Monthly Archives: January 2013

Develop This Important Problem Solving Skill For Continuous Improvement

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One of the things that keeps many musicians from improving, is not being able to simplify complex (or difficult) pedagogical challenges. I’m talking specifically here about how these challenges are approached in the practice room.

As I improve as a musician, I notice that I also broaden my skills in breaking large (sometimes seemingly impossible) tasks into smaller, more doable parts. This has been fundamental in helping me to approach and manage technical (and other musical) issues with confidence and clarity.

In exercise science, the act of modifying a particular exercise (making it easier) to suit the limitations of the person performing it, is called regression. Just about any exercise can be regressed: less resistance (lighter weight), slower pace, movement modification,  longer rest interval, greater mechanical advantage, etc. This principle of regression makes virtually any any physical activity or exercise approachable, no matter the person’s fitness level.

The same idea applies to practicing music.

Part of my job as a practice coach for musicians is to teach my clients how to regress (simplify) their challenges. This gives them a valuable tool to approach virtually any musical task.

For you to continually progress, you need to be able to meet ever increasing challenges in the practice room. And to do that, you absolutely must learn the art and science of regression. In essence, you must learn how to simplify a musical task to make it approachable for you at your current skill level.

To regress effectively, you need to be:

  • Persistent-Completely committed to the task, and willing to work until you’ve mastered it.
  • Patient-Putting no time constraints on yourself; allowing as many practice sessions as necessary in order to master whichever step you’re working on.
  • Humble-Always accepting where you are in your abilities. You must also be willing and able to stop, reassess, simplify and redirect your efforts.
  • Kind-To yourself. Keeping positive, constructive thoughts.
  • Insightful-Becoming an expert on how you learn.
  • Creative-Always finding new ways to break things down into smaller and simpler parts.
  • Organized-Aiming your regressed efforts towards natural, logical progression (and keeping track of your work).
  • Self-aware-Staying easy, relaxed, breathing, and in balance as you practice.

No matter how difficult a particular challenge may seem, your job is to break it down into pieces that are easy enough for you to handle immediately. Your aim is to give yourself a starting point, a way to get (and stay) engaged in the process of learning. Then you master each component one small step at a time.

There are endless ways to regress challenging musical tasks. Here are but a few things to think about to do so:

  • Tempo-If the exercise (etude, passage, etc.) is challenging you because of tempo, find a tempo that is manageable for you.  Stay with that until you’re ready and confident to move on to the next manageable tempo. Use a metronome to stay steady and track your progress.
  • Rhythm-If reading a complex rhythm seems daunting, take time to do the math to figure out exactly how much value each note gets. Count it out several times. Then rewrite (or rethink) the passage in longer, but equal, rhythmic values. For example, if you’re struggling with a passage that has lots of tied sixteenth and thirty-second notes, spend some time understanding and counting (aloud) the relative value of each note, then rewrite the passage in quarter notes and eighth notes of proportionate time values. If that’s still too difficult play, write it out again in half notes and quarter notes. Once you understand the math, and feel the relative time values of each note, you’ll be surprised at how easy and simple the original rhythmic passage becomes.
  • Rest-If you can’t make it through an exercise or piece in its entirety (perhaps because of endurance and/or mental focus issues), consider breaking it down into very small parts with brief (but mindfully placed) rests in between. As you develop endurance and focus, you can start eliminating the rests one at a time until you can manage the whole thing.
  • Range-If an exercise or passage is just way out of your range (but still possible on your instrument), consider transposing it to a playable range (but at the extreme ends of your actual ability). Spend lots of time with it in this range (I’m talking days or weeks), then gradually modulate in half steps toward the target range, spending lots of time on each modulation until you’ve reached your goal. (Persistence is key here!)
  • Information-If you feel overwhelmed with memorizing an entire piece, or are intimidated by learning a particular pattern in all twelve keys (I’m thinking of jazz musicians here), take one small segment (or one key) and really get to know it well. Play this segment to the point where you’re almost bored and truly hungry to learn more, then take another small bite, and so on. Before you know it, you’ll have it all under your fingers.
  • Visualization-If an exercise, piece, task, etc., seems so intimidating that you don’t know where to start, start by thinking about it without your instrument. Learn to hear it if you can (maybe get a recording?) Vividly imagine yourself playing it as you look at the music, listen to the recording, think about the chord changes, count out the rhythms, etc. Even practice singing it. All this kind of visualization work engages you in the process of learning, and studies have shown that those who practice this way gain measurable improvements. This is often the first step in the journey that will take you to your goal.

Again, your aim should be to find a starting point, and stay engaged in the process of gaining proficiency. Ask yourself, “What would I have to do to give myself some kind of experience with this exercise (piece, etude, chord changes, pattern, etc)?” “How would I have to modify this exercise to be able to play it right now?”

No matter how small something is, it can be made smaller. Any task can be made simpler, if you use your imagination.

Anything you can do to keep yourself involved in the process (even if it’s simply visualizing or listening, or singing) is going to lead you in the right direction. Use your curiosity and passion as fuel, and you’ll improve.

Some of the most proficient musicians I know, are so (in part), because of their ability to approach challenges in this way. To them, nothing is impossible. Develop this problem solving skill, and nothing will be impossible for you, either.

The Gifts My Students Give

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Happy New Year!  2012 was a wonderful year for me (hope it was for you, too!) Lots of memorable experiences both in teaching the Alexander Technique to musicians, and in performing. My blog readership has grown exponentially and I feel thankful and encouraged by the positive feedback, requests and suggestions.

As I do at the beginning of each year, I’d like to reflect upon my teaching experiences from this past year, and share some of the highlights with you.

It is a well-worn cliché to say that “to teach is to learn”, but it is oh, so true. And this last year in particular has been rich in all the things I’ve learned from my students. I feel blessed by all the energy, curiosity and passion my students have, and thankful for how they gift me with their observations and insights. Because of them, I continuously grow and improve as a teacher, and feel thankful that I can pass on their wisdom to you, and to all my students.

I’ve had the privilege to teach students one on one in person, and to teach classes in the community and at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where I’m a faculty member. But some of the most surprisingly rewarding teaching I’ve done this past year has been teleconferencing via Skype, in the role of practice coach to professional and amateur musicians. I’m still amazed at what can be accomplished through this medium.

So what I’d like to share with you here are some of the most common (what I deem “universal”) principles that my students discover and/or reaffirm as they evolve and progress in their musical learning journeys. I won’t elaborate much on each one right now, but most likely will write about them in depth in the coming year (and have already written about some of them on this blog). Here they are:

  • The ability to stop is the most essential skill you can cultivate if you wish to improve. Learning when and how to stop is the only way you’ll ever change your unwanted habits. Carrying on in the same, ineffective way only yields more of the same. And it leads to frustration.
  • The most essential aim of practicing your instrument (voice is an instrument, too) should be to give yourself good experiences. Rather than playing something poorly 20 times to try to find one good “take”, stop (see above), redirect your thinking, slow down a bit, and give yourself a chance to have the experience of staying in easy control of what you do as you play.
  • Managing your fear response is crucial. Almost every undesirable habit you have as a musician is some form (from mild to severe) of a fear response. (Yes, even when you’re practicing by yourself!) Learning how to change your thinking to deal with this will make you a better, much more consistent performer.
  • Pay great attention to the details of what you do with yourself as you play, but be careful not to micro-manage them. Be aware, but don’t put all your attention on one small aspect of what you do as you play (e.g., don’t obsess about what your fingers should or shouldn’t do as you play saxophone). You’ll make things worse, not better. Come back to being aware of the whole of you.
  • Their is a hierarchy in how you should direct yourself when you play. (This is specifically for students of the Alexander Technique) Always start with directing your head/neck relationship first, no matter what other problem you perceive in your playing. Free fingers depend upon free arms, which depend upon free shoulders, which depend upon a free neck.
  • How you “hear” yourself when you play involves more than just your ears. The experience you have of yourself as you play is multi-sensory: what you feel kinesthetically, what you sense in your skin, what you see, how you perceive balance as you sit or stand, even what you feel emotionally.
  • There is no such thing as having a “bad day” practicing.  Try not to judge an entire practice session as bad, as if you’ve wasted your time. You play moment to moment. If you don’t like what you’re hearing in any particular moment, change your thinking, and improve your playing. Instantly.
  • Be careful not to confuse cause with effect. Try to understand why things work they way they do. Often what you see other players doing that seem to be helping their playing is an effect of something else that they’re doing (or more typically, what they’re not doing).
  • You don’t know what it should “feel” like when you play well, nor should you care. You improve in your playing because you do things differently than you did before. Period. To improve, you’ll continue to do things differently. If you get too hung up on what it should feel like when you’re playing well, you’re looking to the past, instead of staying present with what’s really happening in the moment. This increases your fear response and usually leads to frustration. Trust your ability to direct and inhibit (again, this is for those with Alexander Technique experience), and you’ll achieve optimum results.
Each lesson that I teach, I’m brought back to these principles time and again. My students share with me through their own thinking processes and their own experiences how they solve their problems, often in rather ingenious ways, but always coming face to face with these (and  other Alexander) principles. It’s always so satisfying for me to witness the various manifestations of this problem solving method. So in this year, I encourage you to consider some of these ideas. See if it helps you to practice more successfully and enjoyably. Let me know. Best wishes for a fruitful 2013!