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Crossing the Threshold from the Components of Playing
to
Communicating Musically
by Scott Rush
What to Teach
How to Teach It?
1.
1.
Tone
2.
2.
Timing
3.
3.
Tuning
4.
4.
Dynamics
5.
5.
Phrasing
6.
6.
Articulations (staccato, marcato, legato, slurred, various accents)
7.
7.
Rhythm
8.
8.
Balance
9.
9.
Blend
10.
10. Attacks
11.
11.
Releases
12.
12.
Duration of notes
13.
13. Range
14.
14.
Endurance
15.
15.
Technique
16.
16.
Tone Color
(intensity, color spectrum, sonority)
17.
17.
Consistency /Accuracy
Doing this exercise will make tremendous headway toward getting your
students from point A to point B.
It establishes a rehearsal dialogue, provides a blueprint for
teaching fundamentals, and allows for transfer from the components
to music making. Where
all of the above-named components are critical, it shouldn't stop
here. Another way
of stating this process is
equipping the musical toolbox.
It's not, in and of itself, a way of communicating
musically. However,
these components must certainly be tenaciously perfected to have a
chance at musical communication.
It's All A Means to an End
... Music Making
Once the musical toolbox has been filled, then what?
Well, we must cross the threshold from the
Components of Playing to communicating something musically.
Musical
Tips
§
Long notes should have direction—they should
intensify or
decrescendo.
§
Phrases should have peaks and valleys, arrival
points, and weighted
notes (agogic).
§
You should carry over (connect) phrases and
make sure you don’t breathe at inappropriate places.
§
If a line is repeated, do something different
with it the second time.
§
Find tension and release points.
§
Musical moments usually take longer to build
than they do to pull
away.
§
In many styles, short notes lead to long notes.
§
It’s what’s NOT on the page that makes the
music.
§
Use “mood” words to establish style and
ambiance.
§
Assign words to entire musical phrases to help
establish meaning and
purpose.
§
Persichetti said, “Music is either dancing or
singing.”
§
It’s what happens between the notes that makes
the music come alive.
§
The music will tell you what to do; the
intuitive response causes you to create more than what's on the
page.
§
Trust your soul to feel and express the
music—be musical! Tell a
musical story with passion and conviction.
§
The conductor’s blood must drip with musical
conviction, both to the
players and the audience.
§
Try to discover music in every phrase.
§
Unlike a painting or sculpture, music can be
re-created again and
again, with new meaning and understanding.
§
The paper and ink don’t make the music;
instruments make no sounds
on their own—the soul creates the music.
§
Music must be interpreted to the point that the
performance is said to
be artistic and the performers, artists.
These bullets are not comprehensive, but are designed to establish a
vocabulary and a culture for music making.
These musical truths are different from the
Components list in that
they cause the performer to feel and interpret the notes and ink on
the page. It's a
different mindset than being "in tune," playing "in time" or
executing the correct articulation.
It's a form of musical communication, a language in and of
itself. This list can be
used as part of your daily teaching during fundamentals time.
However, the students must be at the point in their musical
development where you're not talking over their heads.
Our rehearsal halls should be filled with this type of
dialogue. Try making a list of "musical truths" that you use within
the rehearsal setting.
Music Making Exercise
In a practical, real-world application, what does communicating
through the language of music sound like?
Here is an exercise to help explain the process.
"When you start going into every phrase and search for
the maximum content that can
be conveyed without distortion or gratuitous underlining, you
are probing further into
the heart of the music and touching the composer himself."
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