The Curse Of A “Deaf Player”. Teach Your Students To Listen And The Playing Will Come Naturally.
"There is no theory, you merely have to listen"
C. Debussy
At times, when I get to hear yet another rendition of a famous classical piece or a well known song I feel like a teenager at a school assembly:”Yeh-Yeh-Yeh, Blah-Blah-Blah, Heard it all before!”
Yet sometimes the performance grabs me and makes me listen how I would listen if I would hear it for the first time.
So what is it that makes the difference?
Magic powers and charisma aside, it is players’ ability to listen to the sounds they are producing and really hear the relationship of musical elements within the piece that gets the audience’s attention.
Of course we must not forget the emotion with which a good player colours every detail of the piece, making a memorable performance. However the player must be able to HEAR and know what they are LISTENING FOR in the first place. Lets face it if the player can’t hear what chance does the audience have?
I am sure every player can remember the sobering experience of hearing their own recording for a first time. There is no words to describe this harrowing experience.
“Do I really sound like this? I thought I was clear with all Fs and Ps, I thought my phasing was marvelous, I thought the voicing was clear! Who is this? It must be the recording equipment!”
Well, of course a lot of it is down to poor recording systems we use for our home recordings but a lot of it is down to the fact that we don’t really hear what we sound like when we play.
As a teacher I strive to teach active listening and see this as my main goal in getting my students to valuate their sound.
To be able to listen actively we need to know what we are listening for.
Here are a few things which usually demand the most attention from my students:
- The balance between the melodic line and accompaniment or melodic lines in case of the counterpoint.
- The shaping of phrases.
- The direction of the melodic line. We all know when the piece sounds static - everything seems to be correct - the pulse, the dynamics, the shaping but it is just seems lifeless. It is a bit like in real life: all is right but we are not going anywhere - we need direction!
- Harmonic changes. We all know when they happen but the beauty is to hear HOW they occur.
- Then there is the articulation. Articulation is absolutely delicious when played well and of course the crème de la crème - the subtle colour of sound. Well, I know I am far from perfect but I try to achieve this too.
- It is important to follow the musical form and build your dynamics accordingly.
- Dynamics particularly have to be adapted to the room we are playing in and aimed to reach right to the back of the room. It all can sound good under our noses but the audience at the back will not get it.
- Did I mentioned the balance? The balance of everything?
Where do I start?
Sometimes I get pupils joining the schools I work in from different musical backgrounds. Some of them come after a long break from taking lessons. Also a new disastrous trend is appearing lately when they teach themselves by copying visual “tutorials” of pop. songs from YouTube.
Start simple by getting them to listen to the long notes - they should’t be “dropped” or “drowned” by other voices. The note which follows the long note must not “shoot out". Technically speaking, every long note gets quieter at the end so the next note has to start with that level of dynamics or it will “shoot” out.
Suspensions are very nice when you get your student to hear how the held tone works with the new chord, I sometimes get them to play suspended tone when I would move to the new chord.
When I want my students to listen to certain things occurring in the piece I often play two versions for them and ask to judge me like the examiner would, they like that - the boot is on another foot.
I am sure my friends and colleagues would be able to come up with more tips like this and list more things worth listening for, but this is what I work on with my pupils and in my own practice. I would be thrilled to get comments on this subject.
I remember my amazement when my teacher showed me one simple exercise: I was to play a four fingered chord and to try to bring out the sound of a different key each time - the root, the third, the fifth and the seventh. Sounds simple but I would never play a chord again without thinking.
I was also taught one very effective way of balancing melodic lines in the counterpoint. Take a pair of melodic lines which you need to play with one hand and divide them between the both hands. Playing these lines like a duet gets you to hear them as an ensemble and this is what you would have to recreate later with one hand.
Teaching to play J.S. Bach is paramount in teaching to listen. My firm belief is that if you will teach your pupils to play Bach they will gain a vital skill of balancing the voicing and ability to deliver a coherent performance of counterpoint in any piece of any style. The only problem is that even 2 part Inventions are a hard work for many children. My way of coping with this fact is that I try to treat every piece I learn with my students as a preparation to play Bach and make sure they hear every tiny element of imitation in their pieces.
The idea for this blog was sparked surprisingly by one of the live chats published by my FB friend Nadya Zhexembayeva Chief Reinvention Officer, an inspiring business woman.
I follow her page and would recommend it to anyone as it is friendly and nonintrusive. It fascinates me how much the world of music has in common with seemingly far removed word of business. Well, may be it is just the way we humans are and all our problems and solutions are similar in every aspect of our lives. Though Nadya describes entirely different aspects of LISTENING they are still applicable to music and music teaching.
It her chat Nadya talks of the first thing that she does when she comes to the company to help to reinvent business. Guess what this thing is? LISTENING! And the second thing is what she is LISTENING FOR! I love this one especially, but you have to listen to it yourself otherwise where is the fun?
Why I think it will be interesting to music teachers is because we all have the same aims, aspirations and fears. We wish to deliver the best value and to give as much training in the short time of the lesson, and we may be tempted to shorten our listening to the pupil and listening together time.
My old teacher once told me - always listen to your pupil don't interrupt, take time. I always thought of it as some sort of mutual respect between teacher and pupil but later on I came to realise that is is a vital part of the lesson which helps me to see the bigger picture: what needs to be “fixed” first, what can wait and what will take some careful planning. Not forgetting this amazing thing that Nadya is LISTENING FOR which helps to choose their repertoire for the future.
I could write forever about this fascinating subject but who likes a long blog!
Hope you will find it useful. Happy listening!
