I visualized the patterns and saw and felt the shape of the patterns. I felt the rhythm and the ‘feeling of the music’ in my body as it came out of me. The only way I can break this down in language right now is that I was able to sort of project my knowing-feeling into the music, and feel it into my fingers, my breath, and my sense of being with the other musicians, if I was playing with any at the time.
Visualizing and feeling into the patterns is simpler with folk music that is in the form of jigs, reels, polkas, etc. But if you know a classical piece well - for instance - if you listen to it, and play around with your senses, it should be possible to break it down into chunks.
I don’t know if any of this makes sense to people other than me - I am strongly visual and kinesthetic, so feeling and visualizing into things became instinctive for me.
If you have other strengths, my suggestion would be to certainly try this (carefully and gently at first, as if you were starting to learn discursive meditation), but to also think about how your own strengths might help you feel into the music and your body’s building muscle memory.
Here is a bit of lesson that might provide you with a place to start.
If you learn by ear, then listen to the piece you want to learn, and internalize it (by this, I mean to know it so well that you can, if this is a strength, ‘play’ it in your head). Then feel into it as you try to work it out with your fingers (and breath or bowing or whatever) and try to start picking up phrases, and find whatever visual imagery makes sense to you.
If you learn by notation or letters, you can try listening to the piece and follow along while looking at your music as a first step before the rest. I did both methods and found them helpful in different circumstances.
All that said, I have no idea whether this will be actually helpful to you in learning as a beginning musician. When I used to teach beginners, I started with technique and the notes - this sort of stuff never came up because it was something I just did, and not anything that I’d thought anyone might want to hear about at the time. So please don’t frustrate yourself trying this.
If it were me, I’d certainly explore this, but also listen very carefully to what your teacher has to say to guide you. Follow that advice. And then practice, practice, practice.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-24 08:55 pm (UTC)Visualizing and feeling into the patterns is simpler with folk music that is in the form of jigs, reels, polkas, etc. But if you know a classical piece well - for instance - if you listen to it, and play around with your senses, it should be possible to break it down into chunks.
I don’t know if any of this makes sense to people other than me - I am strongly visual and kinesthetic, so feeling and visualizing into things became instinctive for me.
If you have other strengths, my suggestion would be to certainly try this (carefully and gently at first, as if you were starting to learn discursive meditation), but to also think about how your own strengths might help you feel into the music and your body’s building muscle memory.
Here is a bit of lesson that might provide you with a place to start.
If you learn by ear, then listen to the piece you want to learn, and internalize it (by this, I mean to know it so well that you can, if this is a strength, ‘play’ it in your head). Then feel into it as you try to work it out with your fingers (and breath or bowing or whatever) and try to start picking up phrases, and find whatever visual imagery makes sense to you.
If you learn by notation or letters, you can try listening to the piece and follow along while looking at your music as a first step before the rest. I did both methods and found them helpful in different circumstances.
All that said, I have no idea whether this will be actually helpful to you in learning as a beginning musician. When I used to teach beginners, I started with technique and the notes - this sort of stuff never came up because it was something I just did, and not anything that I’d thought anyone might want to hear about at the time. So please don’t frustrate yourself trying this.
If it were me, I’d certainly explore this, but also listen very carefully to what your teacher has to say to guide you. Follow that advice. And then practice, practice, practice.