I certainly don’t want to become part of the great diet debate, however, since a lot of people are fat, formerly including me, It seemed worth it to throw in my two cents. I am not any kind of expert on this, but I did my own research and found that eating healthy foods is not that hard if you commit.
Ever wonder why some keyboards are harder to play than others, or why your hands hurt after a gig on certain keyboards? In this article, we are going to look at certain design elements that make some keyboards hard to play. I tested a selection of keyboards available to me as a cross-section.
Many musicians focus on the amount of force it takes to press the keys, called touch weight. While this is important, here we will examine some other design features that can really mess up our ability to perform:
It may seem odd to have a part four in a three part series, but there are a few things to add that we can think of as the “filling” for our triangle. These have more to do with the planning and organization that goes into musicianship, as well as the emotional issues that come up as we attempt to grow and learn.
So far, we have examined the concepts of repetition and reinforcement, which make learning possible by imprinting the knowledge and making it “stick.”
The third element of this triangle involves testing and experimenting with the things we have practiced. Learning the limits of our preparation is how we make our learning stronger and more useful. I call it Evaluation.
Reinforcement
Last time we discussed repetition, the act of playing the same passage over and over in a short time-span. In this article, we will discuss the second element in successful practice.
As we learned in part 1, repetition is effective for a limited time; after this short period, continuing to repeat can waste time as well as lead to daydreaming and joint pain. Furthermore, we can only learn so much in one session, no matter how long we do our drills. How can we imprint the skills we want to have so they are consistent and available to us? Through what I call reinforcement, or the process of forgetting and re-learning.
Practicing is a personal activity; no two people are the same, and this also goes for practice. However, there are some fundamental forces that are part of the learning experience for all of us. Learning to use and balance these processes will lead to successful and efficient use of our precious time. In this series, we will discuss the three elements of successful practice.
The First Element: Repetition
This may seem obvious; everybody knows you have to repeat things to learn. However, what we are discussing here is a very specifically structured activity, geared toward building muscle memory. Here are my suggestions on how to optimize the use of repetition.
When learning a new passage, it can be necessary to create a fingering. This can be for several reasons: the music doesn’t have any fingering, is an 0riginal composition, was transcribed from a recording, or has awkward fingerings written. Often the difference between effortless, smooth playing and awkward, inconsistent delivery is in the fingerings. There are many issues that can come up when deciding upon a fingering, and this passage addresses a few. I have added the fingerings I used in the video to this example. Hope this is helpful!
And don’t think about it either.
What we are thinking about when we do something (like play an instrument) makes all the difference in what happens. Think the wrong thing, and you can sound like you have never practiced a minute in your life. Think the right thing and you can achieve things you >thought< were impossible.
Can we control our thoughts? Yes and no. The usual trick at this point is to say: “Don’t think of a green apple” or something to that effect. Of course, the first thing appearing in your mind’s eye is the apple. So does that mean you can’t control your thoughts, that your mind is going to go wherever it wants, like wild horses? Not really, but there are misconceptions about this; first let’s look at the thought patterns that bind and cripple us, then some ways to change them.
