I've played in a fair number of groups over the years. Some were really awesome and motivated me to practice, increased my love of my instrument and music, and taught me a lot. Others were not so awesome and were more frustrating, making me want to walk away and never return. What were the differences?
A lot has to do with how the orchestra is run. Sure, it can be fun to be social and chat a lot, but I was trained by a couple of professional musicians who expected their students to act professionally too. So to me, a rehearsal should get down to business and rehearse. There's still time before and after rehearsal, and during any breaks, for socializing.
The conductor makes a big difference. A conductor who can constructively critique the group's playing, and pinpoint what needs to be corrected, is essential. Anything else is just a waste of time, because why else are you rehearsing?
What is the conductor's attitude? Does he or she show up early to answer questions and start rehearsal on time, or do they waltz in 15 minutes late and expect you to wait for them? Respect works both ways, so the conductor should respect the musicians and what they are contributing.
A lot has to do with the musicians themselves. Not just their playing ability, although it can be very pleasurable to be able to sight read through a major symphony with a modicum of competence. But what are the attitudes of the players? Do they respect each other and their conductor? Do they show up on time, with their parts prepared? Did they come to socialize, to have fun, to learn, to make music? Sure, this is all a part of orchestra, but finding a group that is in line with your own attitude can make or break the difference.
Finally, assess the overall feel of the group. Is this somewhere your contributions are valued? Do you go home feeling energized or drained? If one group leaves you feeling frustrated, don't despair! There are lots of community, student, and professional groups out there, so go try a different one.
A good place to start your search is on the Community Band and Orchestra Links page. You can also ask your private teacher, your school teacher, or even music stores about groups in your area.
Happy Playing!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sight Reading Tips
Here's some really great sight reading tips from STRINGS. But the most important one is to practice sight reading every day! Yup, that's right, sight reading needs practicing too, and the more you sight read, the better you'll do. Happy Practicing!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Practice Tip #3 - The Four Practice Steps
Last time, I discussed the need to do more than just play through your piece during your practice sessions. The need to take your piece apart, perfect each piece individually, then put it back together. Well, how do we do that?
Several ways. One of which is the Four Practice Steps.
The first thing you need to do is divide up the part you're perfecting. Take it a measure, or even just a couple of beats, at a time.
1) Stopped Eighth Notes
Play the little itty bitty section you have (4-8 notes maximum) as all stopped eighth notes. The point of this first practice step is to get the notes figured out. Bowings don't matter, neither do rhythms. And certainly dynamics and other musical ideas aren't in play here. Just the notes. Place each note accurately, precisely, and perfectly. If you play a wrong note, now's the time to fix it. Mark your part as needed. You'll need to do this step a few times until you know where all the notes are. Use a piano to check your intonation if you need to.
2) Hiccups
Set the first note of your itty bitty section. Check your finger, check your bow. Then play that first note, twice. Very quickly. The rhythm should sound like the word, "hiccup". Again, bowings and rhythms that are marked in the piece don't matter. We're still after solidifying those notes. Then, once you've played your first hiccup, stop. Set your next note. Check your fingers, check your bow. Then play another hiccup. Keep going like this until you reach the end of your itty bitty section. This is supposed to be slow going - you're perfecting notes here! So make sure you stop in between each note so you can check the next one. You should never be playing any wrong notes here. Repeat this step a few times, until you don't have to stop for as long, BUT YOUR INTONATION IS STILL PERFECT. That's important. Never practice incorrect notes.
3) Doubles
This step is just like the hiccups, without any stops. Start slow, and each time you repeat this step go a bit faster. You should be playing this step very fast, PERFECTLY, before you go on.
4) Stopped Slurs
NOW is where bowings and rhythms finally start to matter. Play the bowings as marked, but instead of playing any smooth slurs, all slurs that are written in your part should be stopped. Yes, this means you actually stop the bow. This step is very important. It makes our body stop so our brain has time to direct the muscles to do the correct bowing. It also allows our brain and muscles to figure out how much bow to give each note. If you only have one note per bow, it's not hard. Go up to two notes per bow, not that difficult either. But what if you have eight, or sixteen, notes per bow? This is where stopped slurs come in very handy to quickly learn how to distribute our bow. This step should also be repeated, with the same passage, several times.
NOW you get to play it as written. If you followed the steps correctly, you should easily be able to play the passage correctly, as written, with correct bowings and intonation. Assign yourself a small section to learn each day, and you'll be amazed at how quickly you learn your piece! Once you have a few very small sections mastered, try going through the four practice steps with longer sections. This should not take as many repetitions, as you've already learned it. You're just putting it together now.
The four practice steps are just one method of learning difficult passages. More ideas to come soon!
Happy Practicing!
Several ways. One of which is the Four Practice Steps.
The first thing you need to do is divide up the part you're perfecting. Take it a measure, or even just a couple of beats, at a time.
1) Stopped Eighth Notes
Play the little itty bitty section you have (4-8 notes maximum) as all stopped eighth notes. The point of this first practice step is to get the notes figured out. Bowings don't matter, neither do rhythms. And certainly dynamics and other musical ideas aren't in play here. Just the notes. Place each note accurately, precisely, and perfectly. If you play a wrong note, now's the time to fix it. Mark your part as needed. You'll need to do this step a few times until you know where all the notes are. Use a piano to check your intonation if you need to.
2) Hiccups
Set the first note of your itty bitty section. Check your finger, check your bow. Then play that first note, twice. Very quickly. The rhythm should sound like the word, "hiccup". Again, bowings and rhythms that are marked in the piece don't matter. We're still after solidifying those notes. Then, once you've played your first hiccup, stop. Set your next note. Check your fingers, check your bow. Then play another hiccup. Keep going like this until you reach the end of your itty bitty section. This is supposed to be slow going - you're perfecting notes here! So make sure you stop in between each note so you can check the next one. You should never be playing any wrong notes here. Repeat this step a few times, until you don't have to stop for as long, BUT YOUR INTONATION IS STILL PERFECT. That's important. Never practice incorrect notes.
3) Doubles
This step is just like the hiccups, without any stops. Start slow, and each time you repeat this step go a bit faster. You should be playing this step very fast, PERFECTLY, before you go on.
4) Stopped Slurs
NOW is where bowings and rhythms finally start to matter. Play the bowings as marked, but instead of playing any smooth slurs, all slurs that are written in your part should be stopped. Yes, this means you actually stop the bow. This step is very important. It makes our body stop so our brain has time to direct the muscles to do the correct bowing. It also allows our brain and muscles to figure out how much bow to give each note. If you only have one note per bow, it's not hard. Go up to two notes per bow, not that difficult either. But what if you have eight, or sixteen, notes per bow? This is where stopped slurs come in very handy to quickly learn how to distribute our bow. This step should also be repeated, with the same passage, several times.
NOW you get to play it as written. If you followed the steps correctly, you should easily be able to play the passage correctly, as written, with correct bowings and intonation. Assign yourself a small section to learn each day, and you'll be amazed at how quickly you learn your piece! Once you have a few very small sections mastered, try going through the four practice steps with longer sections. This should not take as many repetitions, as you've already learned it. You're just putting it together now.
The four practice steps are just one method of learning difficult passages. More ideas to come soon!
Happy Practicing!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Practice Tip #2
Don't just play through your piece.
What was that? You thought you were supposed to? Well, yes, you are supposed to play through your piece, and that's great. But that's not the ONLY part of practicing. You also need to actually practice.
What is practice? It's all the boring stuff that you really don't want to have to do at your lesson, or that you don't want everyone else to hear. It's going through your piece, measure by measure, and painstakingly taking it part. Perfecting notes. Then rhythms. Then bowings. Then starting to put them back together again. Measure by measure.
One good tool to use during this time is your metronome. Oh, you hate yours too? Yeah, me too. They're annoying. But GREAT little tools. Use yours. You'll thank me later. And guess what? Every time you use it, it gets easier. That's right.
As a matter of fact, every time you practice, it gets easier. As you get the hang of taking pieces apart and putting them back together, it gets easier. It also gets easier to learn a new piece when you're a better sight reader. If you can read through a piece, for the first time ever, and get 50% of everything perfect, that's only 50% left you have to learn. Well, if you can read it through and get 90% perfect, you only have to learn 10%! And that's a good thing.
So remember, when you are learning a new piece, before you play it through, take it apart, then put it back together. When you are reviewing an old piece, play it through, take apart the bits you need to relearn, put it back together, then play it through again.
Until next time. Happy Practicing!
What was that? You thought you were supposed to? Well, yes, you are supposed to play through your piece, and that's great. But that's not the ONLY part of practicing. You also need to actually practice.
What is practice? It's all the boring stuff that you really don't want to have to do at your lesson, or that you don't want everyone else to hear. It's going through your piece, measure by measure, and painstakingly taking it part. Perfecting notes. Then rhythms. Then bowings. Then starting to put them back together again. Measure by measure.
One good tool to use during this time is your metronome. Oh, you hate yours too? Yeah, me too. They're annoying. But GREAT little tools. Use yours. You'll thank me later. And guess what? Every time you use it, it gets easier. That's right.
As a matter of fact, every time you practice, it gets easier. As you get the hang of taking pieces apart and putting them back together, it gets easier. It also gets easier to learn a new piece when you're a better sight reader. If you can read through a piece, for the first time ever, and get 50% of everything perfect, that's only 50% left you have to learn. Well, if you can read it through and get 90% perfect, you only have to learn 10%! And that's a good thing.
So remember, when you are learning a new piece, before you play it through, take it apart, then put it back together. When you are reviewing an old piece, play it through, take apart the bits you need to relearn, put it back together, then play it through again.
Until next time. Happy Practicing!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Instrument Maintenance
Do you know what maintenance tasks to perform when on your stringed
instrument? Check out this Back-to-School Checklist to find out!
instrument? Check out this Back-to-School Checklist
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Spring Recital 2010
All the students lined up for photos after our spring recital. Great job everyone!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Beethoven
Recently, I was asked the questions: "How could Beethoven compose such beautiful pieces, like the Moonlight Sonata, and be deaf? How would he know what the composition sounded like?"
Let's first establish, that Beethoven was a genius. In my opinion, all composers are/were. I couldn't compose anything worth listening to.
Next, let's look at a timeline:
Born December 1770
1778 - gave his first recital
1779 - started studying composition
1783 - published his first compositions
1796 - started to lose his hearing
1801 - Moonlight Sonata completed
1804-1808 - Beethoven's 5th Symphony written
1806 - Violin Concerto in D Major completed
1812 - Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally
1814 - Beethoven almost completely deaf
1824 - 9th Symphony completed
1827 - death
That is just a very abbreviated bit of a timeline, but it illustrates that Beethoven had been playing and composing long before he even started to go deaf. Furthermore, whatever caused his deafness was not sudden; it took him almost 20 years to completely lose his hearing.
Any composer gets his or her musical ideas from somewhere. I imagine, not being a composer myself, they come to them in their heads, much like I am writing this sentence now. If Beethoven was hearing melodies in his head, and had already been playing piano, violin, and viola for several years, and even been composing for several years, it's not stretching the imagination too far to say he could probably translate what he heard in his head onto paper, so someone else could recreate it.
The only step Beethoven was missing (in his later years, after he'd gone completely deaf), was listening to that recreation, and verifying it matched what he heard in his head. Had he been a new composer, this most likely would have been a great obstacle. But he had been composing for several years, so he could probably reliably reproduce what he wanted to.
A further point is that most of Beethoven's compositions were from earlier in his life, when he could still hear. Later in his life, he had several family and health issues, several dry periods in which he did not compose, and really did not have the same output he had in his earlier years.
So really, Beethoven's reputation of being "the deaf composer" might be almost a misnomer. Yes, he did go deaf later in life, but most of his compositions were written while he could still hear.
Happy Playing!
Let's first establish, that Beethoven was a genius. In my opinion, all composers are/were. I couldn't compose anything worth listening to.
Next, let's look at a timeline:
Born December 1770
1778 - gave his first recital
1779 - started studying composition
1783 - published his first compositions
1796 - started to lose his hearing
1801 - Moonlight Sonata completed
1804-1808 - Beethoven's 5th Symphony written
1806 - Violin Concerto in D Major completed
1812 - Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally
1814 - Beethoven almost completely deaf
1824 - 9th Symphony completed
1827 - death
That is just a very abbreviated bit of a timeline, but it illustrates that Beethoven had been playing and composing long before he even started to go deaf. Furthermore, whatever caused his deafness was not sudden; it took him almost 20 years to completely lose his hearing.
Any composer gets his or her musical ideas from somewhere. I imagine, not being a composer myself, they come to them in their heads, much like I am writing this sentence now. If Beethoven was hearing melodies in his head, and had already been playing piano, violin, and viola for several years, and even been composing for several years, it's not stretching the imagination too far to say he could probably translate what he heard in his head onto paper, so someone else could recreate it.
The only step Beethoven was missing (in his later years, after he'd gone completely deaf), was listening to that recreation, and verifying it matched what he heard in his head. Had he been a new composer, this most likely would have been a great obstacle. But he had been composing for several years, so he could probably reliably reproduce what he wanted to.
A further point is that most of Beethoven's compositions were from earlier in his life, when he could still hear. Later in his life, he had several family and health issues, several dry periods in which he did not compose, and really did not have the same output he had in his earlier years.
So really, Beethoven's reputation of being "the deaf composer" might be almost a misnomer. Yes, he did go deaf later in life, but most of his compositions were written while he could still hear.
Happy Playing!
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