For what its worth, there is a small paperback book written in the early nineties that I have found useful in my practicing and would recommend. It's called 'Mastery - the keys to success' by George Leonard. He is actually an Aikido instructor, but it is written generically and is a good book to help musicians improve their practicing.
Tim Mills Denver ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lute list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:52 AM Subject: Re: Practice Habits > >I would find this use of a computer terribly unhelpful > >for myself. I can see how this could be helpful in > >working out the compositional structure of a piece, > >however listening to it in order to learn about how a > >pieces goes would really block my personal > >interpretation in performance. > > But the act of playing it into the computer is an act of learning. > > > You're getting the > >computer's rendition of the piece, and I would think > >listening to that sterile version so many times would > >embed it into your subconcious conception of how it > >should go. I try to avoid listening to any recording > >of a piece I'm learning until my own conception has > >become manifest to some degree. (Only at that point > >do I return to professional recordings in order to > >discourage myself, or force me to realize how much > >work I still have to go!) > > I understand what you are saying and what Steven is saying also. I > think both points of view are practical. It is essential to really > hear the shape of every phrase in all voices. This is hard for me to > do in a polyphonic piece and the only way for me is to just live with > it a good long while. The process can be sped along if I memorize it > and perform it. Of course, pushing even further and playing some > parts and singing another or transposing it or playing it on another > instrument help to take it to another level. Almost any FdaM ricercar > or fantasia is so deep it would take me untold lifetimes to learn > them all. If I can mentally slowly play the whole piece through in my > head imagining the fingerings and the sound of all the notes, then > I've pretty much got it. I find that very hard to do even with the > pieces my fingers have memorized. Whatever it takes. I've found when > I've had problems with my hands the things I've had to do to still > practice actually have helped because it gives me another angle to > look from: like playing with just one hand or the other or playing > extremely lightly. > > I think if you learn a piece by listening to someone else's > interpretation very much, it may put up a serious road block. I don't > think that often happens to me because, although I may have heard a > piece many times, when I stumble across it and decide to work on it, > I am not listening to it at that moment. I just remember it and > think, 'oh yeah, I know this'. I might listen to a recording and get > some ideas but usually not. I'm like you and don't want to get > influenced in the early stages of learning something. I'm usually not > too concerned about how someone else plays it anyway, I want to make > it my own. What usually happens is that after I've really, really > practiced a piece, I prefer the way I play it to other's > interpretation. This may be a bad thing and I have to fight this and > try and remain open to new ideas. > > > > >This should really even happen apart from the > >mechanics of playing - if you can sing the piece > >(aurally or mentally) both away from the instrument > >and while playing, it makes usually makes it a lot > >easier to overcome technical problems. This is > >because you now have a musical reason to manifest > >these or those notes a certain meaningful way rather > >than simply thinking of them as awkward technical > >turns. > > 100% agree. > > cheers, > > -- > Ed Durbrow > Saitama, Japan > http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
