Klarinet Archive - Posting 000611.txt from 1997/06

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Musicianship
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 23:09:06 -0400

The typical core curriculum at a conservatory of music involves several
key areas of musicianship, the categories of which might be instructive
to you in terms of determining how to improve yourself as a musician.
Those categories are:

(1) Music theory
(2) Music history
(3) Aural skills
(4) Piano skills
(5) Performance skills

Depending on the school, earning an undergraduate degree can involve
between 4 and 8 semesters of course work in each of these areas. Any
advanced musician will tell you that the most vital talent to hone
is that of good listening skills. I've not known many people who actually
enjoyed their aural skills courses while getting their degrees, but
the ability to discern pitches and intervals and hear melodic/harmonic
structures by ear is probably the most valuable musical asset any performing
musician can possess.

Somebody else on the list already suggested going to live performances in
addition to listening to recordings. Others have suggested score study
in conjunction with recordings. Even bringing scores to live performances
is not a bad idea if you can do it without being disruptive. Pocket
scores work best, but they're hard to see if you're in a darkened
auditorium. Teaching oneself aural skills can be difficult without
some minimal form of guidance, especially if we're talking about learning
to discern melodic and harmonic interval concepts.

The more "active" disciplines within music can pose challenges in
attempts to learn. Without a piano teacher for guidance, learning
basic piano skills is daunting at best. Learning to play the
clarinet can be that way too, although I didn't have my first
private lesson until I was 18, yet I progressed just fine through
the undergraduate music programs of Eastman, San Francisco State,
and SMU Meadows School of the Arts (I moved around for various
reasons).

On the other hand, learning music history and theory are more
passive areas of musicianship which can be absorbed via some
independent study -- the history more than the theory, I should
think. A fallacious way of teaching music history, which I've
seen in each of the schools I attended, is to convey it in a
vacuum, as if the musical events occurred on a separate planet
apart from real human world events. Learning music history in
the context of human history is a much more organic and useful
method, especially for the sake of historical relevance. Thus,
rather than perusing your musical dictionary, pick up a biography
of a composer like Shostakovich and come to an understanding of
his life (or, say, Prokofiev) in terms of the tumultuous events
which were happening all around him in revolutionary Russia of
1917. Drawing these connections will bring greater meaning to
the musical portion of your history studies, and will inform your
artistic perspective when you perform the works of those whose
lives are so well documented. Knowing music history is part
and parcel with knowing what a perfect 5th sounds like, because
that same interval in Beethoven will sound completely different
to you when surrounded by the music of Bartok.

There's a very good reason that these core areas are drilled into
undergraduate music students. It's a miniature version of the
mission statement behind liberal arts colleges. Conservatories
wish to turn out well-rounded musicians, who possess the integrated
knowledge and skills which enable them to draw on related musical
concepts and experience. The interrelationships between a good
ear, knowledge of music theory and music history, in addition to
the basic idea of knowing how to play your instrument, are all
brought to bear upon any performance you might give, be it in a
classroom as an educator, or on stage in an orchestra hall. Thus,
improving yourself in any one of these specific areas is also an
act of improving yourself as a musician in general.

Neil

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org