Practicing with Intention: Part 2 Active Listening

I'm sure some of us are thinking, "Who doesn't listen to themselves when they play?"

The pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for many teachers to ask their students more questions. I personally have been asking my students to self-evaluate frequently throughout each lesson. But when I asked what they thought about their playing, many of them have told me they didn't have anything to say because they weren't listening.

This blew my mind.

I mean, aren't we playing music to create something beautiful or interesting? If we don't listen to ourselves, we are just robots going through the motions, and no one wants to be compared to a automaton.

Robot or Artist

The whole reason we don't like listening to MIDI files is because they lack an artistic touch. They sound flat, without personality or depth. No one wants to sound like that, but it takes thought and effort to add that emotional magic that people crave when they listen to music. There's a reason high-level music making takes decades!

"He took his pain and turned it into something beautiful. Into something that people connect to. And that's what good music does. It speaks to you. It changes you." -Hannah Harrington, author

Use Your Ears

Just like a painter steps back from the canvas to let their eyes guide them, we need to trust our ears to inform where we go next in our practice. As musicians, our ears guide our practice, and the choices we make at each junction in a practice session can have a profound effect on how our music emotionally takes shape,

Self-assessment is how we determine how we want to use vibrato, dynamics, articulation, tempo changes... If we aren't doing that, we risk going through the music on autopilot. Without thoughtful choices and performance planning, what we are doing isn't adding to the interpretation of the music, but instead just playing through the notes (🤭).

Ear Engagement Tips

To effectively practice, we have to maintain our focus and keep our ears engaged, so we are aware of what about our playing adds to our vision and what isn't quite there yet.

1) Small Goals: In the beginning phases of learning a piece, we can get overwhelmed with how many details "need work." If we immediately get lost in the weeds, it's difficult to make a plan and discern what needs our focus most urgently.

I encourage my students to isolate short passages, focusing their ears on one aspect of that section at a time. Sometimes, this means playing in slow motion so we have the time to aurally inspect each passage. It can feel tedious, but exhibiting patience with bite-sized chunks really pays off in the long term.

2) Self-recording: One way to keep your ears primed for good listening is to take frequent reflection breaks. Recording yourself for one to five minutes at a time, then listening back is one way to ensure that you give your ears a chance to recharge so they're fresh throughout your practice session.

Another major benefit of self-recording is that we can just listen. When we are actively playing, it can be difficult to listen effectively because we have a never ending list of considerations to juggle, including fingerings, air support, hand position, posture, breathing, intonation...

3) Turning listening into planning: Thoughtful listening often means sitting with our observations and deciding where to go next. The more patient and thoughtful we can be, the faster we will discover what works best for us.

But this is easier said than done!

I encourage everyone to experiment when practicing because that gives us choices. Once we have some options to choose from, we can weigh how each one may strengthen our interpretation.

If you're a student, you've probably heard your teacher say "listen for the connection between the notes while you're practicing" or "listen for the interval spacing in this section." In the absence of a teacher, we get to practice relying on our own ears and directing our practice sessions.

Up Next: Part 3, Diagnosing Stuck Points

Stay tuned for the next installment of Practicing with Intention. I'll be discussing how to pin point specific spots that need more thorough practice so you (or your students) never think "the whole thing was bad" ever again!

Until next time, be safe, kind, and well ,