‘Train’ the musician's own powers of observation
A guide to improving self-observation skills for musicians
Music is a time-based art form that is always changing.
Recognizing and responding appropriately to these changes
is the key to improving the quality of musical expression.
In this article,
we will explain the specific steps that musicians can take to
train their powers of observation and
achieve richer expression.
Three steps to making the most of change
Perceiving change
Judging change
Acting on change
By effectively implementing these steps,
you can improve the quality of your musical expression.
1. Perceiving change
Perceiving change means
being aware of changes in your own state or expression.
Observe changes from the following three aspects.
Physical changes
Changes in posture
Body movements
Movement of the centre of gravity
Mental and emotional changes
Changes in mood
Emotional fluctuations
Technical changes
Changes in vocal technique
Changes in phrasing
Changes in pitch
These changes are interrelated,
for example, emotional changes
can cause physical movements
which in turn leads to technical changes.
These are
1. the recognition of changes.
2. the judgement of changes.
How you judge/interpret the changes you have recognised
is important when practising.
Let's judge changes from the following three perspectives
Judging from a time perspective
Should this change continue?
Does this change need to be corrected?
Judging from a musical expression perspective
Does this change
lead to an ideal expression?Does this change
convey the intended message to the customer?
Comparing the expected and actual
Is there a gap between the expected expression and the actual expression?
Is it necessary to fill this gap?Judging change
is not simply a matter of deciding whether it is ‘good or bad’,
it is important to consider it from a variety of perspectives.
These are
2. Judging change.
3. Actions in response to change
It is important to take appropriate action in response to the change you have judged.
There are the following options for this.
Addition: Adding a new element to the current expression
Change: Changing the current expression in a different direction
Continuation: Maintaining the current good expression
Modify: Adjust to get closer to the ideal expression
Stop: Stop an undesirable change
It is important to choose these actions flexibly according to the situation
and always aim for the best expression.
These are the actions for dealing with change.
Next,
let's look at
the ability to observe
changes
The importance of training your powers of observation
Training your powers of observation is
is essential for improving musical expression.
It is important to have the following two perspectives.
Subjective perspective
The sensations from within oneself
The recognition that ‘I am feeling this way right now’
Objective perspective
The perspective of looking at oneself from the outside
Self-observation using anatomical knowledge
By having these two perspectives
in a well-balanced way,
it becomes possible to
make more accurate self-observations and take appropriate action
Using anatomical knowledge
To develop an objective perspective,
anatomical knowledge is very effective.
For example:
To understand the sensation of a stiff neck
as ‘the sternocleidomastoid muscle is tense
in concrete termsTo understand the state of a hunched back
as ’the balance between the abdominal and back muscles is lost
in concrete terms
This kind of concrete awareness
leads to more effective correction and improvement.
So
after you have developed your subjective and objective powers of observation
what should you work on?
Of course, that
is how you can make use of your practice.
The importance of motor learning
After you have trained your powers of observation
it is important to
make use of the results of your observations
in your next performance.
How to reproduce what went well in the next performance
How to improve what didn't go well
Through this learning process,
you can
continuously improve the quality of your performance.
Summary
By becoming more sensitive to your own changes
and making appropriate judgements about them
and acting effectively
you can enrich your musical expression.
By balancing your subjective and objective perspectives
and making use of your anatomical knowledge
you can improve your ability to observe yourself.
By being aware of change at all times,
and by viewing and making use of that change in a positive way,
new possibilities for expression will open up.
And
by making use of the insights and learning gained in the process
in your next performance,
you can achieve continuous growth.
By deeply understanding the relationship between music and the body,
and by honing your self-observation skills,
I hope that your musical expression
will become even richer.
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