| Teaching Sight reading | |
Introduction For a music learner, there are more opportunities for performing when they are getting higher grade. For example, formal performance--exams, competitions, festivals, school concerts, recital in school exams etc. Also, there are chances for them to play with their friends and family, playing at religious services and community events, or choir pianist. Preparing music for performance
Preparation time The recital piece should be finished (notes and rhythms well-learned) at least two months before the recital date. The remaining time can then be spent polishing execution, completing memory, and honing interpretation. This large "cushion" of time will help the student relax, especially if it is a first recital. If the preparation time is not enough, e.g. a month only, student will be too nervous and they will approach the recital with terror rather than enthusiasm.
Selection of pieces At least two months before the date, the teacher and student together should select a recital piece that the student is already learned and which the student enjoys playing. The student generally feels comfortable with the piece already; because he likes it, he will be willing to perfect it even further. Also, this piece should be well within the student's grasp to play really well. It should not be the most difficult piece the student can play or the most recently learned, as that is to enhance the greatest confidence to play the pieces. The teacher should emphasize that the purpose of the recital is to share the music with other the listeners but not a time to show off or a final exam. A proper attitude can go a long ways toward dispelling the jitters and the competitive urge between students, it will optimize the performance with proper attitude. Teaching style Style is the result of consistently applying certain characteristics and qualities to a performance and will necessitate a certain amount of knowledge and research. These qualities will emerge as a result of knowing the composer, historical period in which the music was composed, performance conventions of the period and geographic and nationalistic influences. For example, for preparing Mozart's sonata should know the aspect of the sonata form, the characteristics of Mozart's sonata, appropriate ornamentation, the characteristic and performance possibilities such as articulation, tempo and the appropriate range of dynamics to be used etc. Playing with style and the ability to interpret music do not come naturally to the vast majority, these skill are needed to be taught. Also, through the process of teaching, students should ultimately develop the confidence to interpret themselves. Student can learn the style by going to concerts and listen to music intelligently, responsively. They need to have an innate understanding of musical sty le to perform well at every level of performance. It is very important that students should research themselves to build up a stylist performance; they are encouraged to listen intelligently to recording by different pianist, but they should not become restricted by concerns of styles. They should avoid stylistic generalization and each work had to be considered on its own merits. Teaching interpretation Interpretation is the act of turning notation into sound and it is the synthesis of stylistic awareness and musical imagination, resulting in an effective recreation of a particular composer's music. In the act of interpretation, students should consider all aspects of the music in relation to the style, character and expressive intention by the principally concerned with the tempo, phrasing, rhythm, dynamic levels and other markings. We should teach and discuss with students all these feature with historical knowledge and performance convention where appropriate. The optimized result is the student to have a good decision making to interpret pieces themselves. There are main component of interpretation: Tempo--- To find the appropriate tempo for particular pieces with different composers. They can be found by composer's word, e.g. Allegro, there are also metronome indication, the time signature and the character of the piece. All these features will depend on historical convention to a certain extent. So we should guide students to discover the information themselves to act as homework. Phrasing--- This is the grouping of notes into musically meaningful units. Articulation, accentuation, dynamic levels, tone color and rhythm will all need to be carefully considered in the shaping of notes into phrases. We suggest the pieces should be cantabile by singing the main melody. Rhythm--- We should know where to place accents and the precise duration of notes. The character and style of the music can be done by decisions of note-values. Dynamic levels--- The range of dynamic levels marked by a composer represents a point of departure. The subtleties of phrase shape will result from the use of many dynamic grading and colors well beyond what any composer might mark in a score. However, there are only a little dynamic marks given by composer, the rest is for the pianist to decide. It is a good chance to discuss with student what is appropriate of the inputs according to the style of the performer. Ornamentation--- We can alter or rewrite the realization of ornament with different style, effect and imaginative for different pieces to optimize them. Other markings--- Students need to understand all relevant markings like articulation, accentuation and all written terms during the learning process. The meaning of these will often depend on the historical period of the music. An informed performance will show evidence of this knowledge. After interpretation, we should encourage student to perform a certain degree of spontaneity in performance with appropriate rubato or shading of tonal color. The aim is to let the student feel the piece and play it musically by heart. Preparing the performance Performing is a different type of experience compared with practicing and plays through pieces in lessons. Even if a student can play perfectly during practice, he can make all kinds of mistakes during a recital if the preparation is incorrect. During a recital, the most stressed element is the brain, not the playing mechanism. And this stress cannot be replicated in any kind of simulated performance. Thus the brain must be rested and fully charged for a one-time performance; it cannot be drained by playing your heart out. All mistakes originate in the brain. All the necessary information must be stored in an orderly manner in the brain, with no confusion. This is why improperly prepared students always play worse in a recital than during practice. Through trial and error, we should create practice routines that work for students. The most important rule is to limit the amount of practice on recital day, so as to keep the mind fresh. A typical recommended practice routine is to play nearly full speed once, then medium speed once and finally once slowly. Then no practice will be needed. Also, we should never play faster than recital speed. This routine is for the typical student and is not for professional performers who will have much more detailed routines that depend not only on the type of music being played, but also on the particular composer or particular piece to be played . However, even if the piece has not been perfected and can be improved with more practice, this is still the best routine for the recital day. If the student make a mistake that we know is stubborn and which we are almost certain that it will occur during the recital, we can fish out just the few bars containing the mistake and practice those at the appropriate speeds (always ending with slow play), staying away from fast playing as much as possible. If you are not sure that the piece is completely memorized, you can play it very slowly several times. During rehearsal, when the student make mistake, we should play it right through and do not stop to correct it or even hesitate. Unfortunately, any mistake they make at this time has a high probability of reappearing during the recital. Therefore, after they have finished the piece, go back and fish out the phrase containing the mistake and play it slowly several times. We can work on improving the piece up to the last day before the recital, But within the last week, adding new material or making changes in the piece (such as fingering) is not recommended, we can play it into short segments and practice the segments. Also, we can practice hands separately at any speed. We should avoid learning new pieces during this last week because new pieces are unpredictable and will often cause student to learn new skills that affect or alter how they play the recital piece. We should make a habit of warming up when we start any practice session. The hands will warm up after one or two pieces, because not being warm up will play difficultly at full speed; it will lead to stress and even injury. During recital The performer should clear their mind and their mind should be focused on the music or on practical matters such as eye contact with other players. If there are any internal or external distractions, they should refocus their mind as quickly as possible. Students can practice dealing with external distraction by different method. E.g. call some audiences to during a trial run. We can delay starting by adjusting the bench or some clothing item in order to have time to double check that the starting tempo, etc., are correct as it reassures the audience that the performer are not too nervous and is in no hurry to start. It is a good idea to practice starting, from several days prior to the recital. We can't assume that we won't make any mistakes because that assumption can only get us into more trouble. Be ready to react correctly with each mistake, or more importantly an impending mistake that we can avoid. One of the methods is using finger memory. Finger memory depends on habit and stimuli -- the habit of having practiced many times, and the stimuli of previous notes leading to succeeding notes. Therefore, in order to enhance finger memory, you must play slightly faster and louder, exactly the opposite of what an anxious person would do during a recital. Students who play faster and louder are scary things to do during a recital, so we advice they should practice this at home just as you practice anything else. Learn to anticipate mistakes and to avoid them by using these avoidance methods. The important lesson here is that one trick for "playing through mistakes" is to play it slightly faster and louder. Another method is to make sure that the melodic line is not broken, even at the cost of missing some "accompaniment" notes. With practice, we will find that this is easier than it sounds; the best time to practice is sight reading. Another is to at least keep the rhythm. The trick of playing faster works particularly well with blackouts. For mistakes that occur because the passage is difficult, slowing down is a better approach. After recital Performer should remain absolutely still for a few moments before relaxing. Audience applause should be acknowledged with a smile and a bow. We should teach students to have correct bowing to appropriate performance and overcome any anxiety. We should review the recital results and evaluate student strengths and weaknesses so that they can improve their recital preparation routine. In addition to their own evaluation, they need feedback from teacher and the audience. Everybody must develop a "recital preparation routine", because that is the secret for a good performance. It can reduce repeating mistake in the further recital after. We should know the difficulty of playing recital consecutively and will purposely use this to strengthen the students' performance ability by scheduling recitals on consecutive days. Performance anxiety Nervousness is a natural human emotion just as happiness, fear, sadness, etc., are emotions. Also nervousness is performance enhancing reaction to perceived critical situations. However, under extreme conditions, emotions can get out of control, and it can then become a liability. The way to control nervousness is to first study its cause and nature and to develop methods for controlling it based on knowledge. Emotions can also be controlled by use of psychology, training, or conditioning. Knowledge is the most effective means of control. We have several advices on reducing nervousness: 1. Prepare the recital pieces well and teach the student to be relaxed and put trust into their preparation. 2. Ensure there is ample time to learn the material and it is learnt thoroughly, all technical problems should be practiced until they are entirely overcome. Student will have less anxiety with knowing they have no technical weaknesses 3. Make sure that there is sufficient rehearsal time for the recital. 4. Discuss and rehearse the theatre of performance, such as walking on the leave the platform, stage or performance area with acknowledging the audience both before and after the performance. 5. The performer should have a good night's sleep the night before the performance. It is because cognitive ability and concentration are both dependent on an appropriate number of hours' sleep. 6. The way to the venue should be know and plenty of time should be allotted for the journey to anticipate other potentially stress inducing problem. 7. We encourage performer should be take long, slow, deep breaths and breathing out slowly through the mouth in the ten minutes before the performance. It can help to slow down the heartbeat and encourage a feeling of relaxation. 8. Keep claim and sit quietly and still for dew minutes before recital and tell them they will have good work. Conclusion Preparation of performance is an important job by teacher. Many teachers even don't let their student to perform because they don't have skill in teaching performing. It is an essential skill for them because music is a performing art, student can't only practice on their room and perform in their own. They need to share music to others. Music is a world language to express performer's feeling and communication. Performing is a direct way to show this function of music. After knowing how to prepare performance, they can have no anxiety to make their performance. I hope this knowledge can be learnt by every music teacher can do it well.
Reference 1. Music Education Center http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Marble/9607 2. Fundamentals of Piano Practice, 2nd Edition http://members.aol.com/chang8825/recital.htm 3. Yoke Wong's homepage 4. Martha Beth Lewis's homepage 5. Vocalist Organization http://www.vocalist.org.uk/sight_reading.html 6. The music Teacher's Companion Paul Harris and Richard Crozier by ABRSM ALL RIGHT RESERVED BY QUINCY CHAN 2006 |
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