{"id":4216,"date":"2016-05-10T13:43:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T20:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=4216"},"modified":"2016-05-23T14:20:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T21:20:10","slug":"the-way-you-approach-music-in-practice-greatly-affects-your-success-in-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/the-way-you-approach-music-in-practice-greatly-affects-your-success-in-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Way You Approach Music in Practice Greatly Affects Your Success in Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
From the Spring 2016 Issue of Stage & Studio<\/a> | BY LOUISE LEE<\/h6>\n

How you practice is a direct reflection of how you perform. Even if your playing in the practice room sounds good, you need to practice and learn the piece in a manner robust enough to withstand the pressure of onstage performance. After all, with the stage, lights, excitement, and expectant audience, performing isn\u2019t at all like the practice studio. Hans Sturm, assistant professor of double bass and jazz studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and professor emeritus at Ball State University, offers some ideas on how to practice, so your playing holds up in performance.<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T DIVE\u00a0IN<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s say you\u2019re learning a new piece. If you\u2019re using sheet music, don\u2019t just put the music on the stand and start sightreading. The problem with jumping in that way is that \u201cyou\u2019ll make many mistakes and they\u2019ll become part of your memory, strongly associated with that crucial first experience of the piece,\u201d Sturm says. During the stress of a performance, you\u2019re likely to make those early mistakes again even if you supposedly \u201cunlearned\u201d them.<\/p>\n

You want to reduce the number of early mistakes, so you don\u2019t have to undo them in the first place. Here\u2019s how: First, listen to a good recording, and don\u2019t even look at the music. Just close your eyes and listen, Sturm says. Internalize the piece, and sing along. Then, listen with the music in hand. Build an interpretation, and visualize yourself playing the work.<\/p>\n

Then review the piece without the recording, singing it internally and imagining the physical requirements of playing it. Mark up the music, creating solutions to problems even before they crop up. Only then should you take up the instrument, since you now have a good impression in your mind of melodies and rhythms. If you play something wrong, you\u2019ll notice immediately and can address it right away, so you\u2019ll have less to unlearn and fewer early mistakes lurking in the back of your mind.<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T \u2018BULLDOZE\u2019<\/h3>\n

A common, but misguided way of practicing is starting at the beginning of the piece and \u201cbulldozing\u201d your way through until you make a mistake, repeating the offending measure a few times until the flub is \u201cfixed,\u201d looping back to the beginning, playing until another mistake is made and fixed, looping back, and so on. This practice \u201cadds anxiety to a performance because you\u2019re practicing stopping at each mistake,\u201d Sturm says. You should \u201cmake each moment in practice a mini performance\u2014always performing the work with a performance mentality, whether it is only two beats or four movements,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Instead of bulldozing, try \u201cframing.\u201d Select a \u201cframe size,\u201d whether a few notes, a few bars, or an entire passage that you want to work on. Play it without stopping and ask yourself where the problems are only afterward. Then resize the frame to focus on the spot or spots where you had problems. \u201cThe key is not to stop\u2014to complete the task,\u201d says Sturm, noting that when you\u2019re onstage, after all, you\u2019re playing an entire piece without stopping. Focusing on one issue at a time within a frame will let you \u201chone in and refine issues in great detail, all while practicing performing.\u201d<\/p>\n

USE\u00a0THE\u00a0SHEET\u00a0MUSIC\u2014OR\u00a0LOSE IT<\/h3>\n

Players might have a piece almost memorized and during practice look at the music only in passages where they think they need it. Then in the performance, they bring the sheet music out with them just in case, but if they glance at the music, they risk looking at the wrong place in the adrenaline of the moment and becoming startled, Sturm says. This is especially true for classical or jazz players. The best way to avoid being thrown off track by the music is to either use the score entirely or don\u2019t use it at all. If you\u2019re planning to use the music onstage, practice with it and read the entire page, he says. If you\u2019re not going to use the music during the performance, don\u2019t use it in practice, either.<\/p>\n

QUIET\u00a0THE JUDGE<\/h3>\n

Everyone has an internal judge who\u2019s waiting to stop and berate you at every mistake. The negativity can wear you down and distract you in the practice room, so give your internal judge another role that\u2019s more positive and helps you strengthen your performances. \u201cAsk your judge to be a silent observer during the performance of a frame,\u201d Sturm says. \u201cAfter you have completed the frame, ask your judge to share a specific observation to help the level of performance improve. This gives the judge a positive role and helps to limit unproductive negative opinion. You are slowly changing the internal dialog to work for you rather than against you.\u201d<\/p>\n

During practice, choose the frame to work on and have your judge rate your performance on a scale from 1 to 5 before repeating the frame again. \u201cOver time, your judge will evolve into a role more like a working partner and you will find that you will begin to have more control over the internal dialogue,\u201d Sturm says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not to say that the overtly negative voice of the judge won\u2019t ever return to haunt you, but you will have begun to engage the voice, and its power to disturb your focus will be diminished.\u201d \b<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Stage & Studio. <\/em>Click here to download the entire issue for free.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Stage<\/a><\/p>\n

LEAVE A COMMENT
\nShare with us, and your fellow readers, any tips and techniques that have worked well for YOU in practicing and preparing for a performance, competition, or recording session!<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Spring 2016 Issue of Stage & Studio | BY LOUISE LEE How you practice is a direct reflection of how you perform. Even if your playing in the practice room sounds good, you need to practice and learn the piece in a manner robust enough to withstand the pressure of onstage performance. After all, with the stage, lights, excitement, and expectant audience, performing isn\u2019t at all like the practice studio. Hans Sturm, assistant professor of double bass and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Way-you-Approach-Music-in-Practice-Greatly-Affects-Your-Success-in-Performance-Pratice-Tips-Stage-and-Studio.jpg?fit=750%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}