Jonathan Harnum's Blog, page 53

Learning to Practice

Dorado Schmitt and his sons.      (Photo: Melody Breaker)

Few musicians I’ve talked to have ever been taught how to practice. We’ve all been pretty much on our own. When teachers do influence us, it’s by making reasonable and very specific demands that make it clear exactly what is to be practiced if not exactly how to go about it. Great teachers also tend to tell you what’s wrong, see if you can make the change on your own, and if you can’t, eventually step in and show you how to play something. Finaly, if that fails, a great teacher will show you even more specifically until you get it.

Learning by example is a powerful tool when it comes to practice. It’s one of the reasons the apprenticeship model is probably the best way to learn music. One-on-one, just you and a teacher. If you’re in a large ensemble, there is none of the one-on-one attention and feedback that’s necessary to get better quickly. I say quickly, but it’s still a slow process, just more fast than it would be without interaction with a good teacher.

I’d like to share this old video with you that documents Gypsy guitarist (and fiddler! I hand no idea) Dorado Schmitt teaching his son, Samson, who looks to be around 10 in this video. They’re playing one of Django’s solos over his tune Minor Swing, no small feat. It’s a great example of teaching and learning for many reasons. First of all, Dorado’s feedback is immediate, and without emotion. Very matter-of-fact. His verbal feedback consists of two words, more or less: No, and Voilà. Dorado doesn’t let any error pass by without stopping to correct it, and the cool thing is that he usually says nothing beyond that first, “No.” He shows Samson the correct way to play it and lets him figure out where the mistake occurs. Sometimes he’ll emphasize a note or three and only once does he actually move Samson’s fingers to the right spot. In a couple shots you can see Samson bear down, his brow furrowing as he concentrates.

A golden moment for me is at 2:35, where Samson plays the most difficult and complicated run of the clip, absolutely nails it, and gets a smile and a “Voilà,” from his dad as they continue without a break. You can tell Samson had spent a great deal of time mastering that lick, and his dad new it, and when he nailed it, that little word of praise was perfectly delivered.

After the clip of the lesson is one of Samson all grown up, playing with his  son, Amati, who is ripping it up on guitar.

And below is Samson as an adult with his son, Amati:

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Mr. Bean’s Imaginary Drum Set, or, Mental Practice

(Photo credit: RelaxingMusic)

My college trumpet teacher, George Recker, used to say, “If you can’t sing it, you can’t play it.” He was referring to how vitally important it is to be able to hear the music you’re trying to make, and the best way to test whether you can hear it is to sing it, because when you sing, you aren’t relying on the technology of the instrument to find the notes, you have to find them yourself. Singing is one of the techniques that veteran practicers use. Not only singing, but chanting or clapping or tapping rhythms, and a host of other activities. Several professional musicians I’ve interviewed about practice for The Practice of Practice say meditation is one of the best things you can do for your music. Science research is showing that meditation has lots of benefits. We’ll save that for another post.

As a lifeguard during  boring lap swims when swimmers simply splash up and down the lanes, I’d practice all my major scale fingerings and patterns, softly singing the solfege syllables that went along with them. [FYI, the solfege for the major scale is do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do (Yes, Sound of Music stuff)]. This is just one kind of mental practice. Tuba master Rex Martin hears–in his mind’s ear–a sound that he says is better than he’s capable of playing, and he strives to reach that ideal he hears in his head.

You’d be right if you thought musicians and artists and athletes and all other experts have known about this (and used it) for a long time. Published studies into mental practice go way back to 1892. A 1985 study of college trombonists (Ross) measured improvement on a piece of music after using 5 different practice methods: regular practice, mental practice only, both regular and mental practice, mental practice with moving the slide, and no practice at all.Everyone improved (even the ones who didn’t practice at all were marginally better the 2nd time around). Those who improved the most were the ones who combined physical and mental practice.

So what is mental practice? Another paper by McPherson and Zimmerman showed that successful musicians used mental practice strategies like chanting rhythms, singing parts, counting, fingering silently (though I would add that you should hear the music in your head while fingering), and especially isolating difficult or problem sections to practice mentally.

Here’s Rowan Atkinson with a pretty funny skit. It’s like he’s mentally practicing drums, and we get to hear what he’s hearing inside his head to hilarious results. Enjoy, and use this to remind you to inject mental practice into your own practice routine.

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McPherson, G. E., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Self-regulation of musical learning: A social cognitive perspective. In R. Colwell & C. Richardson (Eds.), The new handbook of research on music teaching and learning (pp. 327-347). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ross, S. L. (1985). The effectiveness of mental practice in improving the performance of college trombonists. Journal of Research in Music Education, 33(221-230).

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The Zen of Alan Watts + South Park Animation + Music

Below is an interesting, truthful talk from Zen master Alan Watts, animated by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the wacky creators of South Park and other hilarities. What I love about the talk is that Watts not only invokes music, but is also justifiably critical of our education system, and our way of engaging with the world. Watt’s talk reminded me of Sir Ken Robinson’s talk about how schools kill creativity. Watt’s talk below, is shorter. It’s worth 2 minutes 20 seconds of your time, for sure.

Robinson’s talk is around 18 minutes, but is both funny and painfully true. Robinson has also written some great books.

Have a Plan, Man! (Axiom Brass)

[image error]This ain’t your momma’s brass quintet (vid below). They play contemporary stuff and a great example is a cool section in Anders Hillborg’s Quintet that sounds like a backwards recording. One of my favorite brass ensemble pieces in recent years is the Pacquito d’Rivera’s Three Pieces for Brass Quintet, especially Wapango. Visit their web site to catch that Hillborg clip, or just spend a dollar to buy the mp3. Better yet, get the album, New Standards.

In addition to being superb players, they have an educational agenda. Here’s some great practice advice from Axiom. It’s a pretty simple practice technique that 99% of the professional musicians I’ve interviewed use and endorse. Here’s the advice:

Organize your practicing! Before you pick up your instrument, write down your goals for that specific practicing session. Try to be as clear as possible with what you want to accomplish. After you decide what you want, plan how to achieve these goals. For instance, if you are working on a solo, before you start practicing the solo for the day, figure out what sections need your attention, and what kind of work they need. Finally, map out the way to best work on these sections. Don’t forget to be very patient while you are executing your plan. As Vincent DiMartino once told me, there are two Ps for successful practicing. Planning and Patience.

Axiom Brass is a superb brass quintet out of Chicago, all of whom are top-notch players in their own right. Axiom Brass’s ensemble playing is precise and expressive. You’ve got to check them out. They’ve also got an educational bent. Right now they’re planning (and fundraising!) for a “Music For All” program that will reach 2,000 Chicagoland students and over 1,000 adults. Help them out! From their website

Axiom Brass has launched a fundraiser campaign to support our “Music for All” program.  In 2013, “Music for all” is set out to reach 20000 students in the Chicagoland area as well as over 1000 adults.  By helping fund the campaign, you are making it possible for us to produce 40 educational concerts and 2 recitals.  All of these concerts will be free to the students, teachers and general public.  These educational concerts will also include preparation and follow-up materials for teachers and students to maximize their learning and enjoyment of the music.

To help us fund the program, please make a donation to our campaign.  You can also help us a great deal by promoting our campaign with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or via email.  (Axiom Brass on Facebook, Twitter)

Here is a video of Axiom Brass doing a beautiful arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter, because even though it’s March, it’s gray outside and 28 degrees in Chicago. A gorgeous rendition with superb control and wonderful intonation. Those who play music will appreciate the difficulty of this tune and how well Axiom pulls it off. Nice!

Axiom Brass is:

Dorival Puccini, Jr., trumpet

Colin Oldberg, trumpet

Matthew Oliphant, horn

Caleb Lambert, trombone

Kevin Harrison, tuba

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Colin Oldberg, Axiom Brass trumpeter, spoke to me about practice when he was principal trumpet in the Hong Kong Symphony.
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Be Bold. The Mighty Forces Will Come to Your Aid.

Billy Joel

The title of this post is my favorite quote by Goethe, and the content of the post is from an idol of my youth, Billy Joel, and audacious audience member Michael Pollack who was in the audience at Billy Joel’s talk at Vanderbilt University.

Taking risks is a great thing to do, but you should be absolutely positive you’re up to the task in a situation like this one. In other words, take a calculated risk. Don’t take a risk for risk’s sake. Don’t be “that guy” who asks to sit in with the band and can’t hack it. When you need to take serious musical risks, do it in the practice room. That way, if you fail, you can learn from it in private.

In this clip, when Michael Pollack asked Billy Joel if they could play a tune together, the risk clearly wasn’t whether Michael Pollack could play the tune. The risk was in getting turned down. Take risks, by all means, but take the right ones. What does this mean? I have no idea what it means for you, but I know very well what it means for me. Taking risks is synonymous with knowing your strengths and your limits, and maybe pushing your limits a little bit.

Lessons from Skateboarder Adam Miller

Winston Churchill once said, “Success is moving from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm.” Here’s that gem of advice as it might look to skateboarder Adam Miller.

Adam Miller posted many shots of his failed attempts to land a trick (it’s both cringe-inducing and hard to look away). After that is a short vid showing the fruits of his persistence and the harnessing of all that “failure” and making it work.

We are creatures of the present moment. All other moments are either memory or speculation, and this makes it difficult to perceive all the work and “failure” that goes into a great performance, whether it’s a musical one, an artist on a skateboard, or a parent raising a child. “Talent” is hard work, attention and circumstance, but hidden from sight.

Also, we can be glad that when we botch something in music, we don’t risk breaking an ankle, or landing crotch-first on a railing.

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