Boston Lyric's La Bohème Live this Sunday on WGBH

This afternoon I received the following from WGBH in Boston:

The Boston Lyric Opera's performance of La bohème this Sunday may be nearly sold out, but WGBH 89.7 has reserved the best seat in the house for you. Tune in on November 4 at 2pm as WGBH 89.7 takes you inside Boston's Shubert Theatre for a LIVE broadcast of Giacomo Puccini's passionate portrayal of young love and loss. It's Christmastime in Paris as this story of ill-fated love unfolds amid the carefree and reckless lifestyle of 19th Century bohemian Paris. Puccini's lush and romantic music is performed by a cast of enthralling young singers including soprano Alyson Cambridge as Mimi, tenor Derek Taylor as Rodolfo, soprano Kimwana Doner as Musetta, and baritone Andrew Garland as Marcello; Ari Pelto conducts. Don't miss this special presentation, as Puccini's beloved classic La bohème kicks off Boston Lyric Opera's 2007-2008 Season live on WGBH 89.7.

For those of you that aren't within range of WGBH's FM signal, you can also listen online. Since this live broadcast is coming from Boston, remember that all times are for Eastern Standard Time (don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour on Saturday night if you're in Canada or the United States!).

Find Your Muse, Find Your Process

Forget everything you've read about in this series for the last month.

Art isn't about things you "would" or "should" do. It isn't about placing yourself in a mould, nor is it about following in anyone else's footsteps. It's not about conforming to the prevailing style, nor is it about recreating the past.

Often creating art means distancing yourself from others, disappointing others, finding new ways, viewing the past on your own terms, knowing what to keep and what to throw out.

I recall being told by a well-known composer that I would never have a career in new music because I paid too much attention to creating a beautiful sound at the piano. He was wrong. I also recall being told by a major piano teacher that I would never have a career if I didn't have a perfectly aligned hand position. She was wrong.

I know of operatic singers that have absolutely no interest in performing music written before 1900. I also have several friends who turned their back on classical music to find success in other musical genres. I have also worked with some who abandoned successful careers in more lucrative professions in order fulfill their dreams of learning how to play or sing classical music at a high level even if they had no hope of ever making a living at it.

There comes a time when musicians need to find the music that genuinely speaks to them, a creative process that is congruent with their way of being, and a method that works for them and them alone. If it is important to fulfill goals, create them. If it is important to work without fixed goals, abandon them. Create a toolkit of techniques that work, bearing in mind that many of them may need to be set aside until they are needed.

I will finish the series not with any platitudes, buzzwords, or clichés, but with the video of Linkin Park's Numb, that shows how rage and rebellion can be the impetus that puts an artist on the path to creativity. Turn up the volume up for this one.

Linkin Park - Numb


Back to 31 Days Table of Contents

YouTube of Shostakovich 10 with Gustavo Dudamel & Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

Tonight I ran across this clip on YouTube of Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela playing the second movement of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony from their August 19th performance at the Proms. In addition to being one of the most exciting renditions of this movement I've heard, the tempo is also one of the fastest, on par with the tempo of Mravinsky's legendary recording with the Leningrad Symphony on Erato.



Un-freaking-believable. And also keep in mind that this is a youth orchestra.

Taking Stock of Your Accomplishments

There is so much work involved in learning an instrument. When we're working hard and improving steadily, it is often difficult to notice that we are making progress at all. We need some items in the win column.

That is why it is worthwhile to take a look back at the work you've done in the last while, either with your teacher or by yourself. Here are some milestones to measure your progress:

• Pieces learned to a fluent level. Extra marks for pieces memorized and/or played in public. It is useful to keep a repertoire list for this purpose.
  
• Successful recitals, festivals, or competitions (and I mean successful in the level of performance relative to your expectations. Winning outcomes are a bonus but not the true barometer of the performing enterprise).
• An increase in the time spent at the instrument.
• An increase in skill level, and being able to do things that seemed difficult or impossible previously.
• An increase in the satisfaction you feel in playing the instrument. Although not a true indicator of self-esteem, improving your playing should make you feel the pride of setting the bar for yourself and then jumping over it.

What are some of your greatest accomplishments in your playing or singing lately?

Next: Find Your Muse, Find Your Process

PR5

The Collaborative Piano Blog has just been re-indexed by Google with a Page Rank of 5, moving up from PR4, where it had been since mid-2006. Some blogs have been hit with uncomfortable Page Rank changes lately, so it is great to see this humble blog's ranking go up.

Add Collaboration To Your Activities

Learning an instrument can be such lonely business. You practice your instrument all week, alone. You meet your teacher and the focus is on you alone to improve. Then you go back to the practice room and work some more, alone. And finally go on stage to perform, alone.

Why is it that collaboration is a valued enterprise nearly everywhere but in piano playing? Collaborative pianists (also still called accompanists in some places) are often perceived as failed pianists, and many people assume that only the pianistic cream of the crop get to perform alone on stage, without the tarnish of any other musician spoiling their perfection, except the occasional orchestra backing them up. But guess what? The reality of this false image of the piano soloist doesn't measure up to how things really work in the music world. Nowadays, it is the collaborative pianist that has the fast track to a playing career, with more performances, more doors that can open, and more opportunities for earning income.

Pianists in their teens often fall by the wayside at the same time that their friends who play other instruments find camaraderie in orchestras. Often adding a bit of collaborative work to the diet of a young pianist is precisely what they need to keep going, and I speak from my own experience regarding this. Collaborative playing can be introduced at an early stage through duets, working with singers of the same age, choral accompanying, and chamber music for the intermediate pianist. There are numerous collections of works for this purpose, and the list is growing regularly. In addition to introducing this new variety to a pianist's musical diet, you are introducing a working process to their playing through the act of working with others that can often completely re-inspire pianists to redouble their practice efforts.

Chamber Music Sampler, Book 1 Edited by Joanne Haroutounian. Set of performance parts for piano trio (piano, violin, cello). Series: Piano. 31 pages. Published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company. (KJ.WP324) See more info...

Christmas Music For Piano Duet Arranged by Norman Dello Joio (1913-). Piano duet songbook for piano four-hands (no lyrics). 31 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.9239) SMP Level 7 (Late Intermediate) See more info...

The Contemporary Singing Actor Women's Edition Volume 1. By Various. Vocal Collection. 240 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (740192) See more info...

Next: Taking Stock of your Accomplishments

Norman Lebrecht Article on Wikipedia

I've just been cited as a source for the Wikipedia article on Norman Lebrecht (along with Bob Shingleton of On An Overgrown Path) regarding Mr. Lebrecht's statements regarding the classical music blogosphere's perceived lack of accuracy and subsequent comeuppance on the recent withdrawal of The Life and Death of Classical Music after alleged false statements about Naxos Records and Klaus Heymann:

Lebrecht is on record as attacking the accuracy of music reporting in the blogosphere. In his Evening Standard column he wrote that "Until bloggers deliver hard facts … paid for newspapers will continue to set the standard as the only show in town".^[4] Some bloggers used this statement to charge Lebrecht with hypocrisy in light of the Heymann settlement.^[5][6]

The important issue is that we are all accountable to the same standard, whether bloggers, journalists, or historians, and have to answer to the consequences if we publish something incorrect or false. However, if a blogger is asked to retract, it can be done instantaneously through editing or deleting a post, whereas once a book is published, the process is much more difficult and the edition must be either reprinted with corrections or pulped.

Creating Program Notes That Don't Suck

Anyone organizing a recital program, writing program notes, or submitting an artist bio in the next while would be well advised to read Ivan Katz' A Gentle Plea in the Huffington Post, in which he castigates the entire program note-creating industry for writing turgid junk that passes for writing on classical music:

It is not merely that I object to being treated like an idiot. I object to the patronizing tone of these annotations. I object to the general lack of research that such program notes usually display, and I object to the steadfast refusal of the annotator to say anything even remotely "controversial" let alone "unflattering." And worse still, I object to what seems to be the unbending rule that a decent English sentence may never appear in the program notes. I object to the refusal of the annotator to make even the slightest stab at clear, concise, impactful writing. Perhaps it is thought that jargon and high sounding mumbo-jumbo will impress the readers. It doesn't. It merely bores those whom it does not insult, and it helps no one.

Thank you, Mr. Katz. Those words needed to be said. Your post has just become required reading for every single college-level student I am teaching this year.

And it's probably high time to redo my bio.

(Via listen.)

Developing an Artistic Sensibility

Whether we wish to become a performing artist, a well-rounded musician, or even just a dabbler in all things musical, our activities don't stop at practicing our instrument, showing up for weekly lessons, and playing in the odd recital or competition. Music is but one part in the larger world of the arts and culture, and if we want to reap the benefits of participation in the artistic process, it is not merely healthy, but necessary to experience what the rest of the arts have to offer. For those seeking a career in music, the intersection of different forms of art is what can nourish us, and often questions we have about one discipline can be answered by what we find in another.

Here are some activities that it is worthwhile to experience in order to get a full grounding in the arts:

• Going to concerts and operas
  
• Listening to recordings
• Watching great performances on YouTube
• Going to art galleries and other venues featuring the visual arts
  
• Developing an interest in reading, especially in the fields of the novel, short story, and poetry
• Going to the theatre
• Seeing ballet and modern dance
  
• Experiencing works featuring new media
• Seeing important works of architecture, both old and new

One of the great developments I have noticed in the last few years is that there are many more ways to participate in the creative process than there have been in the past. Why just observe an art form when you can start doing it for yourself? Follow your muse and you can start to feel the connection between your work in the practice room to the larger world of arts and culture.

Next: Add Collaboration to your Activities

Quote of the Day

"As a team of Texas researchers have recently announced, there are exactly 237 known reasons why people have sex. There are at least as many reasons why they listen to classical music, of which to sit in solemn silence on a dull dark dock is only one. There will always be social reasons as well as purely aesthetic ones, and thank God for that. There will always be people who make money from it--and why not?--as well as those who starve for the love of it. Classical music is not dying; it is changing."

--Richard Taruskin, from The Musical Mystique: Defending Classical Music from its Devotees in The New Republic

Run the Program

One of the most important things to do when preparing for a recital, RCM/NMCP exam, competition, festival, or audition is to run your program before performing it. Most of us spend our practice time working on sections of a work and practicing the difficult bits over and over again. But as we get closer to the performance, it is necessary to put things back together and get a sense of what it is is like to perform everything on the program, in order, and as close as we can get to full battle conditions.

Performers often find that works that seemed easy in the practice room often are more difficult when placed in the program, especially when they are near the end and fatigue sets in. Here is a possible road map for running works and programs in the lead-up to a full recital:

1. Run each piece regularly. I've already written about how to take your performance for a test drive--every day on individual works within the recital. Doing this will give you a good head start for recital preparation.

2. Around two months to six weeks before the recital, be able to perform multi-movement works (or song groups for singers). Practicing transitions between songs and movements is also an important element of preparation. Do you take a long time? A short time? Attacca?

3. One month before the recital, be prepared to do a dry run of the entire program. Being able to run a program a full month before the real thing will alert you to further development that is needed in order to integrate each work into the whole. Skip this step and you might find yourself at the dress rehearsal a few nights before the show unable to get through a program because you didn't work on developing enough stamina. Once you've run the program this far in advance, you can then work on fine-tuning for a full month and feel the confidence that comes with detailed musical preparation done well ahead of schedule.

There is no substitute for walking on stage for a recital feeling fully prepared and in command of the works on the program.

Next: Developing an Artistic Sensibility

Piano House in Huainan

Check out this piano house in Huainan, China. I'm not sure what its intended function is--a house? Office building? Music school?

Boy Saved by Violin Case

A violin case is credited in saving the life of a young boy hit by a car in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The CNN/WGAL video footage shows that the violin did not survive the impact. No word yet on the make of the violin case.

MSNBC article and video on CNN.

More Practice Links

Here are some recent practice-related finds from around the blogosphere:

Graham English discusses how to turbocharge your practicing.

Ben Clapton helps you get over your fear of new pieces.

Jeff Mason shares his list of books on practicing and musical subjects.

Natalie lists some great websites for students on the Music Matters Blog.

Ed Pearlman talks about what's in a scale.

And Rhona-Mae Arca adds a new twist to ear training.

Next: Run the Program

5 Ways to Add Length to Your Practice Session

Sooner or later in nearly everyone's musical education, their teacher will sit them down and give them The Talk. This usually happens at a moment when the current amount of practice time is not sufficient in order for proper growth to happen.

So you go home and, having super-sized your practice time from half an hour to an hour (or from one hour to three) per day, try to figure out what to practice in order to add the extra time.

Here's what to do:


1. Work in more detail. With the added luxury of time on your side, now you can take apart each phrase and discover what you need to do in order to make it fit into the whole. Once you've finished working on one phrase to your satisfaction, go on to the next one.

2. Repetition. Once you've got a passage worked out, repeat it several times to solidify it in your playing. Having longer practice sessions can accomplish this very nicely. Bear in mind that this doesn't mean running whole pieces several times and calling it a practice session unless the detail work is already in place.

3. Come back to each piece you're working on every day. Day-by-day repetition is what can add tremendous reliability to your performance. That passage that almost worked in the first session of the week can usually be played with ease if attended to daily. There's something about working hard on a passage, setting it aside, and then returning to it the next day that builds confidence and command to what seemed initially unplayable.

4. Warm up properly. Consult with your teacher as to how you should warm up every day. I've already written about this, and with a longer practice session, you can have the time to put it into practice.

5. Add more diverse activities to your daily practice session. Changing gears several times can lessen any chance of boredom practicing. Activities such as technical exercises, sight reading, transposition, reviewing old pieces, playing in a different musical style, and improvising can make your time spent at the piano more rewarding.

Engage in these types of practice techniques and you'll find that the time can actually fly by. And remember to take breaks. Many people have trouble concentrating for extremely long periods of time and that's okay. A good rule of thumb is that for every hour of playing you should take at least a 10-minute break to rest both arms and mind. Come back after a small break and you'll find yourself energized.

Next: More Practice Links

The Marriage of Figaro...in 45 minutes

This Friday I will be performing in a hilariously abridged 45-minute version of The Marriage of Figaro created by Gary Relyea and directed by Anna Relyea. Here is the cast for the show:

Julia Dawson-Susanna, the Countess, Cherubino
Jennifer Brisebois-narrator, the Countess
David English-Figaro, the Count

Yes, each singer plays multiple characters and there are some quick on-stage costume changes as part of the show.

The performance will be at 7:30pm on Friday, October 26 at Beach United Church (2000 Queen Street East) in the Beaches. Tickets are $15 person/$30 family.

Facebook event listing

Add To Your Skills By Learning Theory

Another sure-fire way to improve everything you do at whatever instrument you play is by learning music theory. Knowing about the building blocks of music can greatly improve your comprehension skills, lessen the amount of time initially learning a piece, and improve the quality of musicianship at all levels. Some of these basic materials include knowledge of accidentals, different scale types, intervals, rhythm, chords, candences, transposition, analysis, and musical terms. At more advanced levels, concepts covered will include harmony, counterpoint, and analysis.

If you're doing RCM/NMCP exams, each grade level comes with specific pre-requisites or co-requisites, and for the advanced levels, several theory and history exams are needed to receive the full certificate.

If you're in a university program, you will invariably be required to take theory courses as part of the curriculum. If you're studying privately, there are several choices available:

1. Self-study. Not recommended.

2. Study with your main instrumental/voice teacher. Possible, although it can take a chunk out of your lesson time better spent learning your instrument.

3. Study with a dedicated theory teacher. Teachers who specialize in teaching theory, whether in the private or class format, generally have a much greater knowledge of how to teach these concepts and know what the proper standards are at all levels.

I cannot emphasize enough that students at every level will be rewarded many times over by taking the time to integrate music theory instruction into their musical education.

Here are some recommended theory books from popular publishers and methods:

Rudiments of Music Book 1. By Cora B. Ahrens. (Vol 1). Boosey and Hawkes Scores and Books. Softcover. 24 pages. Published by Boosey & Hawkes. (48007726) See more info...

Piano Adventures Theory Book, Level 1 (A Basic Piano Method) Written by Nancy Faber, Randall Faber, Victoria Mcarthur. Instructional book for piano. 40 pages. Published by The FJH Music Company Inc. (FJ.FF1079) See more info...

Elementary Music Rudiments: The Complete Elementary Music Rudiments By Mark Sarnecki. Theory. Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Rudiments. Book. 264 pages. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company. (EMR10) Level: Preliminary, Grades 1 and 2 Rudiments. See more info...

Harmony: Book One By Mark Sarnecki. Theory. Basic Harmony. Book. 216 pages. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company. (EMH03) Level: Grade 3 Harmony. See more info...

Theory for Beginners By Barbara Wharram. Theory. Basic Rudiments. Book. 206 pages. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company. (HT21) Level: Preliminary Rudiments. See more info...

Next: 5 Ways to Add Length to your Practice Session

Some Ways to Use the Classical Music Blogs Pagecast

When I created the Classical Music Blogs Pagecast a few weeks ago, I wasn't yet sure what its function could be after all the blog info was loaded. A few recent articles have shown how it be put to use. Miss Mussel used the pagecast to follow reactions to the pulling of Norman Lebrecht's book across the classical blogosphere. Greg Stepanich of the Palm Beach Post used the pagecast to spend time looking around the classical blogosphere and recommends it as an introduction to the genre. Finally, Pageflakes is now using it in rotation on their pagecast gallery and lists it as "A selection of the most engaging blogs in the classical music blogosphere".

Record Yourself

Our ears often lie to us. Problems go undetected, we let ourselves get away with sloppy work, and we don't fully hear our sound while making it.

We need a second set of ears, and recording ourselves practicing can do the trick. Whether you use a recording walkman (many of them still in use and lovingly maintained), a mini-disc recorder, an ipod recording plugin, or a laptop recording directly to hard drive, there are many ways to record your work in the practice room.

Here is one way you can do it:

1. Record yourself in either a section of a work, the entire work, or the entire practice session.

2. Listen to what you recorded.

3. Decide what needs to be fixed and get deeper into your practice session.

Listening to a playback of a practice session can be quite disheartening at times. The way we sound when we're playing often differs from what shows up on a recording, with the benefit of a little distance from the source. We also tend to have a certain objectivity listening to others play that we don't always have in our own playing. Listening to ourselves on recording forces us to listen with that same audio-specific, objective set of ears and can open the door to new insight that can inform our next step in the practice room.

Next: Add to your Skills by Learning Theory

Classical Music Blogs Pagecast Now Featured by Pageflakes

I have just been informed by Pageflakes that the Classical Music Blogs pagecast I created recently has been added to the rotation on the Pagecast Gallery. If you notice any more classical blogs popping up either email me or leave a comment on the pagecast so they can be added to the big bookmark list of the 170+ classical music blogs out there.

Note: if you go to the pagecast gallery and the classical music blogs pagecast doesn't come up at the top of the page, hit the reload button on your browser and after a few tries you should see it (it's in rotation).

Bathroom Divas Wins Gemini

Bathroom Divas has recently won an award for Best General/Human Interest Series at the 2007 Gemini Awards. Congratulations to everyone involved with the show (including myself) for contributing to this fantastic show. The award comes in spite of the fact that Bathroom Divas was not renewed for a third season by Bravo!Canada...

Non-Structured Practice Time

Everyone seems to think that practicing is all about work, work, work. We get new pieces and slave away at them, play them for our teacher, who proceeds to tear apart our performance and gives us a recipe for further improvement and we go home and then work, work, work until the next lesson.

So where did all the discovery, exploration, and fun go?

Teachers and parents walk a fine line when asking students to practice daily. Of course you can't learn to play an instrument without regular and committed practice, but finding an equal mix of work and fun in the practice room can be a noble goal to work toward.

For this reason, I recommend for musicians of all ages at least some unstructured time at their instrument every week. By unstructured, I mean working without a clear goal, trying out new pieces (remember the posts on sight reading?), figuring out your favorite song by ear, playing old pieces just for the fun of it, and improvising.

Younger students are the best at utilizing this type of activity without inhibitions. Mildred Portney Chase writes in Improvisation: Music From The Inside Out:

The two-year old child who goes to the piano for the first time will begin improvising because that is the only thing he can do. He has not yet been taught, therefore he has no preconceived standards or expectations to inhibit his explorations. The two-year-old child at the piano acts most intuitively, his mind not distracted from its natural ways. The older person is more involved in mental processes since even without training through formal lessons he will have acquired many impressions and developed many skills. Out of these, we build our own unique vocabularies.

And this is how composers are born!

Having time to fool around at the piano or other instrument can give us a sense of comfort and ease when we play. The fact that we "play" and instrument and not "work" it is no coincidence. The act of playing an instrument is very close indeed to a child's sense of play. Having no agenda for at least part of your time spent practicing can open up a world of possibilities and re-energize the working parts of the practice session.

Next: Record Yourself

Work Backwards

One thing I continually notice when adjudicating is that most performances tend to start out well, decline somewhat in the middle, and barely avoid disaster at the end. This is a sure sign that performers haven't been working on endings and second halves of works. I've already written about Making Endings Work and today I'll look at how we can put that into practice.

It goes without saying that we should always start our practice session at the beginning of a work. However, that approach means that a well though-out beginning can mask a poorly thought-out conclusion, since our attention naturally starts to wane midway through a practice session.

But whoever said we always had to start at the beginning when practicing? Try starting at the end first. Craft a satisfying conclusion to the piece, and then start to work backwards, phrase by phrase, section by section. You'll may immediately that you start to notice things that went by you previously in the work's second half. Keep on working and you just might get to the beginning of the work.

Try this approach for a few weeks in combination with working from beginning to end, and you will start to notice a sense of command and comfort in the second half of the piece, and you'll have enough reps of the ending under your belt that your performance won't fail when it comes down to the crunch.

Next: Non-Structured Practice Time

Maestros, Masterpieces and Unchecked Facts

The New York Times reports today that Norman Lebrecht's latest book “Maestros, Masterpieces & Madness: The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry" has been withdrawn from publication by Penguin Books over at least 15 allegedly false statements about Naxos Records and its founder, Klaus Heymann.

Because Britain's libel laws are different than those in the United States (where the First Amendement is also in force), the American version of the book, "The Life and Death of Classical Music" will remain in publication, but reprinted with several changes to the text.

You may also recall that Mr. Lebrecht wrote a scathing article around a year ago about the supposed factual inaccuracies of classical music blogs. I'm glad to see that journalists are also judged by the same strict standards regarding factual accuracy as classical music bloggers are.

Silent Practicing

Here's a technique I often recommend and use when I'm feeling stuck on a passage:

1. For the passage in question, hear the passage mentally, the way you would ideally like to play it.

2. Play the passage.

3. Repeat the process, alternating mental playback of your ideal sound for the passage with your playing of it. See how the two inform each other.

Next: Work Backwards

Build Sight Reading Into Your Practice Session

Just over a year ago, I wrote an article on 10 ways of improving your sight-reading skills, which has since become one of the top-performing posts on this blog.

In this posting, I won't rehash the various ways of improving your sight-reading skills I already wrote about previously. I will, however, talk about why sight-reading is important and how you can incorporate it into your daily practice regimen.

What sight-reading can do for you

• Drastically cut down on the time spent on learning notes in a new work of music.
• Develop your pitch-reading skills in a moderate pressure-cooker situation.
• Develop your rhythmic skills in the same way.
• Develop your listening skills.
• Allow you to integrate rhythm and pitch reading, stylistic thought, and physicality in a way not always utilized in traditional note-learning.
• Allow you to play and enjoy large amounts of music you might not otherwise find.
  

How to develop your skills

You won't develop into a great sight-reader by only doing it at lessons and exams. Regular practice for only a few minutes a day is the best way to progress in a pain-free environment.

The publication I recommend above all others is the Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests series by Boris Berlin and Andrew Markow. Divided into levels corresponding to RCM/NMCP grade levels, the books are divided into weekly units (around 10 per book) with one daily sight-reading and rhythmic example, as well as daily ear-training examples for each week. The amount of work involved per day is actually quite minimal, since it is the cumulative effect of the reading practice that improves skills. With a 10-units per volume and daily practicing, it should take approximately 10 weeks to get through a book. The short length of time it takes to complete a book also ensures that a student not up to par on his or her reading skills can easily do two or even three levels a year before taking an exam. The trick is not to cram these books but to work at (savor!) them as part of a daily practice routine.

And then enjoy the results.

Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests: Book 2 By Boris Berlin And Andrew Markow. Daily Exercises for Piano Students. Ear Training and Sight Reading. Late Elementary. Book. 32 pages. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company. (4S2) Level: Grade 2. See more info...

Next: Silent Practicing

More Practice Links

Here are some more great practice-related posts from the blogosphere.

Music Practice Tips' Ben Clapton shares 10 tips for memorizing music.

Kate Boyd at Notes From the Ivory Tower writes on How (and Why) To Keep a Practice Journal, with some easy steps on how to incorporate journaling into your practice session.

Valerie Kampmeier at Free2Create looks at the blessings of needing to rethink your creative priorities in Are you feeling disillusioned? Great!.

Rebecca Hass at The Resonant Life looks at failure as a way to eventual success in It's my party and I'll fail if I want to.

The Music Teacher's Helper Blog's Ed Pearlman asks us to re-examine our notion of a mistake.

Finally, Rhonda-Mae Arca, who writes the always illuminating Musings at Musespeak, blogged about a video by Alan Watts shown before a group meditation session, embedded below:



Next: Build Sight Reading into your Practice Session

Interludes--Some Thoughts on Teaching and Learning

A teacher is not a miracle worker. Well, sometimes they can be, but for the most part the greater responsibility for development lies with the student and their responsibility to return to their instrument day after day, to give in to the fun of the process in order to have a good enough musical product that the teacher can indeed work their magic on. The important thing for the teacher to do is make the practicing as fun as it can be.

----------

One of the things I feel most strongly about as a teacher is the importance of teaching students to think for themselves, to cultivate independence in them. With many of my professional or near-professional students, they often need that reassurance that they do indeed have the toolbox to uncover and fix their own mistakes and discern which is the right way to go in their practicing and development. In short, they need to give themselves the validation that they are indeed artists. The goal of independent musical thought is an important one, and the earlier students are encouraged in this direction, the more they will perform not as a teacher's automatons, but as young individuals, each with something genuine to share.

Next: More Practice Links

Tapestry New Opera Works Fundraiser for Elijah's Kite on October 23

Tapestry New Opera Works and PREVNet (Promoting Relationships Eliminating Violence Network) will be presenting a special fundraising performance of the TD Canada Trust Music Elijah's Kite School Tour next Tuesday, October 23 at the Glenn Gould Studio. The performance will be recorded by CBC Radio 2 for future broadcast.

Tickets for this fundraising event are $95 at www.prevnet.ca. Tax recepts will be provided.

Here are the complete personnel for Elijah's Kite:

Michael Clipperton, stage director
Susan Suchard, music director
Julia Tribe, stage designer
Fiona Jones, stage manager

Featuring:

Neema Bickersteth as Keisha
Jessica Lloyd as Nikki
James McLennan as Elijah
Calvin Powell as Big Billy Brett
Jennifer Rasor as Miriam

Lizzie Lavado on piano
David Peters on percussion
Louis Simão on bass

From the Tapestry site:

Elijah's Kite, an opera for young people, premiered in New York City on April 9, 2006, as part of the Manhattan School of Music Opera Outreach Triple Bill Concert for Families and Children. A co-production between MSM and Tapestry, it is one of only a handful of Canadian operas ever to premiere in New York City.

Since Elijah's Kite is intended as an educational resource to stop bullying in schools as well as a one-act opera, a comprehensive study guide is also available, which you can download here.

5 Things to Remeber About Fingerings

One of the most common reasons that pianists have problems with musical passages is bad fingering. Too many times I see pianists young and old glossing over fingerings in the early stages of learning, and then wonder why they have troubles getting a passage up to speed a few weeks later.

This posting will not be a treatise on what constitutes good fingering, which I consider a highly personal art (science?). However, here are some ideas on how to find the right fingers to play the right notes:

1. When you learn the notes and rhythms, learn the fingerings too. Playing a passage with correct fingering will lessen the amount of time spent learning the piece. The earlier you start, the more efficient the learning process will be.

2. When the printed fingerings don't cover all the notes you need in order to properly learn a passage, add them in pencil. This will take a small amount of elementary reasoning and a couple of tough decisions, but will pay dividends in the long run. Of course, it is somewhat redundant to have a finger number over every single note, but try to have the critical musical corners fingered as much as you need.

3. Once the passage is learned with the right fingerings, repeat with the exact same fingerings during practice. Repetition with the right hand shapes and finger crossings can make the process of working up a piece a relatively quick one. On the contrary, use sloppy fingerings and you'll have work to undo later on (see #5).

4. If you need to change a fingering, realize that you are giving up something in order to get something else. Take repeated single notes, for example. Most editions print changing fingerings. However, not all pianists agree. Deciding if you are a finger repeater or finger changer can be a matter of taste--just realize what each fingering type accomplishes and listen for the sound you want.

5. The longer you wait to change fingerings, the longer it takes to undo. Correcting mistakes that go back to the initial learning process take an awful amount of time, practice time that could be spent in other productive ways. There may be moments when you realize that the original fingerings you used no longer make musical sense. If you need to make this decision, remember #4--giving up something to get something else is fine, as long as it is for an ultimately musical reason.

So take out those sharpened pencils and get to work fingering your way to pianistic excellence without the hassle of relearning.

Next: Interludes: Some Thoughts on Teaching and Learning

All Is Not Lost

Required reading for everyone in the classical music field--Alex Ross' New Yorker article The Well-tempered Web is a wide-ranging look at how the classical music world has benefited from the internet and offers a generally healthy outlook for the genre.

Making Endings Work

One of the most common areas for improvement I notice in the performances I hear has to do with endings of works. Too often I see a great deal of effort expended on working up the beginning and middle of a piece, but the ending is viewed as an afterthought. However, endings are some of the most memorable parts of a performance, since they highly influence the quality of the applause (polite vs. boisterous) and the audience's memory of the performance.

So, to put it bluntly, work on endings of pieces. Here are some things to consider:

• Does the ending extend the overall mood of the piece or does it make a sudden break with it?
• Are there any particularly difficult technical demands on the performer at the end of the work? Often composers will put their nastiest technical writing just before the ending so the work can end with a bang.
• Is there a particular choreography to the ending that will make it more effective? Could you benefit from fluorishes and showmanship or economy of movement and stillness?
  

For singers:

• Is there a postlude following the last vocal line? How does it relate to the end of the work? If there is a postlude following the end of your singing, don't forget to remain facially engaged, as the audience is still looking at you. Therefore you must still look connected to the song while the piano or orchestra plays the postlude.

The ending of a work shouldn't always be the last part of the piece you learn. Putting the ending further ahead in the order of battle for music learning will ensure that it is a priority and not an afterthought.

Next: 5 Things to Remember About Fingerings

Collaborative Pianists in the News

Here are some collaborative pianists who will be performing in the next few weeks:

Toronto's Jim Bourne will be performing an original soundtrack to the silent film"The Mark of Zorro" with percussionists/composers Nicholas Coulter and Graham Hargrove at the Gravenhurst Opera House on October 17. Tickets are $25/10.

Cameron Hofmann, a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, will be performing with saxophonist Thomas Liley at 3pm on October 21 in the Fine Arts Theater of Joliet Junior College. Free admission.

Jia-Huey Hsu will be performing a doctoral recital at the University of Minnesota at 7:30pm on October 16 in the Lloyd Ultan Recital Hall of the Minneapolis Campus. Free admission.

Yujin Choi will be performing a collaborative piano recital with soprano Sae Hee Min at 5pm October 29th at the Concert Hall of the University of North Texas in Denton.

More Practice Links

As we approach the halfway mark of the month, here is the next batch of useful practice links for the avid musician.

Martin Schuring at Arizona State University has written an essay on practicing from the oboist's perspective.

Charles Moss has written an article on required practice that examines some of the basics of the process.

Here is a useful article on taking piano exams from an anonymous Geocties retro-site.

Brent Hugh at Missouri State College has assembled a large pagh with piano practice principles and methods resources.

Looking for some interesting piano repertoire? Try the Pianopedia.

Those studying Baroque music might want to check out Dr. Brian Blood's useful page on ornamentation.

Finally, those wishing to maintain good physical health when practicing might want to check out the Musicians and Injuries page, with lots of useful prevention information and recommended books.

Next: Making Endings Work

Naturally7 in the Paris Metro

I was going to write an article today on developing a sense of spontaneity in one's playing, but after seeing this astonishing video of Naturally7 singing and beatboxing In The Air Tonight in the Paris Metro, I rest my case. Let's hear it for the visceral power of music-making that brought us to this field in the first place and the wonder of hearing music in new places and situations not usually associated with artistic creation.



Next: More Practice Links

Opera Briefs 7 Review

Jon Kaplan has written a positive review of Tapestry New Opera Works' Opera Briefs 7 in his blog for nowtoronto.com.

Take Your Performance for a Test Drive....Every Day

One of the more common comments I give my students are variations on "Make sure you don't lose sight of the forest for the trees". In the detail-oriented world of learning to play an instrument, we are constantly learning to integrate things such as rhythm, pitch, phrasing, coordination, physical movement, style, and pedaling, to name only a few. It is all to easy to get bogged down in the details and completely lose sight of the final product, and musicians of all instruments, ages, and levels are susceptible.

Which is why I recommend that students, once they have a certain proficiency at playing a certain work, might want to consider running the entire piece twice per session. Here's how it works:

1. Run the piece, making mental note of where the problems are.

2. Take the piece apart, remembering to spend some time on the parts that didn't go well in the initial run.

3. Run the piece again.

What can be frustrating about this method is that often the second run won't show any noticeable improvement over the first. After storming around your practice studio for a few moments, just take note of what didn't go well and work on those details at the next practice session when you use the same approach. Over the course of weeks and months, the piece will show improvement and you will feel much greater comfort in performance (where you only get once chance), since running the piece will have been already internalized.

Next: Naturally7 in the Paris Metro

Find Your Repertoire

So many of us learn and play musical works not because it's the stuff we love, but because we're told to do it and it's supposed to be good for us. Of course, there is nothing like a wide variety of musical experiences and it's good to play Bach, as well as Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy. However, there are those of us who will only find our muse if we look farther afield.

I'm a firm believer that one doesn't really come into their own on an instrument unless they find the right repertoire that will propel them there. Speaking from my own experience, I got seriously bogged down in my teenage years learning music that I didn't enjoy playing very much. Then I discovered contemporary music. Much to the consternation of my parents, teachers, and friends, I developed a serious liking for listening to and playing the music of our time that has continued up to the present. If I had never discovered this, there is almost no chance I would have developed my skills to the level where I can play and teach for a living.

Most of the professionals that I know have similar stories about falling in love with a certain corner of the repertoire and developing their skills to the level where they can actually play it. Here are some possible repertoire and style niches:

Piano

• Learning historical performance practices, especially as they relate to playing the precursors of the modern piano such as harsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano.
• Learning music from countries not in the mainstream of musical creation, but whose composers nevertheless produce music of the hightest caliber: Canada, The Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Scotland, or Japan have all produced composers who have written some fine piano music.
• Learning jazz and popular styles alongside classical playing. Includes ragtime, novelty, swing, bebop, free jazz, Cuban jazz, Brazilian Bossa, popular, R&B, anime, and video game music are just some of the styles currently popular among pianists.
• Learning contemporary music, working with living composers, and even commissioning new work for the piano.

Voice

• Learning historical vocal practice in order to effectively perform music written prior to the mid-eighteenth century.
• Learn vocal music in a language that genuinely inspires you: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Ukranian, and English are all languages that have sizable art song and operatic traditions.
• Learn a vocal style that is at the periphery of Western art music. Fado, Ladino, Persian, and Yiddish styles are a few of many distinct possibilities for exploration.
• Work with composers and librettists to create the operatic repertoire of today. Companies such as Tapestry New Opera Works and Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in Toronto specialize in this niche and are always on the lookout for singers who have the skills to workshop and perform new works for the opera stage.

Exploration and discovery are the name of the game for many successful performers, and boundary-pushing rather than conformity can be the path to artistic discovery for many young musicians.

Next: Take Your Performance for a Test Drive...Every Day

5 Reasons to Memorize Music

A few months ago I wrote a post entitled 30+1 Ways to Memorize Music Flawlessly, which has gone on to become one of the most popular articles on this site. Memorization is no small feat, and obviously people are finding it challenging since I find so many memorization-oriented search terms as the entry points to this site.

Today I'll be looking at why memorization is so important in the learning process. I like to emphasize that the earlier that performers memorize, the better. That leap of faith from the printed page to the concert hall is a significant one and carries with it the promise of musical integration and inspiration. Here are some reasons why this is so:

1. Make the music a part of you. I heard a fascinating comment back in the Napster days of the 1990's when Lars Ulrich and Metallica were testifying before Congress. A distraught Metallica fan was interviewed as to why he was protesting his favorite band. His response was that "It's our music too". A fascinating statement, obviously false from a legal perspective, since a listener has no legal right to call his favorite music his own. But on an inner level, this poor Metallica fan had internalized their music to the extent that he considered it his own. That's what performers need to do. Work on the music to the extent that it gets in your bones and seems to flow naturally from yourself. Memorization is one of the tools to take it to that level.

2. I can only look at one thing at a time! Aarrrrgghhhh! Musicians that play instruments that require spatial sense include string players, pianists, and percussionists. Knowing where to look can be a dicey situation when playing the piano, as we sometimes need to choose between staring at the music or looking at our playing mechanism, and risk either missing notes or losing our place. Memorize the music and that problem goes away. Professional percussionists often need to memorize music just to be able to play their parts in orchestra and ensemble music that involves rapid changes of instrument or body orientation. Once the music is committed to memory, we can scan the keyboard or fingerboard and plan exactly what we need to do physically, freed from the fetters of needing to stare at the score all the time.

3. Tell your own story. Singers have the roughest time of all musicians. They need to learn how to create their own instrument inside their body, learn the music, learn languages to the level of a native speaker, and learn to act, to name a few. There comes a time when they are preparing music when they must take that leap of faith and get the music off the page so that they can be convincing in recreating a poem (in the case of art song) or a character (in opera). Memorization is the golden road to getting to that place. Instrumentalists also need to realize how important this metaphor is for them in telling their own story through their instruments and repertoire.

4. Find your limitations and transcend them. Let's face it--memorization is difficult. Getting a work memorized carries with it the danger of failure and disappointment. However, all is not lost. Everyone comes at memorization a different way and needs to build on their strengths while working on their weaknesses. To put it simply, memorization is a combination of sight, sound, feeling, and thinking, and the process is almost like finding your own 4-digit PIN that allows you access to creating memorized music. The rewards of challenging yourself are worth the investment of time.

5. Stop playing/singing like a student. What is the magical moment when a musician stops being a student and suddenly becomes an artist? Is it graduation? A first gig? The hundredth gig? All wrong--the precise moment that a performer becomes an artist is at the moment of their own choosing, when they stop thinking that their development is subject to the whim of a teacher and they learn to trust their own instincts. It is obviously somewhat more difficult to do this when you are still staring at the page looking at note after note. Get to the memorization level and it is considerably easier to stop thinking like a student and playing more like a genuine performing artist.

Next: Find Your Repertoire

Slow Practicing

One of the single most effective practice techniques is that of slowing down what you are playing in order to develop greater awareness and solve a large number of problems. An initial caveat--while you're practicing at a slower tempo, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to 1) play with a solid sense of pulse, albeit slower, and 2) play with the same articulations (ie. slur, staccato, legato) and character that you would at full tempo.

One of the main reasons that slow practicing is so effective is that it allows us to fix problems much more easily than when we play at full tempo. Passages that are difficult to put together can often slide into place when slowed down. Our hearing of detail can be boosted considerably, and we can hear things that eluded us before.

Another element that I emphasize during slow practice is to suspend judgment regarding our personal opinions of our playing. Take yourself out of the picture. Give yourself permission to fail and proceed with a sense of gentleness and objectivity. It's okay if you can't play a certain passage yet--something isn't yet in place and the slow approach is a great way to find it.

Mildred Portney Chase in Just Being at the Piano (my all-time favorite book on piano playing) wrote a wonderful 4-page chapter on the journey of slow practicing. Here are two noteworthy quotes:

By practicing a small segment a few times, you may realize greater improvement than in many repetitions of the whole phrase. it is possible to jam the mind's programming by presenting it with more than one problem at a time. One inch on the page may require more difficult adjustments than twelve inches somewhere else. It is important to know how much you are really understanding. However much time your mind needs to absorb the material, that is how much time to allow yourself. Show yourself the same kind of patience that you would a good friend who could not move through the material as fast as you would wish...

...Slow practice allows your knowledge to be integrated with your playing, allowing thoughts to become feeling. It removes the interference that comes from trying to think movements into place. I like to think that all knowledge should float freely into place, finally settling as though it were a mantle of snowflakes, so light as to fit into the nooks and crannies of oneself. Slow practice is a setting in which this can take place.

One final thought--what keeps people coming back to the joys and tribulations of practice year after year is that "Aha!" moment, where our understanding of our instrument, our body, or the music suddenly springs into focus and we get that inner feedback that moves us onward to the next challenge. Slow practice is one of the tools that can get you there.

Next: 5 Reasons to Memorize Music

First Steps--Getting New Repertoire on its Feet

Some of the most difficult practicing happens when you're learning a brand new work and trying to work it into your fingers. Some of the dangers include overexertion, boredom, frustration at lack of progress, giving up, as well as the ever-present possibility of learning things wrong that will need to be undone later.

For me, one of the most effective ways of getting to the heart of a new work is not through dividing it up into digestible chunks, but by reading through the work in its entirety right off the bat, problems and all. That way, I engage with the work's challenges right away, and after collapsing from exhaustion at the end of the reading session I can very quickly arrive at an order of battle when properly learning the work.

This approach parallels what happens in many readings of new works that I participate in through various companies and ensembles. The first rehearsal always starts with a full stumble-through, mistakes and all, so everyone has a clear idea of what to expect. Then the work of finely crafting and polishing the performance begins.

This approach presupposes a certain level of advancement of both playing and reading ability. Younger students might find this approach difficult. Yet, even at early levels, students can with a little goading and encouragement, read all the way through a new work. My older students do the initial read-through at home, and it definitely shows in a reduction of time needed to learn a work without spoonfeeding. Most of them are actually impressed at their own ability to bite the bullet and avoid note-learning procrastination.

Other thoughts on initial learning:

• Listen to recordings of the work before playing it. Not just one, but several performances are best to hear in order to not imitate styles and mannerisms of certain performers.
  
• Watch performances on YouTube. The performance levels of different performers will differ wildly on YouTube, but there are some wonderful gems that have only come to light since video sharing took off a few years ago.
• Singers should spend time on translating the text before they sing a new song or aria. See my previous posting on Some Ways on How to Learn a Song or Aria for more information.
• String players might want to have bowings and fingerings already copied into their part before learning the music. Many teachers have a fixed set of preferred bowings and fingerings in their own part that they lend to students. Some of these fingerings have been handed down from famous teachers such as Heifetz or Galamian.

Happy Thanksgiving to readers in Canada and Happy Columbus Day to those of you in the United States!

Next: Slow Practicing

Practice Links

Here is a selection of links to practice-related articles from around the web and blogosphere.

Josh Nemith writes about a study at Northwestern University measuring the positive effects on speech activated by practicing an instrument.

Ben Clapton looks at ways of cementing what you have correctly learned into a reliable performance. If you're interested in developing good practice habits you should also read Ben's Music Practice Tips blog cover-to-cover.

Rhona-Mae Arca examines why we should practice scales, chords, and arpeggios.

If you're still not convinced, read saxophonist Zac Johnson's comprehensive article on the importance of practicing scales.

Leo Babauta at Freelance Switch talks about how to continually sharpen your skills at anything.

Still working at the memorization? Dumb Little Man has a list of 5 quick and easy memory tricks.

Jon Ensminger's concise list of basic piano technique elements is a useful resource to check from time to time.

Finally, everyone should read Martha Beth Lewis' linked-out article on ensuring successful practicing.


If anyone has any other useful articles on practicing, they can email me at collaborative piano [at] gmail dot com.

Next: Getting New Repertoire on its Feet

Goal Setting Part 3 of 3: Long Term Goals

In the last two days we've looked at ways to set viable practice goals for the short and medium term. What are some goals that we can set for the long term, ie. one year or more in the future? This is an important stage of the goal-setting process, but one that is fraught with danger, as one has to walk a fine line between valid outcomes and self-delusion.

Generally, the more ambitious the goal (performing at the Met, Carnegie Hall, signing a DG contract), the more it needs to be broken down into many, many more smaller, digestible goals in order for the final outcome to come to pass.

Let's take an entirely manageable ambition for many students--getting accepted into a university music program. Here are some ways that you could break a big goal into a bunch of smaller ones:

• Research universities on the internet
• Send away for information
• Figure out the application process
• Fill out application forms
• Get letters of reference
• Write cheques for application fees
• Fill out financial aid forms
• Learn correct repertoire for each audition
  
• Make pre-screening audition tape (more and more common these days)
  
• Send out applications well before the deadline process
• Schedule audition once called by university
• Get cheapest flights to college destinations
• Book hotels at college destinations
• Do auditions
• Once accepted, send in acceptance letter with deposit
• Look for more financial aid
• Go to college program

I'm tired already after writing that list and glad that I'm finished with my college education. But looking at that large list, you discover that one big dream can be easily managed if it is broken up into a bunch of smaller, manageable tasks.

I can't emphasize how important it is to be realistic when setting long-term goals. Here are some examples that depend on individual initiative and can be realized with determination and hard work:

• Learn a concerto
• Learn the arias for a role that is a bit too large for one's voice, but which one will grow into in the future
• Learn how to make kick-ass oboe reeds
• Learn the whole Well-Tempered Clavier (Angela Hewitt did it and is in the midst of her Bach World Tour this fall)
• Play the violin with deadly accurate intonation
• Develop into a professional-level singer
• Develop a stylistic breadth of experience in multiple percussion instruments from many cultures

However, when our goals depend on the actions of others, it is much easier to experience serious disappointments. Here are some goals that have the possibility of setting oneself up for disappointment:

• Getting into that world-famous school of music
• Getting that elusive tenure-track college position
• Getting a high-paid position in an orchestra
• Having a concert career
• Getting a top agent

Nevertheless, if we never have goals like these, we will never have the drive to succeed that jump-starts our practice routine in the first place.

I am noticing that this post is quickly turning into an article on life goals in music in general rather than just getting something out of practicing. But I feel that the urge to improve your playing through practicing often parallels the urge to develop oneself, to make a mark, experience satisfaction, and live a fully realized life. Therefore, I'm going to end this post with another long-term goal, one which I feel has no higher calling:

• To be able to play one's instrument at a high level, giving pleasure to oneself and others, and with a healthy technique that will last into old age.

At its core, the art of playing an instrument depends on the level of enjoyment one has in playing both great music and the process of playing the instrument itself. At this level, the degree of professional success one has is immaterial. From Rueckert's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen":

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

I am dead to the world's commotion, And I rest in a quiet place. I live alone in my heaven, In my love, in my song.

Tomorrow I'll be posting some cool practice links from around the internet.

Next: Practice Links

Goal Setting Part 2 of 3: Medium Term Goals

Yesterday we looked at ways of keeping your eyes on short-term goals in order to have your eyes on the next action on the road to performing excellence. Having your eyes on a prize that requires working over a slightly longer period of time can also can generate the desire to keep on practicing regularly.

What are some goals that you can work towards satisfying along a longer time line, say, three to six months?

• Exams. One of the best ways to measure progress is by taking standardized examinations for an accredited organization such RCM Examinations (known as the National Music Certificate Program in the US). Preparing for these types of examinations requires you to play several pieces from different styles, studies, and technical exercises, as well as take ear training and sight reading tests. The effort required to build the skills to pass each level can provide a very real challenge, and can provide benchmarks for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students.
• Festivals and competitions. Playing in classes specific to age and level at festivals sponsored by MTNA, NATS, Kiwanis, and Rotary clubs, can provide the challenge of competing against other musicians and receiving an adjudication from an authority in the field. This second opinion can often give you the reinforcement (or kick in the rump to keep you) moving along to the next level. And what can compare to the thrill of winning a class against stiff competition? Even if you don't win, the work you did in preparing for competing will have a lasting effect on your quality of playing.
  
• Recitals. If you don't like competitive playing, I highly recommend playing in recitals. These include formal recitals organized by schools, teachers, and organizations, in addition to impromptu occasions for family, friends, etc. If you're learning an instrument, why not share your love of playing with others?
• Auditions. If you're doing well, why not take it up a notch? Opportunities abound for honor bands, orchestras summer festivals, operas, and musicals. Prestigious programs such as the RCM's Young Artists Performance Academy or Juilliard's Pre-College Division are tough to get into, but offer a rewarding education for those able to pass the tough audition.
• Personal milestones. Learning all the Grade 10-level technique, playing your first Beethoven Sonata, getting through your graduate recital from memory a month before the concert, hitting that high C with a solid vibrato, or playing through the concerto in public are all goals that depend not on other's acclamation, but on beating your own personal demons. Claude Debussy once said that "In art, one has more often to fight against oneself, and the victories one wins are perhaps the most beautiful."

Above all, create the challenge and chances are you just might find the way to fulfill it.


Tomorrow I'll be looking at long-term goals.

Next: Long Term Goals