5+1 Things That Will Improve Your Classical Guitar Practising
In the first part of Things That Will Improve Your Classical Guitar Practising, I touched upon adopting new habits that can boost your efficiency. The second part elaborates on the importance of being mindful in your routine.
Time is of the essence.
Music is organised sound in time. As audiences, we experience a musical performance as it unfolds linearly; one moment leads to the next. We give meaning to the notes not only by what surrounds them and is heard concurrently but also what precedes and follows.
Listening to music is a highly complicated process. Although we are intuitively tuned to understand shifting emotional states conveyed by pitches and rhythms, a well-defined sense of beat is necessary as it seems to be conformity between musicians and listeners amongst all different cultures.
In other words, no matter how diligent was the composer when choosing the right notes and rhythms if the performer doesn't support them boldly; in that case, the music suffers.
When it comes to keeping time, the metronome is the best friend you ever had; it will never lie to you and will make sure that you respect time.
Use the metronome in your daily practice. Make sure that you understand the rhythms that the score presents to you. The key word here is understanding; solo performances don't always need to be metronomically precise. Perfect executions, metronomically speaking, depending on the style, can be uninteresting. But, if you don't learn to perceive rhythms accurately your audience will be left confused.
So, remember to keep a balance of practising with and without the metronome. Eventually, you'll need to learn how to let the phrases breath as well.
Stand on the shoulders of giants.
Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote in 1676 "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants". Music might not be astronomy or mathematics, but the tradition is a well established one.
Through the aeons, teachers play the role of passing wisdom from generation to generation. And, in the age of information, books, forums, videos and blogs can give us additional insights into the music we pursue to master.
While we can take advantage of all those options simultaneously, with the danger of being overwhelmed, I would argue that nothing has more value than claiming the information ourselves. A century of recorded music gives us access the judgement, observations and vision of the great masters.
It is imperative to listen to music carefully, lots of it, various performers and interpretations. Analyse and criticise it; ask questions. Try to understand why they make the choices they do; what works, what doesn't and why. Make notes, then try to apply some of your findings to your playing.
Know thyself. Or at least try.
Psychological research suggests that we are not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately; we frequently overestimate our abilities. This is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. The less we know, the more we think we understand; and musicians are no exception.
No matter how many times your teacher points out that your rhythm is way off, it's extremely hard to evaluate yourself objectively in real-time. Additionally, it is impossible to fix performance issues before you understand what these issues are. It is a process.
Thankfully, in our technological world, it is possible to shorten the gap between how well we think we play and how we do sound. To stare directly in the mirror and observe all our faults. We achieve that by recording our performances regularly and then listening critically. The emotional distance that is granted by becoming the audience allows us to review our playing slightly more objectively. And as we keep exercising this muscle of critical listening, we eventually learn to do it in real-time, at least to some extend.
And no, you don't need to set up a home studio, even a simple audio and video capture with your phone can have a similar effect. Admittingly, investing in some recording gear won't hurt; a pair of decent microphones and a good headphone.
A chat with the composer.
Most of the classical guitar repertoire was composed long before we were born, by composers that are not around anymore. But even for our contemporaries, we rarely have the chance to have a one on one chat about their works and intentions. In either case, they have grand us with something almost as good; the music score.
When you study a new piece of music, don't just read the notes. Study the harmonic implications, the motives, the rhythms. Break down the composition to its elements, see how they connect, ask what their purpose is. Try to understand what is their function in the micro and macro context.
Additionally, read the biography of the composer, learn about major influences, life and period. Be interested and get personal. This in-depth research is utterly inspiring and may lead to musical revelations.
Understand the notes.
"Music is a language", how many times you have heard or repeat that phrase? Well, I believe that most people don't truly understand what it means.
The most common reading of that phrase is that music can affect our feelings universally across all cultures, meaning that we can detect happiness and sadness even in unfamiliar music idioms. While that is not wrong, it doesn't even touch the surface of what makes music a fully grown language.
Pitch, tempo, rhythm, and dynamics convey shifting emotional states. In Western music, harmony gives us information about the hierarchy of pitches, their tendencies and their meanings. Even if we don't formally study music, we learn to intuitively understand these nuances by an early age with nursery rhymes, cartoon music, songs in family gatherings, etc. But, every culture has its music, and each has a language.
Study common practice harmony, study contemporary composition techniques, learn the peculiarities of different periods, learn the specifics of the culture that you come from, be interested in other traditions, and diverse musical genres. After you learn the basics, dive deep into things that got your attention, then study wide and repeat.
Be interested in the tradition; in consequence, your playing will become more engaging and individual.
Destination.
Guitar playing is one of those things that you cannot stay still; if you stop pushing forward, you roll backwards. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline only to keep one's technique, let alone advance. Although you can set goals for yourself, there is no real destination. The journey is the reward; Music is a lifetime pursuit after all. So, don't be anxious, don't rush, enjoy every step of the way.
