When they play the part where the mis- take was made a second time, the prob- ability is that, having played the mistake once, they would repeat it, reinforcing the mistake. And each subsequent time they play it, the odds are that they will make the same mistake again. Only by intently concentrating on not making the mistake, can they improve the phrase and eventually perfect it. By working backwards, their mas-
tery of already learned segments becomes stronger as each segment is added. Rather then practicing mistakes, they strengthen their grasp of the music. I taught stu- dents this approach for their home prac- tice, using the old adage “practice smart, not for hours.” In choosing music for my ensembles
to play, I usually included a good num- ber of pieces that were not technically challenging, so that rehearsal time con- centrated on the more musical aspects of performance as opposed to teaching notes and rhythms. However, I always in- cluded several selections that challenged the students. When working with these, rather
John J. Cali School of Music
Degrees:
Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Arts Master of Arts Artist’s Diploma
Performer’s Certificate Programs:
Music Education Performance Jazz Studies Music Therapy
Theory/Composition
then playing from the beginning of the piece, I often taught them backwards over a number of rehearsals, perfecting each segment of the piece from the end to the beginning. When introducing a new selection, I might only work a last fp chord that ended the piece during the first rehearsal, perfecting that, proceeding backwards from there in subsequent rehearsals. And I found this successful. Over the past dozen years, I have vis- ited many schools in northern New Jer- sey supervising student teachers for William Paterson University. Although I have seen teachers use this or similar approaches in their teaching, I have also visited classrooms where this technique could have been usefully employed. And I wish that, when I was a young teacher, someone had explained this strategy to me. Many students would have benefitted from it.
montclair.edu/music Email:
musauditions@montclair.edu & OCTOBER 2014 39 TEMPO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76