Performing on a music instrument makes you smart! I have heard many say this as an argument to supporting music. As my colleague would say, "That statement is a musical sell out." Connecting music to bettering our skills and intelligence in other non-musical areas can force music for music's sake into an ever deepening black hole. The reason to study music and learn to perform is because a person enjoys the music.
Spending my life as a musician, I can certainly tell you that at no time in my practicing and performing am I thinking about my mathematical abilities, or my reasoning skills. My focus is on performing to the best of my abilities. During my practice sessions, I am focused on bettering my MUSICAL skills.
I don't discredit that music can make us better people. In fact, I 100% support that. Being smarter does not necessarily lead to being a better person. What does being a better person mean? Again, I offer the words of my colleague. "Musical activities afford us complex situations in which we must communicate, work with others, compromise, and express ourselves openly." Through participating in musical activities I DO feel I have learned to hear what people are saying, not just reacting to them, but INTERACTING with them.
Kids and adults alike should support Music for Music's sake. Becoming a musician may very well be more important than bettering your math scores. We have a long way to go to support growth in this area. But we are committed.
Showing posts with label Music Instruction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music Instruction. Show all posts
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Musical Motions
While music is not a visual art in the purest sense (ie - witnessed through our eyes), musical motion and expression does create a sense of motion in our mind. The evidence is simple. Listening to music makes most of us MOVE. The music creates an internal motion that is transmitted throughout our bodies and converted to real, physical motion. While performing music, most great musicians experience this same sensation. Can great musicians separate their musical performance and physical motion? In other words, can great musicians limit their physical motion to only what is necessary to play their instrument? I tend to think not. The visual aspect of performance is both necessary and critical to a vibrant performance, even if hear only through a recording.
The video is a pretty good NON-EXAMPLE of how motion and music are connected. While the robot had to have the movement programmed in, we as humans do not. We react to music! We INTERACT with music! Whether we are actually seeing a musical performance or not, moving to the music while performing seems to enhance the actual music (without even seeing the performer).
Musician performance movement is a debated subject. The debate is often tied to "how much movement is appropriate?" Rather than debate, lets set the scale to include all motion and leave the debate to another post. Many movements are incredibly subtle, an eye brow lift, a knee bend, a slight turning at the waist. Some motions are huge, like explosive dancing motions. For this post, motion is motion, no matter how small or large.
When teaching, I teach motions such as breathing and cuing. They are great places to start a young musician. Teaching a player how to establish a "mood" with something as simple as their breathing, is really empowering. For example, lets say a player has just finished a beautiful lyrical passage. The entrance following this section is a much more dynamic, rhythmic section. If the player breathes using a slow, subtle intake method, we may assume the next section is going to be just as lyrical. And more importantly, as a player, they may not really be "feeling" the rhythmic drive and energy they need to begin the section. Breath is a movement. We have to physically move our bodies, big parts in fact, to take a breath. Engaging all of the parts of our bodies to take a "proper" breath, in the mood of the section we are about to perform connects us internally, mentally, emotionally and musically. Our music performance will benefit from all of those senses, motions and emotions being in sync.
Cueing is another great exercise for a young musician. The goal is to get the player comfortable with physical motions other than those to just play the instrument. This can be incredibly difficult for a young musician (and adults). I use cuing because, well, here is the secret, "Cuing is actually pretty tough, and this one action alone can help lay the foundation for simpler motions." My logic is, start with something pretty hard, but make it seem easy. Once a young musician gains some skills in cuing, they start to free up in terms of other more subtle movements (and thus, free up musically). I start with cues such as cut offs. These are taught in the context of working with an accompanist. Younger students don't have to be working on solo literature with a live accompanist to practice this. We can all practice cut offs with ourselves, with programs like SmartMusic or with live accompanists.
Musicians of all ages benefit from connecting music and musical motion. As players, motion adds another dimension to our connection to the music. Allowing ourselves to FEEL the motion and act on that feeling through real, physical motion, will elevate our musical performance level.
The video is a pretty good NON-EXAMPLE of how motion and music are connected. While the robot had to have the movement programmed in, we as humans do not. We react to music! We INTERACT with music! Whether we are actually seeing a musical performance or not, moving to the music while performing seems to enhance the actual music (without even seeing the performer).
Musician performance movement is a debated subject. The debate is often tied to "how much movement is appropriate?" Rather than debate, lets set the scale to include all motion and leave the debate to another post. Many movements are incredibly subtle, an eye brow lift, a knee bend, a slight turning at the waist. Some motions are huge, like explosive dancing motions. For this post, motion is motion, no matter how small or large.
When teaching, I teach motions such as breathing and cuing. They are great places to start a young musician. Teaching a player how to establish a "mood" with something as simple as their breathing, is really empowering. For example, lets say a player has just finished a beautiful lyrical passage. The entrance following this section is a much more dynamic, rhythmic section. If the player breathes using a slow, subtle intake method, we may assume the next section is going to be just as lyrical. And more importantly, as a player, they may not really be "feeling" the rhythmic drive and energy they need to begin the section. Breath is a movement. We have to physically move our bodies, big parts in fact, to take a breath. Engaging all of the parts of our bodies to take a "proper" breath, in the mood of the section we are about to perform connects us internally, mentally, emotionally and musically. Our music performance will benefit from all of those senses, motions and emotions being in sync.
Cueing is another great exercise for a young musician. The goal is to get the player comfortable with physical motions other than those to just play the instrument. This can be incredibly difficult for a young musician (and adults). I use cuing because, well, here is the secret, "Cuing is actually pretty tough, and this one action alone can help lay the foundation for simpler motions." My logic is, start with something pretty hard, but make it seem easy. Once a young musician gains some skills in cuing, they start to free up in terms of other more subtle movements (and thus, free up musically). I start with cues such as cut offs. These are taught in the context of working with an accompanist. Younger students don't have to be working on solo literature with a live accompanist to practice this. We can all practice cut offs with ourselves, with programs like SmartMusic or with live accompanists.
Musicians of all ages benefit from connecting music and musical motion. As players, motion adds another dimension to our connection to the music. Allowing ourselves to FEEL the motion and act on that feeling through real, physical motion, will elevate our musical performance level.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wii Music
I am going to do a little cross posting. My other blog Virtical Education covers my Instructional Design/Technology thoughts. Of course, music and IT cross paths often in my life, thoughts and activities.
Our KSQ mission is to promote music for life in our communities. This mission I take seriously and look for ways to expand our knowledge of what is going on in the great musical community. By doing so, I feel we can develop not only an understanding, but an appreciation for the role our group plays in the overall musical community. Certainly, an area of interest for me is music education.
As we think about the future of music education, it is my thought that we have great opportunities to learn how we learn, how our kids learn, what motivates us to grow (and learn), all driven by new technologies and approaches to learning. The Wii MUSIC game is a pretty good example of how to mainstream music learning. Music has been held back from the masses for most of our countries history. While in ancient time, music was revered as a necessary academic subject for all.
I just started working with a talent, young Saxophonist from a local school district. She has access to the school's technology resources including Smart Music and recording equipment. My business partner also shared a recent story about a band director, while attending a PMEA festival, was able to continue testing his students at school by using SKYPE to listen to their scale assessments that were due. And, if you have not tried Wii MUSIC and read about the support of the MENC, this is a good opportunity to catch up on what is going on. Technology and music education offer a truly powerful way to connect students to the subject, and to talent teachers. My own venture, viaAcademies relies on this premise and promise of the two working in harmony.
Does Wii change the way I think about saxophone and saxophone quartets. No! Appreciating it helps me in a broader sense though. KSQ's mission requires us to be diverse, and to expand our view past our immediate musical contribution. I think all great groups who strive to influence the growth of the art of music should do the same.
Please visit my other blog and read more about Wii MUSIC.
Our KSQ mission is to promote music for life in our communities. This mission I take seriously and look for ways to expand our knowledge of what is going on in the great musical community. By doing so, I feel we can develop not only an understanding, but an appreciation for the role our group plays in the overall musical community. Certainly, an area of interest for me is music education.
As we think about the future of music education, it is my thought that we have great opportunities to learn how we learn, how our kids learn, what motivates us to grow (and learn), all driven by new technologies and approaches to learning. The Wii MUSIC game is a pretty good example of how to mainstream music learning. Music has been held back from the masses for most of our countries history. While in ancient time, music was revered as a necessary academic subject for all.
I just started working with a talent, young Saxophonist from a local school district. She has access to the school's technology resources including Smart Music and recording equipment. My business partner also shared a recent story about a band director, while attending a PMEA festival, was able to continue testing his students at school by using SKYPE to listen to their scale assessments that were due. And, if you have not tried Wii MUSIC and read about the support of the MENC, this is a good opportunity to catch up on what is going on. Technology and music education offer a truly powerful way to connect students to the subject, and to talent teachers. My own venture, viaAcademies relies on this premise and promise of the two working in harmony.
Does Wii change the way I think about saxophone and saxophone quartets. No! Appreciating it helps me in a broader sense though. KSQ's mission requires us to be diverse, and to expand our view past our immediate musical contribution. I think all great groups who strive to influence the growth of the art of music should do the same.
Please visit my other blog and read more about Wii MUSIC.
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