Music Practice - thought provoking article...

[Shyamala Rangarajan]

A very useful article on 'How many hours a day should you practice' is given in the link http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how- ... -practice/ .

[sampoorna]

Thanks. It is an excellent article that keeps "perfection" in mind. Such an approach can/should be applied to any subject of study. It shifts the focus from learning a song/piece/problem to perfecting the various techniques in the song/piece/problem. This makes the practitioner better at learning/performing other pieces that may reuse the same techniques.

Teaching should also emphasize techniques rather than the overall song. The overall song presentation comes in the end before a performance and that is important too. But it is the combination of good, well implemented techniques put together with some polish that turns a good performance into a great one.

Narayana,
Sampoorna.

[vasanthakokilam]

Good article. Thanks Shyamala. It would be very interesting to hear take of CM artists, professionals and hobbyists.

There are quite a few quotable quotes in that article which are worth pondering..

".. reinforce the correct habits until they are stronger than the bad habits. It’s a little like trying to grow a nice looking lawn. Instead of fighting a never-ending battle against the weeds, your time is better spent trying to cultivate the grass so that over time the grass crowds out the weeds..."

"..Practice with your fingers and you need all day. Practice with your mind and you will do as much in 1 1/2 hours.”
( I guess this applies to practicing with one's heart too )

"Consider this 6-step general problem-solving model summarized below (adapted from various problem solving processes online).

1) Define the problem (what do I want this note/phrase to sound like?)
2) Analyze the problem (what is causing it to sound like this?)
3) Identify potential solutions (what can I tweak to make it sound more like I want?)
4) Test the potential solutions to select the most effective one (what tweaks seem to work best?)
5) Implement the best solution (make these changes permanent)
6)Monitor implementation (do these changes continue to produce the results I’m looking for?)

I was reminded of my own little experiment when I read the above.

I was faced with the problem of my utter inability to play sahana gamakams satisfactorily on the flute. That is step 1 ( what is the problem ). Step 2 ( analysis ). This is fairly well known among CM flutists that playing the soul of Sahana ( the M G gamaka ) is hard on the flute because there is a big change of finger positions to go from M to G which causes discontinuity. To avoid that, artists use some extraordinary techniques like rotating the flute slightly outward/inward ( a roll ) and/or changing the blowing method etc. Step 3 ( solutions ) for me involved avoiding this problem. How does one avoid it? After thinking through this, I figured that moving the Sa down from the standard fingering brings the Ma and Ga down a hole or two to an extent the finger movements are fluid. I finally settled on the regular low Pa position as my Sa ( a 5 kattai flute will sound as if it is a 1.5 kattai flute ). Wow, what a difference it made for Sahana for me. Of course, this is not for concert playing or for playing any song since the I can not go to madhra sthayi much. It is just for my own personal satisfaction!!

Incidentally for Uday Shankar, step 3 was designing a wonderful new instrument called Chithra Venu for these kinds of problems.


This article links to another useful article: "How to make performance anxiety an asset instead of a liability"

http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how- ... liability/

The tips discussed here should be applicable to any public presentation that causes that natural anxiety. I have a big one coming up in two days which I plan to try some of this. Since these things require practice, I may not see much effect right away but worth a try.

[VK RAMAN]

informative article and a good guide to music practice.

[msakella]

More than 15 years back, when I asked my Manasika guru, Shri M.S.Gopalakrishnan as to how many hours daily he has regularly been practicing he replied that he never practiced for more than 8 hrs. daily but it was a knowledgeable practice. By this ‘knowledgeable practice’ one must understand that this practice of 8 hrs. has the doubled effect of 16 hrs. Even many Violinists are not aware that, in his special technique, a single Varna could be played in 30 varieties. Long ago as I had to accompany him in a concert at Hyderabad I have vigorously practiced a few varieties of them and I have also trained one of my students to play the Kalyani-Ata-Varna, on a single string @ 120 bpm of Metronome speed (interested persons can also visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41yVxzlnse0 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QyJ2EKlctA). To attain higher standards in playing this instrument, Violin, very regular and heavy practice of this instrument is inevitable.

In my experience, I have ultimately found out that who ever sings or plays music the minimum but properly, efficiently and successfully initiates the aspirant much to sing or play the music maximum possibly quickening the process of teaching or learning is only the efficient teacher. More over, in my past experience, I have never come across any Violin-teacher in our Karnataka music who ever efficiently teaches the co-ordination of the five fingers of the violin in detail. Accordingly, particularly in this performing art of music, almost all the teachers harp on regular and heavy practice but never give the full details of it on a logical basis.

In general, as most of the music-lovers are knowledgeable only in enjoying the beauty of music but not in the details of its techniques, they may appreciate such articles. But, the truth is entirely different when it comes to the point of techniques of the art. One must understand that there is vast difference between practicing only the pure notes of western music on Violin and practicing all the notes in all the speeds on all the strings with all the different oscillations with perfect co-ordination of all the four fingers with or even without the help of the thumb which is possible only in MSG’s amazing and very rare techniques. Besides all this our South Indian Violinists are mostly used only to accompany the main artist unlike in the western music or even in Hindusthani music which makes all the difference. It is very important to note that one must be knowledgeable for more than two to three times than the main artist to become a successful accompanist on Violin. amsharma

[SrinathK]

The western techniques of practice in classical music tilt entirely towards super-polished rendering of compositions. In western classical music manodharma has all but ceased to exist with the exception of a handful of pieces. All concerts demand extensive rehearsals mostly because of the extensive orchestration and even the encores are also fully rehearsed. The average western violin concerts also last for only around 1.5 to 2 hours at most and there are whole concerts devoted to the performance of just 1 concerto which may last less than an hour. Improvisation has now moved on to jazz.

The western musician therefore does not have the challenge where one must be ready to play anything in (and sometimes beyond) one's repertory. Also while western music is very rich in laya, the particular challenge of tala is absent. The Indian violinist on the other hand has to play raga, tanam, neraval, swaras and must be much more knowledgeable than any main artiste (e.g. LGJ) and has the challenge of adapting to 6 generations worth of artises and their varied style while maintaining their own style of playing. For an artist like the great MSG, he also had to do things like playing the entire Kalyani Ata Tala varnam on the G string (which actually can be played entirely without the last string) in so many kalams, which demand the kind of technique which only the great Paganini is rumored to have possessed, but which MSG has played live! Also I do not think any Western violinist, not even the great Heifetz would have dared to go up the string without the stable support of the thumb (they can't anyway as the left hand is required to hold the violin). It's support is vital for the stability of the left hand and it serves as a reference point to accurately gauge the correct extent to which the left hand must flex to reach a certain position on the fingerboard. I can't imagine how MSG must have practiced to take off the thumb and play wherever he wanted!

The Indian violinist also has to face the issue of being ready for anything that is thrown within or beyond their repertoire of compositions (including improvised sangatis). They also have to deal with very complex talas and the ability to instantly grasp intricate swarakalpana or pallavis. The old generation of artistes also had to play each concert as though it were a "test match" lasting for hours, and many of them often performed 2 or 3 concerts in a day! Despite the reduction in the duration of concerts today, the average Carnatic concert is still longer than a Western performance. To their credit, the staff notation requires considerably more brain work to interpret than even detailed Carnatic notations, but on the other end of the scale the bulk of Carnatic music still lies far out of the reach of books and text!

Also from my experience it is easier to play plain notes at high speed than it is to play for a GNB since the left hand technique of Carnatic music involves much more complex movements tailored to each raga and bani. And while we are at it, we may also throw in sahitya gnanam and lyrics in multiple languages and a very vast repertory -- while the Western violinist may be familiar with anywhere from 40-150 concerti and hundreds of smaller pieces, a complete Carnatic violinist like Lalgudi or a vocalist like MS Amma would have a repertoire in thousands upon thousands of compositions. A carnatic solo violin concert is also a very demanding art form requiring great imagination and experience and laya skill hence there are only a few like Lalgudi or MSG who have reached the pinnacle of that form.

As a result of all this, the Indian musician has to necessarily practice much more than his western counterpart. Interestingly despite all the talk on 3 hrs practice and 10000 hr rules, many great western geniuses often rehearsed and prepared for even 10-12 hours a day for their concerts and the rehearsal work and studies would go on well into the night, even for chamber concerts. One very great teacher of last century has recommended that the virtuoso should have no less than 6 hours of practice time available taking into account 10 mins of break each hour as a minimum.

In an interview with Lalgudi Srimati Brahmanandam, she has spoken about how they would be woken up at 4:30 for basic practice which would go on till breakfast, following which there would be a break for morning routines, followed by another round of practice till lunch. Vocal lessons and learning new compositions, writing notations and listening to concerts would occupy the afternoon hours, after which there would be another round of practice and concerts till 7:30 or 8:00 p.m before it was time for bed (Bed times were much earlier before modern lighting).

Finally a few other points I must add are :

1) In extensive practicing of an instrument, care has to be taken to provide the muscles and joints with correct rest periods so that they can repair and strengthen themselves and thereby avoid repetitive stress injuries. The mind also requires short and long term breaks to refresh itself. The real improvement after exercise comes only in the recovery rebuilding phase.

2) An instrument also has to be correctly set up otherwise it can produce too much unwanted strain on the left hand and bow arm and prevent one from practicing -- a wrong setup can even be injurious!

I must regretfully state that in the end, despite knowing all this, most of us cannot ever meet these exacting standards and so must always remain rasikas only... (. Lalgudi illa MSG oda vasippu patthi comment panna namballukku yogyatai kadayaadu...

[msakella]

Dear brother-member, SrinathK, What you wrote is absolutely true and I am very thankful to your very nice and enjoyable post. As you wrote, even though we are absolutely unfit to comment about these Giants we will be compelled to compare their violin-playing-techniques to possibly follow them for our advancement in the art of Violin-play and also to pass them on to the posterity as a professional-violin-teacher though not for our personal aggrandizement. But, this process became very difficult and made me feel sick as no care has ever been taken by any of our contemporary local musicians or music-lovers to preserve these very rare finger-techniques in spite of the available modern facility of Video-making. Thus, this is an irreparable loss loosing the great legacy of these very rare Violin-finger-techniques. amsharma

[alpajnani]

SrinathK brings up an important point - Indian music is not just "playing" an instrument. One needs mastery over the instrument playing/physical techniques (voice is an instrument as well...) beyond which one needs mastery over music (I don't just mean "compositions" here - raaga and laya mastery + knowledge and abilities to articulate in any raaga in all the shades and aspects SrinathK so beautifully put forth). In many ways, one typically learns to "play the instrument" first and then goes on to learn "music" thereafter (one does pick up the basics of "music" as one learns to play the instrument as well)
Western music is largely physical mastery over playing the instrument and knowing "compositions" without much else. Hence comments about focused practice (while applicable to almost anything theoretically) could probably apply more in the western music aspect than to Indian music, simply because there are so many aspects to learn and improve on (or even learn to experiment on) that "practice" can be endless (although definitely not monotonous!!).

[Nick H]

Western music played by someone with only physical mastery of an instrument would be dull and lifeless. There is a TED lecture on why piano students usually give up after a couple of years which, even though it deals with beginners dropping out rather than getting anywhere near "mastery" gives an idea why*.

Something similar in a conversation with my mridangam teacher: "Guruji, when I play nam dhin dhin na, it's an excercise: when you play it, it's music!"

But I agree with all else, and very much with how excellently SrinathK explains these things. SrinathK, write a book, please! And if you say you're not qualified, I'll tell you about another conversation with my guru, when he sent me to teach some youngsters...

"Guruji, most of your 10-yr-olds, let alone your arangetram students, can play more and better than I can!"

"Yes, I agree, they can. But you can explain it, and they can't."

*EDIT: It's here and I'm so glad I got reminded to watch it again as there is so much else there. Benjamin Zander: The transformative power of classical music