#classicalmusicproblems

[rani-dae]

me when I watch videos of child prodigies

Me: lol let's watch a video of piece X for inspiration

Me: *clicks on first clip that pops up*

Me: oh no this is a child prodigy isn't it?

Me to me: I will just watch it as merely a learning opportunity and inspiration help and drive me to become a better musician.- Just because I didn't start at the age that they did and was not trained in such a way that maybe would have rejected my education in other fields, I can still gain an insight as to how a piece is interpreted by someone younger than me who has different and unique experiences compared to myself. No there is no need for jealousy.

Me in reality: *finishes watching video*

Me: ....

Me: ....

Me: *curls up in a pool of my own tears and cries and complains about the injustices of the world*

[kathsmusic]

2.1.2 Mental Skills

There are two kinds of mental practice I would like to talk about: mental rehearsal specific to the music, which would include working with the music score (or without if it is memorized) but without the instrument, and positive visualization of overall performance outcomes. Both of these kinds of mental practice can be practiced at the same time.

Mental rehearsal has been known to enhance musical performance significantly. Connolly and Williamon (2014, 225) state that “informed physical practice at the highest levels of musicianship can hardly take place without some sort of cognitive or mental activity”, and so mental skills must be finessed through intentional practice. 

In preparation for an orchestral audition, it is important that I incorporate intentional mental rehearsal into my practice regime. This is what I will do:

Once I arrive into my practice space I will unpack all of my things and assemble my instrument. I will then take a moment to practice a moment of Alexander Technique; becoming aware of the “this is where I am right now” sensation, allowing my feet to stand on the floor and my head to lift up and away, lengthening my spine and allowing all of my joints to release and expand. Once I feel the liberty in my whole body, I may visualize myself picking up my flute and begin to play with freedom in my airway, and complete ease in my arms and neck. I may then choose to mentally rehearse difficult passages in the orchestral repertoire that I had sent an intentional goal to rehearse that day. I will visualize myself playing these passages with complete ease in my body, but with all of the emotional weight with which I would perform them. I will imagine my fingers coordinating tricky fingerings for awkward technical passages, as well as my airstream and embouchure working completely under my control. If my head is filled with words, I will make those words positive reinforcements for these specific difficult passages. I could say things like: “you nail this every time”, “you always get this perfect”, “you play this beautifully”. Eventually, it will be my intention to remove words from my music-making, and let the sounds speak for themselves. In the meantime, I will focus on making those words as supportive as possible. I may open my eyes and begin to play my warm up exercises and then rehearse these passages at any time, and I may also return to the mental practice exercises throughout my physical practice. 

I will also incorporate a daily mental visualization of the orchestral audition, before, and after. Exercise 12.6 set out by Connolly and Williamon (2004, 230) offers excellent guidance for this type of visualization. They encourage allowing the music to evoke its own imagery to you, the performer, as you visualize yourself performing it (a dream within a dream!), whether it be a scene, colour, metaphor, feeling, or taste. Later, while actually performing the piece, evoking that image of your choice will bring your body and mind in tune with your true musical intentions. 

[kathsmusic]

I am thinking of sharing "chapters" of my term paper here on my website. It is essentially a research-based plan to improve musical performance, and I focus mainly on practice strategies. I talk a lot about my own performance experiences and challenges I have overcome, and challenges I would like to overcome as well. I think that by sharing it here, I can hopefully help some of you! Many of the concepts can be applied to non-musicians.  What do you think?

[kathsmusic]

1.1.2 Physical Constraints

“It is difficult to imagine a more diabolically designed instrument than the flute” states Perry (Parry 2004, 54). Playing the flute requires both arms to be extended outwards - the left, across the body, and the right, away from the body. The left wrist can become quite prone in order to cover the keys properly, depending on the arm length of the flute player. 

I am a rather small person, and so my arm length is limited. In order to facilitate the keys in the left hand, I must pronate my wrist and use the side knuckle of my left thumb to maneuver the keys. As I mentioned earlier, I have had tendinitis in my left forearm around the ulnar nerve, as well as in my right forearm along the top of my forearm and wrist. 

Perry suggests to take adequate breaks during practice, and that these breaks should not consist of activities that use the neck and arms in a similarly strained manner. Specific to me, that would include computing, texting, or knitting.

Maintaining a high level of fitness is also an important component of increasing my weekly practice volume. It is general knowledge that maintaining a healthy body lends itself to a healthy mind, which enables the musician to function at a higher capacity. According to Taylor and Wasley (Taylor and Wasley 2004, 165), “Extensive literature surveys (Petruzzello et al., 1991; Taylor, 2000) have concluded that acute exercise can reduce self-reported state anxiety and physiological indices of stress”. From my own experience, incorporating several sessions of moderate to high-intensity cardio exercise per week has increased my overall level of health dramatically. I have slowly changed my eating habits and my relationship with certain foods which from my own self-reported data, has also lifted my level of health significantly. Since eating mindfully and being “in-tune” with my own body, I have been able to maintain energy, focus, and general happiness throughout every long, demanding work day.

According to Ackermann, Adams, and Marshall (2002), upper body conditioning done in the form of strength and endurance training will produce significant gains for musicians. Many of the students they tested reported a much lower level of musculoskeletal problems and/or playing related injuries. As a flute player who has to hold such an awkward instrument, I should incorporate more strength training into my exercise regime. 

[kathsmusic]

Pre-performance stress dreams!

I always get the same one!

I'm either on stage or about to go on stage to perform a piece I've been working on. I glance through my music, only to see that it is actually a fully graphic score, sometimes full pages being abstract paintings or photos of landscapes. I start freaking out, because I don't have the piece memorized, or I don't remember "how" I realized the graphic score the hours and hours I spent preparing it. I start the performance, playing through the piece and actually "playing" whatever I do have memorized, and then this transforms into me "realizing" the graphic score and improvising live, but being super dramatic and over exaggerating everything in order to "wow" the audience.  What does this mean? Well, luckily my mom spent years analyzing my dreams with her dream dictionary when I was a kid, so I've gotten pretty good:

The obvious: I never really feel fully prepared for a performance, even when I am. I'm nervous, and my subconscious is trying to get me to work even harder! In the dream, I am able to reassure myself that I do know SOME of the music.  The awesome: I exude this fantastic confidence and creativity whilst asleep. I actually make up music in my dream, that directly relates to the images of the "graphic" score, which are either images I must have come across in my day, or artwork I made up myself. (I have synesthesia, FYI) What I learn from my dream-self: When shit happens, I should make the best of it. Instead of completely freaking out and having an absolute train-wreck of a dream performance, I take control of the situation and go with the flow, and actually have fun!  I have also had performance stress dreams where my flute could not make a nice sound, and those ones SUCK. Luckily I haven't had that kind of demoralizing stress dream in a while!

What kind of performance stress dreams do you have?  -walk out on stage and you're naked -walk out on stage and have to perform a piece you've never looked at -have to perform on a totally different instrument -??? Let me know!

[rani-dae]

Don't y'all just love it when you practice hard and you think you've got the piece/s solid for your next lesson. But come the day of the lesson, you stuff up and your teacher gives you a visibly disappointed face. And you're there like:

[rani-dae]

Is a symphony pretty much a concerto for orchestra?

[kathsmusic]

Intro!

My goal with this plan is to explore performance enhancing research to contextualize strategies to use in my own personal musical practice and growth. I have been incorporating several strategies learned from the research already, and I have been experiencing success. I will be referencing my own personal experience, as this plan is for me to draw upon in the future in order to improve my performance. 

I found Williamon’s Musical Excellence: Strategies and techniques to enhance performance to be a valuable resource. Many chapters in this book immediately changed my perspective about practicing.

[kathsmusic]

1.2.2 Concentration and Motivation

Much of the literature I have read about improving concentration emphasize these same points:

Begin with a clean space

Eliminate distractions

Create a routine

Set goals 

As someone who is easily over-stimulated by visual distractions, having a distraction-free practice space is crucial. Occasionally, due to time-management constraints, my study area is not distraction-free and I must use other concentration techniques to guide my practice, such as specific goal-oriented tasks. I have been advised by my colleagues to turn off communication devices while practicing. This is something I would like to do more often, as I am much too addicted to my smartphone.

Motivation exists in all of us, but it is our choice whether we use it or not. Daniel Coyle (author of The Talent Code, 2009) shares this inspiring thought on motivation, which he refers to as “ignition”: 

"Where deep practice is a cool, conscious act, ignition is a hot, mysterious burst, an awakening. Where deep practice is an incremental wrapping, ignition works through lightening flashes of image and emotion, evolution-built neural programs that tap into the mind’s vast reserves of energy and attention. Where deep practice is all about the set of signals and subconscious forces that create our identity; the moments that lead us to say that is who I want to be. "

It is difficult to pinpoint where motivation comes from. I am often motivated the most when I am surrounded by others who are equally passionate about something. When I am not surrounded by others like this, though, I must create my own ignition. Setting a list of over-arching intentions certainly helps, and I must do this more often. Motivation comes from passion, and passion comes from love. I certainly love music and art, and I must remind myself of this during the times when I get lost in gritty details.

[kathsmusic]

1.1.2.1 Alexander Technique

Valentine (2004, 188) refers to a study by Denis (1987) in which 13 wind players taking 20 weeks of Alexander Technique lessons reported positive improvement in overall musical and technical quality of playing, heart rate variance control, self-related anxiety, and positive attitude towards performance.

Many of my colleagues and friends who take Alexander Technique speak positively about the effects it has had on their music-making, and every day lives. Alexander Technique was recommended to me by a former teacher, but it was not until my second year of my Art. Dip. that I was given the opportunity to take AT lessons through the school. My lessons were short and infrequent, but I still noticed a dramatic change in the way I experienced my body as a whole. My private teachers and colleagues noticed a change in my approach to breathing and technique with regards to my flute playing. I am currently taking AT lessons at McGill weekly, and will continue to do so as long as they are available to me. AT lessons have helped me become mindful about my current physical state while playing the flute. I am able to access the sense of physical “ease” that I experience during AT lessons on my own. I also incorporate AT thought-processes to help me through non-musical problems such as chopping up vegetables, opening heavy doors, typing, yoga, swimming, running, and biking, among other things.

[kathsmusic]

It's February 4th and I still have "There were shepherds abiding in the field" stuck in my head.