Music Practice Deconstructed

Servicing your instrument

Music practice has engaged the minds of people around the world for a long time period. There is a long list of practice methodologies to draw from and this is one more to count. The approach will involve the deconstruction of the key words of ‘music’ and ‘practice’ in order to expose the particular challenges to successful outcomes. The outcomes will be largely determined by the tools we have to accommodate the task and they way they are used in the process.

Our tools will be comprised of the brain, fingers, senses, and memory. The object of these tools will be to familiarise us with the relevant knowledge to be relayed to the instrument of choice.

Deconstruction of Music

The deconstruction of the word ‘music’ sets the focus on the tools we have at our disposal for the task of practice. Music is a continuous sound occupying space and time. Space and time introduce the mathematical elements of intervals of two notes and more. Larger groupings are the focus of practice sessions. For ease and accuracy, groupings of notes can be mutually assessed in 2 + 1. The one is for the odd number in the groupings. For five in a group, think 221; for seven in a group, think 2221 etc. Here we can benefit from the mathematical control of music.

Deconstruction of Practice

Deconstruction of the word practice exposes the next step, which is familiarisation. That is, practice equals familiarisation. Music contains terms such as time signatures, rhythms, beat, and tempo. Such terms describe a distance in time into which the music must neatly and exactly fit. In this way, the mathematical influence in music is acknowledged.

The basis of music is sound brought about by changing vibration frequencies. The specific frequencies of each of the notes of music is caused by an energised air stream. Being essentially an aural art (hearing), music practice includes training in the sounds of music for the self-judgement of pitch.

Sound Production

The method of sound production is unique to each instrument’s design. Wind instruments of all categories are driven by energised wind streams generated by the player. The diaphragm muscles service the inhaled wind for sound production. Each note has a specific vibration frequency for its pitch. The energy for each note can be approximated in practice sessions. Diaphragmatic muscle contraction on the air stream is adjusted for each note until the appropriate penetration of the aperture is achieved throughout the registers. In this manner, we have achieved on wind instruments the sound that is produced on the piano by the piano tuner – a pure sound for each note. The process is what the author has titled ‘energy approximation exercises.’

Articulation

Articulation is a means of separating the notes in a continuous flow. For articulation to take place, there needs to be an impediment in the energised air stream, that is, sound. To bring about this momentary impediment, it is necessary to position the tongue above the floor of the mouth. The energised air stream is driven up from the diaphragm sheath and directed at the end of the raised tongue. The air stream is impeded for the period necessary for the articulation to take place.

The tongue is a muscle that can affect the energised air stream on its way to the instrument’s aperture. Raising the tongue from the floor of the mouth allows the energised air stream to contact and deflect off the end of the tongue to create an articulation of the note. The momentary impediment in the energised air stream creates a sequence of ‘receive and release’. Following the release of the air stream, the tongue returns to the raised position to cause the next articulation. The quicker the return of the end of the tongue to the raised position, the more rapid the articulation.

A Priori and A Posteriori

The servicing of your instrument of choice is the main priority of any music practice session. Successful outcomes do not take place by chance; they are the combination of high quality information being delivered to the instrument.

The instrument is an inanimate object designed to emit the sounds of music. It follows that the object cannot think or reason and so the high quality information needs to come from the embedded brain to achieve the results. Saying, and then playing, is on the practice agenda.

Saying will bring about a priori (prior) knowledge and thus a guarantee of high quality information being the outcome. How a priori works in practice depends on the information (notes etc) being mentally secured before then being sent to the physical (fingers). That is, mental driving the physical, not the other way around.

Present practice methods contain a silent partner, a posteriori – a doubtful technical learning. A posteriori is learned when mistakes occur in practice, and we go back to the start of the passage to correct the error. You cannot repeat this learning in a live performance and so it qualifies as invalid learning. A priori eliminates the invalid learning technique by having previously embedded the brain with the correct information for transference.

Embedding the Brain

‘Embedding the brain’ requires an intention to retain the information being read or heard. The goal we are working towards is the three Rs: the Right note, in the Right place, at the Right time. To attain this goal, we will use the a priori method. That is, the brain will be embedded a priori ( prior to the physical), in order to ensure that the mental drives the physical at all times. A priori ensures high quality information for the instrumentalist to demonstrate and deliver the three Rs.