Some words for Students
By Mike Vaccaro
(from Mike's Musings #42, our newsletter)
Practice is not linear, even for professionals.
One day to the next, one hour to the next,
all aspects can fluctuate significantly.
It is normal.
~Anon
This is an excerpt from a book that I am writing that is almost finished. It is taken from the chapter which is titled Teacher, Students, and Learning in which I am talking directly to the student.
For Students
Having said some of these things in the previous chapter, this whole student and teacher relationship can be summed up in one sentence for the student:
“A student owes it to the teacher to study their lessons in earnest almost every day”.
In a great music lesson, the teacher presents information and then asks for feedback from the student to make sure they understand what was said.
Nobody likes to be told what to do. That is almost always true.
Students want to have lessons they share with their teacher. The question is how experienced you are as a student, what the teacher is able to share with you, and what must simply be taught. The student should never fear asking any question when they don't understand something, even if it is not part of a particular lesson. Interaction is best for both the teacher and the student.
And please, never hesitate to write on your music. It serves as a reminder of a note or passage that must be practiced or can be a reminder of an accidental or some other marking.
As a student at any level, you have a lot on your mind. It is good to have something as intense as music, and its study, so your mind can be totally occupied by something important. The ruminations about non-important subjects, like who said what to whom, that you may be carrying with you are set aside. Practice, playing, or studying allows your mind to concentrate on a single subject. The secret is to be positive in your approach and realize that music is a long road that never comes to an end. There is no reason to rush learning. It will happen in the time it is meant to if you play most every day.
Pick some time every week, every month, and every year to take a brief rest from all you have on your mind. That's when real learning takes place. It's called digestion. You give yourself time to think about what you learned and what adjustments will be required. The yearly break should be a week or more. Think about your music and relax in a beautiful place. You will find that when you come back to practice, your hands and your brain will be a bit off-kilter, but your chops will come back quickly.
Students are all at very different levels, and you need to understand that. Assuming a beginning student is likely younger, the parents can help a lot. You should ask them to attend your lessons, tape the lessons, and be there to help you when there is something you don't understand while practicing. A videotape will help them help you too.
Don't kid yourself. You must remember that your teacher was once a student. As teachers, we have tried all the “tricks” to make our teachers think we practiced the whole week. So, make no mistake, your teacher most likely knows how much you practiced in a week's time almost down to the minute. However, how long you practice is not as important as playing your instrument every day.
Again, as I said to you, start by practicing a minute a day. If you miss a day of practice, remember that consistent practice is the key to progress.
Remember too, it is a long road to mastering an instrument, and you aren't going to learn faster than the river is flowing, so patience and persistence are in order at all times in your playing days. The beginner may be befuddled just putting the instrument together and playing 3 or 4 notes. In the beginning, one minute of practice is likely to turn out to be 5 or 10 minutes if your body holds up to it. As your playing improves, your practice time should increase. If after a couple of years, you are not getting at least one minute in per day perhaps you would be a better listener than a musician. Or perhaps you should try another teacher.
As you advance, look for other ensembles to play with besides your school band or orchestra. The more you study music, the more opportunities will come your way. If you know you only want to play a certain type of music, that makes it easier for you, as you may only have to find one group outside of school to play with. Your private teacher (and everyone should have a private teacher) can help you find other groups to play with. Granted that is more difficult if you live in a rural area where you must drive a long way to play with others, but in or near bigger cities, this should be fairly easy.
Remember there are always musicians better than you and some not as proficient. Respect all players that are trying their best. It is better to keep mute about other people's playing unless they ask your opinion. If you have something that can help them, be kind in your manner of helping them when asked.
The thing to aim for as you progress in your studies is not to try to be the best, but to be one of the best. If you happen to be the best, it will be noticed without you having to prove the fact. We occasionally learn more from our friends and experiences than from our private teachers.
Try playing for others even in your early years. Your family, your relatives, your neighbors, or anyone else that will listen to you. If you are not good, at least you will be cute, and everyone will enjoy your performance. Remember that most people don't understand the difficulty of music, so if someone says something negative about your playing, take it with a grain of salt and decide for yourself if there was any validity to what they had to say. If you agree with them fix it. If need be, ask your teacher during a lesson.
As a student, you may think you don't have enough time to get to your music every day. HOWEVER, we always make time for what we really want to do.
Practice is not a team sport. The difference between a group in music and in sports is if you can't make it to a rehearsal or performance there is likely nobody to replace you. In sports, there is usually a line of other athletes ready and trained to go into the game. In music, if you don't do your share for the success of a group there is a hole where you normally sit. There are no substitutions. Musicians are playing varsity at every point in their careers. That makes your intentions and learning your instrument very important.
When you practice, take your instrument out. If you must put a reed on, tighten a bow, or make any adjustments to play do that. Then just sit for about 30-60 seconds and breathe slowly and deeply and also exhale slowly. Now you are ready for your first note of the day. The first note you play is the most important note you play. It could be the first note of the day and it could be a solo part when playing in an ensemble. People hear your first note more clearly than subsequent notes. Make the first note a beauty.
I talk about music being a solitary act. But think about it. When in most of your days do you have time to sit down and have time for yourself? Completely to yourself. No one telling you what to do. Studying, thinking about what you have practiced, and understanding what you have practiced can be a satisfying time alone.
Like all things, there is balance in music. So, you might be playing very well and then you come upon hard times, the instrument feels funny, you aren't making the progress you are used to and what was easy becomes difficult. The cure for this is patience. You have just reached a plateau where all the learning that happened to you is being gestated. All those ingredients you cut up and put in a pot are becoming stew. Enjoy that. Soon the routine will begin its journey again until the next plateau. There is no rhyme or reason when these plateaus happen, but you will notice them.
One of the things you want to do on these plateaus is to make sure your instrument is in good working order. We have the impulse to blame ourselves or the instrument, so we don't go crazy it is best just to get the instrument looked at by your repair person to give you some peace of mind.
I tend to have my instruments looked at whenever there is a big change in weather, especially humidity changes. If you were taught how to clean your instrument it is a good time to do that before you take it to your repair person.
Another tip is to always have the best instrument you can afford. Also, become acquainted with all the aftermarket equipment for your particular instrument. Keep trying every new gadget that comes along. And please only buy the one you like. Don't listen to anyone else except perhaps your teacher.
Don't forget to listen as per another chapter in this book. But don't listen to just music. Listen to everything and everybody. Hold back your opinion until you have researched a subject and until you have a fact in your mind and not your opinion or someone else's opinion. You watch, you listen, and you make decisions on your best-studied insights.
For the intermediate and advanced students whenever you are learning a new piece of solo literature or orchestra music find as many recordings as possible of the piece that you can. You will notice if you are listening closely that most interpretations of what you are studying are much different from recording to recording. This means to me that we are allowed a more relaxed idea of interpretation and not one necessarily one that is insisted upon by a teacher or even the composer.
And of course, if there is a live performance of the piece near you be sure to go and hear it and see and hear how it ruminates from the audience's perspective.
The composer writes the music, and the musician interprets the music !!!
The more mature you get and the more technique you attain the more you should start making your own decisions.
There are those of you that already make your own decisions and practice in a manner you deem appropriate. That is OK, however, if you listen to your teacher and take lessons on a regular basis your improvement will be much quicker. When you stray from the fastest learning path your teacher can bring you back and show you the possible folly of your ways.
Learn the stories attached to the music. Read about composers and the times they lived in. Learn the stories about unique events that happen when rehearsing and performing.
Also, as you get more proficient learn to read a score. Knowing your own part in a piece of music is good, but knowing every line of a score is superior knowledge in music.
One thing that I feel is important is to learn the piano at least to the point where you can play chords and melodies. Also please let your teachers help you to sing and don't hesitate to sing no matter how bad you think you sound or what fear you harbor. After all, what we are trying to do is make our instruments tell a story with notes.
There are just a couple of more things I would like to say directly to the student.
Let your teacher be your friend, and not your drill sergeant, though occasionally a drill sergeant may be necessary.
The piano and the voice are the master instruments in Western music. Don't hesitate to sing or play the piano soon in your learning curve.
