Deep Practice: Inspect Your Piece
My creative juices started flowing when I read this article by Terry Heick of Teach Thought, How to Read a Book (super info-graphic included). Many of the points he makes about reading books can be applied to helping music students read and practice music. The sketch style graphic included in Terry’s article illustrates 3 strategies for critical reading and puts them in a way that is understandable and memorable for students.
One of my number one priorities is to encourage my intermediate – advanced students to go beyond the notes, rhythms, etc.—no matter the genre. A colleague calls this the price of admission to a piece. So naturally, I took the liberty of crossing out Critical Reading and substituting Deep Practice. Today’s post focuses on the first step in deep practice: Inspect Your Piece. Let me know what strategies you use to help your students inspect pieces deeply by commenting directly on this post or via PA social media.
Academic vocabulary is a huge barrier for students. Reduce it when you can.
Terry Heick
Step 1 In Deep Practice: Inspect Your Piece
Inspecting your piece is the first step in deep practice. You will end up with some answers and opinions and more importantly some questions. As you move on to steps 2 and 3 (coming soon) you will answer some questions, form new ones and some of your opinions will change. Along the way you will find the PLAY in playing the piano!
Read/Play Through The Piece
Get an idea of the musical forest. Don’t worry about the individual trees yet. Go for the big picture. If your piece is quite long you might want to divide it into a few smaller sections. Just remember that breaking it up into too many small pieces defeats the purpose of finding the big picture.
Listen To A Few Video or Audio Recordings
Sometimes you can only find one recording but 2 or 3 is better. We like to choose recordings that are different tempos. The best part? It’s easy to do on You Tube or using the preview clips of digital recording platforms. That said, you must be choosy about the recordings you find on video platforms like YouTube (another reason listening to 3 recordings is a good thing.)
Make Some Notes
After playing and listening, jot down your answers to the following questions along with anything else you feel is important. You can do this sketch style, notes style, make a formal outline, start a journal, create a note card box with notes, objects, and musical adjectives to remind you of key points, or use any other method that is meaningful to you.
What is the character/mood? Does it change? What are the main themes? What are the main key centers? Are there harmonies that are interesting and surprising? Where do you think the climax of the piece lies? What are the main sections and what kind of form do they create? If there are words, how does the music make them come alive? Who wrote this piece? Does this piece remind you of another piece you have heard or studied, a book you have read, a movie, or something from your own life? (Genre doesn’t matter at all here. My students and I have found many connections between pop songs and classical or jazz pieces)
Questions Are A Very Good Thing
Inspecting your piece can take time. It’s important to make note of things you don’t understand or aren’t your favorite along with things that you are drawn to and maybe even give you goosebumps. Together, these two opposites will help you to understand why this piece is worth your time and effort. It will also guide your curiosity as you move on to deeper musical understanding.
So What Are You Waiting For?
If you are an intermediate – advanced adult, learning on your own, you can use this inspection process to get a great start on any piece, no matter the genre. The temptation is to jump in and get your hands dirty. But, if you spend the time to inspect your piece first, the path to mastery will be smoother and the end result more satisfying.
Teachers, you can help the inspection process along by using flipped classroom approaches. It’s very effective to guide students by sending them links, timelines, and other resources to explore between lessons. It helps them to feel less overwhelmed by the big picture. My favorite way is to put the questions (see Make Some Notes above) in one or several Prediction/Reality Check activity sheets. Here are some articles from PA on creating and using Prediction/Reality Check activities to get you started.
