5 Things Only Multi-Instrumentalists Would Understand
1. Practice Makes Permanent
All musicians have been told that practice makes perfect, by a well-meaning person. Yet multi-instrumentalists understand that that is not true. There is no perfect performance. We have close to perfect performances but there is always something that only the musician knows went wrong. We are over-critical of ourselves. Furthermore, when you learn multiple instruments-- and you learn this following secret from experience-- you are careful to learn everything the right way. If you practice something enough times, you will develop muscle memory and your movements become a habit. Trying to break a habit is hard, but then you have to relearn it the right way! Shout
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It takes dedication, hard work, and time. The thing that is so misleading is that people only see the finished product-- the performance. The audience does not see all the time I had spent practicing and what it sounded like when I first started that particular piece. And I hate that. It is SO misleading. When I perform, that is my very best work. I don’t always play that flawlessly. Sometimes I like to play around with it and just make different sounds and tunes. People think that I just play like I perform, all the time. And to be honest, I don’t. Simply stated, learning an instrument will be like learning how to cook. At first the music will taste bad. But you’ll read the directions and follow the steps. And the more you practice, the better you’ll …show more content…
Why did I take the time to learn so many? Simply because I wanted to. The first instrument I learned though, wasn’t my decision. My parents made me learn clarinet (it was the only instrument we had around), yet I wanted to play saxophone really bad. So I learned clarinet and learned to love it. But then when my parents surprised me the next year with a saxophone, and at last I could play the instrument that I truly admired, I went for it. I taught myself over the summer, and was just as good as everyone else when I returned back to school. A few years after that, I fell in love with the sound of finger picking on the guitar. So I borrowed an old guitar from a family member and taught myself. Then I not only wanted to create beautiful music from instruments, but from myself (my voice.) So I started taking voice lessons. And then I heard a song on the radio with a killer piano part and wanted to challenge myself to learn that part of the song on the piano. But then I just realized while I’m at it, I might as well just learn the instrument itself. So why did I learn so many instruments? I just wanted to. I enjoy a good challenge. Although learning instruments has always just made sense to me, I can challenge myself daily to new music and different
In order to become an expert performer Abbott and Collins (2004) suggest that talent development requires the possession of Psychological Characteristics for Developing Excellence (PCDE), which as the performer moves through the transition phases become further developed. PCDE’s are both trait characteristics and state related skills such as self-belief, dedication and discipline (Abbott and Collins, 2004). Another significant aspect of becoming an expert musician is deliberate practice. Deliberate practice requires determination with the correct motivation for the performer, and the necessary time and effort roughly equating to 10,000 hours (Ericsson et al., 1993). MacNamara, Holmes and Collins (2008) state that expert musicians require numerous aspects to reach the highest level; natural talent and/or deliberate practice combined with social context and significant others are needed to maintain performance at this high level. As talent is developed, the performer moves
Practice can be the key to improving. In every area of education, in every sport, with every musical activity, anything that requires a good performance, those who practice tend to understand the material more. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers states just how important this can be. Going off of the idea that “practice makes perfect”, his entire second chapter is dedicated to persuading his audience to believe 10,000 hours is what it takes to succeed. Examples Gladwell provides include how Mozart didn’t create his greatest works until later in his life after he had gained experience, how the Beatles performed in multiple practice concerts in Hamburg, Germany before becoming musical sensations, and how Bobby Fischer and chess grandmasters
Every day millions of Americans turn on their radios, IPods, or some other device which allows them to listen to their favorite musicians and have no idea that there is a union standing guard to ensure the rights of those very musicians. The average American may think their favorite musicians are rolling “dough” and not realize that for the past hundred and fourteen years the American Federation of Musicians, aka AFM, has worked to improve the professional lives of musicians across North America. (American Federation of Musicians, 2010) AFM attracts its members with a mission to unite professional musicians which states, “We can live and work in dignity; Our work will be fulfilling and compensated fairly; We will have a meaningful voice
To push your skills forward there are many tricks by which anyone can learn musical instruments. The beginners usually need to know such tricks. It is not always important to learn a huge amount of theory, sheets and notes for gaining the music skills and become competent in playing any kind of music instrument.
Since day one of my musical interest, I have heard the term, “practice makes perfect,” in almost every setting imaginable. From the beginning of my sixth grade year, I had heard of what it was to be an All-West musician, but at that point I really didn’t grasp the concept of just
Author Courtney Crappell writes the article, “Making Music Lessons Attractive Again”. She begins by asking her readers if they are interested in discovering ways to make music a better-known aspect of people’s everyday lives. She then moves on to explain what it is music teachers do. Music teachers are people who give individuals who seek musical knowledge, the tools to experience the world of music. At some point in his or her lives, Crappell states every person desires to learn how to play an instrument.
First of all, I have always had a passion for the piano ever since I was around three years old and currently I have started playing the clarinet over the past three years. Music has always been a big factor in my life. I really like playing the piano and the clarinet because there is always a new piece of music and a new challenge in each one.
I’m not going to say that am raise in a musician family, but most of my family how to play at least one instrument for example my dad plays piano and guitar, one of his brother lay drum and the other one play many instrument because he owns his own music studio. See those guy play an instrument motivate me to plat instrument because at the time the was learning those instrument I wasn’t easy for them but they didn’t give up because there parent force them to learn. After many years of learning those guy meet a lot of famous people , play in music band , and many other place. All
Meredith Willson is a musician, playwright and composer. Willson is mostly popular for being a producer, composer and playwright for a movie called ‘The Music Man’. Wilson earned the Tony Award for best musical.The film ‘The Music Man’ produced in 1962 was one of the biggest hits of that year. Nowadays, this music is still relevant, where it is still being played on TV and every now and then. Moreover, music in that film was filled with sensation of old days romance and coziness. Also, it has impacted movie production today where more musical movies are being produced such as High School Musical and Lala wonderland who have won multiple awards. The music production of The Music Man impacted the music industries in where it became a popular
Music isn 't just what I do, it 's who I am, and who I’ve always been. I play twelve instruments. Some fluently, some only a singular note or, maybe a song. This all started out in sixth grade when I could not decide what instrument was best for me. I started out my first two months of middle school by switching from instrument to instrument. I began with the oboe, and a week later, I changed to percussion. Only then, did I attempt to play all of the brass instruments-- and I mean all of them-- trumpet, french horn, tuba, trombone, and baritone, you name it, and I’ve probably played it. Next, I moved on to all of the woodwinds, flutes, clarinets, and all of the saxophones. Again, I cycled through the percussion instruments once again. Finally, I decided that I would rather play notes on a staff than beat something with a stick. I was forced, by my very irritated band teacher, to pick one of the two that I was better at, the alto saxophone or the trumpet. Two completely different musical instruments in two completely different musical families. Of course, as an indecisive twelve year old, I could not pick. Mr. Deneen, a woodwind player himself, chose the alto saxophone.
I started playing the clarinet in 5th grade, when all of the students had to pick an instrument and be taught how to play it, and at the end of the year play in a school concert. Before 5th grade, we all had to learn to play recorder, to this day I do not completely know why I disliked the recorder and only ever learned two songs on it, whether it was the sound or the feeling, or how my music teacher taught it to us, I always disliked the recorder in elementary school. But in 5th grade I wanted it to be different, I wanted to be able to say that I played an instrument in school, and carry that skill with me through life. After thinking for a while I settled on the clarinet, I originally wanted to play the saxophone, but the school was having a shortage of saxophones and I settled with the clarinet. When I first played my clarinet it
The first way I develop my skill is by going to private lessons. When I was in sixth grade my mom signed me up for private lessons with a guy name Jacob. Unfortunately, a year later he decided to play in the military band. After he left I got a new teacher named Eric. He has teached me for about a year, but has decided to move. Right
The movie that I was chosen is The Soloist a story of a gifted musician named Nathaniel Ayers whose mental illness drove him from the halls of The Juilliard School in New York to the streets of Los Angeles. His dream is to play at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Through chance, he meets a journalist who tries to help this mentally disturbed man to get back on his feet and make his dreams come true (Bevan at al., 2009).
While listening to the orchestra, the audience is blown away by the soothing music and music and the way the musician’s fingers dance across their instrument. It raises the question for those who listen, how long and how hard have they been practicing this perfection of a piece? Musicians from middle school performers to worldwide famous celebrities dedicate their time to their music. They have learned to play each string at the right time ad how to blow into their instruments correctly. Others in the audience find themselves bored and wondering why the audience is cheering and possibly crying. They believe that just anyone could pick up an instrument and blow into it. A person does need formal musical training in order to be successful because they gain the ability to learn from their mistakes, and they learn how to correctly work their entire instrument.
My interest in guitar started when my friend used to bring his guitar everyday and I would always want to play but didn't know how. I would always ask him to teach me how to play but I didn't know any of the chords and notes, therefore, I just gave up on attempting to play this new instrument. However, guitar is an elective that’s offered here at Kennedy, so I decided to take the class. I noticed that my friend was getting better the more he practiced, so I decided to join the class to learn the basics and get started on this new journey. At first, it was difficult to understand the notes because I didn’t have any musical background to help assist me for my own benefit. However, I began to focus more in class to learn the basics day by day. Overtime, I learned that you can't learn guitar in one day and you need a lot of practice to get better. I also discovered how progress is important to reach my end goal.