The Musician's Way Blog

Have you ever been confounded by a thorny passage that wouldn’t come together?

You know, the sort of material where even after days of working on the music, you notice no real improvement.

Probably every musician encounters such problem spots from time to time. But these sorts of predicaments don’t have to be frustrating.

Assuming that musical dilemmas aren’t far beyond our abilities, if we deal with them cleverly, they can lead us to new heights of competence.

Still, to transform a musical quandary into a triumph, we require adept problem solving skills.

Thinking about problems
To become agile problem-solvers, we have to approach problems with a curious mindset and an arsenal of problem-solving strategies.

By being curious, problems fascinate us, and our positive mindset fires our imagination. Then, with numerous problem-busting maneuvers on hand, we can trust in our resources and deconstruct problems playfully and confidently.

We should also remember that creative problem solving depends on creative thinking.

That is, problems in our everyday lives might have single remedies (say, why a stalled car won’t start). But musical and technical troubles often have many possible solutions.

So, when we approach a musical problem in practice, we have to think in divergent ways and patiently explore the trouble spot from multiple angles and viewpoints.

How can we do that? The most straightforward way that we can generate multiple viewpoints is for us to ask questions that highlight various features of a passage.

For instance, a string player trying to clean up a left-hand shift might ask, “What’s my right hand doing as I shift?” After exploring the right-hand execution, the musician might wonder, “What other left-hand fingerings might be possible?” And so on.

On top of being clever questioners, we also benefit from building awareness of the problem-solving process.

The problem-solving process
As shown in Chapter 3 of my book The Musician’s Way, problem solving involves three basic steps:
      1. Recognizing when a problem exists
      2. Isolating and defining the problem
      3. Applying problem-solving tactics

1. Recognize a problem: Problem recognition hinges on our perceptual skills. Yet we all know that our perceptions aren’t always pristine.
      To keep problems from eluding us, I advise musicians to evaluate their playing or singing using specific benchmarks. The Habits of Excellence defined in Chapter 2 of The Musician’s Way make for solid starting points. Self-recording helps, too.

2. Isolate and define the problem: Next, I suggest that musicians isolate and define a problem by pinpointing the sticky elements of a passage and clarifying its inner workings.
      For example, a singer might determine that an intonation problem arises because of the register of a phrase combined with the complexity of pronouncing a word. Similarly, a pianist or guitarist might identify that a fast run feels difficult due to one three-note lick; she might then define the issue as arising from a convoluted fingering in the right hand.

3. Apply problem-solving tactics: With a problem isolated and defined, we can then employ tactics that enable us to master its troublesome ingredients. 
      Such tactics include slowing the tempo, varying rhythms, omitting and then reinserting pitches, revising fingerings, and, in some cases, editing the music. After we iron out the difficulties, we accurately repeat the passage a few times and then merge it back into the greater context.

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Pages 54-70 of The Musician’s Way scrutinize problem-solving issues and present seven crucial tactics.

I hope that you’ll go over that material and then return to this blog to share your own insights into the ways that you vanquish problems in your practice.

© 2009 Gerald Klickstein