Video vs. In-Lesson Modeling

As I listened to my high school student the other day via Zoom, I was perplexed. Austen had learned the notes and rhythms nearly perfectly. Fingering: check. Hand, wrist, arm coordination: check. But, something was horribly wrong. The music made no logical sense. There was no phrasing or shaping plus his rendition contained a few non melodic intruders. In fact, Heller’s Celestial Voices sounded rather like they might have recently visited that other place. 

I opened my mouth to speak but then I stopped. This was a teachable moment. Perhaps I could make it a more effective one if I used technology a bit differently and was willing to take a bit more time. So, instead of jumping in and asking Austen to play the melody minus accompaniment and ornamental arpeggios during our Zoom lesson, I asked him to use his phone to take and send me a video of just the melody as he thought it should sound. 

I had hoped that perhaps some nuance had been lost via the meeting platform. Alas, not so much. I had also hoped that when he made the recording he would realize that what he was playing needed shaping. Nope. The melody was exactly the same as with the accompaniment. He may as well as poked it out with the eraser end of a pencil. 

At this point, I’ll bet you think I sent him a video model of what the melody could be. Actually, I sent back this message: Think about 4 bar phrases and whether notes that repeat are melody sometimes and background harmony other times. Also consider that the small notes are always ornamental. Play around with it some more and send me another video when you have it exactly as you would like to hear it. 

I wish I could tell you that he fixed it up perfectly and it was a grand success. But, I can’t. The new version still sounded as if it was played by a pencil, plus instead of taking out repeated notes he actually took the phrase play around with it literally, adding in extra repeated notes and improvising on the actual melody shape. Not a bad thing, just the opposite of what I anticipated. 

So, I shot a video modeling one way to shape Heller’s melody and sent it with this message: Your improvising on his melody was very creative and I have an idea for later but right now let’s focus on what Mr. Heller wrote. The video he sent back was much better. He is listening as he plays. Now we can move forward. What would have taken up to 3 weekly lessons took a couple days via messaging and a few extra minutes of my time. Plus, the unlovely phrasing thing he was doing didn’t get fixed in his body and ear to the point where it would have taken a miracle to ever change it.

Could I have just modeled the melody over Zoom in the first place? Probably. But, I learned a lot about Austen when I asked him try on his own first. He is usually very good at expressive and logical interpretation but maybe he was so focused on the sheer quantity of notes that he forgot to listen. Perhaps when we blocked the arpeggiated harmonies to set sound of those harmonies and the handshapes, they took over his ear. I’ll ask him about it next week. 

Yes, Austen got just a little frustrated trying to discern Heller’s melody. Generally, in my experience, a little frustration means you are about to learn something important. I had made him think and given him the opportunity to work things out on his own time and without judgement on my part. If we had done this over Zoom, I might have given away my own frustration in my facial expression or voice. 

There were a few added bonuses including the improved sound and video quality on the phone video vs. Zoom and the fact that our remaining lesson time was used on another piece which we would have otherwise had to skip. Also, now there’s this new project that I hadn’t even planned. After his melodic shapes are stable and expressive, I’m going to help Austen create his own improvisation on Heller’s Celestial Voices and perhaps even compose his own original piece in celestial style.