Habits of excellence
Tags: creative process, deep practice, how to practice music, music education, music performance, music practice, musicianship, practicing music, The Musician's Way
“If excellence is a habit (which it is), then students must consistently play in ways that are fundamentally excellent nearly all the time.”
- Robert A. Duke, music educator & researcher
Whether we’re practicing or performing, all of us musicians are striving for excellence.
But do students really know what excellent musicianship entails?
In my book The Musician’s Way, I classify the following seven habits of excellence because I’ve learned that many students lack clarity about the nature of excellence.
When we embody these habits in every practice session, excellence becomes our ‘default setting’ both in rehearsal and on stage.
- Ease. Easeful music making depends on particular mental and physical habits. Mentally, we have to learn our material deeply and then, as we play or sing, grasp the sound and feel of passages before we execute them. Physically, we need to understand how graceful execution is accomplished in general and with our instrument. Topics related to easeful execution appear throughout The Musician’s Way and especially in “Mental Imaging,” (p. 34-37) and “Building Technique,” (p. 94-98).
- Expressiveness. The Musician’s Way documents the essentials of artistic interpretation and uses abundant music examples to depict ways in which we can permeate our performances with eloquence (p. 23-34).
- Accuracy. How can we maximize accuracy? By insisting on precision from the outset of the learning process. Chapter 3 of The Musician’s Way details a process for starting on new material that ensures expressiveness and accuracy from the first stages of practice (see also “Learning new material”).
- Rhythmic vitality. Pages 31-33 describe how we can use rhythmic attraction and note grouping to imbue our phrases with irresistible forward motion.
- Beautiful tone. “The quality of your tone will probably have a more immediate impact on listeners than any other feature of your execution” (p. 22). We elevate our tone production skills through experimenting in practice, self-recording, seeking feedback from others, and, most of all, listening perceptively (p. 98-99).
- Focused attention. Students who struggle to focus under the spotlights typically establish lax mental habits in practice. “Be alert in the practice room that your mindful radar never goes on standby. Always direct yourself with broad awareness” (p. 194). The Musician’s Way articulates what students should focus on and helps them acquire comprehensive habits of attention.
- Positive attitude. It takes time and diligence to acquire the skills of an expert performer, and all of us experience both triumphs and stumbles as we progress. The section “Committing to the Creative Process” (p. 109-112) affirms that we stay positive by setting specific goals, maintaining a degree of detachment, fueling our motivation, and arming ourselves with agile problem-solving skills.
What strategies do you rely on to guarantee excellence when you perform? Did your teachers stress habits of excellence? I hope that you’ll share your thoughts and experiences here.
© 2009 Gerald Klickstein
emily said:
Dec 27, 09 at 06:33this helps. I wonder whether these 7 habits are in order of importance?
I think ease, tone should come first, then expressiveness , accuracy.
but it’s so hard to be focused and at ease! I tend to overfocus and get tense.
Gerald Klickstein said:
Dec 27, 09 at 08:32Hi Emily – thanks for the comment. I view these 7 habits as of equal importance. That is, we should aim to embody all 7 in each moment that we practice and perform. Such a holist approach helps us avert sending too much energy in one direction at the expense of other aspects of our music making. Regarding your example, try this: As you focus in practice or on stage, experiment with using a softer focus – simultaneously breathe and release excess tension as you sense the character and sensations of upcoming musical gestures.
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Roberto Capocchi said:
Jul 07, 10 at 12:48Playing with ease is fundamental. Once a piece is easy, it will automatically become more expressive and accurate, and the rhythm will be clear and unencumbered by technical issues.
Here are four steps I use to invite ease into my practice:
First: play easy things. Often, out of habit or drive, we play constantly harder and harder music. This keeps us from experiencing learning a piece “from above” – having all the musical and technical understandings necessary to play it well. Take the time to learn a beautiful piece that is not challenging, and enjoy it.
Second: when learning a passage, always ask the question: “why is this easy?” Never drill a difficult passage. You may conquer it, but it will always be high-maintenance. If the only way you can play a piece well is if you practice it for hours, how are you ever going to prepare a repertoire? Of course you can, and should, spend plenty of time preparing a piece. I’m talking about avoiding drilling a passage over and over as a main way of conquering and maintaining it. Once you can answer the question “why is this easy?” drill the passage as an excuse to drill that facilitating idea. It can be a body awareness issue (relax the right shoulder and breathe, then play the scale,) a technical solution (use the open string to shift, leave a finger down, lift a finger a bit earlier,) or a helpful mental image.
Third: facilitate non-problem passages. Re-read the second step. Most people interpret it as “when learning a DIFFICULT passage, always ask the question…” Nope. Always do it. Every phase. Make it a habit. Truly difficult passages will work better if they are surrounded by easier material. It keeps you relaxed. And some of the solutions for the truly difficult parts can be used to make an easy part a breeze. If you always seek and use those solutions, they may become second nature, and difficult passages you learn a year from now will feel easy to begin with! Even if you never incorporate those solutions so completely you don’t have think about them, you will become a lot better at finding applications for each technical trick. So let’s call people who intuitively find all these solutions, and for whom every piece is easy “geniuses.” They are rare, but they are out there, and they sound good. We can sound just as good, if we strive for easy consciously. You’ll be surprised how many of your favorite players achieved the ease you enjoy listening to by working like this rather than being gifted.
Forth: make an “ease-map” of the piece. Once you’re done learning a piece, map out all the easy-making tricks, and run the piece stringing those solutions together. If you find a section with no “easy-makers” find some – even if the part gives you no trouble – hat might mean just finding why the part gives you no trouble. Try it – it makes you smile every time you perform.
Gerald Klickstein said:
Jul 07, 10 at 16:12Great suggestions, Roberto!
All too often, musicians are so worried about difficulties, that they think of nothing else. Your approach is mastery-oriented and enables musicians to enjoy success. Very inspiring. Thank you.
BTW, your ideas elegantly complement my post “The benefits of accessible music”: http://musiciansway.com/blog/?p=1095