Practice Techniques Part 2

Well, the weekly blog I’ve been writing since July had a few missed weeks early on, but hmm… more than a month of silence! The last blog was on a helpful practice technique I learned about in Noa Kagayama’s course “Performance Psych Essentials” and there was a promise to share more in upcoming blogs, so I am happy to share another technique in today’s blog. But first, where the heck did March go?

Well, I kicked it off with the worst cold I’ve had (not COVID) since before the pandemic. I’d forgotten how long it takes to recover from the “common cold” and how easily the voice can be taken away. I never had complete laryngitis with this cold, but the difficulty in singing and even speaking lasted longer than I thought reasonable… I had four performances for St. Pat’s Week with Gaelic Muses, and my voice was gradually more reliable for singing my solos, although my harmony parts were soft and low enough to be there to support Lynda’s vocal leads from the start.

I was barely through that weekend when it was time to prepare for the Pagan Bunny Burn weekend (the 30^th through April 2) where two of us from Gaelic Muses were scheduled to perform. Here are a few photos from that performance:

 

Yep, those are bunny ears! We had great fun, but I’ve only just yesterday put away my tent and all the camping gear associated with the weekend.

So, a busy month that kept me from regular blogging but not from regular practicing!

In my last blog (on February 24^th) I wrote about “At Tempo Forward Chaining” which has been a great method of working through tough spots both for myself and for my students. If you didn’t see that one, you can read it here: https://verleneschermer.blogspot.com/2023/02/practice-techniques-part-1.html

In this blog, I’m going to talk about something that is very helpful both in practice and in preparing for performance. I’ve always encouraged my students to record themselves to troubleshoot areas to woodshed in their practice, but an additional benefit to recording yourself is the fact that it puts you in “performance mode” revealing what you may be experiencing when you are in front of a live audience. For some reason, even though you may be the only one hearing (or watching if it’s video) the recording, it’s as if there is another ear listening that may be passing some sort of judgment. So it’s good to add that kind of pressure, and to hear what kinds of mistakes might crop up due to that added pressure.

But if you aren’t using recording as a regular practice tool, it’s a good idea to start with just recording a short phrase, and work through what needs to be improved or changed a phrase at a time. Not as micro-focused as the forward chaining, with adding one note or one beat’s worth of notes at a time, but do a full phrase complete with the expression you intend. Then listen to it and be very specific about what you hear. No “that was just bad” or “it’s missing something” or “I’m not feeling it.” Pinpoint what exactly was bad or missing or what is causing the lack of feeling (as in no dynamics, or eighth notes that are played exactly the same strength.) And then you can apply a solution.

Here's a step-by-step for using recording for troubleshooting:

1. Warm up with anything other than the piece you will record.
2. Play a single phrase several times through so it’s not the first time.
3. Record that phrase.
4. Listen to the phrase more than once to identify what needs improving.
5. Determine what the solution should be (is it an issue with fingering? Posture? Counting? Preparation? Dynamics?)
6. Practice applying the solution(s).
7. Record again.
8. Listen to the new recording and note whether the solution solved the issue, and note if you are hearing new issues.
9. Repeat until you are happy with that phrase.

The most difficult thing for most people is to focus on a short phrase rather than just running through an entire piece. The problem with running through the entire piece is that you’ll just be practicing playing it with all the mistakes and not actually working through them. Also, it’s difficult to remember what went wrong over the whole piece, both while playing, and when listening back. And it can be overwhelming if there are mistakes throughout. So, be happy with the baby steps, the small successes, and know that they will combine to give you huge success in your practicing!

Now a step-by-step for preparing for performance will look a little different:

1. Warm up with anything other than the piece you will record.
2. Don’t practice the performance piece, but go directly to recording it in its entirety.
3. Listen to the performance and note the overall delivery as well as any specific errors that may have never shown up in regular practice. These are the ones that the additional pressure of the “listening ear” may have introduced.
4. Do this exercise either at the beginning of each day or after a significant break each day, but not on the day of the performance.
5. Go to your performance with the knowledge that you’ve prepared and are ready!

Don’t forget to smile and enjoy the music you’re making!