From: Michael Will Date: Tue, 09 Apr 1996 10:12:56 -0700 Subject: Practice; Quality Factors (Was: Re: Met my first harp-l-er in real life...)
Christian N Michalek wrote: > > > > > As for my performance, well, I've had better nights. This > > daylight savings time thingie has my clock all screwed up. > > Never blame things like daylight savings on your performance. If you > sound bad it's because you don't practice enough or simply don't have t[he] > experience to adapt to a given situation.
I don't disagree with the point. I think the statement "you don't practice enough" is an over-simplification that would be interesting to expand. I know the intent was not an analysis of why someone "sounds bad" (which is almost but not quite the same as why someone doesn't sound good, or great) so I'm not trying to argue here. But it is an important area, I think, to consider.
Consider practice. There is effective practice and ineffective practice--or maybe it's better to say more effective and less effective practice techniques--the point is, it's not *just* ~how much~ you practice. Someone a few months ago, from Britain somewhere, I believe, posted some suggestions about approaching a practice session. Like, "Have a plan"--think about what you want to accomplish during this practice. And "Evaluate your practice" after you are done, that kind of thing.
It also seems like directed practice, such as that required by a skilled teacher, would tend to be much more effective than ad-hoc practice where there is no plan or process of progression. Once again, it's not that you don't practice enough. It could be that you practice enough but don't practice right. Someone posted about the affect of posture on tone. You might practice forever with bad posture, and never get there; whereas a teacher might take one look and say "Stand up straight" (or something that would actually work!) and *bingo*, the tone improves! Unfortunately, bad practice can instill bad habits that are hard to break. So practice can be ineffective, actually doing more harm than good. (I get really good at doing things wrong %^)
I agree with Christian that if you "sound bad" it is almost certainly your own fault, with practice being the prime culprit. But I don't think it is quite the same thing to say (which he didn't, by the way. I'm not arguing, but expanding.) that if you don't *sound great* you don't practice enough, or even you don't practice enough the right way.
I liken the ability to play music to the ability to perform a sport, for example. Some people are inherently better athletes than other people--physical size aside. Taking an extreme, if I practiced (American) football just as much and just as effectively as (famous football player) Joe Montana, that doesn't mean I'd be as good a quarterback. I might be good enough to play for a small local high school...
If I practiced piano just as much and just as effectively as Horowitz, I still would not be as good.
I suppose I'm saying that some people probably have more innate musical ability than others. (Out on a dry pine limb, hearing the gas start to flow, watching the matches about to strike..).
Like we've discussed before, evaluations change as your ability grows and the context changes. As a talented beginner people may well say (and mean) "Wow, you really sound good!". Then you get better and go to a jam and people may say "You suck man." Or, you get very good and play a regular gig and people say "You sound great!". So you cut a CD and people say "You aren't very good. You're definitely no Howard Levy.."
Some factors that could contribute to innate abilities could include: - - Concentration (where do you lose it? can you clamp down and execute for an entire piece? a whole set? all evening? regardless of external factors?) - - Depth of emotion (can you keep it fresh, even the 100th time? 1000th?) - - Having something to say (which could come from life experiences not related to music or skill on an instrument--especially considering the blues) - - Ability to construct musical ideas (analogous to writing: you can write simple statements, or gramatically correct complex sentences dense with ideas, full of imagery and metaphor.) - - Physical characteristics (big resonant air passages? long fingers? fast hands? tricky tongue? good ear? perfect pitch?) - - other ideas?
