College Prep

Sight-reading Tips

1 Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

Solo and Ensemble no frameMusicians auditioning for acceptance or for music scholarships are working on prepared pieces — likely the same piece he/she is using for solo contest. An aspect of many auditions that are a challenge is the demonstration of sight-reading proficiency. Colleges want to know how quickly you can learn their music.

In most sight-reading circumstances, there will be time for you to preview what you are about to play. In a concert band festival, the sight-reading session involves 10 minutes to look over a piece (counting/clapping rhythms, checking out different aspects, before time is up and the judge is ready. Whatever amount you get, gage the time to get through the following:

Key signature. What key are you in? Finger through the scale. Look throughout and see if or how many times it changes during the piece.

Notes. Check range. If possible, sing or sound what you see…. Can you hear and sound what you see? Some people refer to those aural skills as “seeing ears” and “hearing eyes”.

Time signature. Does it stay the same or change?

Tempo. If marked, this should give you a general guideline, but keep in mind that is a performance tempo. For sight-reading, look for the most difficult passage that you will play, get a quick idea of how fast you think you can play it accurately, and use that as your overall tempo. Once you start, you don’t want to change the pulse depending on difficulty.

Rhythms. Scan for anything that looks tricky and take a moment to count, clap, sing or whatever — to get that/those rhythm(s) in your head.

Dynamics. Scan for them and then be aware as you play.

Stylistic markings. Staccato, legato, articulation, accents, etc. The tendency in sight-reading is to concentrate on notes, which are primary but watch for the other signs as you go. Like driving the car, staying on the road (notes) is important, but watching the road signs (slow down, stop, cross-walk, etc) are equally important to getting to your destination safely.

Once you start – DON’T STOP! If you miss a note, that one is history, you can’t go back and fix it … part of practicing for sight-reading (or for any performance) is to force yourself to continue.

Finding music to sight-read. Get books from other similar-range instruments. Pick random hymns in a church hymnal. Check the band director’s office. Go to the music library and pull out random pieces. For sight-reading practice, however, don’t keep playing the same piece(s), unless it is to prepare them for performance or to see how quickly you can perfect them.

Another important aspect to sight-reading is evaluation. If possible, have someone else listen to you and critique what you played. You may be playing a rhythm wrong that you will continue to play wrong.

Hope this helps. Add your comments or send questions.

 

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DEI vs Meritocracy

Business strategies, College Prep, Consulting, News and Happenings, Small Business /

Civil Rights ===> Affirmative Action ===> DEI vs Meritocracy

There were injustices, such as Segregation among other things, that needed to change. The Civil Rights movement introduced well-meaning programs and policies such as Affirmative Action (AA), which was to help minorities, females, the disabled and others.

All positive.

Bussing for School Integration was also a good thing in many respects. For equality at the college level, Quotas became popular. According to the US Department of Labor, AA was mostly about numbers. Now mostly ended, the Supreme Court struck down AA as a tool for college admissions because, among other things, AA was discriminating against qualified whites and Asians (mostly) to satisfy quotas without regard to merit.

The current emphasis pits DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) against merit-based Meritocracy.

According to an article from Harvard Business School,

  • Diversity: The presence and participation of individuals with varying backgrounds and perspectives, including those who have been traditionally underrepresented
    • Gender
    • Race
    • Age
    • Sexual orientation
  • Equity: Equal access to opportunities and fair, just, and impartial treatment
    • Equal opportunities
    • Fair compensation
    • Balanced training and educational opportunities
  • Inclusion: A sense of belonging in an environment where all feel welcomed, accepted, and respected

The opposite of DEI seems to be Meritocracy (is that like Aristocracy??). The Cambridge Dictionary defines Meritocracy as

“a socialsystem, society, or organization in which people get success or power because of their abilities, not because of their money or social position”,

In an article entitled, “Equity Before Meritocracy: Why We Must Create Opportunities Before Rewarding Accomplishments”, Forbes says, “The problem is that meritocracy without equity often results in only rewarding those who are already set up for success and have adequate tools, resources and support. We need to change this.”

I disagree.

In a February 26, 2024 article, “DEI Could Get You Killed In The Operating Room”, Ben Shapiro claims that,

“DEI is a gun pointed directly at the heart of the meritocracy”.  

surgery

DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) sounds great. Diversity IS a good thing. Equity (feeling of belonging) IS a good thing. And, of course, we want Inclusion vs Exclusion. All components of DEI sound (and are) good, until they are used to inflict the bias they are supposed to end.

I am completely in favor of meritocracy, i.e. “merit” based vs anything else; race, gender, ethnicity, financial….).

My mother, a polio survivor raising 5 kids as a single mom and no car, never utilized government assistance based on her handicap or income. She did use a ‘handicapped’ placard in her car. Her graduating class voted her “most athletic” because she did not let her handicap hold her back. I learned from my mama.

My band director pulled me aside freshman year when he understood I wanted to be a band director. His advice went something like this,

“If you want to be a band director, you’re going to have to go to college. You’re intelligent, but you’re not going to get academic scholarships. You’re not athletic. You ARE decent on that clarinet…. so I want to tell you that your best chance of getting to college to become a band director will be to use these next four years to become good enough on that clarinet that colleges will pay you to come.”

I did. They did. That was meritocracy.

When I needed a new clarinet, my Dad said, “You raise the first 50% of the cost of that new clarinet, and I’ll pay the rest.” I don’t consider that welfare. It was assistance, but the goal required work and commitment. The music store would not give me that clarinet so I could experience equity and inclusion.

My high school clarinet teacher, who I couldn’t afford, made a deal with me that allowed me to do yard work for him in return for lessons. He said he would provide me those 1-1 clarinet lessons….

“until the day you show up here unprepared.”

That deal had nothing to do with DEI, it was all about merit.

I did get some financial aid for summer camps and college, offered because they wanted me.

I’m okay with programs that help everyone have a chance. I experienced poverty. 

My “Tenth District” Elementary School (two blocks from the city line opposite downtown) was 100% white while “Third District” (Downtown) was nearly all non-white. Because there was only one high school in the city, diversity was automatic.

I am in favor of helping those with genuine need or who are disadvantaged in a real way. I’m in the “help-those-who-are-willing-to-work-to-help-themselves” camp.

But when it comes to getting the job or the position, I favor merit-based decisions. The world works on meritocracy.

Professional athletes aren’t chosen to satisfy a quota — if you’re good enough, you can earn the spot. Also, professional musicians (especially in orchestral settings) are chosen by audition and the best person gets the job.

A recent podcaster interviewed a DEI advocate for pilots who was pushing a “from the tarmac to the cockpit” program. I watch (too many) video shorts of plane take-offs and landings….many with all female and/or ethnic crews from around the world. Recently I watched an Arab airline with a hijab-wearing female working with a male co-pilot. I would like to think that each of them studied and earned their way. Would you want your pilot to be a DEI (‘Affirmative Action’ is out of style now) or “from the tarmac to the cockpit” placement?

Show me a MLB, NBA, or NFL team put together with DEI and, if I gambled, I’d bet against them.

It gets trickier in business where historical biases can harm or prevent merit-based success. Yes. Fix that….. but not by quotas, AA, or DEI.

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The Harsh Reality of Getting To and Paying For College

Leave a Comment / College Prep, Consulting, High Schools, Parenting, Personal experience, Public Schools, Teaching /

Unlike many teachers, a high school band director can have a student for four years or more. Sometimes, the high school director is also the middle school teacher, so those students can have the same teacher for seven years. They come to the high school as curious freshmen and develop exciting dreams. Sophomores are excited about the colleges they will attend and what they will do. They want to go to the higher level, name brand universities for law school, med school, music school. 

But then, sometime during Junior year, it seems, the realities of less than stellar grades and parents balking at the published prices of the dream schools begin to crush and shatter that earlier enthusiasm and optimism. 

A quote I hear too often, and the main motivation for writing this book, goes something like:

“I really wanted to go to [Name Brand] University, but I’m going to have to go to [Community] College and commute from home – because it is what we can afford.”

What Crushes Their Dreams?

They are not stupid, but might be ignorant 

When Middle School 8th graders become high school freshmen, they can have a glazed-eye look about them. They are coming from a smaller setting where they had pods and teams of teachers who spent significant time helping them not only get through the educational process, but also to smooth their often traumatic entrance into the teen years. Suddenly, they get to the high school where the building is bigger (easier to get lost), there are more people, more classes, they have more teachers who have less time to hold their hands and who will hold them to a higher level of accountability. They’ve been the big-dogs on the middle school campus and now are at the bottom of the high school heap. The good news is that most successfully navigate the transition and are set for success. 

As they experience the increasingly specialized high school classes, they get excited about topics or classes they like. They develop big dreams. Often, by the end of freshman or sophomore year, they are going to go to the name brand school; Law School, Music School, Medical School. These are exciting times.

Unfortunately, factors can dampen their spirits and dash their hopes:

  • Classes are harder, expectations higher and grading is less forgiving. Students who have always gotten all “A’s” can encounter some grades they’ve never seen before. Most make the adjustment, but some become discouraged and give up.
  • They are negatively influenced by the mediocrity of the general student population. There is intense peer pressure to do as little as possible. Unless highly self-motivated, positively influenced by strong teachers or from home, the slide to do as little as possible progresses. 
  • They struggle with seeing the long-term. When I talk to band freshmen about an award they can receive senior year, but that requires some things that they must do freshman year, one of the challenges is to get them to see that far ahead. If you want to see some rolled eyes and crossed arms, just try telling freshmen about the super high standards of top-tier colleges. 
  • Some smart students will coast along – because they can. Students won’t get in trouble in a public high school for getting a B or C grade. No. The emphasis is on RTI, on intervening on behalf of failing students. Teachers are pressured to have a rigorous class and to do everything they can to pass everybody. The goals tend to center around aiming for that 80% mark. Teachers can be punished for having too many low grades, but are not rewarded for high grades, so by default, the idea of average and mediocrity, if not encouraged, are at least tolerated – and become the norm.

By the time students reach junior and senior years and begin to see the next level, their grades and past practices can knock them out of consideration. The problem is less that they couldn’t have done it than that they didn’t know. They’re not stupid, just ignorant.

They treat college prep the same way they treat high school homework

Just a few weeks into freshman year at his top-tier university, my son called to tell me about his first English class paper.

“Dad, I’ve got a grade on this paper that I’ve never seen before.”

When I asked him what he had done differently, the response was….

“I did what I always did in high school. I waited until the night before it was due and then wrote the paper.”

He discovered that the bar was set higher there. 

I hear students discussing (or watch some of their social-media posts) about a paper they are writing for another class. Here are typical statements:

200 words down – 300 to go.

Half a page to go – if I increase the font and adjust the margins very slightly, maybe [teacher] won’t notice.

Does anyone have a paragraph I can borrow about…

The goal is not excellence, but average. Students demonstrate realization that the system’s goal is not to get an ‘A’, but to meet the assignment. We unintentionally encourage the problem by emphasizing meeting minimum standards or expectations. We don’t strive for excellence, but to meet or slightly exceed the standard, the minimum, the average. Administrators praise teachers when they can display on the big screen a graph showing their school ever so slightly ahead of the state average. The school where I teach celebrated receipt of a ‘B’ (one step up from average) rating from the state. No one talks about becoming the best school in the state. That kind of talk seems reserved for athletics and the arts, not so much for academics.

The GOOD NEWS is, that if the goal is to get into the community college or the big state university, that approach will probably work. But for these freshmen and sophomores with those big dreams of becoming the lawyer, the doctor, the engineer or the professional musician, those are not the “standards” that make it in the top tier schools – or in life.

They take what comes and go with the flow

Given their life history, why are we surprised? Teens coming into high school have had almost no control in their life story. They didn’t choose their parents, or where they live, or what economic condition they would endure. They have moved away from their friends as the parents get jobs or flee bill collectors. They are the unintended wounded in divorces and then have to “learn” to get along with parental “friends” or to have to go back and forth between parents. They have to learn to become brothers and sisters to someone else’s children. They have two and three bedrooms in different homes. Some jump from home to home weekly while others make a long summer move every year. The reality of single-parent households often includes a poverty component, or an absent parent working multiple jobs to try to make it. And what choice does the teen have? 

By the time they get to high school, they are numb to relationship building. When they apply some of the standards and practices they’ve witnessed in their homes to their first boy/girlfriends, they experience similar traumatic results. Hearts are broken, and many erect shields of protection as a defense to both students and adults – including teachers.

So when the realities of their short-sighted focuses, crushed dreams and dashed hopes come to bear as they approach time for college decisions, they default into the same mode they already know so well. They just take it. They go with the flow.

Check out 3 Scholarship Strategies That Worked For Me and Mine

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Selmer Series 10 and mouthpiece updates

College Prep, Family, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Public Schools, Repost, Solo Prep, Teaching /
selmer clarinetAccording to the 4-digit serial number, my Selmer/Paris Series 10 clarinet was manufactured in 1967. In 1968, my hs band director told my mother I had to get one. Not optional. He might as well have told her I needed a Mercedes for my first car. Dad made me a 50/50 deal, and after selling lemonade to golfers and hanging ad papers on doors … I got it.
I used it all through hs. It got me Solo/Ensemble medals, traveled with me and Holmes Band to KMEA and MENC, to Murfreesboro, TN and Virginia Beach, VA…. to All-State Orchestra, to band clinic and select bands, to summer music camps at Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State Universities, and followed me to Europe/U.S.S.R. with the United States Collegiate Wind Band in the summer between hs and college. I had to replace it at UK bc the clarinet prof kept saying things like,
“That was awful. I can’t tell if it was you or that crappy clarinet.”
clarinet2Anyway, I just opened packages of cleaning supplies, including swabs, key and bore oil, silver polish, swabs, disinfectant and more….. I want to see if it still has all the notes and speed it once did. Students have heard me talk about instruments with “speed buttons”.
Oh, working on my 1973-ish Buffet R-13 also. Both are considered “vintage” at this point.

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Relative Pitch is not Perfect

Leave a Comment / Classroom Teacher, College Prep, Music Department, Personal experience, Public Schools, Teaching /

Perfect pitch means you can hear a tone or multiple tones and identify them. There was a girl in undergrad music theory class at UK who had perfect pitch. She described it as painful if a vocal ensemble was to lose pitch, i.e. go flat/sharp. 

Another person I worked with professionally was a local band director wife. We could use her as a tuner, because she not only knew the pitch, but whether you were ever so slightly off. We would bring her in periodically to critique and the students always enjoyed trying to “trip her up”. But perfect means perfect and they never could. 

In one rehearsal, without a score in front of her, she made a comment like, “The Bb7 chord at letter E is both wrong and out of tune. The altos have the ‘D’ (your ‘B’) and one of you is playing a Bb and another of you is playing the right note, but quite sharply.” We checked. She was perfect.

I do not have perfect pitch, but good “relative” pitch. It serves me well in two general ways. First, as a clarinetist, I can usually “hear” the pitch before I play it and so can come in on the right note/partial and on pitch. Especially when listening to a clarinet, I can usually tell you the note, but more because I know the different timbres of notes. An open ‘G’ sounds different than a ‘Bb’, for example.

It also serves me well in rehearsals as I have keen “hearing eyes”. I can tell if what I’m hearing is what I’m looking at in the music score. I established that when I would say, “Someone is missing [specific note]. If you don’t fix it, I will find you”, they knew I could, so sometimes, when I stop the music, look down at the score (to figure out what I heard and where it might be coming from) and focus my attention toward a section of the group I might find someone with his/her hand already raised to confess, “It was me”. 

During a grad class, I had to stay after class one day because I was doing something the professor said I shouldn’t have been able to do and he wanted to find out how I was “cheating”. 

His researched position was that you could only retain and re-sound about 8-11 random tones. To make his point, he emphasized why phone numbers are broken down; 260-786-6554 vs 2607866554 or that credit card numbers are “batched” in 4’s because we can’t remember 16. 

Then for practical proof, he started playing series of tones. We were to sing them back and drop out when we missed. Not unlike a spelling bee, by the time he got to 12-13 tones, there were only two of us left. The other person dropped out and the professor, in a frustrated tone, asked me how I was “cheating”. 

Working 1-1 after class, he noticed (I didn’t even know I was doing it) I was fingering my pencil. His conclusion, and I had none better to offer, was that I was “hearing tones in clarinet” and then “playing them back”. 

What I did was not unique. I know of others who have trained their ears to hear specific pitches, such as an ‘open G’ on trumpet or a vocal “do” on ‘c’. 

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10 Anti-Excellence HS Peer Pressure Standards

Leave a Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

When I asked my high school Valedictorian son why he had chosen a particular top-tier university and why he was tired of being the geek.

I’m tired of being the geek. I’m tired of ruining the curve. I’m tired of people getting mad at me because I do the extra credit anyway. I want to go somewhere I can be normal; where it is okay to be an achiever.

Pressure surrounds teens.

Parents push them to do better. Teachers need performance data in the ever-increasing “prove-you’re-teaching-and-they-are-learning” world of government schools.  The strongest pressure, however, can come from peers.

In handing out a “pre-test”, a beginning of a semester assessment to find out where students are on a subject, a teacher was explaining to the class.

“This is NOT for a grade. This is to help me find out where to start. If you already know most of what is on this pre-test, I’ll be able to give you higher-level work.”

A student in the class spoke up,

“Fail it!”

The message was clear.

“If we look like we know stuff, they will give us more. If we all fail the pre-test, we’ll get easy stuff to do. LET’S GO!”

Anybody can be mediocre

Here is some of the unwritten peer-pressure-code of many high schools:

  • Go easy on the pre-test. Save your effort for the one that counts.
  • Don’t ruin the curve.
  • If you turn it in early, you make the rest of us look bad.
  • If the instruction says 500 words, don’t do 501.
  • Just do what you have to do to get the grade your parents won’t yell about.
  • Don’t study at home, practice at home or do extra research at home because they’ll start expecting MORE.
  • The teacher will adjust the level of work to the level of the class. We vote for easy. Don’t mess it up for us.
  • Share your work with us…. we’ll change a few words and get away with it.
  • Teachers are the enemy. Don’t be a “teacher’s favorite”. The only time you should be “friendly” to a teacher is when you need something – or when you’re asking for more time, etc.
  • Snitches get stitches. C’mon! Who’s side are you ON?
  • If they give us the entire class period to take a test – take the entire time. If we get done too early, they will start on something else.
  • Tell your teachers what they want to hear, even if you have to make it up.
  • Use up the entire limit: number of times you can be tardy, number of times you can be called out before discipline, number of assignments you can miss, number of low grades that will be dropped…..and then use your puppy dog eyes and maybe even a few tears to plead for mercy, forgiveness and another chance — after the limit is hit.

Below are a few of the pics/graphics I try to use to encourage a different path…..

If you want to do
This pic is from the goal line of Lucas Oil in Indianapolis. Indiana bands have state finals here. Drum Corps International and Bands of America have national finals here. And…. many of my students call me ‘G’…

Excellence

Get Things Done

If the notes are on the paper

You should seldom have to tellSlide29Slide30

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Puppy Dogs and Clarinets

Leave a Comment / Classroom Teacher, College Prep, High Schools, Music Department, Personal experience, Public Schools, Sales and Marketing, Small Business, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

white labrador retriever puppy dogThere is a sales technique called the “Puppy Dog” close. It gets is name from the puppy dog at the pet shop scenario:

A mother and young child go into a pet store to buy a dog. They find one, but mamma says it is too expensive.

The wise sales clerk invites the mother and child to take the puppy home for the night….with the offer to bring it back the next day if they don’t think it is worth the price.

They will NOT likely bring the puppy back.

I fell for that sales close with a car once. My wife wasn’t with me when I stopped on the lot (intentional, so I had a way out of a pressure sales situation). The smart salesperson invited me to drive the car home to show her. SOLD!

Classic music Sax tenor saxophone and clarinet in blackI used the “Puppy Dog” approach with a clarinet student (I will call her Sally). The first time I heard her play was in a middle school concert. I didn’t know Sally, but I noticed her. It was 2-3 yrs later when I convinced her parents to let her study privately with me. She had incredible musicianship but was hindered by a mediocre instrument.

When I would ask about a step up instrument, she always responded about how busy her parents were. Knowing her father’s occupation, I knew PRICE was NOT the issue.

The music dealer let me borrow a top of the line clarinet for a day, with return privilege that I was not expecting to utilize.

I took the clarinet to Sally’s band rehearsal at the high school, instructing her to play it in the rehearsal and then to take it home that night to practice with at home and either return the clarinet or payment the next day. She handed me the check for payment in full.

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Play Everything on the Paper

Leave a Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Music Performance, Teaching, Teaching Music /

By John Gardner

Part I: If the notes are on the paper, it is your job to play ALL of them: 5 Steps for Cleaning Technical Passages

everything on the paperPart II: Play EVERYTHING on the paper

Senior year in high school, I played a technical solo for contest and was using that same piece to audition for a college scholarship.

Phillip Miller, Clarinet Professor and Orchestra Director at the University of Kentucky during my time there.
Phillip Miller, Clarinet Professor and Orchestra Director at the University of Kentucky during my time there.

The clarinet professor traveled 70 miles to hear me play at my high school. After nailing the piece that got me a standing ovation in the solo contest room, I was ready for heaps of praise. Instead, I finished and watched a guy in agony before finally commenting,

You know….NASA can teach monkeys how to wiggle their fingers.

So you can play the notes? Good for you. There is no festival rating system I am aware of that will award the top rating (Superior, Gold, I) to someone who plays ONLY the notes.

Think of driving a car.

Playing the notes is like staying on the road. Staying on the road is a good strategy and you won’t get far if you are unsuccessful, but if the only thing you’re watching are the edges of the road, you might miss the other signs along the way; stop, yield, speed limit, deer crossing, If you drive like that, you’re going to get a ticket (at best) or have an accident (at worst).

When playing an instrument, you must be able to multi-task.

Honda damageI was able to reinforce this common analogy I use when my car was struck recently by a high school student not multi-tasking, i.e. watching out for other vehicles and yielding appropriately in the school parking lot…while texting.

While playing all the notes, the good performer also watches for dynamics, articulation, rhythmic accuracy, and stylistic instructions.

Musicians must multi-task as he/she plays the notes. How do you play those notes; slurred, articulated, what kind of articulation, at what dynamic, in what rhythm, and in what style? Let’s address some of the major common errors.

Dynamics. The two more common mistakes related to dynamics are; 1) no dynamic contrast (everything is the at the same volume level) or 2) not enough dynamic contrast (softs softer and/or louds louder).

For most people, if you are playing without thinking about dynamic level, you are at a mezzo forte (mf). You have to work at playing both softer and louder. That is one way to find a starting point, but there are others.

Look at the piece you’re playing and find both the softest and loudest dynamic marks. Those are your most extreme….emphasize those and gauge the rest accordingly.

300px-Pipe.organ.console.arpIf a phrase of music is repeated, unless markings specifically indicate otherwise, make a distinction between the two.  Historically, one technique often used was that of the echo; a phrase played at a louder volume and then immediately repeated at a softer level, similar to the effect of using multiple keyboards on the pipe organ to repeat a phrase at different dynamic levels. If you play a repeated phrase with no distinction, you risk a judge making a comment like,

I already heard that.

You speak at different dynamic levels; the cell phone call answer in the restaurant should not be the same as your second attempt at getting a parent’s attention. Dynamics is an important judging category. Get it right.

Articulation. Two main concerns; following the markings on the music …. And the method or technique used.

Few things are more obvious to a trained musician than to hear the errors of sloppy articulation; slurring everything, tonguing everything or a random combination of the two.

Music performance can include articulation interpretations, but if you are changing what is marked on the paper, you need to mark your changes on the judge’s copy. Make sure the judge knows that what you played was what you intended.

If you have an extended 16th note run that is marked staccato, you struggle with that, and you don’t want to reduce the tempo, then you might want to slur two, tongue two in a grouping of 4 sixteenth notes, for example. Mark the judge’s copy. He/she could still ding you a little for your articulation interpretation, but less than if you made the change without marking the original.

articulationThe other main weakness in articulation is the technique, i.e. HOW you articulate. Have you ever heard someone with a speech impediment? The challenge in fixing those is that most of what is happening is going on inside the mouth. Speech therapists are trained to do that. Do you need a specialist?

For a reed player, are you touching the reed, the roof of the mouth, or are you making some sort of ‘k’ or other throat sound to stop the air?  Not all articulations are created equal. If you make the judge spend time trying to figure out what is going on inside your mouth (articulation technique), you are hindering your success.

Rhythmic Accuracy. (Accuracy of Note Values, Rest Values, Duration, Pulse, Steadiness, Correctness of Meter). Note values covers a lot. When a quarter note is followed by a rest, do you go all the way to the rest? When you have a dotted eighth-sixteenth pattern, do you sub-divide to ensure the dotted 8th gets 3/4 of the beat….and not 2/3? A common rest mistake is similar; not giving it enough value or rushing to the next note, which gets into Pulse. If it were possible to hook up a heart monitor to the way you play, you don’t want the screen to look spastic, or as if you are having a heart attack. You should have a clear, easy to read (hear) ‘beat’.

heart monitorIs your tempo Steady, i.e., you don’t slow down during the faster parts and increase tempo in the easy sections?

Your heart rate increases when you run, but your tempo should not change when you play runs.

Practice with a metronome. If it feels like the metronome is pushing you, you’re dragging. If it seems like it is slowing you down, you’re rushing. If possible for 8th note meters (5/8, 6/8, etc), set the metronome so the 8th note gets the click. Obviously that becomes more difficult the faster the tempo.

Stylistic Instructions. Once you get past the basics of notes, dynamics and articulation, there are the finer stylistic instructions. Terms like “dolce” and “furioso” mis-interpreted or ignored could result in a total misrepresentation of what the composer intended. You wouldn’t play a “march” at a funeral or a “love song” at a basketball game. The composer uses terms and markings to tell you how to play what you play. It is important that you see, understand and observe them.

Don't try to figure out what all the words on this word wall mean. Let me go to work for you instead.

 

 

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