UD#125 What’s Below the Musical Iceberg?
UD#125 What’s Below the Musical Iceberg?
from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek
When you hear an expert musician play, you are witnessing the very last part of a process of preliminary steps that lead up to the performance. There’s a whole store house of skills, and planning that creates the context where the music can happen. The analogy of a duck’s feet busily paddling under the water, while its body is relatively still above, fits well. Also, apropos, is the fact that only a fraction of an iceberg is visible above the surface.
When we try to learn to play a piece of music, it’s tempting to go straight to the final act without attending to the steps that will lead us to a successful performance. Why is this? One reason may be that taking the preliminary steps seems like a waste of time. For example, it can be very tempting to push through a passage with whatever fingering comes most habitually to us. This can seem to be more efficient in the short term but, in the long term, maybe not.
I think it’s also fair to say that we tend to value overt action and effort. So, mentally rehearsing a musical passage seems counter-productive. We’d rather push forward.
Here are some of the things that I work on with students. Of course, a huge amount of flexibility is necessary to accommodate different learning styles. No hard and fast rules here!
1. LEARN TO SING IT! (OR CLAP IT)
Having a clear plan about the music we are trying to make can really help! It is the musical equivalent of keeping your eye on the ball in sports. You can’t hit something you don’t see. It’s hard to play something that you don’t hear.
For me, as a teacher, having a student sing or clap a part is one of the only ways of confirming that their understanding of what they are trying to play is correct. When a student is struggling with some musical material, the problem is almost always in their conception, as well as their execution. So, it’s important to find a way for them to be clear on what the plan is before we proceed.
Some students learn to sing melodies in Solfège (AKA Sight Singing). For example, MI RE DO RE MI MI MI RE RE RE MI SOL SOL. Name that tune for bonus points! I practice Solfège with many of my students. It is an amazing tool for any musician.
Any way you do it, learning to express a musical part without the instrument is useful and can help to clarify your musical plan. You might play a melody slowly for yourself, so you can learn to sing it. Or, your teacher can make a reference recording to help you. It could also be helpful to separate the melodic and rhythmic elements. Clap the rhythm. Sing the melody in a free rhythmic style. Then, put the two together.
If you are learning a chord melody arrangement, you might learn to sing just the melody on its own. That’s good! If you are working on a chord sequence you could learn to sing the root movement of the progression, or the highest note of each chord. If singing seems too difficult, perhaps just clap or sing the rhythm. That helps too!
2. MENTALLY REHEARSE THE MOVEMENT INVOLVED
Once you have done step 1 to your satisfaction, visualize or think through what your hands are going to do to play it.
What’s your right hand going to do? Which string will you pluck? Which finger will you use?
What is your left hand going to be doing? Which string? Fret? Fing
Go through each musical event in the piece and picture yourself doing the action associated with it.
It is not necessary to move your hands as you do this, but you may notice that your fingers spontaneously move a little when you are mentally rehearsing the action. I think this is a good sign!
3. MENTALLY REHEARSE THE ACTION IN TEMPO
This is a step that many don’t do. Set a tempo for yourself, and try to do step 2 at that speed. You can use a metronome or clap your hands to the beat to keep time. If the tempo is too fast, do this step slowly at first and then gradually build it up. This build up can happen over a period of days. Not necessarily in the next 10 minutes!
Players often skip this step. Even though they might have done steps 1 and 2 diligently, they move on to trying to play at tempo. They try to move their fingers faster before they can THINK the piece at that pace.
Amazing things happen when you learn to think a piece of music. “Freedom” is the word that comes to mind.
BOB’S STORY
My student Bob was having a hard time getting through some faster parts in a piece.
After spending some time working through steps 1, 2 and 3 on the sections that were giving him trouble, Bob said this:
“Woah, that is a big difference!”
Bob went on to report that he felt he was playing the “tricky” parts without as much “fear and tension.”
“It’s like the piece is playing itself. It’s kind of weird!”
This was achieved by playing LESS in our practice session, and thinking MORE.
More thinking, and less playing can be a powerful combination.
Give it a try with something you are working on.
Let me know how it goes.
Guido