Welcome
to June’s issue of Studio News.Welcome
to this month’s new studio family members, it’s good to have you.I am so excited about everyone’s learning and potential.
In this issue we will look at the process of learning a new piece of music, and
the differences between sight-reading, lesson pieces and performance
pieces. Mikaela is the student of the month - well done! The
composer to whom we will be introduced is Schumann, a Romantic, who was born in
early June, almost 200 years ago.
Business
Matters
The public school holidays, end of term 2, are approaching.I believe that it is important to continue lessons throughout holiday
periods, whenever possible.A break
in lessons can result in forgotten learning.My hope is that each student would like at least one lesson during the
holidays.Extra or longer lessons can also be organised if students
would like to spend part of the holidays developing their music skills.
Thank
you for the supportive responses to the planned recital later in the year.Feedback to date makes it apparent that October would be the best month;
the actual date looks like it might be Saturday 21st or 28th
October.The
date is yet to be confirmed and high school exams might yet push this further
back.
I
would very much like all students and at least one family member (as a support)
to be available for this performance.It is an extremely valuable learning experience for students, and the
intention is to have fun playing together – a ‘playing party’ – rather
than to feel under pressure for ‘perfection’.It is natural that performers will be nervous – and learning to manage
these feelings to be able to share music with others is an important part of
learning to play.Hearing others play is also fun and valuable.
I
would like all students to begin thinking about what they would like to play on
the day.Students
might choose a piece not yet started.This option is open until the end of August.It is often a good idea to play something that feels easy, but ambition
is also well rewarded.Where students are progressing through beginner stages, lesson pieces can
provide playing opportunity, and can be chosen a couple of weeks before the
performance.
There
is still time to advise me of any particular date or time that would enable or
prohibit people form participating in this event.If you have any ideas to make the event fun, these are also very welcome.
There
are many similarities between reading music and reading books.Like learning to read a language, you begin with the basic ‘symbols’
(letters/pitch names) and begin to identify them.After a little practice, it is possible to string together a few symbols
to make a word (a combination of sounds that together make more sense than
alone).After
a little more practice, we begin to read phrases (sentences and part sentences);
a little later, we start to make meaning of what we read while reading.
We
also learn to decode words that we have never seen before.Gradually, we read more complex sets of symbols combined in books.A person with reasonable reading skills can pick up many books for the
first time and understand what they are reading.
Sometimes
we come across more difficult writing (such as a complicated legal document).This language is awkward – and if we can manage any reading fluency, we
probably don’t make much sense of the content.Nevertheless, with motivation and work, we could decipher the material
and practice reading until it made sense to us.This is similar to the process of learning to read new music.Even complicated ‘language’ can become familiar and ‘easy’ after
some exposure.
To
improve the rate at which we can read (learning speed-reading), we return to
easier books.We
see how many words we can read accurately within a short period of time, and try
to increase the number of words without losing the accuracy or comprehension.Learning to speed-read makes the reading of everyday material much easier
– we gain the information we need with less work.This process is similar to sight-reading music.By practicing reading easier music with expression (meaning), fluency and
accuracy, we are able to read more difficult music with less effort.This allows us to learn new pieces much more quickly, play popular music
for fun and to participate in other musical activities (e.g. playing with
groups, accompanying other performers).
After the
first six months of learning music, students should begin a sight-reading
programme that involves reading a small amount of unseen music everyday.(Students can begin earlier than this by reading and playing single notes
or steps and skips on flashcards.)Suitable music is usually several stages or grades below the current
learning level (e.g. a student at level 2B can use books they have from the
beginning stage.)Start with very simple material, and only a few bars or one line, and
gradually increase the difficulty over the longer term.(It is exciting to look back and see how much you’ve learnt since then.
When sight-reading music, the aim is accuracy –
playing exactly what is written on the page the first time.The playing probably won’t sound like anything very musical for quite
some time – it’s important to go slowly enough to be accurate.Sight-reading in the early stages involves playing the written note
pitch, soft and loud volumes, counting and the correct hands.In the intermediate stage, we add phrasing, musical expression (different
touch used to contrast between consecutive notes), key/tonality (major/minor)
and speed.In
the later grades, sight-reading also involves knowledge and expression of
musical genres (e.g. different dance forms, anthems, musical images).
A piece used for sight-reading is played once (twice at the most) and then left.We take notice of the sorts of things we misread and focus on these the
next time.Before
reading the next piece, we study the piece, trying to hear it in our minds
before we play it.We look for details (like volume or sharps and flats), especially any we
might have not read well last time.Two important skills gained through sight-reading are increased rate of
deciphering symbols and reading ahead (both create fluency).
Lesson
pieces are like the things we read everyday – they generally give us more
information.Sometimes the purpose
of our reading is enjoyment, but much of our reading simply increases our
knowledge or skill in handling the world around us (e.g. traffic signs, recipe
directions).On the other hand, if
we dislike what we read, we are likely to avoid the process – thus it is
important that students have enjoyment and not just ‘purpose’ behind lesson
pieces.
Lesson
pieces are usually learnt for about 2 weeks in the early stages, and up to a
couple of months in later grades.Sight-reading
skills are relied on for learning the majority of any of these pieces, which do
not target perfection.The selected
pieces each contain one or two new and valuable ideas or skills that students
need to learn.They are the basic
building blocks – how to play with character, what symbols and terms mean, how
composers ‘build’ music that makes sense to listeners, etc.
Analysing
the details of the lesson piece (the same process as sight-reading, but with
more content) and separating the new idea for isolated work is the way to tackle
lesson pieces.Much of the learning
work is done during lessons with the guidance of the teacher. The
idea or skill is grasped during practice at home and the piece is left once the
focus is understood.
These
are the reason we learn and play music!Performance pieces should be chosen (or at least liked) by the student
– work is involved, so the result must be satisfying.
Performance
pieces seem difficult the first time they are seen or played.They can demand a little more technical or reading skill than the student
has developed.This is quite all right, since the process of learning the piece means it
doesn’t all have to be faced at once.In early learning stages, it can take a couple of months to learn one
piece; for a virtuoso player, some pieces take several years.After some time, becoming familiar with the music, the piece no longer
seems difficult – as a result, students can play the piece they long to play,
and equally demanding music doesn’t seem quite so hard.
Learning
a performance piece requires all the skill developed through sight-reading and
lesson pieces – as well as additional study.Top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to get to ‘know’ the
music, starting with an idea of the piece as a whole – “how might it sound
when I can play it properly?”(e.g. listening to others play or recordings) – and meeting the
composer (e.g. “what did the composer mean this piece to sound like?Why did they write it?Do I like how other people play it?”).
Next,
each detail of technique, chord / harmony structure, dynamics, fingering, note
contrast, hand and wrist motion, pitch accuracy, timing, etc is pulled apart one
at a time and worked at for full control before putting the bits of the jig-saw
back together again.True mastery of a performance piece requires more separate hands practice
than together, at least some memory work, changes in speed (too fast and
painfully slow), and working with the most challenging groups of notes before
trying to play the piece as a unit.
Mastering
performance pieces can be a little intimidating – but the process is
worthwhile.There
are exciting leaps forward, when some aspect ‘clicks’ – as well as times
when it doesn’t seem to work.There is no replacement for the satisfaction of really understanding a
piece you are playing – and being convinced that others have sincerely enjoyed
hearing you play!
Robert
Schumann was born in Germany on 8th June, 1810.He is often called the Father of Romantic Period in music, and thought of
as the most important of German Romantic composers.Schumann saw himself as a music reformist and wanted to see music develop
with passion and freedom, instead of with the strict structure that had
previously characterised it.
Schumann began playing
the piano at 7 years of age.He
loved music.At 18 years of age, he
started university – intending to become a lawyer.However, he didn’t apply himself to study.He preferred to play the piano and began writing music instead.He wanted to become a concert pianist.Unfortunately, his career was cut short due to a handinjury
only 4 years later.He made friends
with a group of musicians who played his works and he spent most of his career
composing pieces.Although he could
not play, he had high ambitions for music.
Schumann’s
compositions show two different characteristics – either stormy/passionate or
quiet/reflective (two distinct sides of his personality).All his music has a great depth of feeling and freedom – the Romantic
Style.His piano music includes
some long and technical works for concert performance as well as some shorter
study pieces.His shorter works
include the well-known Papillons and his Album for the Young,
which is a collection of musical pictures about childhood.He also wrote chamber music (for a small group of instruments), four
symphonies, one opera, and choral music.His
work influenced Brahms, another Germancomposer
(see May issue of Studio News).
Schumann
was the son of a book publisher.He
followed his father’s example, founding, editing and publishing a music
journal that is still being produced (Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik).This journal did much to create the good reputation of musicians such as
Chopin and Brahms.
Schumann
ended life tragically in 1856.
Thank
you for reading through another issue of Studio News. I trust it
has been informative and useful.
