5 X 5 approach

I have shared this following approach to practice already in some of your lessons, and I wanted to introduce it to everyone else here.

This concept was inspired by a fitness video I saw.  The guy had a workout called 5 by 5.  He took 5 challenging bodyweight exercises and recommended doing 5 sets of 5 reps.

One thing that always stuck from my own piano education is the rule that if you can do something 5 times correctly, you have learned it.

I would further add that if you can do something 5 times correctly, and continue to do that every day until you've done it for 5 consecutive days, then you REALLY should have it down.

The Five Rules

The rules are really simple.

1.  Whatever you practice, do it 5 times in a row correctly.

2.  Correctly means 100% accuracy.  If you missed one note or one finger, it was not correct.

3.  If you mess up, the count starts over.  Go through what you're practicing 4 times without a mistake and miss a fingering on the 5th attempt?  Sorry, but you have to start all over.

4.  This means that accuracy and precision are by far the most important things.  Speed does not matter at all.  Go absolutely as slow as you need!

5.  Repeat 5 days in a row, and marvel at how much easier it gets each time.  Speed will come without effort.

Ways to incorporate 5 X 5 practice

• Take any challenging technique (a new scale, chord progression) and practice it as slowly as needed.  Just ensure that every note you play is correct...no matter how slow.  Do it 5 times in a row.  Don't allow it to speed up for the first 2 days.  On days 3 and 4, allow it to gradually speed up each repetition.  Day 5, it should be feeling easy.  Get your 5 times in carefully, then test yourself for speed.
• Take any particularly difficult part of a piece you're working on, practice the very end of the section 5 times, work back a measure to get into it and do that 5 times.  Keep doing that until you're starting from the beginning of the section.  Again, it must always be correct, and you need to do this 5 days in a row.  It should get easier each day.
• If you're working on something like reading notes on a staff, you could go to MusicTheory.com's note exercise, change the settings so that you're working on only the notes you're trying to learn, and see how many notes you can correctly identify in a 5 minute session.  Write down your score (number correct).  Do another 5 minute session the next 4 days, and see if the number you can correctly identify goes up.

Use your imagination when applying this.  It works because it demands perfection first, and repetition second.  Be patient early on.  You will undoubtedly mess up and have to start over your count, and it will feel like it's taking forever.  However, you will eventually get good at this type of practice and see it as nothing more than a tool that will reliably make you a better pianist.

Welcome 2015, Becoming Observant

Yes, I am still here.  In 2014, I was involved with 9 shows.  That was more than I did in 2012-13 combined.  Also, I spent the year teaching at a local community college.  Needless to say, many things fell by the wayside including this blog, but I'm not at all short on things I want to share, so I hope to be giving you more frequent things to read.  I am doing fewer shows and only teaching privately, so hopefully this will help.

Coming soon: I will talk about suggested goals for this year.  In the meantime, you may want to read what I suggested for last year.

IMPROVING OBSERVATION

One general way that nearly all of my students need to improve on for becoming better music students is to sharpen their powers of observation.  In music, you need to notice several things:

• Familiar chord progressions and voicings
• Key signatures
• Melodic patterns
• Repeated sections and their variations
• Textual instructions (slow down, up an octave)
• Dynamics
• Fingerings

...and so on.  I can't tell you how much lesson time is spent pointing out to a student that they simply need to look more carefully at what they're playing.  They know what the note is, but they don't notice it until I say "check it again."  They get to a repeated section of something they played well the first time and approach it like it's new material.  Musicians are people who are very observant.  They notice things they see and things they hear.  When my wife logs off on her wii, she tends to do it at the same rhythm to get 3 distinct patterns of 2 notes, 1 note, and 2 more notes.  I went to the piano and found that they make a great waltz.  Did you know that cylindrical fluorescent lightbulbs constantly hum on a Bb?  Have you ever listened to the rhythm of a car alarm, or the complicated songs of birds?

There's late '90s British television show called Spaced that has this one scene that nails how many musicians think.  This minor character, Tyres, is visiting his friends.  He's usually wearing headphones, frequently visits a lot of clubs, and basically transforms everything into music.  Watch what happens inside his head as soon as the phone starts ringing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ0zGZ2t7xE

One exercise I've always suggested to people for improving observations is to select a mundane object, like a clock on the wall, and write down 20 things about it.  Today, I found this article about How to Boost Your Observation Skills and Pay Attention.  Please read it, as I think you will find a lot that will help you with your music and with life away from your instrument as well.

Residual Effects of Practice

First of all, congratulations to all who participated in the Spring Recital!  Every time you get up in front of people and perform, you should be proud, whether it was the best you ever played or not.

I am in the midst of rehearsing a show as music director and pianist, a show that is known for a difficult piano part.  Now that I've played it with the cast close to a dozen times now, I'm able to make some observations while I'm playing.

1.  At least 90% of this score was sight-readable for me.  Of the 10% I couldn't sight-read well and had to practice, I didn't have to spend more than about an hour of total practice learning 9% of it.  There's about 1% that is genuinely hard and I'm still working on getting comfortable doing.

2.  When I'm playing, I use very little movement.  My wrists and shoulder movement are exactly what I teach in lessons, but I'm not doing much of it, just enough to play it well.

3.  When I play, I know it "looks" easy.  As a matter of fact, it "feels" easy.

All of this led to a conclusion:
The benefits of ease in playing this show are the result of INTENSE PRACTICE of PREVIOUS PIECES.

If you're not struggling with a piece, you are missing out on true growth.  It'd be nice if all pieces were ones you can just look at and play on the first attempt.  Unless you're an absolute beginner, all of you have pieces like that on some level.  However, unless you experience the STRUGGLE of a difficult piece regularly, and learn to overcome it, you will not push your level of comfort to more difficult music. The great news is that what you learn in one piece will help you in future pieces!

To reach this goal of a higher level of playing, here is what I did, and recommend you do.

(1) Embrace the struggle of difficult music.  It's NOT a reflection of how little you've accomplished so far.  You are not a failure for struggling with music.  Each struggle is how you grow.  In fact, it's the only way to grow as a musician.

(2)  Learn to practice strategically, in ways that solve difficulties in efficient ways.  This includes correct practice of accuracy first leading to speed with analysis and repetition as needed.  Everything you accomplish in learning one piece will likely come in as great experience the next time you come across something similar.

(3) LEARN your TECHNIQUE!   Unless someone mistakes you for The Flash as you play your scales, chords, and arpeggios, they are not yet good enough.  There's always room for improvement.  The better you are at those, the less music will catch you unprepared.  Be consistent - the right notes with the right fingerings every single time.  Go as slow as you need, but push for speed as it becomes easy.

(4) Keep improving your knowledge of theory.  When I play, I KNOW my notes.  I don't even think about them.  I KNOW my keys.  I KNOW my key signatures.  I don't miss sharps and flats because I remember them and apply them while I play.  I'm also aware of repeated sections.  I also am thinking about the chords I'm playing.  The more I KNOW, the better I play it.

(5) Practice sightreading.  Take easier music and work on seeing the music ahead of where you're playing, of playing without having to look at your hands.  Sightreading can include playing old pieces you either didn't learn well, or have forgotten.

(6) Memorize regularly, even a few measures.  When playing from music, page turns sometimes demand remembering what's around the corner, so it's helpful to be able to keep playing off the page without making a big struggle of it.

When you begin to feel frustrated with the struggle of a piece, remember that these are merely dues you pay for getting to the next level.  The hard work you spend on a piece will not be spent in vain, even if you forget how to play that particular piece.  Each accomplishment in piano will pay dividends later on.

Resuming this Blog, Recital Reminder

Updated to include the date

Students and other readers,
First of all, please accept my apology for letting this blog go for so long.  I won't divulge all that's been going on, but being busy is a part of the long time between posts, but only a part.  The other part is simply "out of sight, out of mind".  I'm hoping to work blogging into a schedule, so that I get you one post a week.  Thank you if you're still following this.

With that said, the first thing is to remind everyone that our Spring Recital is Sunday, May 4 at Pfafftown Baptist Church, 4336 Transou Road, Pfafftown, NC 27040.  The recital begins at 3:00pm.  I encourage those participating to arrive early enough to assure you can be there AND relaxed/acclimated by 3:00pm.  It will not be a long recital, but thanks to all of you who are participating.

I've typed up three posts here before that I encourage EVERYONE to please read again.  Click on each link below to review.

Recital Etiquette, Where to Sit, Etc

More recital basics.

and finally:
How to ensure you'll play your best.

Why Good Practice is Uncomfortable, 6 Benefits of Music Lessons

Good Practice = Outside the Comfort Zone

Running is something I've done for recreation the past two years.  I've run in two 5k races, and was training for a 10k when I had three minor injuries (not all running-related) crop up at about the same time.  That was in August and, since then, I've run once or twice a month, always with a little pain and not with any consistency.  This weekend, I decided to commit to running again now that my nagging pains were gone.  My most recent run was just two miles, and it was pain free, but even that was very challenging and at a slower pace than normal considering I hadn't run in a full month.  My conditioning is not what it used to be, and it was definitely pushing myself to run even two miles without a walking break.

As my lungs were still trying to process the cooler air, the thought occurred to me afterward, "I hope I didn't push it too much.  Maybe I should have walked some and taken it easy since I'm clearly out of shape?"

Then I answered my own thought with another question:  "But how can you expect to get in shape if you don't push yourself?"

It's the same with music as with fitness.  If you do only what is easy and experience no frustration of your own barriers, then you can't expect to get better.  The best you can do is the equivalent of treading water.  Growth requires discomfort.  Practice that leads to you being a better musician will feature most if not all of the following elements at some point:

• A challenge you can't solve in one sitting, or maybe even a few sittings.
• The urge to give up (because pushing yourself can be humbling).
• Frustration
• Many rounds of failure before that breakthrough of success.

You don't have to struggle in practice.  You can just play music you already know and keep your techniques where they are now.  This is fine...provided you don't desire to get any better than you are right now.

If you want to improve as a musician, embrace the struggle that will come.  DO push yourself.  Don't fight it.

6 Benefits of Music Lessons

A parent of one of my students sent me this article on 6 benefits of music lessons from Parents magazine.  I thank him for sending me this, and hope you'll take time to read this article of what music does for you beyond simply learning an instrument.

The Importance of Music Theory

As a teacher, I'm not very strict about most things.  I don't require practice times.  I don't require that you learn only the pieces I assign.  I'm flexible about getting you different types of repertoire.  There is one thing on which I'm not flexible, and that is Theory.

To take lessons with me is to accept that Music Theory will be part of your education.  It may not be a huge part, but there will be some for sure.

There is one thing that makes me much more upset than anything else: not doing your theory assignment.

I understand two things against this point.  The first is that I am honestly biased.  All of my degrees were based on theory and composition.  I've invested in the knowledge and want to share it.  I have a high respect for its importance.   The second is one I think I need to address, and that is the feeling you might have:  I'm paying for PIANO lessons, not theory lessons.  Why should I waste my time on theory?

What is Music Theory?

In the world of science, a law is a principle which can be proven beyond dispute, often with numerical evidence (such as gravity and inertia).  A theory (such as relativity and evolution) is a reasoned, researched principle that can't necessarily be proven.  Theories are often open to debate.  To be a theory in the first place, however, it is required that the concepts be sound and valid, whether or not they are completely correct.

There are no laws in music.  Music is free to be created and re-created.  For nearly every rule ever stated in music, you can count on finding an exception somewhere.   That said, music is not a happy accident.  The pieces and songs that move you did not randomly appear into existence.  It took thought to create it.  If a piece is really good, then the person who created it could not only likely read music, but also understood how intervals work, how the functions of harmony are successful, what makes a good melody, how voice leading can make the piece better or worse, and so much more.

What is music theory?  It is all the common ideas mankind has developed about music in Western culture, and our understanding of how and why music works.

Why is Theory important as a pianist (or any other performer)?

To understand theory is to understand how music works.  To understand how music works is to open doors in a lot of ways.  First, it helps explain why you like certain music more than others.  It's a source of pride to me, and it can be to you too, that I can verbally explain why I like the music that I do and why I don't like other music.  Understanding theory helps you understand a composer's intentions.  The piece speaks to you like it didn't before when you know things about it.

It also helps you achieve the ultimate in musical achievement:  creating your own music.  People marvel over the fact that Beethoven could compose such great works while he was completely deaf.  I love Beethoven and I think his music would be great even if he had always been able to hear...but let's not call this a miracle that he could do it while deaf.  The fact is that Beethoven KNEW his theory.  He knew why chords and keys worked.  He understood how rhythm worked.  He knew orchestration.  As a composer myself, I often write at a table, away from instruments, and only use the sounds to fine tune my product.  Beethoven could write without hearing because he knew his stuff.  He didn't need to hear it to know how it would sound.

People imagine composers being these mythical people that just wait for inspiration to hit, but composing is rarely just a result of inspiration.  It's very much a craft.  When I write or improvise music, I am taking my understanding of how music works, disassembling it, and putting it back together in my own way with an understanding of what is more likely to be pleasing and not.

The best performers in every genre have much more often than not been shown to be very competent in music theory.  There's a limit on what you can achieve blindly in music, that is just playing notes and not understanding what they're doing.  To be great in music, you need to understand it.  My most accomplished students of the past 14 years have all been among the most knowledgable about music itself.

I urge every one of my students to not just regard Theory as something separate from practice.  Think of Theory as a type of practice all by itself, a type of mental practice.

Save the Date - Winter/Spring performance opps

There are 3 opportunities for you to perform in the first half of this year.

1. Sunday, February 2nd - 3:00pm, Young Artist's Musicale - at Piedmont Music Center, Winston-Salem.  First come-first serve for limited availability.

2.  Sunday, April 13 - 3:00pm Young Artist's Musicale - same place and situation as above.

3.  Sunday, May 4 - 2:30pm - Spring Recital - all students of all ages are welcome to participate, no limit.  Location TBD.