I am working on Vol II of the Tone Perception Visualized series documenting early development of my technique for visualizing my perception of several musical elements. The subject of Vol II is Schumann's Waldszenen, a late cycle for solo piano. As the efficacy of the method relies a process, its sense is revealed in the doing.
I set out to make a third (perhaps fourth) visualization of Eintritt (Entry), the cycle's opening. Since first working on this music in 1993 I have played it repeatedly and am now preparing to perform it when the book comes out.
It is unbelievable how lazy the ear becomes when faced with detail that borders on the incomprehensible. Why such deviations in articulation? Why such inconsistency of phrase length?
How much I miss in the pursuit of a musical common sense that this music seems to exist to transcend.
A few weeks my son found 3 other natural hornists and we gathered some men's voices to read another late work of Schumann: Jagdbevier. Since experiencing that highly graphic setting of the forest as scene of a primordial meeting of man with nature, of dark with dawn, of danger with conquest, I find throughout this piano piece references to hidden horn calls, to wanderings as if in a musical half light in which connections are unclear and the imagination must take over.
A work of great genius.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Internal Rhythms - Never Enough
Variations provide the ultimate source of rhythmic activity. I strive to be as active as they are. I want my brain activity to match theirs.
This requires me to stop restricting the number of musical events to which I respond at any given moment. Do not count - that is the first musical commandment!
Do not identify sounds - every satisfying sound is made up of so many variable components that, as soon as you identify that sound, you have probably killed off any chance of dealing with its many aspects.
Contrary to accepted wisdom on piano playing, I do not teach my students any theory whatsoever. Result: Those who react to sound never tire of it. What music do they love most? The music that makes the most imaginative use of sound: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok - can't beat it.
This requires me to stop restricting the number of musical events to which I respond at any given moment. Do not count - that is the first musical commandment!
Do not identify sounds - every satisfying sound is made up of so many variable components that, as soon as you identify that sound, you have probably killed off any chance of dealing with its many aspects.
Contrary to accepted wisdom on piano playing, I do not teach my students any theory whatsoever. Result: Those who react to sound never tire of it. What music do they love most? The music that makes the most imaginative use of sound: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok - can't beat it.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Lost Chords
Last night hearing my daughter's remarkable piano improvisation, I was struck by the power of listening to beautiful sounds that I could not identify--not that I need to identify the sounds I hear, but that these sounds were coming straight from the gut, as it were.
She has never learned music theory. She knows what she knows by listening. I dream about those chords. They are not incidental to her music, but integral to every mood, every transition, every state. Where does she get them?
Try looking at 32,000 vibrating hair cells and you may find that we base most of our music training and conceptualization on vast over-simplifications. It takes a master like Rachelle to unlock the gates. I have no hesitation referring to her as a master, even though she is my daughter. I go every month to hear her. Though it is a trek I wouldn't miss it for the world.
She has never learned music theory. She knows what she knows by listening. I dream about those chords. They are not incidental to her music, but integral to every mood, every transition, every state. Where does she get them?
Try looking at 32,000 vibrating hair cells and you may find that we base most of our music training and conceptualization on vast over-simplifications. It takes a master like Rachelle to unlock the gates. I have no hesitation referring to her as a master, even though she is my daughter. I go every month to hear her. Though it is a trek I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Competition vs. Social Learning Theory
Piano teachers rely on competition or some form of adjudicated performance to motivate their students to practice. There is another, better way.
When the environment of learning is not competitive or adjudicated the standard rises because each student is at liberty to observe fully what the other students, and what the teacher, is actually doing--not only in their playing, but in their approach, their involvement, their motivation.
I have found that these unspecified elements carry far greater weight in that they inhabit the very person of each child, motivating them to achieve far greater levels than any I might set for them.
The other beauty of this is that it is inclusive of learners with disability as well as more typical children.
Teaching this way, learning this way, is based on a fundamental skill, routinely overlooked in music pedagogy: listening (not the same as ear training).
Music Inside and Out is what this is all about.
When the environment of learning is not competitive or adjudicated the standard rises because each student is at liberty to observe fully what the other students, and what the teacher, is actually doing--not only in their playing, but in their approach, their involvement, their motivation.
I have found that these unspecified elements carry far greater weight in that they inhabit the very person of each child, motivating them to achieve far greater levels than any I might set for them.
The other beauty of this is that it is inclusive of learners with disability as well as more typical children.
Teaching this way, learning this way, is based on a fundamental skill, routinely overlooked in music pedagogy: listening (not the same as ear training).
Music Inside and Out is what this is all about.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Support the Blog
A friendly reminder: But now supporting the blog is a tax-deductible gift. Go to www.tonalrefraction.com, click on the Fractured Atlas button and there it is.
I give this blog to whoever reads it, and lots of people apparently do,: over 21,000 hits since it began. Remember "Ten cents a dance"? Well, ten cents a hit would be a meaningful boost to the life and work of this dedicated blogger.
Thank you!
I give this blog to whoever reads it, and lots of people apparently do,: over 21,000 hits since it began. Remember "Ten cents a dance"? Well, ten cents a hit would be a meaningful boost to the life and work of this dedicated blogger.
Thank you!
More on Musicians and Piano Recitals
The other day I wrote about the disconnect between pianists and the vibrations they are confronted with when they have to deal with an instrument they do not regularly play. There is another kind of disconnect, just as communicable.
The temptation is great to learn the notes without connecting them. This can be done two ways:
By memorizing the notes as written--beats, barlines, and all, adding up to the correct number of beats and subdivisions, nice and tidy.
By memorizing the piece as commonly played, in effect rewinding a music box.
The connection between the notes has to be made in the mind of the player, otherwise it does not exist. For me the clue that I am not connecting them is boredom. When I am bored I am missing the essence of whatever passage I am playing. Then I have to confront the problem.
Often the solution is troubling as it challenges the beats-and-barlines approach to tidy pianism. But, however dangerous, it is so much more fun!
The temptation is great to learn the notes without connecting them. This can be done two ways:
By memorizing the notes as written--beats, barlines, and all, adding up to the correct number of beats and subdivisions, nice and tidy.
By memorizing the piece as commonly played, in effect rewinding a music box.
The connection between the notes has to be made in the mind of the player, otherwise it does not exist. For me the clue that I am not connecting them is boredom. When I am bored I am missing the essence of whatever passage I am playing. Then I have to confront the problem.
Often the solution is troubling as it challenges the beats-and-barlines approach to tidy pianism. But, however dangerous, it is so much more fun!
Sunday, February 9, 2014
A Plaid Piano Lesson
The other day I read, for the first time, an essay written by a young woman, then in high school, about her piano lessons with me when she was ten.
I laughed aloud at the first paragraph, in which she recounted my comparing the acoustical effect of interacting tones to the different colored strands of wool intersecting in her plaid skirt. I laughed because I do this all the time: i.e., I compare acoustical effects to the effects of color, weave, or fabric design in a student's garments. (I have long known that, if I were not a pianist, I would be a fabric designer as, in a way, I am, when on the subway I craft my String Improvisations.)
But she went on to describe in detail her reaction to this, which was far more complicated. She feared that I was condescending to a level of perception and awareness that, though very real to a child, is not customarily made central in a learning process. I have thought about this ever since reading her essay.
Sound is extremely confusing because it is so variable. Therefore, our perception of it must also be confusing as it, too, is subject to variables. So I start with a visual gateway to perceptual awareness; alternatively sometimes with taste--a favorite food, perhaps, or a not-so-favorite one.
Plaids are terrific if you want to observe color variability.
I laughed aloud at the first paragraph, in which she recounted my comparing the acoustical effect of interacting tones to the different colored strands of wool intersecting in her plaid skirt. I laughed because I do this all the time: i.e., I compare acoustical effects to the effects of color, weave, or fabric design in a student's garments. (I have long known that, if I were not a pianist, I would be a fabric designer as, in a way, I am, when on the subway I craft my String Improvisations.)
But she went on to describe in detail her reaction to this, which was far more complicated. She feared that I was condescending to a level of perception and awareness that, though very real to a child, is not customarily made central in a learning process. I have thought about this ever since reading her essay.
Sound is extremely confusing because it is so variable. Therefore, our perception of it must also be confusing as it, too, is subject to variables. So I start with a visual gateway to perceptual awareness; alternatively sometimes with taste--a favorite food, perhaps, or a not-so-favorite one.
Plaids are terrific if you want to observe color variability.
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