Klarinet Archive - Posting 000153.txt from 2002/04

From: Mark Charette <mcharette@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] memorization
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 15:25:45 -0500

"fred.sheim" wrote:

>
> That is true for me too- if I mess up, I can't just start from the mess up
> point-

With practice (a lot) you'll be able to do just that, along with not looking
at the keyboard when making large arm movements (never mind little finger
movements!). One of the things one of my piano teachers made me realize was
that to make "music" I had to lose my fear of making mistakes. I spent years
being tentative about my playing - which means that I couldn't have the
dynamic range I needed for just about any kind of music. She'd hold a piece
of cardboard between my hands and my eyes so that I couldn't see the keyboard
- kind of like getting an instrument rating as a pilot - and would make me
play. Both pieces I knew and sightreading. That was my breakthrough - I
started losing the crutch I had and was able to start sightreading and
playing music that I'd never heard before - something I always wanted to do,
rather than having to run to a record store and seeing if there was a
recording of what I was attempting to play. I never was terribly good at
playing piano (I started at 35 and stopped taking lesson due to time
constraints when was 45), but losing the "fear factor" sure helped a lot,
and not just in music.

Mark C.

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