Much of this material is based on information in my book, Expressive Singing: Dalcroze Eurhythmics for Voice.

Robert Abramson, the premier Eurhythmics teacher in America for a number of years, has, half-seriously, proposed writing a book titled Reading Music Will Kill Your Soul ! Perhaps the sequel could be: Practicing Can Kill Your Soul .  We form our feelings and concepts about music and develop our technique in the practice room, yet much of our practice is undirected and boring. This is partly a result of thinking that repetition–also known as learning by rote–is the only way to learn.
Throughout my years of teaching, I have often had students bring literature into their lessons and proclaim, “I hate this piece. It’s boring!” When I ask how they are practicing, they respond, “I just go over and over it until I pound it into my head!” The problem is not that the piece is boring, but that they are using unproductive, boring ways to practice.
Our brains are “wired” so that after approximately two exact repetitions, our attention begins to wander. Notice I wrote “exact repetitions;” this is because any deliberate change in a pattern will increase attention. Our brains are wondrous, quick creations, yet we tend to treat them as if they were slow lethargic masses between our ears. Rote practice has the effect of slowing our learning; during a given practice period, the more we practice by rote, the less we learn. Changing our practice by setting tasks that demand our attention will turn drudgery into interest. Practice can become challenging and exhilarating. [1]
The Principles that follow are some of the most basic in organizing and energizing your, and your students’, practicing.

Principle: we learn quicker when we are proactive.
Proactive behavior puts us in charge of our practice and learning. Proactive behavior allows us to interact with the score rather than simply reacting; when the composer, for example, indicates forte, we can question why and experiment with different levels of forte.

Principle: get away from the score as quickly as possible.
Looking at a score too long makes us “eye-bound”. This means the eyes take in the information which then passes through the mouth or fingers without being heard    or remembered. [2] Nothing is internalized.

Principle: there are three learning modes: auditory, kinesthetic, visual. It is important to learn music using all three.
To effectively learn a score, we need to learn it in as many ways as possible. This prevents the type of memory lapses that occur when we only know the score in    one way. Pianists, for example, can experience memory problems if they rely on muscle memory to perform. Any variation or distraction can interrupt the patterns    the muscles are following and lead to instant “memory” problems.

Principle: setting goals will help organize practice time .
Having specific objectives when entering the practice room will quickly organize the practice time. Far too often, practice consists of little more than “running    through the pieces,” and is almost certain to either create intellectual boredom. When it comes to learning music, the wandering mind remembers very little.

When setting goals, we work better when the goals are specific. “I’m going to learn all my music,” is too general a goal. “By the end of this practice session, I want    to be able to play (sing) composition Y,” is much more specific. One outcome of setting specific practice goals is that I can leave the practice room feeling as if I have    accomplished something, rather than leaving with the feeling of “spinning my wheels” and simply “running through the music.”

Principle: applying the performer controls early is important.
The Performer Controls are dynamics, tempo, and articulation. Applying them early in the learning process encourages proactivity as we move through the early    learning stages. Using the Performer Controls also stimulates the affective response and generates creative curiosity. It is quite easy to become mechanical as we    struggle with the score unless we continuously search for ways to keep the creative “juices” flowing.

Principle: forming a gestalt early in the learning process will provide a sense of direction while dealing with small details.
” Gestalt” is a German term meaning “form” or “shape.” Rather like working a puzzle, finding the framework makes it easier to begin placing the myriad other    pieces; by grasping the form (e.g., ABA, or strophic) early we can more easily fit the parts of the musical puzzle together. The gestalt process also encourages the    use of metaphors as a means of developing the affective colors of a piece. This process is sometimes referred to as “holistic.”

The ideas above give a conceptual foundation to practicing, and is in no way a complete review of the possibilities when we put our imaginations to work during the practicing process. What else can you add to the ideas above? Write me at caldwell@jtimothycaldwell.net and let me know.

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Footnotes

 

If you happen to be teaching, then you probably know that you will often need to teach the students how and what to practice. I consider the first year a student works with me to be primarily directed to assessing, developing, and improving practice skills. Some come to me with excellent practice habits, but most do not. I have arrived at the assumption that how and what I want the student to practice must first be taught in the studio. Consider making the same assumption about your students.

This term was created by Dr. James Froseth, Head of Music Education, University of Michigan.

“The concepts that govern our thought are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details….the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.” Lakeoff, p. 3.