How To Practice!

A forum on practicing music!Presented by Jonathan Dimond!

July 2011

What is Practice?!

!   Technique!!   Hands!!   Breath control!!   Tone!!   Velocity (playing fast)!!   Learn repertoire!!   Exercises, etudes, drills!!   By yourself!!   Daily routine!

Towards a definition of Practice!

!   Problem Solving!!   Diagnosis!!   Daily!!   Learning to teach yourself!!   Requires accurate self-perception!!   Requires willingness for change (mental

attitude)!!   Moving from the known into the unknown!

What is Practice - a definition!

!   Practice is the act of self-teaching, with the aim of developing oneself. Good practice applies the sum total of your experiences and integrates all of your faculties and aspects of your Being. (Bass Riyaz p.172 - J.Dimond, 1999)

What is Practice - a quotation!

!   The very act of putting my work on paper, as we say, kneeding the dough, is for me inseparable from the pleasure of creation. So far as I am concerned, I cannot separate the spiritual effort from the psychological effort; they confront me on the same level and do not present a hierarchy.

Igor Stravinsky.

Fundamental concepts!

!   Coordination!!   Unity of various faculties:!

!   Kinesthetic!!   Intellectual!!   Aural!!   Visual!

!   Concentration - needs a new definition!!   Technique - needs a new definition!

What is Coordination?!

!   Starts with the Primary (general) system and moves towards those specific systems contained within, which rely upon Primary coordination!

!   Intrinsic to our anatomy - how we are built as vertebrates!

!   Relationship of the head to the neck, and head and neck to the back is of fundamental importance, as demonstrated in the coordinated action of all vertebrates!

What does Coordination look like?!

How do we improve coordination?!

!   Observation!!   Toddlers!!   Cats and Dogs!!   Orangutans!!   Elite athletes and performers!

!   Change the way you “map” your body’s construction in your mind!

!   With a truthful map, apply good use and a sense of the Primary coordinating system to all activity - even sleep!!

What is Technique?!

!   “Physical means by which one executes a musical conception”!

!   WRONG! This perpetuates the faulty idea that the body and mind are separate - technique is not “body training”!

!   “Psycho-physical means by which one executes a musical conception”Indirect Procedures, p.171. Pedro de Alcantara, 1997!

!   Greek root word Techne - means “art”!

Redefining Technique!!   Linked to coordination - but which comes first?!!   Technique is the result of good coordination

(not the other way around)!!   Dexterity and speed is not technique!!!   CAUSALITY is very important to understand:

Means conditions the End; I.e. the “how” conditions the “what”!

!   Unite your old idea of “technique” with musical content, informed by a coordinated use of your Self!

What is Concentration?!!   To relate a set of surrounding factors to a

central point!!   NOT: To separate a point from its

surroundings (or to eliminate or ignore them!) Indirect Procedures, p.69. Pedro de Alcantara, 1997!

!   The idea is to harmoniously integrate as many factors as a situation may require!

!   Practice requires the coordination of a multiplicity of factors, and the harmonious relationship of them!

Practice Tips & Tools!!   Metronome!!   Mirror!!   Recording devices (audio/visual)!!   Practice journal for planning, logging activity,

goal-setting and self-reflection!!   Teacher!!   Experience good models - watch great artists!!   Adaptability - Place yourself in challenging

situations and learn to manage your reactions!!   Move from the simple to the complex!

Further Reading!

!   Pedro de Alcantara. Indirect Procedures, 1997!!   Pedro de Alcantara. Integrated Practice, 2011!!   Barbara Conable. Body Mapping – What every musician needs

to know about the body, 2000!!   Barbara Conable. Move Well, Avoid Injury (DVD), 2009!!   Jonathan Dimond. Bass Riyaz, 1999!!   Thomas Carson Mark.What every pianist needs to know about

the body, 2003 !!   Stephen Nachmanovitch. Free Play, 1990!!   Kenny Werner. Effortless Mastery, 1996!