Wilton Music Studios Blog

Why is Attitude so Important to Music Performance?

jane — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:20:34 +0000

Why is Attitude so important to musical performance?

I am training for my very first ever race – a 10K! To better understand the training, I have been reading a lot about it – especially Runner’s World’s “Complete Book of Running”. After lots of chapters about increasing speed and endurance, cross-training, avoiding injuries etc etc, there came a chapter called “The Mental Side of Running”. There, on page 140, is a gray shaded box with the heading “The makeup of a champion” and the introduction says “Champions share many characteristics, none of which are determined by their running speeds. How many of these statements describe your running and your life?” As I read the questions, I found myself replacing the words “running” with “flute playing” and, surprise, surprise….it totally and completely applies!!! Here are the descriptions as they appear in the book followed by my application to the world of musical performance:

1) A champion has the courage to risk failure, knowing that setbacks are lessons to learn from.
Have you tried to play something too fast? Tried to play a concert without having slept well the night before? Tried to play a lesson when you were starving hungry? What did you learn from those experiences? I would bet a whole lot more than hearing your teacher tell you to slow down, to get enough sleep or to have a snack before your lesson!

2) A champion uses a race to gain greater self-knowledge as well as feedback on physical improvement.
Playing in a recital is completely different from playing a lesson or playing in your practice room. Putting yourself to the test of performing tells you a lot about your real playing ability.

3) A champion trains thought processes as well as the body to produce a total approach to performance.
What do you say to yourself before you step out onto the stage for a concert, a competition, or an audition? Do you have messages you have figured out ahead of time? Think of something really positive to say to yourself. Negative thoughts will limit your abilities. If you think you can do it, you CAN!! Henry Ford said “If you think you can do it, you’re right. If you think you can’t do it, you’re still right!”

4) A champion understands his athletic weaknesses and trains to strengthen them.
All musicians have strengths and weaknesses. Being honest about the weaknesses and working on them is the only way to bring them up to the level of your strengths. Is it rhythm? Breath capacity? Tone quality? Technique? Take a good look at them, analyze them, find creative exercises to approach them.

5) A champion actively creates a life of balance, moderation and simplicity – values that help improve running and life.
Are you getting enough sleep? Do you have enough time to get everything done that needs to be done in a day? Are there ways to eliminate “busy work”? Is every second of your day booked or are you able to take time to relax and breathe? Musicians need time to practice, to exercise, to eat nourishing meals, and SLEEP!!

6) A champion views competitors as partners who provide challenge and the chance to improve.
Competition is a huge issue for musicians. But ask yourself, if you weren’t thinking about how well the person next to you plays, would you feel as compelled to practice and achieve your highest level of ability? That person serves an incredibly important purpose in your life. Please also consider that all this competition, when done in a healthy manner, serves to lift the level of musicianship in your band, orchestra and also in the arts in general!

7) A Champion understands that running performances are like a roller coaster, with many ups and down, and you have to accept both the good and the bad.
There will never be a perfect performance. The room will be too hot or too cold. You will have a sore throat. The acoustics of the hall will be too dead or too live. The piano will be out of tune. There will always be at least one wrong note played. A child will cry in the middle of the concert….. You can let this reality defeat you or you can let it spur you on to try harder next time….

8. A Champion enjoys running for the simple pleasures it provides.
This is really the crux of the matter for musicians. To be a really great musician, you have to love it so much that you would do it for no money, no accolades……you play your instrument for the sheer joy of doing it. If there is an ulterior motive in your efforts, if you can’t enjoy the journey, you will never “get there” – because, truthfully, there is no “there” – there is no final goal – in music, there is only the journey!

9) A Champion has vision. A Champion dreams of things that haven’t been and believes they are possible. A Champion says “I can”.
If you don’t believe you can achieve your dreams, you won’t! Believe in your abilities. Visualize where you want to get to and then work toward it, enjoying every step of the journey.

The article concludes by saying “The most successful runners think like champions” – and I would say the same of the most successful musicians!

Musicians are highly specialized athletes

jane — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:08:10 +0000

Have your hands ever hurt when playing? Has your back ever ached when practicing? Got neck pain? Have you ever had trouble getting in enough air to play the phrase?
As a group, we musicians are notorious for not taking care of our bodies. Have you ever gone to a late night “jam” session and seen how much alcohol is consumed or how many cigarettes are lit? When I was at UNLV, (before the new music building was built and the practice rooms were monitored) I would go into rooms that reeked of cigarette smoke and had burn marks in the sides of the pianos….it was disgusting to say the least!
At Yale University, the Sports Medicine Department has a whole subdivision for musician injuries!
I am a walking example of the problem – and the solution….
On my very first day of my freshman year as a music major at Ithaca College, my Resident Advisor, a dual phys-ed/Music-ed major, told me I should seriously consider taking an exercise course to stay fit (or in my case to get fit) while at IC. That advice went in one ear and out the other. Then a teacher told me that swimming would help increase my breath capacity – no dice. As a sophomore, I developed lower back pain when playing – did that wake me up? Nope.
As a grad student at UNLV, I noticed my hands would hurt when I played for long stretches without a break – again I did not pay any attention.
Finally, after grad school, when I was preparing my first faculty recital, I got to a point where I could not hold the flute for more than 5 minutes without pain…. That woke me up – I went to a neurologist who told me that I had developed overuse injuries in both my arms and that I needed to find a new way of playing the flute that was not essentially pounding away at it and he said that I needed to find activities to do with my hands that were gross motor movements to balance out the extreme amount of fine motor movements I was doing while playing. At about the same time, I heard someone say “Musicians are highly specialized Athletes”.

Did I learn my lesson? Only partially – I am a very slow learner. But twenty years after all that went down, I think I am finally getting it. Think about it – (I am a flutist so what I am going to say applies to flute playing but it also applies to all instruments and singing to some degree or other.)
Playing an instrument is NOT a natural thing to do. We are not designed to extend our arms, form our lips a certain way, position our hands the way we do, and deny ourselves the opportunity to inhale for periods of time. The strength and muscle tone in abs, back, neck, arms, and heart required to play an instrument or sing are very similar to that required of any athlete. For the past six months, I have been under the tutelage of a personal trainer who is working all of those areas and I have noticed a considerable increase in my breath capacity and my stamina.

So whether you are just starting to study, are a serious college student, a young professional (or amateur), or an aging professional (or amateur) getting and staying in top physical shape will only help your playing or singing. See you at the gym!!
Cheers!
Jane Shelly, Owner
Wilton Music Studios
1 Danbury Road
Wilton, CT 06897

Why is the Youth Symphony experience important?

jane — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:50:51 +0000

Talk about stress!!: endless hours of practice for the auditions and the weekly commitment to rehearsals and practice practice practice — schlep schlep schlep instruments, music , keeping track of schedules –
Is it really worth it? Why are we doing this?

A decade or so ago (Governor Roland was in office), I had the opportunity to attend an arts symposium in Hartford to discuss the role of the arts in society and the economy. In one of the keynote addresses, the speaker gave a report on President Bush’s (George H. W) commission on education and jobs of the future. Apparently, President Bush had asked the commission two essential questions:
1) What skills will the jobs of the future require
2) How well are our schools preparing our students in those skills
The commission came back with a set of skills and said we were not doing a very good job at training our kids for them. The skills included:
1) The ability to work alone (involving time management skills, self discipline etc)
2) And then the ability to take what one has done on his/her own and plug it into a larger context – coordinating with others to achieve a greater goal.

The commission was then asked:
in what area of study do we come the closest to teaching these skills?
and the answer came back:

IN THE ARTS.

The example they gave was a class taking on the project of putting on a play. They have to agree on what play they were going to do, design and build sets, get props and costumes, learn individual lines, learn the blocking and then come together to put all the pieces together to present a fine finished product.

One can also say the same thing about playing in a band or an orchestra – you have to learn your own part and then put it together with the other players. A fine youth symphony like the many we are blessed to have in Fairfield County, CT demands those skills at an even higher level. Because everyone is playing at a high level, even the slightest inaccuracy is heard. There is no place to hide.
For a flutist, the difference between playing in a band or in a youth symphony is like night and day. It is more similar to playing chamber music. In band, there may be thirteen other kids playing your same part. In orchestra and chamber music, there are typically only one or two people playing the same part. You can easily compare playing in the woodwind section of an orchestra to playing chamber music. It is critically important that you have learned all the notes, rhythms, articulations and dynamics that are on the page. You also have to play your own instrument in tune throughout the registers. When you come to the rehearsal with all those factors in place, then the fun really begins.

A number of years ago, I had an opportunity to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. Now, I have been to many orchestra concerts and have played in many orchestra concerts. The thing that made this experience different for me was that I was sitting in the fourth row right in front of the concertmaster. The person that I could not take my eyes off of, however, was the assistant concertmaster and more specifically her eyes. Her eyes were in constant motion – 1/3 of the time watching the conductor, 1/3 on the music and 1/3 on the concertmaster! She watched the concertmaster for every start and finish of the bow in order to completely match what he was doing. She followed him with as much detail as one would see in a fine string quartet. It was a profound lesson to me that even though one is sitting in a large orchestra, one still has to pay such close attention to one’s own contribution to the final product.

The benefit to students in terms of self esteem, self-worth and confidence is immeasurable. In order to achieve the goal, they must develop a sense of camaraderie, mutual respect and team work. They bring the best of their abilities to the group and mutually fashion a performance that gives voice to the composer, a profound experience for each other and great pleasure to the listening audience.
Playing in a high level youth symphony is one of life’s best teachers as well as one of life’s greatest joys!

Jane Shelly, Owner and Flute Teacher
Wilton Music Studios
www.wiltonmusicstudios.com
Chamber Music Coach, Norwalk Youth Symphony
www.norwalkyouthsymphony.org

Why Should We Support the Arts?

jane — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:49:13 +0000

Why do people go to concerts? Why do people visit art museums or attend a play? If you ask them, chances are many will tell you they find it relaxing or recuperative. These are both great reasons but if they are then asked to make a donation, will those reasons be enough to motivate the average patron to make large enough donations to keep an organization thriving? Other people will tell you that they find the arts to be of educational value for their kids – another great reason but will that be enough to generate the financial support needed?
It is well known that ticket prices and entrance fees only cover a fraction of the cost of operating a quality arts organization and, while individual donations are a very important part of the support needed, they are not enough. It falls to the business community and the government to provide the remaining financial resources that are needed.

What? Are you kidding? Ask the business community? In THIS economic climate? Just drive through the business areas of our local towns and count the number of empty store fronts — how is it anyone would think they could convince the business community to give financial support to the arts? I set out to find the answer to this question a number of years ago and I was directed to go to the Americans for Arts website. I had already decided that if we were going to approach the business community for funding, we were going to have to stop playing the role of David Copperfield, plaintively begging for “some more”. I wanted to know what we the arts community could do for the business community. I wanted to understand what role the arts play in the ECONOMIC life of the community at large.

I found the answers to my questions in the American for Arts monograph “Arts and Economic Prosperity”. I recommend that you visit their website and read the results of their in depth research at http://www.artsusa.org/information_services/research/services/economic_impact/default.asp
Even the title gave me encouragement!
Several quotes in the article jumped out at me:
Here is the first sentence:

“The key lesson from Arts & Economic Prosperity III is that communities that invest in the arts
reap the additional benefits of jobs, economic growth, and a quality of life that positions
those communities to compete in our 21st century creative economy “

To me, this indicates that the communities with the liveliest arts communities will be the first to recover from the economic downturn we are currently experiencing.

“Nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity annually (as of 2007)—What’s more, because arts and culture organizations are strongly rooted in their communities, these are jobs that necessarily remain local and cannot be shipped overseas.”
Arts jobs cannot be outsourced to India or Mexico – you can’t phone in the flute part!

It is a common belief that the government ends up funding the arts but in reality, for every dollar the government puts into the arts, they get $7 back in revenue:
“Our industry also generates nearly $30 billion in revenue to local, state, and federal governments every year. By comparison, the three levels of government collectively spend less than $4 billion annually to support arts and culture—a spectacular 7:1 return on investment that would even thrill Wall Street veterans.”

The arts bring benefits to local businesses as well. People who attend events need to park, have dinner, hire a babysitter etc. etc.:

“…the typical attendee spends $27.79 per person, per event, in addition to the cost of admission. When a community attracts cultural tourists, it harnesses even greater economic rewards. Nonlocal audiences spend twice as much as their local counterparts.”

The study found that there is another important benefit the arts bring to a community. More and more, people make decisions about where they want to live based on quality of life issues. A city with a lively arts community will attract a higher quality work force for the business community.

My conclusion? The arts play a vital role in the life of a community. We contribute a quality of life to our town in a way that nothing else can. The presence of a lively arts community attracts great people to our area. The arts contribute directly to the local economy because we are locally rooted. The arts bring in patrons from outside our community who then spend their money in local businesses. We are not a charity, we are vital contributing members of our towns who are worthy business partners. I would like to go so far as to say that the arts community has the power to help lead our local communities out of this economic downturn.

This Saturday is National Museum Day. The City of Norwalk is observing this day with Norwalk Arts: Inside/Out – a day of celebrating all the arts in the City. Go to www.Norwalkarts.org and check out all the amazing events planned. Come see what a lively arts community looks like!!

Why is Chamber Music So Important?

jane — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:28:15 +0000

Why is Chamber music so important?
On Wilton Music Studios facebook page, I commented that the second session of Chamber Music Central’s camp was about to begin. I said “Chamber music is so important on so many levels”. So the little voice in my head which likes to argue with me all the time, chimed in with “oh yeah, how so….?” giving me this blog topic!
A decade or so ago (Governor Roland was in office), I had the opportunity to attend an arts symposium in Hartford to discuss the role of the arts in society and the economy. In one of the keynote addresses, the speaker gave this report on President Bush’s (George H. W) commission on education and jobs of the future. Apparently, President Bush had asked the commission two essential questions:
1) What skills will the jobs of the future require
2) How well are our schools preparing our students in those skills
The commission came back with a set of skills and said we were not doing a very good job at training our kids for them. The skills included:
1) The ability to work alone (involving time management skills, self discipline etc)
2) And then the ability to take what one has done on his/her own and plug it into a larger context – coordinating with others to achieve a greater goal.
The commission was then asked:
in what area of study do we come the closest to teaching these skills?
and the answer came back:
IN THE ARTS.
The example they gave was a class taking on the project of putting on a play. They have to agree on what play they were going to do, design and build sets, get props and costumes, learn individual lines, learn the blocking and then come together to put all the pieces together to present a fine finished product.
One can also say the same thing about playing in a band or an orchestra – you have to learn your own part and then put it together with the other players.
CHAMBER MUSIC offers all of these learning tools with several others added in. In band, for instance, a flutist is one of several kids playing the same part. It is possible to not learn one’s part completely and still stay in the section. Besides, if the trumpets and drums are playing away loudly, you can’t hear the flutes anyway (so say my students…) BUT in CHAMBER MUSIC, you are the only one playing your part. It is critically important that you have learned all the notes, rhythms, articulations and dynamics that are on the page. It also helps if you can play your instrument in tune throughout the registers. When you come to the rehearsal with all those factors in place, then the fun really begins. In band or orchestra, there is a conductor up front who tells you how to interpret your part, tells you if you are too loud or too soft and basically dictates the interpretation of the piece. In chamber music, there is no conductor – well, there is a coach but that person is there to facilitate –not dictate.
So Chamber Music is all about collaboration. No one dictates anything, and the musicians come to a mutual understanding of how they want the piece to go. At his master class during the first session of the Chamber Music Central camp, Frank Dakin asserted that if you are playing in a trio, you really need FOUR ears!
1) To hear yourself
2) To hear each of the other two players (that is one ear for each)
3) To hear the overall sound – a bird’s eye (ear) view – if you will.
Each player has to take responsibility for contributing their insights into the piece. Each player is responsible for the final outcome of the piece.
The benefit to students in terms of self esteem, self-worth etc is immeasurable. In order to achieve the goal, they must develop a sense of camaraderie, mutual respect and team work. They bring the best of their abilities to the group and mutually fashion a performance that gives voice to the composer, a profound experience for each other and great pleasure to the listening audience.
CHAMBER MUSIC is one of life’s best teachers as well as one of life’s greatest joys!
For more information about Chamber Music at Wilton Music Studios, please visit our website www.WiltonMusicStudios.com or call 203-761-7787.
For more information about Chamber Music Central, please visit www.chambermusiccentral.org