Ten most valuable teaching secrets of a Ph.D. in music education

This post is brought to you by John Jinright, aka Dr J. from jinright.edublogs.org. John is Ph.D. in music education and currently teaches music theory, applied oboe and bassoon, audio production at TROY University.

Before that, John worked in the music business, started a music store and finally decided that teaching fits him best.

Dr. J played vibes in a Dixieland band (Jack Marshall and the Alabama Dixiecats), and piano in a big band (Tony Marino and The Checkmates) plus filled in on percussion with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, studied mixing with Charles Dye, Ed Seay and Roger Nichols, three Grammy-winning engineers/producers and film/tv scoring with composer/sound designer Michael Wynne.

Quite an impressive history, reason for which I am more than happy to introduce Dr. J to you.

So, here we go:

Howdy, Ya’ll.

I’m honored to guest blog on GuitarFlame.com. Frankly, I don’t think of myself as a great guitarist, but I’d like to share my best tips on performing and learning music in general. I happen to be a music teacher and I rarely resist the opportunity to share what I’ve learned so far. So, without further ado, here are almost all my secrets (10 of them) from 39 years of music study and performing:

1. You must play each note as if it were the only one which you would play. My sainted teacher repeated this mantra over and over, mimicking the thick German accent of one of her teachers. It’s talking about understanding each note’s value within the phrase, not just rhythmically, but dynamically and emotionally as well.I’m still bad about “faking” the fast stuff; to get it right I know I should practice it slowly in the beginning and pay attention to each note. That’s where secret #2 comes in:
2. Invest in a metronome and use it. I own one of the non-electronic kind; –sort of a pyramid affair with a weight that slides up and down to make tempo changes. I’ll take a sloppy passage and slide the weight up (slower) until I can execute it flawlessly, then slide the weight down a notch at a time, gradually speeding things up.It takes a great deal of patience and I have to be in the mood for this kind of practice.
3. Practice for short periods of time and take frequent breaks UNLESS you are practicing to increase your endurance. We musicians rely so much on muscle memory and I firmly believe that the most productive time you can spend teaching your brain to remember the movements is really only the first 15-20 minutes of a practice session. After this amount of time, the brain is no longer interested in storing muscle memory information and if you continue to practice without taking a break, all you are doing is exercising your muscles.Give your brain a rest and go do something else for a while, then get back to practicing.

   Repetition is key.If you don’t get back to practicing within a day or so, the learning that took place is flushed from short term memory and you start all over again.

   Frequent recall (with breaks in between) teaches the brain that this information is something you’re going to be asking it to do over and over.When this occurs, that learning is transferred from short term memory to long term memory and then you’ve really “learned” it.

4. Relaxation is key. Playing an instrument involves the recall of distances and building a “feeling” of where your hands are at all times. Tension is the enemy of muscle memory and awareness.When you sense that your muscles are tight, concentrate on relaxing them. Take a break, if necessary. Continuing to practice while your muscles are burning is neither pleasant nor productive, so do something to end the tension. You might analyze your posture, breathing, and/or finger position.

   Strive to eliminate wasted motion and find the easiest way. Relax.

5. Students, don’t practice music you don’t like. Many of you may find this statement amazing, but the reason I didn’t become an organist was because my pipe organ teacher insisted that I learn to play French organ music. I decided to quit pipe organ because I hated the pieces so much.If your teacher gives you something you absolutely can’t stand to practice, ask them to give you something else.There’s so much good music out there, it’s pointless to waste your time on things you don’t like.

   There’s more than one path to performance. If your teacher won’t budge and insists that you learn a certain piece, then find a different teacher. I was blessed to have a teacher that let me decide what I wanted to work on.

   Since I was part of the process of education, I felt a sense of ownership in practicing and worked much harder on my music than most of my peers. I’ll confess that I hated practicing scales; –this may have slowed me down temporarily in developing some aspects of technique, but when I found a piece I liked that had scales in it, I worked those passages and mastered it. To this day, I still hate practicing scales, but within the context of a good piece of music, it’s really not so bad.

6. If you want to be the best in your field, learn to sightread. If you aren’t the best music reader, it’s OK….we all begin at the same place. The key is to avoid frustration and develop a sense of adventure. And don’t stop trying!Develop a love for discovering new music and feed your habit. I look for new music ALL THE TIME and while I still encounter things I can’t play, I can read most music the way you’d read a newspaper. I’ve had students that were not good at sightreading, but with encouragement, they’ve become sightreading monsters.

   If your musical education continues to the point of graduate school or conservatory study, you’ll find that this is the skill that separates the best from the rest.

7. Discover the “zone.” There’s a state of concentration that good musicians develop that allows them to be totally aware of the music yet oblivious to outside distractions.Many beginning performers have to deal with stagefright; those “butterflies” in your stomach that cause you to make mistakes that affect the performance. That inner voice of self-doubt is something that you can will yourself to turn off, but it’s a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

   One trick I use is to ask my students to play a piece they’re very familiar with, then ask some other students (strangers pulled from out in the hall) to come into my studio and listen. Then, they’re instructed to do everything they can to try to break my performer’s concentration; –they can talk to them, make fun of them, even touch them to try to break their concentration.

   With a little bit of practice enduring these kinds of distractions, most students get in touch with their powers of concentration and “will” themselves to get through the piece. The next step, of course, is to practice this newfound concentration skill in front of a real audience.

   I’ll admit that finding the zone can be very difficult for some, but with determination, they will master it.

8. Get behind the music. Learn as many things about the original performer(s) and composer as you can. Imagine that performing this song is like reciting lines from a play or a poem. Your job as musician is not only to recreate the song, but to “own” it.Some music requires flawless attention to the original style and sound; other pieces may allow you to change the style, improvise, or even remix it.

   I love to hear great cover tunes that reflect the musicianship of those performers who can remain true to the original intent of the song, but still color it in their own unique way.

9. Learn from others. Years ago, some professors wrote about a great conversation. It’s like you’re at a party and you walk up to some people who are actively talking about a subject. You listen a bit, then you add your voice to the conversation. This is what we do as musicians; –the musical conversation has been going on for centuries before we ever entered the room.The reasons we create music have changed little over the centuries, but we all have the opportunity to learn from the ones who have come before us. And the performers that surround us all have different backgrounds and are at different stages of their respective musical journeys.

   Always respect that and listen carefully to what they have to say. You’ll be glad you did.

10. Find your spiritual side in music. Music is supernatural. Natural sounds occur in the course of everyday life (i.e. dogs barking, telephones ringing, people talking).Guitars are not a natural instrument; they are extraordinarily constructed to sound unlike anything else in nature. Singing is not ordinary speech; it is extraordinary, i.e. supernatural. Be aware that every time you sing or pick up an instrument and play you are creating a sound that’s unlike anything found in nature. It is innately a spiritual thing that we musicians do.

    Be aware of that and develop an awareness of music’s connection with the human spirit. It’s what separates us from all other creatures. Pardon me for preaching, but we also have a responsibility to be aware of the impact of what we do on others. Music conveys meaning in a more powerful way than ordinary speech. It can lift us to new heights or push our spirits down to the depths of despair.

    While we can certainly argue the point that music is a universal language, that part of humanity that it reaches is certainly universal. While I don’t wish to begin a debate over what music is bad or good for us, I do hope that you’ll try to make the highest quality of music that you possibly can. And be the best influence you can be on others…you might just make a difference with your music.

How about it?

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