There are two main aspects to reading music.  We have already covered one, which is how to read rhythm.  The other one is how to read pitch.

 

Firstly, you need to understand that, unlike interpreting chord symbols, reading notated music is exact and every note you play or sing can be written down so precisely that someone reading a piece of music on the other side of the world will interpret the notes and play them exactly the way you play them.

 

Let’s look at how Western music is organised.  (I am specific about the term “Western” because there are other cultures that organise and communicate their music in different ways.)

 

Look at the illustrated keyboard below.  Can you see a repetitive pattern of black and white keys?

 

 

Each key has a name that is repeated in the next octave.  An octave is the name given to the space between a given note and where it repeats in the next series, for example, from C to C is an octave.

 

Western music works on the basis of a “tempered scale” or a scale that divides the octave into 12 equal semitones.  A semitone is the shortest distance between two notes.  For example, from C to C# is a semitone.

 

A SHARP (#) raises a note by one semitone.  Some people call this distance a half-step.

 

A FLAT (b) lowers a note by one semitone or half-step.

 

Some notes have two names as you can see in Diagram 2,  F sharp (#) is the same note as G flat (b).  These notes will be called one name or the other depending on their relationship to other notes, just like you may be called by your first name in some situations with people, or by a nick name when you are with other people…. depending upon your relationship to them.  Right now, though you can use either name.

 

Notice how semitones don’t only occur between black and white notes but also some white notes, for example, B and C.  Therefore, C can sometimes be called B sharp and B can sometimes be called C flat!

 

A TONE equals two semitones (hence the name semi-tone referring to a half-tone or half-step).

 

For example, C to D is a tone.

 

 

 

 

The clefs used for your instrument will indicate where other notes are in relation to middle C.  Although the treble and bass clefs are the most commonly used clefs, there exist others that better cover the range of their instruments.  For example, the viola will use the alto clef (illustrated below) and compares where middle C is in relation to the treble and bass clefs.

 

 

Here is a quick way you can remember the notes on the treble and bass clefs when you are first learning to read music:

 

 

 

One way you can get better at reading pitch is by doing the “pitch recognition” exercise below.

 

Here, you will notice random notes written on the stave.

 

• First, check which stave you are reading in, treble or bass.
• Next, ask yourself whether the note is printed on a line or in a space.
• The ‘poems’ above are intended to help you remember the pattern of notes in each clef (you may even like to make up your own poems to remember them), but they only work for the notes within the stave.
• For notes such as middle C and D you will have to remember what they look like or work them out by counting down or up from notes you can work out on the stave.

 

You can do this exercise by yourself, but make sure you check the answers written below or do the exercise with a partner.

 

 

Note for guitarists:  Tablature, on its own, is not rhythmically precise and sometimes standard rhythmic and pitch notation is used in conjunction with tabs.

 

Here are some other resources you may like to use to help you to read music:

 

Read Music Notes Easily – For Adults

 

Read Music Notes Easily – For Children

 

How to Read Music … In One Evening!

 

Reading Music Made Easy

 

 

 

Focus and presence are two qualities essential for any kind of music practice if you are to gain benefit from it.

 

Remember it is the quality of the practice that you do, not the quantity that counts and if being focussed and present in your practice means you will get the most out of it, you’ll have to be conscious that you are implementing these facets.

 

Let’s first explore what I mean by focus and presence and then I will suggest ways for you to implement them.

 

Focus means:

 

• Knowing what you are working towards (goal setting).
• Dedicating the allocated time solely towards your work (minimise likely interruptions).
• Awareness of your mind-state.  (Are you wandering off into dreamland while doing your practice or are you giving it your full attention?)

 

Presence means:

 

• Listening to your instrument.
• Awareness of any thoughts that interrupt or take you away from focussing on your work; and
• Mindfulness of your body and breathing.  (Are you breathing in a relaxed way?  Are you holding tension in your body?)

 

 

Holding focus and presence in practice can be, at first, challenging and you’ll find that you probably won’t be able to practice for as long but you will feel that a deeper learning has taken place.

 

As you get more used to holding focus and presence in your work, you should be able to enter a meditative and almost “timeless” feeling which could see you practicing for a longer period and, again, with more beneficial results.

 

 

How to implement Focus and Presence

1. Goal Setting

 

• Set goals for your practice session (eg “I want to practice for an hour” or “I want to go through all my repertoire”).

 

• Set a goal for what you would like to achieve by the end of the week and let that inform what you will do in your session.

 

• Set a goal for what you would like to achieve in three weeks’ time and let that inform the meaning and content of your work.

 

2.             Minimise Interruptions

 

• Don’t answer your phone if you don’t have to (or, heaven forbid, turn   it off!).

 

• Find a time of day when you are least likely to be interrupted, eg, after children are in bed.

 

• Make sure you have drinking water close by as well as your resources, so you don’t have to leave your practice space.

 

3.             Awareness of Mindstate

• Begin your practice session with a breath-focussed exercise.  While you are doing this be aware of how quiet or busy your mind is and just watch your thoughts instead of wandering off with them.  You can do this by remembering to focus on your breath.

 

• Continue your practice by doing scales with metronome and if your mind is particularly busy, slow down this exercise to 30 – 40 bpm.  This will require more concentration and more energy, therefore less can be spent following arbitrary thoughts.

 

• When you become aware of a thought or statement in your head, just simply acknowledge it and return to concentrating on your breathing, a relaxed body, and listening to the sound of your instrument.  Keep bringing yourself back to your work in this way.

 

• Being aware of your mind-state simply means acknowledging what is going on, not judging or reacting to it and then making a choice to come back to focussing fully on what you are doing in your practice.  It is a continual process which you will get better at, and quicker at as you keep this a priority in your practice session.

 

If you want to make focus and presence a priority, then your practice won’t be about how much you get through in your practice session but about how much you managed to be fully attentive to what you are doing.

 

All your practice sessions are going to be different but I suggest dedicating at least one session per week to the persuit of focus and attention.  In that way these qualities will soon become a natural part of what you consider to be a good practice.  You will feel more energised and relaxed and you will also find that the more you practice them, the quicker you will progress.

 

One book I found extremely helpful and not only for music but for other areas of my life was Eckhard Tolle’s,  A New Earth.

 

This book is interesting and easy to read.  It really made sense to me and demonstrated clearly how to bring presence into daily life and reap the benefits of doing so.

 

Since reading this book and remembering to bring myself into an awareness of what is happening in the now, I feel my quality of life getting better.  This is mainly because I have less of a feeling of  not having enough time,  or being stressed because I am thinking of a million things at once, or not being able to fully enjoy an experience because my mind is constantly wandering to the future or the past.  If any of this sounds familiar, it is worth giving this book a read.

 

 

 

 

 

I would love to hear how you go with this, so welcome any comments on this topic and please don’t forget to RSS if you would like to receive articles as they are published.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Regards

 

Lisa

 

 

 

Amalia is a talented singer, fairly new to the professional scene in London (even though that is 10 years under her belt).

 

She crosses the styles of Soul, Funk, Brazilian, Greek, Pop, Hip-Hop and House! Credits include most recently touring with Zarif (Sony/RCA) supporting the likes of Beyonce, John Legend, Chris Brown and Taio Cruz and previously HRH Prince William and Lionel Richie.

 

In this interview, Amalia talks about the singer’s unique role in the music business and what it takes to get heard!

 

 

You can find more information about Amalia and hear her music here:

 

Myspace

 

Twitter

 

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By the end of my ten years in London, my priorities began to change.

 

I was 35 and realised that perhaps I would like to be a mother.  I missed my family and all my new nieces (four of them all born in the time I had been away).  My parents weren’t getting any younger either and I needed to spend some time with them and I missed my brothers and my new sister in laws as well.  However, I had no desire to live in Sydney, nor any other part of Australia I knew about.

 

I had a good friend from my capoeira days in Bondi who lived in a place I had heard of but never visited.  She insisted I come to stay with her on my next trip back home.  She even bought me my plane ticket from Sydney, as I couldn’t afford it at the time, and when I got to her home I was blown away by what I encountered.

 

The place was Byron Bay.  It had a vibrant, musical community, filled with free thinkers and can-doers who were also environmentally aware and active.  I just fell in love with the lifestyle and the people.  (Byron Bay is still has some of these aspects but it has grown and changed very much in the five years I have lived here.)

 

When I returned to London after that trip, it was the first time I wasn’t looking forward to landing in what was then my home and this was my first realisation that I had to change my life yet again.

 

I spent the next year in London organising to move back to Australia and begin a new life in Byron.  It was a very difficult decision to make as I had made some great friends in London who I considered my family and London had provided me with great opportunities in my music and teaching career.

 

When the boxes to send to Australia were packed and sitting in my little apartment in Harlesden to be sent back to Australia, I started to freak out.  Was I making the right decision?  Was I going to be ok?

 

I rang my Mum (the first time in ten years I had rung her to ask for her support and advice) and the advice she gave was perfect.  She said that if I don’t come back and give it a go in Byron Bay, I’d never know if I’d made the right decision and London would always be there for me.  This calmed me down and gave me more confidence.  Thank you Mum!

 

I was fortunate enough to gain employment straight away in Byron as a shop assistant and it wasn’t long before I established my own teaching business, “Music Made Easy”.   Those long beach walks gave me plenty of inspiration!

 

I knew my teaching business was going to work when I received a phone call for my first client about an hour after I did my first letterbox drop.  From that moment on, I have never looked back and over the years have further developed my method of teaching and learning music which involves a specially designed practice diary.   I have also written a book explaining this method of teaching and learning and will be offering you this information in the near future.

 

The lifestyle in Byron enabled me to dedicate a lot more of my time to the study of piano and singing and in the five years I’ve been here I have really developed as a musician.  For two years I had a regular weekly gig at a restaurant, singing and playing piano until I had to give it up for a difficult pregnancy.

 

Yes, I met a wonderful man and now have a beautiful daughter who was born shortly after my 40^th birthday.

 

(As you can see, she has already begun her music training!)

 

 

 

My teaching business has slowed down a bit and mothering has taken over… a lot!!  And so, this is how I came to be writing this blog.

 

Developing this site has been a wonderful exercise so far for many reasons;

 

• I am very passionate that music be a positive learning experience and I hope to help many more people achieve that.
• Writing the blog has helped me develop my teaching and learning and reflect upon my progress and that of my students, sharing and discussing aspects of playing music with people like yourself.
• Blog writing has connected me with like-minded people.
• It has helped me explore more resources on the internet.
• It’s been a great challenge to learn and become more computer literate.
• And, I won’t lie to you, I hope in the future it can also become another source of income.

 

If you are interested in blog writing yourself, I highly recommend the course I am doing at the moment.  You can find all the information you need right here:

 

Click Here!

 

 

Well, that’s it for now.

 

Please keep in touch, send me your comments, let me know how your practice of music is going too and what you like or don’t like about this site.

 

See you in the next post!!

 

Lisa

 

 

It wasn’t long that I had taken up learning piano when an offer came my way.

 

A teacher at the local Community Education Centre could not do their classes and John suggested I should fill the spot as it was good money and he felt I could handle it. My students were adult learners of beginner piano level.

 

I am always pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone because I think it is necessary if you want change in your life, and for me this was certainly pushing the boundaries. I had previous experience with private one-on-one teaching before so I knew I could teach but I had never taught a class. However, if John thought I could do it, I would give it a try.

 

My stomach was churning when my big day arrived. It seemed like a dream when I found myself standing in front of ten adult learners. I had never been this nervous before and I didn’t expect to feel the way I did but there in front of me were ten people, older and with more life experience than myself, waiting to be engaged in a two hour music lesson.

 

Fortunately, the nerves didn’t last too long. I had done enough preparation and, as I got to know my class, I realised how friendly and patient they were. Everything was going to be fine.

 

I taught this class for about four weeks and was then told that if I wanted the job permanently, I would have to have an interview to officially be engaged in the position.

 

Again, ferocious nerves gnawed at my guts. I knew the interviewers would ask me to play some piano and I was nowhere near ready to deliver anything I thought would be good enough to warrant me being a piano teacher at their facility. When I walked into the interviewing room, there were four senior music teachers in front of me, quizzing me on my previous experience and asking all sorts of questions. The talking was fine and then the moment arrived.

 

“Would you care to play us something on the piano?”

 

“NO!!!” is all I wanted to reply, but I had to oblige.

 

I can’t even remember what I played but I know it was dismal and I went home and cried. Again, I felt so foolish and embarrassed.

 

Two days later I got a call from the College saying I had the position.

 

I was amazed and excited and really couldn’t believe it. From then on, I didn’t have to do any more secretarial work. I had to teach two sessions a week and I had my gigs, so I had enough money to live on. Finally, I was earning my money from music alone.

 

I’m not saying that life was easy because there was not always enough money to live on, especially in London. Looking back, I did it a bit rough as many musicians do, but I was happy creating and working towards my musical dreams.

 

Gradually, I managed to build up my teaching hours being allocated more classes and I was feeling pretty confident as a teacher. Then in 2000 the news arrived that the Government had decided that if any teachers wanted to stay in Community Education, they would have to get current certification.

 

This was a blow for many employees at the College. Some teachers had been working there for more than 20 years and they didn’t want to have to study again. I also thought this was rubbish, that we were doing a good job and the Government shouldn’t interfere. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep my job too. So off to class I went.

 

I felt very sorry for the teachers implementing the City and Guilds Certificate in Further Education course. Here they were in the first lesson confronted with fifteen very disgruntled students, arms crossed and ready to argue. We were all very sceptical that we could be taught anything we didn’t already know, let alone be made into better teachers.

 

However, I was pleasantly surprised. (Of course!) There was plenty I didn’t know and it turned out we had great teacher trainers showing us how to organise a class, how to teach in an inclusive manner, how to engage learners of many different levels at once and much more. I loved learning again and I loved the Course and although we only had to acquire certification for level 1, I ended up doing all three levels over two years.

 

By the end of this I had become a vastly better teacher and was offered a place on the Teacher Training Team, working alongside the teachers who had been so professional in teaching me. I will be forever grateful to them for their patience and knowledge they imparted to me and my colleagues.

 

Now I considered myself to be an experienced and confident teacher and was happy to be teaching others to achieve the same.  My work at the College lasted almost 10 years before I felt the urge to return to Australia where I established my own teaching business and finally began to gig as a singer/pianist.

 

To be continued….

 

( I’m sorry, but I can’t help but include the shining reference I received from my Programme Manager here.)   It gives some credence to the words I am writing now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting articles which outline the most important foundations of music and how to practice them.

 

For those of you who are experienced musicians, please do have a look because I am attempting to explain things as simply as possible, and who knows?  You may be able to see some theory from a different angle which is always useful.

 

For those of you who are new to music, I hope these articles clarify some of your questions.

 

 

So let’s start with Rhythm….

• Rhythmic patterns are created by dividing the space between a beat or a pulse.
• A pulse is a repetitive, single sound that can vary in speed.
• When you create rhythm, you create patterns that fit the pulse.

 

You will understand this better as you read on and try some of the exercises.

 

Make sure you practice these exercises with a metronome.  Here is a link to a free online metronome.

 

Your skill with rhythm will depend upon you cultivating an ability to subdivide the beat.

 

Look at the diagram below showing how rhythmic values are written.

 

 

A semibreve or whole note is worth 4 beats on your metronome.

 

A minim or half note is worth 2 beats on your metronome.

 

A crotchet or quarter note is worth 1 beat on your metronome.

 

A quaver or eighth note is worth ½ a beat. (count “1 and 2 and” etc)

 

 

 

When music is written down, it is broken into bars or sections that look like this:

 

Time signatures appear at the beginning of a piece of music and tell us how to count the pulse in each bar.  Here’s how time signatures work:-

 

 

The top number:         4      tells us HOW MANY beats are in each bar

The bottom number:   4      tells us what TYPE of beats we are counting.

(in this case it’s crotchets because the ‘4’

represents the number 4 in a quarter ¼).

 

Don’t worry if this is a little confusing for you now, just know that with this time signature each bar would have to add up to four beats of your metronome.

 

Another time signature example is    3 / 4      which would mean three crotchet beats in each bar

 

Try this one for yourself:   6 / 8     (Answer down bottom of post)

 

Your teacher can explain in more detail how we use time signatures and you will become familiar with them as you advance in your studies.

 

Once you understand note values, you can practise reading rhythms.  This is a great exercise for all instrumentalists and singers.

 

Clapping Rhythms

Clap the following rhythms with your metronome keeping a slow pulse of about 40 – 50 bpm (beats per minute).  Remember to always count what you are clapping out loud using numbers or French time names (which I recommend).   You need to say the note values out loud as it helps with co-ordination.

 

For example:

 

 

You can challenge yourself by speeding up the metronome once you have accomplished all rhythms at a slow speed.

 

You may also want to try to clap rhythms with others (friends or parents), either the same exercise in unison or grouping several of them together and clapping at the same time.

 

This exercise will help you to read music and develop your sense of time.

 

6 / 8    means there would be 6 quaver beats in every bar because, the “8″ down the bottom stands for 1/8th notes which are also called quavers.  Refer to first diagram.

 

Here are some other resources to help rhythm training:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although this book is for the “modern drummer”, it’s exercises can be adapted for all instruments.

Don’t let it’s dated cover put you off, if anything, it just shows that after all these years this book is still in print because its GOOD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click Here!

For a short and fun video which explains RSS, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU.

 

If you would like me to explain, please read on:

 

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.   It is something you will want to use and here’s why:

 

1.  It saves you time.

2. You have a direct line of access to the information you want in your life.

3.  It’s personal and ensures your privacy.

 

All  you have to do to use RSS is to join a site which becomes your “home” address, like your email address.  There, you add the URL of websites and blogs you wish to view regularly (you will be shown how to do this on the site) and every time the blogs or websites you have chosen publish something new you will be notified AND the content will be delivered directly to your “home”, so you don’t have to go and look for it.  It’s like a subscription to a magazine or newspaper.

 

Here are a couple of the addresses where you can build your “home”:

Google Reader   www.google.com/reader

Bloglines  www.bloglines.com

So when you want to subscribe to an RSS feed.  Look for this button  and click on it.

You will then be taken to a page which either displays buttons like this…   and you can simply click on the one which is your “home” or you will be taken to a page with text on it.  If this is the case:

 

1. copy the address in the browser window,
2. go to your “home” or reader,
3. click on add subscription and paste that URL address you just copied.

 

And there you have it, now you can just sit back, check your mailbox for any new info any day.

 

Now you can RSS to my blog.  There’s so much I have to share with you!

 

 

 

In my experience as a student, I often didn’t know what or how to practice. It all made sense in the lesson but when I got home I just felt defeated.  I know I was not the only one to feel this way and it was the reason I ‘stop started’ in music.  Therefore, as a teacher I implement a Practice Diary to help students learn how to practice and a part of the lesson is always dedicated to discussing what is going on in the practice room.

 

WHEN TO PRACTICE

We are unique Beings and therefore need to discover our unique way of practicing.  For example, I find I like to do my technical exercises early in the morning and my creative work later in the day but this does not always fit in with my work schedule or even the way I feel sometimes, so I need to be able to adapt my practice to ever-shifting circumstances.  The Practice Diary, which will be detailed later on this site, will help you to explore what works best for you.  Discuss with your teacher the challenges of making practice a part of your life so they can give you some good ideas on how to tackle them.  The best time for you to play your instrument is when you can relax, find some privacy and when you don’t feel too tired.

 

Many school children have after school activities making it difficult to find a time to practice. Consider the times after school, either just after a snack on returning home or just before dinner or just after dinner.  For parents, practice times to consider are just before the end of the school day or early in the morning or after children are in bed.  I prefer the latter, even though I am tired, I approach my practice time with the knowledge that it will be relaxing and rejuvenating.

 

For many reasons, it may take a while to find the time and space in your life to practice.  Try starting with very short sessions when you first begin learning your instrument, say, five to fifteen minutes at a time.  As you progress, you can lengthen these sessions, or do several short sessions throughout the day.  Consistency is the key.

 

A very common problem is the thought that “if I can’t practice for at least half an hour or an hour it isn’t worth me sitting down to it”.  Instead of giving into this thought, grab five or ten minutes throughout your day and you will feel content that you have connected with your music and be surprised by how much you can actually progress with these short times.

 

WHERE TO PRACTICE

 

Making your practice space supportive to your work can improve its quality.  Compare your working space to a best friend that is welcoming and there for you at all times.  Try to make it a place where everything you need is easy to access without having to set up or search for resources and equipment.  You don’t need a whole room for this.  It can just be a corner of one room dedicated to the task of learning your instrument.

 

Ideally your practice space should have:

 

• Privacy (and most likely quiet, though you may choose to have music or some other background noise)
• Your instrument (and other equipment such as music stand, if needed, CD player, and metronome)
• A clock or timer
• Pens (to write in your Practice Diary)
• Resources  (e.g. printed music, reference books, tapes, videos, CDs etc.)
• Practice Diary
• Heating or cooling to a comfortable temperature
• Ornaments which calm, inspire and please your aesthetic taste (e.g. posters, incense, flowers, books, sayings etc)
• Drinking water

 

Privacy

 

To be present with your activities you need to be able to concentrate so that you can fully absorb the learning taking place.  If other people or animals are in your space they may cause distraction.  Ideally, peace and quiet should be available to you – both inwardly and outwardly, so if you do find that you have something pressing to do and you can’t quite concentrate because you keep thinking about it (e.g. eating, washing, paying a bill etc) do what you need to do and come back to your session later, that way the quality and enjoyment of your playing will be better.  If there is too much disturbance in your practice environment, try to find ways of escaping it e.g. can you use earplugs or headphones or, try coming back to your work later.

 

Your Instrument

 

Obviously, it is very important to have the instrument and other equipment you need, however, the reality is that when you are beginning to learn, you may not be sure you will want to continue or you may not have the money to invest in buying whatever is needed.  There are often ways to overcome this and maybe your teacher can help by lending you some equipment or putting you in touch with government schemes or other students who are selling their equipment.  I have known drummers who have begun to learn co-ordination exercises with phone books and sticks, or pianists who have been able to play the keyboard at their local church or a friend’s house.  Sometimes it can be beneficial to start without the basics because you will find ways to be creative and inventive.

 

A clock or timer

 

It is important to know how long you spend on each exercise and make sure you do not spend too much time on any one aspect of your music while sacrificing time spent on another.

 

Often ten to fifteen minutes (and sometimes less) is enough time spent on any one task because you will only improve in this amount of time.  If you spend more time, say on trying to get the fingering right for scales, you may start to actually get worse at the activity after five minutes.  This is an observation I have made from my own practice and that of my students, i.e. that there is an optimum learning time.  For example, you may improve on an exercise but if you continue for too long, you may get worse.  I call this a ‘saturation point’ because, like a sponge, we can only absorb so much in any one sitting.  You will know when you have reached a saturation point because you will start to ‘lose’ what you were able to do a couple of minutes ago and begin to feel frustrated or even tired.  When this happens it is vital you move on to another task.  When you come back to the activity in your next session, you will find an improvement and you can work on it again.

 

Pens/pencils

 

These will be needed to fill in your Practice Diary and note any questions or reflections/conclusions which arise when you are learning alone.  Note things down as you experience them because often, if you leave it until after your session, you will forget important realisations or what you wanted to ask your teacher.  Keeping track of what you have done in each practice session ensures you will not forget to do the work you have set out to do between your lessons.  You may also want to note down ideas that come to you during your session, even if they are not related to music.  I often find I remember I have to do certain chores when I am practicing.  Just note them down in your Diary and you won’t have to worry about remembering to do them.

 

Resources

 

It is always good to have your resources organised and readily available to you.  If you receive handouts during the week from your teacher, keep them in good condition by using folders and make sure you know how to find them quickly. The information you receive on how to practice each task must be implemented as precisely as possible because if you practice something incorrectly, it will take you double the time to break the habit and relearn to do it the right way – so refer to your notes.  If you don’t understand your resources, you can leave that work for the week and clarify it with your teacher at a later time.

 

Practice Diary

 

Your Practice Diary helps you to keep track of what you are doing and note down important information to bring to your teacher next lesson so they can better guide your learning.  Keep the Diary in your practice space and use it to your best ability.

 

A comfortable temperature

 

If you are uncomfortable, too cold or too hot, it is going to be a lot harder for you to concentrate and achieve the best mental state required for progress.  So, if possible, regulate the temperature of your environment to suit you.

 

Ornaments which calm and inspire

 

Keeping in mind the practice space should be a place you want to be in, you may like to use sensory objects such as pictures, music or incense which help you to relax and inspire you.  I noticed that when I moved recently, my singing students were complaining I had no pictures on the wall to look at while they were singing.  They said that looking at the pictures I had before helped them be more present with their music because their mind didn’t wander.

 

Drinking water

 

Playing your instrument or singing can often make you thirsty.  Having some water to hand saves you from breaking the flow of your session to go elsewhere for a drink. Water is also good for concentration, performance and endurance.

 

HOW TO PRACTICE

 

What does it mean to practice well?  Mainly it is that you endeavor to cover all aspects of music such as technique, harmony, creativity and rhythm while ensuring your practice time is ACE.

 

Achievable

Challenging

Enjoyable

 

 

Achievable

 

This means setting realistic targets for yourself, for the future and present.  For example, if you have just started to learn your instrument, you wouldn’t hope to play a Bach fugue straight away.  This would be unrealistic because you have not yet developed the skills required for it, but you may set a target of learning how to read music on the stave and working on your scales so that later you will be able to play the fugue.

 

Making your practice achievable means knowing how to go about your learning. Your teacher will help you with this but if you always think about breaking down your work into small, manageable chunks you will be successful.

 

Challenging

 

If your practice is too easy you will become bored and if it is too hard you may start to feel incapable. However, you need to be challenged so you are interested and motivated to keep learning.  In order to find the ‘challenge’ in your work, have something in mind that you strongly desire to do.  It could be to learn a piece you particularly like or want to perform.  Work with your teacher and explore how you can best achieve this goal, firstly by doing exercises relating to this task, then building upon the exercises.

 

Enjoyable

 

If you can relax and just be present with the process of learning to sing or play your instrument, you will be able to fully enjoy music.  After some time of teaching a student I will ask them if they can imagine what their lives would be like without playing or singing.  When they say they can’t imagine not doing their music practice, I know they are on a healthy path because music has become a life-enhancing pastime and not something where they are competing to get to the finish line.

 

Sometimes you may feel pursuing music is all too much. You may feel disheartened or demotivated and even want to give up.  This often happens when you compare your ability to others and realise how much time and work you need to do in order to gain a certain skill.  But at these times try to remember that there is no end to what you can achieve and the process just takes as long as it takes.  It is better not to put a time limit on anything you are learning and just aim to get whatever you are doing to a level of ease.

 

You will get results from all the work you put in, especially if you know how to practice.  Try to keep in mind what you love about music and focus on those good feelings, whether you are playing a scale or a sonata.  Simply by being fully present and attentive to every task you carry out in music, you will reap rewards.

 

It is helpful if you can regularly look back and see how far you have come since you began learning.  You could play for several lifetimes and still not exhaust your musical possibilities.

 

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“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

Confucius

 

 

 

 

When you look at your reflection in the mirror, do you have any thoughts about what you see?  And if you do, are your thoughts evaluative or judgmental? For example, “I’m putting on weight”, “I look tired” or “I like what I see…”  Will you act upon these thoughts?  Will you change your clothes, do your hair, do some exercise, or eat more pies?  It doesn’t matter what you decide, the point is that looking at yourself caused you to think about what you saw and maybe even to act upon those thoughts.  This is what Reflective Learning is all about.

 

By observing your thoughts and feelings toward what you are learning, you will be able to gain insight into your needs, possess a clearer view of how you are progressing and decide what should happen in order for you to remain positive.  Taking a short amount of time each week to reflect can help you to navigate your journey through music.

 

Music Made Easy asks you to write a paragraph each week about your experience of learning.  Even if you haven’t managed to play all week, you will still benefit by writing because it is valuable for you and your teacher to know how you are feeling.  You don’t need to give excuses about why you haven’t done any practice, but rather consider the following:

 

Did you want to play music but couldn’t and therefore felt frustrated?  Or did you find that you didn’t want to play this week and it was good to have a break?

 

Did you see or hear any music which inspired you or that you didn’t like?  Why didn’t you like the music or why did it inspire you?

 

Were you feeling unmotivated this week?  And if so, is this because you are finding your practice routine too monotonous or not challenging enough?  What do you think could be done about it?

 

Take time to think about possible solutions to any difficulties you are experiencing and write them down and/or discuss them with your teacher.  If you write a reflection each week you will be able to help your teacher to guide your learning and, at the same time, cultivate your skills of problem solving and evaluation which are vital to your future as musician.

 

My experience has shown me that many people find reflective writing challenging but it is a skill that can be learned.  Here are some tips to help you begin:

 

1.    Sit down with your Diary and a pen, make sure you have at least five to ten minutes free to write and you are in a comfortable space where you can be alone with your thoughts. Maybe make yourself some tea or coffee and approach this activity with the knowledge that it will be relaxing and enjoyable.

 

2.    Look over your practice for the past week and think about some of the following questions. (These can be useful just to get you started but you could write about something completely different which has influenced your learning.  Usually, once you begin writing you will find it easy to write.)

 

• How do you feel about what you have or haven’t achieved?
• Are you excited about learning?   Do you feel demotivated?  Do you feel you are moving at a steady pace?
• What activities did you enjoy most this week?
• Which exercises were difficult or frustrating?
• Do you have any questions for your teacher regarding these?
• Are you experiencing any barriers toward playing music?
• If so, are they environmental or emotional or do they have something to do with your timetable?
• What could you do to overcome these barriers?

 

3.    If you still find it difficult to write, answer the above questions out loud and write down word for word exactly what you say.

 

The act of writing (instead of just thinking) ensures you actually sit down to reflect.  More importantly, it provides a record of your learning which can give you a perspective on your music, what your achievements are, your goals, and observations of yourself as a learner.

 

Reflection contains the key to your successful progress because when you think about the impact of your learning, you observe and question. When you question, you will want to find answers and when you are searching for answers you will find the best ways to overcome any difficulties you may have.  You will also discover musical activities which best suit your needs and you will be able to adjust these activities as your needs change.

 

Acknowledging what is happening for you as you learn, as well as your achievements, is something you may not normally be able to do without taking time to sit and write.  Therefore, reflective learning is an activity that will inspire confidence and motivation to keep going.  It is your navigation tool because your observations point out what and how you are learning, where you would like to go and the best direction for you to take in order to get there.  If you do this work, you become more active in your music and better the communication between you and your teacher.

 

Here is what Simon had to say about reflective writing.

 

“The reflective comments that I put into my Practice Diary at the end of each week I have found are really helpful for discovering important issues, problems, patterns and achievements that have come up during my practice for the week. It’s interesting how when I write something down and really think about it, I end up with a clearer understanding of how I feel about my practice, my piano playing and just piano itself.

 

 

“It also gives me some time to see what exercises and pieces I’ve been concentrating on and what I need to spend more time on next week and what I like doing and dislike doing.  It can highlight factors outside of piano too, which might be affecting my practice routine i.e. work, mood, time, and situation.

 

 

“Sometimes it’s difficult writing reflections because I simply don’t know what to write about. At times, my practice for the week is very similar to the week before, which can make it difficult to write something new.  Sometimes I find I am not really giving much thought to how I’m feeling, what inspires me, what motivates me, what I enjoy about piano and what my goals are. These are the things that are really important to helping me with my future learning. I’m going to try and think about these things more when I do my reflections from now on.”

 

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If you do decide to do any kind of performance, how should you approach it and what should you expect?

 

Firstly, it is important to be prepared.  This means:

 

• knowing your material inside out,
• feeling comfortable in your surroundings,
• knowing who the other musicians involved (if any) will be,
• understanding and being familiar with the equipment you are using,
• warming up before the event and mentally preparing yourself.

 

Before the Performance

 

Following are some suggestions on how to minimise your experience of anxiety so that you can enjoy a more positive performance experience.

 

Know Your Material

 

It sounds obvious, I know, but there is a difference between ‘pretty much’ knowing something and knowing something 200%.  It  is so important you know your material inside out because any cracks you have in your knowledge and ability will potentially show in performance as there are so many other distractions.   You need to have muscle memory in place so you can rely on your body.  This gives you the opportunity to focus on expression and interpretation, the elements that make a performance truly come to life.  If you get nervous, you can rely on your body’s muscle memory to automatically do what you have trained it to do.

 

Visualisation

 

This is a great tool that can help you to rehearse in the comfort of your own bed! If you can see yourself, in your mind’s eye, successfully completing a performance and enjoying it, you will likely be able to achieve this in reality.  When you do this exercise try to see and feel the performance in as much detail as possible, what you are wearing, where you are standing etc.  Remember that visualisation and imagination are the first steps to any of our desires being born to physical reality.

 

Who to Invite

 

It is worth thinking about who you should invite to your performance, especially if it’s your first.  I often suggest to my adult learners that if they feel nervous, it may be better to invite only a few guests or none, while children will often enjoy the support of their families.  In the end it’s a personal decision worth considering.  A good way to decide is to use the activity of visualisation to know how you would feel performing in front of the people you want to invite.  Visualise the situation and if it feels good, go ahead.   If it doesn’t, you can do the performance by yourself and invite more people next time when you are more confident.

 

Breathing

 

One of the reasons breath-focussed exercises are included in regular practice is that being able to do this easily is extremely useful for performing.  If you are tense before the performance, I suggest you do these exercises, and if you become tense during the performance, again focus on your breathing, becoming aware of where you are holding the tension in your body and use the breath to let go of it.  You will get better at doing this especially if you practice it regularly.

 

 

During the Performance

 

Every performing experience is different because it is created spontaneously in the present.  Therefore, you need to be spontaneous and present in order to deliver the goods.  Of course, this is often easier said than done. Following are some suggestions to help you achieve this state.

 

The Inner Critic

 

Hopefully, by the time you are ready to perform, you will know your Inner Critic.  Often performing will bring his or her voice to the fore, so it’s very important you make a decision to engage one hundred percent with the music and not your Critic’s voice (you don’t want to end up in the ‘car crash’!).   Your aim should be to just enjoy the music.

 

Do Not Assume

 

Performing is about communicating from your authentic self; it is not about what other people think of you.  Nor is it about whether your music is ugly or beautiful, good or bad.  Your job is only to be yourself and give something of yourself to others through music.  Try not to assume you know what an audience member is thinking about you by interpreting a look on their face or their body language.  More often than not your assumption will be wrong and you will lose your focus.

 

‘Mistakes’

 

Just about every live performance will include one or more ‘mistakes’.  Many times these go unnoticed because they are incorporated into the flow of the music and often they even enhance the music if the performer can embrace them and make something of them.  This is why it is very helpful to practice improvisation and especially free improvisation because it will help you to be comfortable, spontaneous, lively and present in music.  Accomplished performers are able to incorporate ‘mistakes’ and ‘wrong notes’ without people noticing.

 

“The idea of a mistake is beside the point, for once anything happens it authentically is.” – John Cage, Composer

“If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards.”
 – Joe Pass, Guitarist

 

After the Performance

Reflect Upon Progress

 

A performance will always give you a good indication of how far you have come and where you are heading.  Take time to reflect upon this.  You can write in your Diary, talk to others who were there and discuss your experience with your teacher.  Use your performing experience to identify areas needing more attention as well as the strong points of your music.

 

Celebrate Achievement

 

Every performance marks an achievement.  It doesn’t matter what happened, you have done it and that act in itself is worthy of praise.  When you reflect upon how your performance went, for every negative you feel, think of a positive as well.  If it was a total washout, think about what you did or didn’t do which contributed to this outcome and if your performance was enjoyable, think about what you did to achieve this outcome.

 

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