What considerations and sources to consider for working on music technique
Starting a student off right with good music instruction can have profound impact on the speed and quality of music that is created or reproduced.
The delayed gratification is worth it, but this is a hard sell for both the parent and the student.
We need to be able to take the time to explain why technique is going to play such a big part in there ability to learn and play music.
The thing about music technique is that you can learn to play and even impress your fellow peers without having good or great technique in your playing.
The untrained ear doesn’t recognize a mediocre performance by itself. But have you ever noticed yourself saying that was great as opposed to good.
What You Inherently Know About Technique
Working on proper playing techniques can make a huge difference in the quality of sound that you produce with your musical instrument.
Starting out with the right techniques is even more important. If you end up correcting bad habits it can take a long time to correct them.
Examine the idea that when you listen to music you make a judgment as to the quality of the music. When you attend a recital or band concert you can hear the difference in the players based on their knowledge and music techniques they have learned.
Being aware of this difference is a first step to improve your playing ability. Finding good instruction will be the next.
Staying Aware
We start our learning by often just focusing intently on learning the theory or notes of a song. Later we begin to add phrasing and other playing techniques.
The key here is to remember that once we know what we are going to play is to stay aware of how we are going to play it. That’s where the technique is applied.
Let’s take a look at how a keyboard player might approach learning a new song. First he may analyze the key signature as major or minor. Look at the chords and inversions, consider the chord progression. Then block out the chords and work on the melody. Put it all together and start to play a few measure consisting of the first phrase or expression.
That was a lot to go through and we haven’t even thought about applying technique. If the basic playing techniques were put in place in the exercises then as he begins to play they will be applied during that exploratory effort.
Continuing through the process he refines and applies different techniques to improve the phrase. Eventually becoming happy with the outcome of the expression he his trying to create or duplicate.
But how often do we get so involved in learning the notes, chords, and rhythm we forget to work on the technique?
It can happen far to often. Stay aware of proper technique and consider it early in the learning process.
Exploring Music Technique Further
One of the goals of the Music Learning Workshop is to find good instruction on technique. As we find it we will add pages that can help or refer you to other resources that are good for showing and helping you improve your music technique and style.
