as an activity that is effortful, usually done in isolation, and specifically designed to improve skills (Lehmann & Jørgensen, 2012). To get the full benefits of practice, musicians must enter it with a well-developed plan and a focus on tackling the problems that stand between them and their performance goals.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE via Psychology Today

In advance of the jury, play for as many people as you possibly can, wherever, whenever.  Do not let your teacher’s studio or the jury itself be the first place you’ve performed your repertoire.

Teachers, especially these days, seem to be very good about providing mock jury situations for their students but I don’t think this can be overdone.  There is such a difference between performing a piece for the very first time and playing it the third or fourth times and that difference can make or break a jury performance.  Professionals rarely feel good about their first few performances of any given piece so why should you expect yourself to?

READ THE FULL ARTICLE via Beyond the Notes

Although music is an art of listening, any high level ensemble musician or performing soloist knows that visual communication can make players perform better and help the audience to understand the music. Here are a few tips on how, when, and why we communicate visually.

Visual cues for helping the ensemble communicate

Many people are familiar with the idea of adding cues at the beginning and end of a work since everyone needs to know when to start and when to stop playing. However, cues should permeate the entire work to communicate phrase beginnings and ends, accents, important gestures, imitation, entries, and more.

Remember that cues are meant to help everyone in the group. Maybe the most experienced player will cue everyone’s parts or entries. However, even inexperienced players, as long as a player knows where they are in the music, can contribute to the group by giving a cue.

Cues help everyone be confident that they are where they are supposed to be and that everyone is working as one.

Visual movement helps players and the audience understand the music

Performance is a visual art as much as an auditory one. If it wasn’t there would be no stages and everyone would dress like a douche. The best kinds of musical movement indicate the ‘groove’ of the piece or the shape of the phrase. Cues can be pleasing to the audience because it tells them that everyone is connected in the group and that they are doing things together as one.

Modern music, that is contemporary music of the avant guarde realm, is, most of the time, greatly enhanced by movement. Much of modern music is expressed in musical gestures which are similar to phrases but without the idea of a melody. Body movement and gestures can really help communicate to the audience what is happening in the music; especially for non-musicians. Without visual movement a listener might be led to believe that everything is random and the music is utter non-sense. However, with movement one can see that all the musical gestures are deliberate and well thought-out.

Consider the conductor of an orchestra

Simon Rattle – photo via Wiki

Movement is the only activity of conductors during performance. Their movement guides the entire orchestra indicating both rhythm, phrasing, articulation, expression, and more. Think of your movements in an ensemble as a conductor leading the group.

Here’s a video of a conductor, watch how:

• The conductor directs the music. He tells the players when to play but also matches his movements to the expression. For example, he REALLY makes BIG movements for loud and aggressive moments and smaller ones of calmer moments.
• Watch how the musicians themselves match the movements of the conductor. It would be easy for someone in the violin section to simply follow their neighbour for the cues. EVERYONE is contributing.

Video Source: http://youtu.be/6F8qv0JBWkE

Movement can be subtle 

As long as the other players can see the movement out of the corner of their eye then you are contributing to the ensemble. Everyone just wants to know that you are connected to the music and that everything is moving along as planned. It doesn’t need to be huge cues all the time (see the video below) but just a bit of movement to show you are connected to the music.

When visual communication works well

When visual communication works well it should feel natural and impart to the audience that everything is working out smoothly and the that the performers are enjoying themselves and working as one. Consider this video of myself and Michael Dias playing some light Brazilian music. In this video we have a few large cues but mostly just move to the music. Out of the corner of my eye I can always see the other player and follow his “groove”…

Video source: http://youtu.be/3ZM-m2KhJOw

When visual communication works against the performance

There are occasions when visual communication can work against a performance despite it’s obvious need for the performers. Check out this piece by Rodney Sharman that I perform with the Victoria Guitar Trio. I love the piece. It is meditative and spacious. However, notice that our cues are primarily for us and not the audience. In fact, since we very rarely actually play at the same time. The cues are purely for us to indicate the bar even though the music itself is rather timeless.

Why it works against us: we want people to sit back and relax during this piece. To not actively listen but rather just let the music unfold. However, when people see us vigorously cueing each other they expect to hear some matched sound response but it doesn’t happen. Most of the cues are not actually accompanied by a sound which can be dishearting to the audience. I love the piece and we need to cue in it, however, in a way, it works against us.

Video source: http://youtu.be/ORRZfWMCDU4

See the other articles from this theme:

• Contribute to ensemble rehearsals (even as the weakest player)
• Ensembles need a leader: Sir Simon Rattle in rehearsal
• Ensemble Rehearsals: Analysis Equals Success

This week’s theme is: Tips for Ensemble Rehearsals

Even as the weakest player in a group you still need to contribute something to the music. This is not as difficult as it might first appear. All you need to do is decided what the priorities of the music are and then contribute something toward that end.

Rhythm: Help Create a Strong Pulse

In most situations, but certainly not all, helping the group secure a strong sense of pulse is very important. So, even if you can’t play all the notes, playing the notes on the strong beats can help the group secure the pulse. In many rock or popular groups this is easily accomplished with a competent drummer. In classical music, or situations where no percussion or rhythm section holds the beat, all the players of the group must contribute to the pulse in order to solidify it.

If you’re the weakest player in the group, ask the other musicians where they want the rhythmic emphasis to be. For example, in the 4/4 time signature, they may want just the first and the third beat to come out but with a stronger emphasis on the first.

Communication: Ask for cues and other help 

There are many amazing orchestras where some players are weaker than others. What holds them together? A conductor. Similarly, adding cues and visual communication can help the weaker players stay on track or follow the more advanced players. Any top level musician would likely do this naturally, that is, take a leadership role. So, if your fellow musicians are not helping you stay with them then ask them to add a cue here or there. It will make you (and them…and the audience for that matter) stay with the group’s rhythm, phrasing, or whatever other musical quality you are working on.

Be prepared

Musician’s are sometimes crazy, unorganized, lunatics. Therefore, counter their musical brilliance but horrible organization by being super organized and prepared for rehearsals. If you’re using music, prepare your score for page turns or other needs. Practice a bit more with the metronome or become versatile with multiple speeds and articulations. Do some research into the composer or style of music you are playing so you have ideas to contribute to the discussions in rehearsals.

If you’re prepared, seeking help, and improving fast, your fellow musicians will view your efforts as a valuable contribution to the success of the group. You will be an investment to them. Your enthusiasm and care is far more valuable than some lazy musician that is only slightly better than you in level.

See the other articles from this theme:

• Visual Communication in Ensemble Rehearsals
• Ensembles need a leader: Sir Simon Rattle in rehearsal
• Ensemble Rehearsals: Analysis Equals Success

“The goal is to understand how the brain decides what to keep, what to discard, what to enhance, because our brains are receiving such a rich data stream and we don’t have room for everything,” Allen said. “I was fascinated to study this because as musicians we practice melodies in juxtaposition with one another all the time.”

Surprisingly, in a third result the study found that when two similar musical pieces were practiced one after the other, followed by practice of the first melody again, a night’s sleep enhanced pianists’ skills on the first melody, she said.

“The really unexpected result that I found was that for those subjects who learned the two melodies, if before they left practice they played the first melody again, it seemed to reactivate that memory so that they did improve overnight. Replaying it seemed to counteract the interference of learning a second melody.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: www.sciencedaily.com

Sir Simon Rattle – photo via Wiki

This week’s theme is:
Tips for Ensemble Rehearsals

Ensembles need to either make decisions together or have a leader. In particular, the larger the group the more leadership is needed; someone to decide how to unify the group and have a single vision for the work. This can also be accomplished through group discussion but that can be more time-consuming and also lead to a mosaic of ideas rather than a single vision.

Take, for example, a conductor of an orchestra. A ton of musicians are trying to make music and therefore, to avoid confusion and too many contrasting ideas, a conductor takes charge.

Simon Rattle in rehearsal with Berlin school students

This is an excellent example of a conductor leading a group. Renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle unifies the sound and expression with an orchestra of students. Subtitles are included.

The Berliner Philharmoniker have been holding School Orchestra Extravaganzas in the Philharmonie for more than ten years. In September 2008, young musicians from ten Berlin schools rehearsed works by Berlioz and Elgar with members of the orchestra. First of all, the different sections rehearse separately before coming together for a full orchestral rehearsal and performance conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

Hector Berlioz: Marche au supplice (March to the scaffold) from Symphonie fantastique / Edward Elgar: Variation IX (Adagio) »Nimrod« from Enigma Variations / Recorded in the Berlin Philharmonie, 27 September 2008.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/AFsyaU8RMmY

See the other articles from this theme:

• Visual Communication in Ensemble Rehearsals
• Contribute to ensemble rehearsals (even as the weakest player)
• Ensemble Rehearsals: Analysis Equals Success

Photo Credit: chooyutshing

This week’s theme is “Tips for Ensemble Rehearsals“

I’ve been think about ensemble rehearsals lately because I’ve been recording some videos lately from the duo I play in and we’ve rehearsed a great deal. Trying to get an ensemble to work as one is a tricky deal, it takes a lot of effort, planning, and musical discussion. In this article I’ll try to list a few possible tips in making your group sound unified.

Why analyze the music?

Imagine two people having a conversation but due to a misunderstanding they argue different points and use different subjects. It’s unlikely they will resolve their argument and furthermore, for listeners, it may be an incomprehensible conversation. This is what happens when two people try to play music without having discussed the music and unified their approach to the piece. So, in order to make sense of the musical conversation every member of the group needs to be working toward a unified approach to the music.

For Example: Rhythm 

Just because there’s four beats in every bar (in a 4/4 time signature) doesn’t mean everyone is feeling four while playing. Some people in the group might be grooving to the half-note (on beats one and three) while another person is feeling eighth-notes simply because they have a particular rhythm in some specific spot. Each person’s interpretation of the beat is valid if they can back it up by saying they want the beat to feel that way. However, the group needs to work as a unified team so a decision must be made so everyone will interpret the beat in the same way. If everyone feels the beat in their own way it is unlikely they will keep time well or give the audience something simple and obvious to listen to.

Motifs and Phrasing 

Motifs: What’s the piece your playing all about? Are all the melodies and musical lines important? I doubt it unless it’s thick and unrelenting counterpoint. Some musical lines are more important than others and as a group you’ll need to decide which ones you will feature and which ones will be subtly underplayed. For example, think of a beginner group playing Mozart. The person on the lower register thinks his repeated arpeggio of A-C-E-A-C-E is important while another person believes their melodic line of A-B-C-D-E-A-A-G#-A is important. The answer should be obvious, the person playing the arpeggio is very likely just chordal accompaniment. Yes, the arpeggio might need to be played enough that it properly supports the melodic line but it is certainly not the main voice in that section. You’ll need to identify who does what and where in the piece it happens. Otherwise you might be playing with no sense of hierarchy and thus misinterpreting the music.

Phrasing: Imagine one person shaping and phrasing well and trying to add some subtle rubato while their duet partner railroads through a section as if they were playing with a metronome. The result would be ensemble confusion and the listener witnessing a musical fight that doesn’t belong to the music.  You need to decide where phrases begin and end and how they will be shaped and interpreted.

Worlds within Worlds

There is wealth of musical elements to explore in every piece. Here’s a brainstormed list of possibilities:

• rhythmic pulse (feel)
• cadences and chord progressions (where does the music push and pull)
• phrasing and shaping
• dynamics
• repetition
• motifs and motivic development
• breathe marks
• expression
• how to present the piece (listener priorities)
• historical style and interpretation
• ornaments
• cues and communication points
• timbre (is it sounding muddy and unclear?)
• many many more…

The list could go on forever. The point is, the more you are all on the same page, musically speaking, the more you’ll sound unified and confident in what you are doing.

See the other articles from this theme:

• Visual Communication in Ensemble Rehearsals
• Contribute to ensemble rehearsals (even as the weakest player)
• Ensembles need a leader: Sir Simon Rattle in rehearsal

As guitarist Scott Tennant states in his technique book “there’s no substitute for preparation.” That is true, you certainly don’t want to perform something you haven’t practice well if you are the nervous type. The more you prepare the better the performance will go. However, there’s more to combatting nervousness than just practicing endlessly. You need to address the problems you face on stage. Furthermore, there are ways of playing on-stage and in the practice room and they can sometimes differ greatly. Here are some suggestions that I’ve come up with for my students:

Practicing Performance 

Think of the university music student. The student has private lessons but also masterclass once a week and maybe even an additional performance class. So, a few times a week the student is playing for other people rather than just practicing alone in a room. Therefore, the student gets practice at performing and how it feels to make adjustments in order to have a successful performance.

They learn to play in a way suited to performance.

So, just as you practice your pieces, you need to practice performance. Masterclasses are best for this because you get to perform and then try out parts of it again as the teacher instructs you. So I recommend you setup a performance class with friends or other students. There are often performance groups at music school but even a group of like-minded adults or youth could simply set up a time to meet once in awhile to perform for each other. Ask local teacher if they have students who might want to join you.

Have a warm-up routine (don’t freak yourself out)

Right before a performance try to not to run your material. If you have prepared you don’t need to practice it just before you go on-stage. If you make a mistake backstage you might get freaked out thinking whether that is going to happen on-stage.

Make ten minute long technique routine to repeat pre-concert. Make sure your routine warms up all the different aspects of technique as well as some expressive exercises as well. Then just repeat the routine until it’s time to perform. At the very least this will give you something to do besides sitting back-stage freaking out. Early in the day I like to run my concert material slowly and securely to give myself some confidence.

Practice damage control in performance

If you practice in the same way every time you practice playing a piece you could be hurting your performance. Why? Because the way you feel on stage might be different than the practice room so therefore you need to be flexible to making changes on the spot while performing. You need to adapt to the situation. For example:

So, in the above diagram you can see some responses to performance anxiety. Likewise, the below outlines some possible responses to shaking hands. Regardless of the problem you need to be flexible to adjust to the situation. Therefore, you need to practice the responses. For example, be comfortable with a slower tempo. you don’t it to feel weird if you have to slow down mid-performance

Change the way you practice your performance pieces

1. Don’t practice the same way all of the time.
2. Practice your pieces slow, fast, and at medium tempos. 
3. Practice one time through with an ultra strong sense of pulse.
4. Practice once through with over-exaggerating the shaping and phrasing.
5. Practice in the way you think a performance will feel. That is, you may need to sacrifice some musical elements in order to achieve more stability in your performance.
6. Don’t practice in the ideal way. Practice the piece in a way you feel you will be able to handle for your skill level.

The idea is to be able to flick a switch in your brain and suddenly be able to tackle a different musical problem. So, if you get nervous and a musical element starts to suffer you can flick that switch and you’ll feel the familiar new tempo because you practiced the piece in multiple ways.

Stay positive and improve

• Remember that you are not the trying to be the greatest musician of all time, instead, you are simply sharing your efforts. More importantly, you are sharing the music.
• Remember that some performances go better than others. It’s the same for professionals so don’t be so hard on yourself.
• Treat every performance as a learning experiment. Make adjustments to the music to match your mood.
• If it didn’t go well, write down what went wrong and address the issue in your practice session. For example: if your nerves affected your pulse or rhythm than you may need to practice bringing out the secure pulse more in your practice sessions. Maybe the metronome will help?

More posts from this theme:

• Understanding Your Strengths and Limitations
• Practice with Priorities for Better Performances
• Quality practice sessions lead to better performances

In yesterday’s post I discussed the idea of setting musical priorities for better performances and I wanted to add to that idea by discussing more on understanding your strengths and weaknesses. The basic concept behind this idea is that we can’t always bring out every musical element. In other words, you can’t do everything perfectly all the time. I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive for excellence, but instead, sometimes you need to utilize your strengths while covering up your weaknesses; especially in performances.

Use your strengths to your advantage

When it comes to crunch time, that is, performance time, you can’t be cluttered with all the nitty-gritty details of the score or everything you’ve tried to accomplish in your practice sessions. When the time comes you need to utilize your best qualities and minimize damage from your weaknesses. For example, if you’re playing a fast tempo and fun encore piece can you really be overly concerned with your technique or other musical elements? Shouldn’t you just play out and have fun so the audience gets infected by your enthusiasm? Of course this is all in the context of your skill level so you need to know your limitations.

Understand your limitations

Your limitations are a natural part of learning and improving so don’t let them get you down. Instead, understand them so you can do what’s best for the music. For example, if your phrasing is excellent but your rhythm and tempo is off you might need to back away from the phrasing and simply play more in-time. That would be an acceptable compromise since the music might really suffer if there is not a consistant beat or tempo. Of course, it all depends on the repertoire and musical elements you deem most important. It also depends on how much time you have to prepare, if you have a long time before the next performance you may be able to improve both…

Your skill level is like a chart where some elements are higher in proficiency than others. However, many elements are more fundamental to a good performance, such as rhythm and pulse. Setting attainable goals will ensure that you are improving your skills and music every performance and not getting frustrated by trying to “do it all.” And, of course, you need to take some risk to add performance flare and spontaneity. You can’t tip-toe around the piece trying to get everything correct or you might sound too introverted or closed off from the music. Acceptable risk can be practiced and is part of the fun of performance. Sometimes it might not go well but you might surprise yourself on occasion and give the audience something really special.

It all comes down to doing what’s best for the music.

More posts from this week’s theme:

• Quality practice sessions lead to better performances
• Practice with Priorities for Better Performances
• Combatting Nerves and Performance Anxiety