One of the biggest stumbling blocks
for music students is knowing what to practice.
In the early years students listened to their teachers
and did what they told them to do, which is still
of course perfectly valid. But the real turning
point that sets a student on their own path is the
ability to self motivate and take the reins without
the aid of a mentor.
This usually happens around the
time that the student falls in love with music.
When a student starts out, they usually practice
out of fear. Fear that they might be told off because
their teacher will scold them for NOT practicing.
So much later, when the student has some basic playing
facility behind them, music all of a sudden becomes
fascinating to them. This is when the craving to
pick up the instrument starts to happen.
As the student continues to explore
on his or her own, there are doubtless times when
road blocks appear. I've always thought that improving
happens in peaks and plateaus, where the plateaus
of seeming UN-improvement seem to last forever!
This of course is never the case because the plateaus
are the times when the information is being absorbed
which is so necessary.
However, it is during these plateaus
that the student often gets stuck. Personally, I
have always got through these troublesome times
because I have always paid close attention to a
little inner voice that would always tap me on the
shoulder and say "You know you have a weakness
when you play over diminished chords", or "Your
sight reading in the 8th position needs a little
work when you play in the key of Ab". And so
on.
This little voice never went away
over the years. She's still there today, tapping
me on the shoulder every few weeks, making sure
I am not resting on my laurels. But I have found
that if I am committed to improving and really open
to working on whatever I need to work on, I will
always get the advice I need.
I think deep down we all know
what our strengths and weaknesses are as players
at any level. Therefore as we continue to grow and
develop as musicians, we must always pay very close
attention to our weaknesses and work on them. They
usually stare us in the face. The trouble is, it
is very easy to ignore what is usually obvious to
us.
One thing I have found is that,
unless I am really open to learning and in the mode
of wanting to improve, that little inner voice tends
to go away. She's not tapping me on the shoulder
telling me what I need to work on unless I really
want to know.
So I guess what I am trying to
say here is ask yourself questions! What is your
real commitment to music and what are your weaknesses?
If you truly want to be a great player then you
simply need to focus on your weaknesses.
Now as time goes on, and you cover
the playing field regarding technique, harmony and
melodic vocabulary, then that inner voice directs
you to more and more specific things. She might
say "You sound unsure when you play over that
G7(#5) bit in the bridge of Stella By Starlight",
or "Blowing in 3/4 time isn't really quite
together yet is it? - let's work on that".
Now, I also find these days that
my inner voice offers me inspirational things to
practice. She might say, "You know when you
played that augmented idea at the 10th fret over
D7 - that's cool - work on that!" or "When
you played that 2 5 lick but with open strings -
yeah - develop that - that's interesting!".
I get this all the time these days, giving me fuel
to work on my things rather than other players'
ideas. This is what intrigues me today.
Self improvement as a player
seems to be a never ending quest for inspiration
and ideas and I find the best source these days
comes from within.
