I play 'cello, and I don't really do the dance music on it, because it's a bit big to get around fast, and I need to change position more than a fiddler would to play the same tune. Anyway, I was at a session a while ago, and I heard a tune I knew - Calliope House - and found myself playing along, and I DID IT! Pretty much got all the notes, up to speed, and I'd never played it before. But I can easily imagine myself *practising* this tune for ages, and not playing it anwhere near as well.
I'm basically wondering what the role of practise really is. I reckon it's necessary to have times where you sit and work things out, and think about how you play. But the whole "flow" thing seems to be missing from practising, so can you get that to happen when you practise? Maybe we can think to much about how we play, rather than just trusting our abilities that we've learned through hours of practise? Whadya reckon?
Jonathan, there's all kinds of musicians, some practice and some don't. I prefer to think of practice as play time. The late great Russian pianist Horovitz said (in an interview with Time magazine) that if you practice too much, then you'll end up practicing in front of the audience too. This, coming from a man who was not only a perfectionist but pretty darn close to a perfect player too, caught my attention.
I think the need to do formal practice decreases as your ability with the instrument progresses. Right now i still need to work on rolls a lot, and i try to practice rolls at least 10 minutes every day. Hopefully, one day the fingers will learn and i won't need to practice that anymore.
On the other hand, one of the rules of faith of the French flute school is that "every musical problem has a technical solution, and every technical problem has a musical solution", so they paired repertory pieces (musical) with technical etudes. They tend to have very well planned out practice sessions with scales, etudes and repertory. I don't do it this way, i pretty much concentrate on playing music, but keep in mind that the French school produced some of the greatest musicians ever and i'm just an average amateur, so you're probably asking the wrong guy.
I remember reading liner notes of an album with Yitzhak Perlman and Stefan Grapelli, where Perlman is "complaining" that Grapelli has that gourgeous tone, "and he never practices".
Whether you see it as practice or not, the amount of "flight time" you log with your instrument is important. Both quantity and quality of time are important. Whatever you do, if you enjoy your time with your instrument, you will have a better chance of passing this joy on to your listeners.
Thinking to much . . .
Thinking to much . . .
I play 'cello, and I don't really do the dance music on it, because it's a bit big to get around fast, and I need to change position more than a fiddler would to play the same tune. Anyway, I was at a session a while ago, and I heard a tune I knew - Calliope House - and found myself playing along, and I DID IT! Pretty much got all the notes, up to speed, and I'd never played it before. But I can easily imagine myself *practising* this tune for ages, and not playing it anwhere near as well.
I'm basically wondering what the role of practise really is. I reckon it's necessary to have times where you sit and work things out, and think about how you play. But the whole "flow" thing seems to be missing from practising, so can you get that to happen when you practise? Maybe we can think to much about how we play, rather than just trusting our abilities that we've learned through hours of practise? Whadya reckon?
Jonathan
# Posted on September 5th 2002 by Jonathan
Re: Thinking to much . . .
Jonathan, there's all kinds of musicians, some practice and some don't. I prefer to think of practice as play time. The late great Russian pianist Horovitz said (in an interview with Time magazine) that if you practice too much, then you'll end up practicing in front of the audience too. This, coming from a man who was not only a perfectionist but pretty darn close to a perfect player too, caught my attention.
I think the need to do formal practice decreases as your ability with the instrument progresses. Right now i still need to work on rolls a lot, and i try to practice rolls at least 10 minutes every day. Hopefully, one day the fingers will learn and i won't need to practice that anymore.
On the other hand, one of the rules of faith of the French flute school is that "every musical problem has a technical solution, and every technical problem has a musical solution", so they paired repertory pieces (musical) with technical etudes. They tend to have very well planned out practice sessions with scales, etudes and repertory. I don't do it this way, i pretty much concentrate on playing music, but keep in mind that the French school produced some of the greatest musicians ever and i'm just an average amateur, so you're probably asking the wrong guy.
I remember reading liner notes of an album with Yitzhak Perlman and Stefan Grapelli, where Perlman is "complaining" that Grapelli has that gourgeous tone, "and he never practices".
Whether you see it as practice or not, the amount of "flight time" you log with your instrument is important. Both quantity and quality of time are important. Whatever you do, if you enjoy your time with your instrument, you will have a better chance of passing this joy on to your listeners.
# Posted on September 5th 2002 by glauber