Four Shortcuts to Get You There Faster!

Since last month’s post focused on shortcuts you really shouldn’t take, I thought I’d turn it around this month and share four musical shortcuts you can take guilt-free! Yes, that’s right: I’m about to give you permission to cut some corners. Enjoy it, because it won’t last!

Shortcut #1: Don’t play the whole piece every time you practice. Although playing through an entire piece IS an essential type of practice, you should also be making time for focused, high-frequency practice on the specific areas that need work. Not every part of every piece is going to need the same amount of your time and energy, and you want to allocate accordingly.

Shortcut #2: Write it down. Sometimes I get the impression that students think writing things down is cheating. It’s not! Do you keep missing a note? Write in the letter name. Do you keep forgetting an ornament you really want to do? Write it out. Do you have trouble with a tricky rhythm? Mark where the beats fall within the phrase. What your music looks like doesn’t matter. What it sounds like does! So use the tools at your disposal to prime yourself for success!

Shortcut #3: Listen. It’s OK to listen to a piece you’re learning on Youtube! Really it is! While it’s absolutely true that you never want to use listening as a crutch (i.e., you shouldn’t HAVE to do it in order to tackle a piece), listening to a piece you’re learning as you follow the score can be a fantastic way to preview the journey ahead of you- or to get ideas as you go.

Shortcut #4: Prioritize intent. We recorder players often play music that is not intended for recorder. And when we do, we can bump up against some of the limitations of the instrument. Like the need to breathe. Or the fact that, no matter what we do, many recorders are never going to be really loud in the lowest range. In these cases, I think it can be valuable to prioritize intent over content. What the heck does that mean? Well, let’s say that it’s clear that the composer wants you to be very loud and trumpet-like as you play a series of low As on the alto recorder. You could spend hours trying to (minimally) increase the brassiness of your low notes… or you could decide to take that section up an octave or two and be done. Or let’s say a composer wants 32 measures of gentle, rolling sixteenth notes. You could devote a month to playing every single one of those notes, gasping like a dying fish every few measures, or you could decide to judiciously eliminate a few unaccented, harmonically redundant notes to sneak in sips of air. By prioritizing the intent of the music, as opposed to playing every single note exactly as written, you could actually be conveying the composer’s intention more powerfully.

Want to Play More Musically? Hop Aboard!

Have you ever fantasized about taking a cross-country train journey?

I can’t be the only one. I imagine staring out the window, sipping a mysteriously good coffee while taking in the countryside as it unfolds.

Always, on this fantasy train trip, I am scrupulous in my attention. I take care to notice and acknowledge each and every wonder in turn: the stubborn hills and the endless plains, the sudden startle of the mountains and their spill toward the sea.

In reality, the trip unfolds differently.

Your three-year-old needs the toilet, which is dirty. The scenic vista sidles past while you’re standing in line for hotdogs, and the hotdogs are not that great. You can’t contemplate the vastness of nature very effectively over the dueling strains of Justin Bieber and thrash metal. And somebody, somebody quite close by, smells.

You really do want to appreciate the world’s marvels. In fact, you invested a lot of time and money and energy into getting yourself into a position to appreciate the world’s marvels. But there are distractions.

If you are a musician, your job is to take the fantasy train trip.

Playing a piece of music can be, and should be, a voyage of appreciation. In real time, you lavish your awareness on one marvel and then the next, dwelling on a juicy dissonance here, an exciting rhythm there, a worrying interval, a particularly delightful repetition to close..

You are- you must be- admiring the scenery each and every step of the way. Because your awareness and wonder is the only way to spark awareness and wonder in your listener.

But the three-year-old! The thrash metal! The toilets and the hotdogs and the Biebs!

Right. On your musical journey, there will always be things that can tear your attention away from the window. You miss a note or three; you’ve gone out of tune; you start thinking about your laundry. Maybe you’ve taken this particular train journey before- in fact, you’ve taken this particular journey so many times before that you just kinda glance at the mountains as you fire up your laptop.

Close it down. Look away. Seize your attention by the scruff of its neck and direct it back to the unspooling wonder of the world.

Our work is the window. Eyes up.