Listening critically as you play… for or against?
Listening to what we play in an examining, scrutinising way might seem to be a skill that’s necessary for developing expressive skills as a musician. I want to challenge this. Whilst we hear what we play and this helps us to make the sound we want, our response to the auditory feedback is entirely natural and needs little, if any, directing. In fact, critical listening might be the cause of a much more fundamental problem that makes people’s playing sound stiff and unmusical.
Fluency in the language of music on the keys
Fluency in language is similar to fluency in rhythm and tonality. I have a simple model of music that does the job perfectly.
How to keep your groove and tempo stable
Feeling and trusting your groove is the best way to keep the tempo solid. Practising with a metronome or listening and checking not only fails to improve any underlying weakness in rhythmic stability, it often makes the problem worse!
Let go of self-consciousness and experience GROOVE!
How you must find the courage to allow your natural rhythmic sense to channel your energies to make your body move with grace, freedom and expressiveness.
Why do we succumb to 18th/19th century classical tonality?
We can give up slavish adherence to western classical tonality to discover and explore the full richness of tonal colour.
Overthinking is a common problem when training musical fluency
Thinking critically, working things out and analysing are great mental skills but in the context of musical fluency training, they can block our ability to focus and let go.
Fluent vocal musicianship – finding our true voice and authentic self-expression
Whatever genre or style of singing we do, we must produce our voice naturally and freely, without excessive tension. With a free authentic tone, we can then develop fluent vocal musicianship.
Is there some technique for balancing parts?
Making a melody that’s deep in the texture sing out is a natural skill that you can easily overthink…
Unlocking our innate sense of tonal tension and resolution
The basis of becoming tonally fluent is not ear-training. You already have an inner sense of tonal relationships. This video explains that we need to awaken our sense of tension and resolution (or home and away) as a first principle of fluent tonal sense.
Find your neutral tone to sing without tension
Neutral tone is a counter-intuitive way to give the singing voice power and fullness. This soft, muddy tone can be shaped into all kinds of vocal styles.