"a song my mother taught me" - how we learn music

Date: 03/30/13
Orchestra: Chamber
Attendance: Again, spring break...

Note:
We played through The Last Spring by Grieg - it is a piece we have worked on in the past, and is one of the pieces that is on the CD I handed out to the kids before last summer (in other words, it should be quite familiar to them by now). But I didn't get any music out of them.

I suspect that many kids these days (and I dare say this), are not getting music lessons when they go into their private lessons. They maybe taught how to produce sounds out of their instruments, but not music.

So naturally, I ended up yapping about how music should be taught (sorry guys). I said something along the line of following:
If music is an aural experience, (which it is) and if classical music is an art that tries to convey certain ideas, imagery, emotion, and stories (which it is), then music is no different from a spoken language. When we speak, or listen to someone speak, we are doing exactly what we try to do in classical music, only in music, the words are replaced by notes, sentences by phrases, a chapter or a part of story by a movement within a piece, and the entire story by the entire piece.

But when we are taught how to speak, our mothers never taught us where exactly our tongues should go at which angle, or how narrow or wide you open your mouth, or how much air is needed for each word. No. All we did was LISTEN. Our mothers would repeat and repeat the word, and we simply try and try until we nail the pronunciation. And it takes over a year for us to learn one word. But when we nail that one word, we don't just understand how to say that one word, but we also nail the process of how to learn things by ear. So it becomes easier and easier to learn more and more words, until we can start speaking in full sentences by the age of four. Let me reiterate, speaking in full sentences BY THE AGE OF FOUR. Human beings may not be the smartest animals on earth, but we are quick at adapting. Very quick.

Over years of practicing, reading notes, learning, studying, performing, and most importantly, listening, professional musicians are expected to have acquired the skill of not just playing the right notes at the right time, but actually making music when sight reading a piece of music we've never heard or seen before (we start recognizing patterns that are common). But until one actually gains such skill, it is nearly impossible to be musical, if one doesn't know how the piece goes! And by that, I mean NOT just how the notes sound like, but what the notes MEAN. And you learn that by listening to professionals, or great players.

When learning a language, your mother is the professional. And guess what, you get to "jam" with a professional from DAY ONE, and the learning continues every single day until the day you die (we continue to learn, if we are willing). And these lessons are not only one-on-one lessons. Sometimes an individual is taught by multiple professionals! And if music is like a language at all (which it is), then I believe that it should be taught the same way. In fact, most music that never became a part of academia (tribal music, rock, etc.) is still taught that way, and it is no surprise that in those genres, many are accomplished performers by a very young age. I think sometimes we classical musicians are too much of elitists, too proud, and too uptight.

I have some jazz musician friends. Some of them are pretty well-known, even famous. Sometimes they let me play with them at their gigs, and I know nothing about jazz. An amateur (in jazz anyway) performing with pros. A thought completely unthinkable from a classical mentality. But according to them, if I don't play with them, where else am I gonna learn??? A good friend of mine (a fairly well-known trumpeter in his field) told me that, this (his gig) IS where you learn how to play. So he started letting me play a song every week with him. No rehearsals, no planning. I just show up and play a tune (any tune of my choice) with them. I'm glad I already have experience in performing in other genres, because my classical self would've told myself "I should not get up on stage, especially with them at their gig. I'm not good enough!" and would have robbed myself of the best learning opportunities I could possibly get.

You can't learn music the way you learn history and math. It is not a skill or knowledge. It is a language.

P.S. "A Song My Mother Taught Me" is an actual title of a piece by Antonin Dvorak. I thought I'd borrow it because it was a fitting title for this entry :)