h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ideas for an entry on how to practise musical instruments so as to improve your performance.

Initial thoughts:

1. Step lightly.
We know that all musical systems (Kodaly, Suzuki and the rest) say basically the same thing: 'repeat many times'. Yet people don't walk any better, just because they have walked every day for forty years. What is the missing ingredient? You have to *want* to walk better. What positive thoughts will guide you best? Well, think of cycling. Try this next time you are on your bike: instead of pushing harder on the down stroke, lift your rising foot more smartly, so that it puts no weight on the upstroke. Magically, your feet go round faster with no more pressure! What happens to the unthinking, that makes people expend more effort than they need in walking or cycling, can be called 'trudging'. Don't trudge; step lightly.

2. Before you do anything, don't do it.
Practice is wasted if you rehearse your mistakes. Knowing what is likely to go wrong is valuable information, to be exploited, not resented! Leaps or shifts on a string or keyboard instrument are impressive feats (to put it positively; you could say, major problems). They are learned quickly and reliably by the Magic Jump: as follows --
1. Play the note before the leap.
2. Leap instantly to the position ready to strike the note after.
3. Do not play that note.
The third step is counterintuitive, but essential. Step 1 and step 2 gradually merge into a single motion; that is the goal. Expect many surprises; there are often loops of unnecessary behaviour to be eliminated. Also expect magical improvement, almost immediately.

3. Look outwards
Music begins and ends in communication; being note-perfect is the first step, not the last. Where you cast your eyes is a surprisingly potent consideration. (Footnote: the great harpsichordist Couperin said "when you play, keep your eyes constantly on your audience, as though you were occupied with nothing else".) When you are practising, look at an object (a lamp, window or picture will do) and play *to* that. If this trips you up, you have another valuable piece of information (see paragraph 2). An attractive feature of excellent players is the way they seem to be aware of all that is happening in a room; deep introspection is a mood valued for its rarity.

4. Speed kills
Swiftness is impressive, but it cannot be forced. It will happen spontaneously as a result of smoothness. Practising fast notes fast is courting accidents.

More thoughts please

Wow, what a can of worms you have opened here!
And where to start?
I play the fiddle, aka violin, and so can only give info on that.
There are a number of aspects to be considered when practising.
The first is comfort. There is no point my practising if I am not in comfortable surroundings.
1) Check that there is sufficient light, and that it is not affecting sight of the music.
2) Am I practising seated or standing?
a) If seated, is my chair/stool at the right height?
b) Whether seated or standing, do I have an unimpeded area around me? Is there anything that is going to restrict my movement?
c) Do I feel comfortable, or would a better position benefit me?
3) Do I feel relaxed and comfortable? Have I had a spot of physical exercise before practising? Have I eaten?
4) Before playing any practice piece, have I run through my scales and arpeggios? Have I any Etudes to run through as warm-up pieces before serious practice starts?
5) Have I allowed enough time to practice?
6) Have any distractions been removed? Is the phone off? The cat put out? The partner out shopping? etc>
7) Am I familiar with the piece? If not can I source it via a CD, so I have an idea of its structure, chording and format etc.?
8) If I am unfamiliar with it, do I understand the key signature and s eed of the piece?
9) Do I need to break the piece down into convenient chunks?
10) I can now practise, repeating the shorter pieces as often as necessary, at a slow speed initially, and then build up until I am at the indicated speed. I do not adapt the tune until I am note perfect.




If I think of anything else.....I'll be Bach!!!!!!

Thank you 'Mazin! I always assumed you were a folk-style fiddler, but that list of yours rejigs my portrait: I see you play both classical and non. (Classical-only players are less bothered with considerations like 'chording'. It is possible to become a good classical player and remain innocent of structural questions; almost like Milton's wife, whom he taught to read but not understand Latin.)

What's your ideal answer to "Have I eaten?" -- do you practise hungry or sleepy? (That gives away my answer)

Actually you give me more detail than I would favour for the Entry; I like to make them as short as I can. That may be hard to achieve here; let's see.

Another thing is to know when to walk away and stop practising. I'm a bassoon player, so nothing hampers a practice session like uncooperative reeds. When that happens, there's no way I can play up to my usual standards and I'll end up frustrated and unhappy for the rest of the day because things weren't going well.
So the point of that is not to be afraid to put your instrument down if things just aren't going well and pick it up at a later (but not too much later) point when you're feeling better.

Little and often is the best way. As one music teacher told me, "5 minutes a day is more effective than half-an-hour once a week." Of course, you need more than 5 minutes practise a day to really get anywhere, but it's the basic principle that's important here.

Thank you both. Good points. It might be worth mentioning that you do not have any moral duty towards a piece of wood or metal; a lot of people have anxiety about not doing enough practice. Cheerful players realise that however much they do, it could have been more. We need to be happy with the way things are, while looking forward to how they will be next time.

My lodger, who plays guitar somewhat more seriously than I do, practises for very long sessions, working out songs, writting tunes, orchastrating for the other guitar, harmonica and banjo player in his group One of the keys to practise is, once you know the technique, is to practise it for hour apon hour, increaseing speed, precision and famularity of the technique in the particular tune/piece. I think he gets in fifteen hours practise most weeks... useually in four or so large sessions, and a few shorter ones... they are ment to be off gigging somewhere in continental Europe sometime soon...

Ah. A professional.

Me, I'm mainly a teacher. My remarks are directed to the amateur, as the pro *knows* where his money is coming from.

That reminds me of the words of Bing Crosby; he said he never performed a song publicly until he had practised it so much that the thought of it made him feel physically ill.

A bit like Douglas Adams's cure for writer's block: stare at a blank page until the blood comes out through your forehead.

He's kind of semi professional; got a day job, which takes up most of his time, does a couple of gigs locally most weeks, for free/beer, and a few paid gigs for particular ocasions, such as garden partys, peoples birthdays etc... But he's always taken it seriously, far more seriously than i've the will power to do

Will power has a lot in common with imagination . . .

As you rightly guessed, I am a Folk Fiddler, although I did learn Classically, from the age of 7 to 18, reaching Grade 6 (London Board) but failing Grade 5 theory, so was unable to claim it. Subsequently went off the boil, until I continued Folk after College. I have been with my current band for 17 years, and have not practised to any degree in that time. However most folk music is very formulaic, and so can be picked up reasonably well after playing the tune through twice (usually 2x 32 bars).
Having said that, I do know that if I had to play a concert piece, it would take a fair while to get back to a reasonable quality of playing.
One thing i have found is familiarity with the instrument. On Burn's Night I was playing a Jewish tune (don't ask) that I had never played but knew and kept up with the Pianist reasonably well. This is where Scales and Arpeggios come in. Also playing Folk, I can anticipate what note is coming next, and rarely get it wrong. Although anything in b (flat) keys is a to a Fiddler.
The one thing I would advise, is that anyone who studies a melody instrument, like myself, should learn the basics of something like the Piano, if only to understand Chording and structure. Failing my Music Theory brought my Classical playing to an abrupt end, and my Music 'O' level was Fine, that was F for Fine....oh! I've looked again and it is fail. (Note to self. Must get new Specs)The Music Structure let me down.

I'm not a musician so feel free to shout me down if you like but I have some anecdotes...

From my time working as a volunteer (general dogsbody) with the Jazz festival here in Brum I know a lot of musicians - of varying degrees of professionalism and abilities (so long as they have fun on stage, that's what pulls in most people in the audience!)

I have a friend, first class degree, classical clarinetist, spent a long time as a jobbing session sax player - retired from the game now (anything can become 'just a job' after too long) though still helping out mates when he can for a laugh - fantastic player, though hardly practicises at all now, he's fallen out of love with it on the whole and doesn't really need to for what he does nowadays.

There's a young jive band, Scientologists, who as part of their system of beliefs, believe they're perfect and don't need to practice...I'm sorry guys, much as I like you, it shows!

There's also a Cajun band I know who, in the run up to recording an album, practice but don't practice together - consequently their albums have an edge to them as they're each discovering the tricks the others are playing on them and reacting to them that you only usually get at live gigs.

Well MadFiddler and daSilva, that's a bunch of great topics you're opening up! Two more Entries at least.

MadF -- I kinda suspected but didn't like to say, your practising days are somewhere remote; looked more like a wish list than a description of what goes on and works well. No disrespect. The counterexample is Stephane Grapelli (for one) who claimed never to have practised: he did it all in public. When Yehudi Menuhin jammed along with him, he forebore to practise, in order to be on an equal footing. Bad move. It is the most embarrassing thing to me to hear the results, as the 'plays-by-ear' part of me laughs at the awkwardness of Menuhin and the 'knows-the-score' part of me is mortified.

To put myself in context I learnt the ukulele first at the age of five, going on to guitar at ten. I learnt it from an older cousin on holidays; he had no pretensions but knew some chords and songs. From eight I took piano lessons but never learnt to play the piano; I did however get a taste for theory and passed my Grade five theory with full marks. So I come to the subject from both sides (now) and this is reflected in my Entry on The Trhee Ages of Music: A1921114

DaSilva (how did it go in the 2004 nude calendar? I got out just in time it seems; she wanted you to carve me up) -- the Scientologists (band not religion) have the support of Robert Pirsig who wrote in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" that the way to paint the perfect picture is to make yourself perfect, then paint. Maybe believing you have done it is not quite as good as doing it, though.

The Cajun band sounds more interesting; and yet . . . I ran a barbershop quartet for about five years, and we got better, not worse, as we became familiar with each other; same goes for any classical ensemble. It could be a difference in 'what it is you are putting on show': the product or the process. The latter looks more difficult, but could be the more exciting way when you really do it.

The calender went well, my laid back friend All ready to roll and yes, a suitable replacement was found

I haved no trouble with people who have an unshakeable self belief (I could name the bands but I'm no sure whether (a) that would be nice or (b) what the legal position would be) however the fact that they barely improve compared with other jive bands the festival supports who go from strength to strength leads me to think it doesn't quite work in practice

As for the Cajun band - a UK outfit, by the way, noted as one of the best live Cajun acts in the world if you're a fan of the more modern 'swamp rock' style - they do practice/play together regularly but do a lot of solo practice on the run up to recording an album...keeps it fresh, gives an almost live edge to it as they try and tie each other up in knots

I kept you in the calendar as sword-bait, Recumbentman

Oh, and proof that doin' it doggrel-style works - my crummy poems have just landed me 4 return flights to London! Woohoo!

Well done LS!

I was trying to keep in his good books!

One of the best ways to practise is to get yourself a couple of gigs, then you find you have to play for a couple of hours, but you will get small breaks in between where someone else is doing a solo. Another way is to get a small child and teach then how to play, you end up playing loads more than you normally would (and its usually easy!) I'm really bad, I haven't practised for ages and it seems the longer I leave it the harder it is to get back again. Maybe I'll feel really guilty about this now and go home tonight and practise.

I've found that writing my own music (and I do mean writing it down properly!) does wonders for my sight-reading

Good points Happy and Lucky. (Where's Sneezy?)

Nothing concentrates the mind better than going on stage. As a teacher you get results off the top of the graph when you teach an actor to play a tune onstage. Total concentration -- one tune, nothing else, theory can go and take a running jump at itself . . .

My teaching career began with being offered a spot in my school concert. I put together a band called The Beatroots; it was 1963 and I was 15. I taught my best friend to play guitar from scratch in one term: I Saw Her Standing There, Maria Elena, All My Loving. I played bass, except in Maria Elena, an instrumental in which I played lead. We added a pickup to my acoustic guitar and hired an electric bass and an amp/speaker. It arrived the day before the concert. We didn't sleep much. We were fab.

Somehow my teaching since then, though successful enough, has been tinged with a feeling of anti-climax.