How to deal with tempo issues

One of my wonderful readers sent me this question: "Do you have any advice on keeping steady rhythm and pulse and not allowing dynamics and intensity to cause rushing or dragging?"

Tempo issues are a symptom and not a cause, so here's a look at some of the causes.

1. Excitement: When we play intense pieces with dramatic dynamics, we can lose ourselves in the music as an audience member would, and let the emotions of the piece carry us away.
   
   When that happens, we go from being in control of the music to having the music be in control of us, and that's why tempos rush or slow down.
   
   It's the same situation a comedian face when they can't stop laughing at a joke they have to perform. They have to get it out of their system in order to perform it, and so do we for an emotional passage.
   
   
2. Technical difficulty: When we're facing a difficult technical spot, our body goes into panic mode and takes over our mind.
   
   The key here is to use our practice sessions as a practice for our mind to remain in control, by always playing at tempos that allow us to stay in charge.
   
   
3. Nerves: When our nerves take over during a performance, we stop thinking of the music to think of a million other things instead, such as what the audience is thinking or if we picked the right outfit.
   
   Our fingers are left playing on their own, which impacts the tempo in a big way. The solution is to make sure we keep a cool mind at all times.
   
   

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Is a musical phrase the same as a spoken phrase?

We teach the concept of a musical phrase by comparing it to a spoken phrase.

However, in order for students to understand phrasing best, it is necessary to point out to them the similarity and the difference between a musical and a spoken phrase.

• Similarity: The similarity between the two is in the space between the phrases.
  
  The same way we breathe in between spoken sentences, we need to breathe in between musical phrases as well. Punctuation and cadences relate in a direct way.
  
  
• Difference: The difference between a musical and a spoken phrase is in the actual shape of a phrase.
  
  The inflection of a musical phrase doesn't change from a country to the next, while the inflection of a spoken phrase clearly changes from a country to the next.
  
  For example, French speakers emphasize the very end of a phrase, and English speakers emphasize words according to their own accentuation, and neither translates into the shaping of a musical phrase.  

While the space between phrases can be taught through the comparison to spoken phrases, the inside of a musical phrase has its own inner organization, which we need to spell out clearly to our students.

How music makes you happy

Why does music makes us happy?  

One of the most recent studies explains that it's all about the release of dopamine.

"You're following these tunes and anticipating what's going to come next and whether it's going to confirm or surprise you, and all of these little cognitive nuances are what's giving you this amazing pleasure," said Valorie Salimpoor, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal.

"The reinforcement or reward happens almost entirely because of dopamine."

So does it mean musicians are happier than non-musicians?

This interview actually states that "there's no evidence that (talented people) have a different brain structure or different wiring than the rest of us initially, although we do know that becoming an expert in anything -- like chess or race-car driving or journalism -- does change the brain and creates circuitry that's more efficient at doing what you're an expert at."

Is there a specific kind of music that makes us all happier?

The author of this article explains that "there is some evidence that our musical tastes may be innate, for example, 4 month-old babies seem to prefer consonant to dissonant music (4), but the evidence doesn’t seem conclusive."

"What I really wanted, but didn’t find, was a study comparing the effects of different genres on various emotions.  Does jazz flute make you happy?  Does emo make you depressed?  Do boy bands make you want to puke?  Big questions, but apparently, scientists have not yet considered them a valuable addition to the knowledge base."

To leave on a happy note, according to this source when you listen to happy music, everyone around you looks happy!



Picture from http://www.maxmusic.net/

Are you not professional when you're not memorized?

The following paragraph comes from a wedding pianist's website, on an article titled "How Much Does a Wedding Pianist Charge?"

"I offer you 5 hours of professional, appropriate, memorized repertoire. You want your professional to interact with your guests, be inviting, approachable, and ensure your guests feel welcome! For weddings/events that may require special music, there would be sheet music on the piano as the only exception."

I personally believe a musician can interact with guests and be inviting while reading music.

I also think that musicians nowadays need to be more versatile than ever, and that it isn't a reasonable expectation to request memory at all times from them.



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Why muscle memory does not work

As musicians, we spend a lot of time training our body to play the right notes, and to play them with the right sound.

But when we use our body the way we normally do in a different hall or on a different instrument, it doesn't create the same result as it usually does.

It's only when we use our ear the way we typically do, that it makes our body change what it needs to change in order to get the same results as it usually gets. 



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A director's point of view on music directing

Michael Licata became a director after 25 years as an actor, which included Evita and Sweet Charity on Broadway.

He has directed nearly sixty productions, including The Most Happy Fella starring Sprio Malas, Fiddler on the Roof starring Eddie Mekka, and Gypsy starring Joyce DeWitt, and the tours of Stand by Your Man, and My Way. He is currently the associate artistic director for the West Virginia Public Theatre.

What do you expect from music directors you work with?
I expect them to know the music and the style very well. I expect them to know voices, for example to know if a particular role is within an actor’s vocal range. I also would like them to have a good knowledge of vocal technique and pedagogy, to be able to hear someone sing and say “no, they’re not gonna be able to do a show 8 times a week.”

I expect them to be organized, to know how long they need to teach the music.

They have to be very strong leaders, be passionate about the work and inspire the performers to do the best they possibly can. They also need to be understanding and compassionate of the different levels of skills that people have. If you’re doing a dancing show, understand that the dancers are not skilled singers.

If I say “I want to make a cut, or a change,” I need somebody to know how to do that, and to say yes to it.

What are mistakes you've seen music directors make?
Mistakes I've seen happened where when people weren’t prepared, and didn’t do their homework. They don’t know the music, who to assign parts to. They struggle.

And when they’re not leaders. Music directors have to be type A personalities, be able to take charge, and at the same time, understand that the needs of the director and the choreographer take preference over everything, especially in a musical.

What are some things you wish music directors did less of?
I don’t like to see them patronize performers. That comes back to being tolerant to people with less skills, but directors and choreographers do that too, it’s not isolated to music directors, we’re talking about individual personalities.

What are some things you wish music directors did more of?
They need to have the sensitivity to know when to make the orchestra soft, and when to make them loud; to not make the assumption that the sound man is gonna be able to do it.

The older music directors who have lived through not such sophisticated sound know how to do that, but the younger ones figure the sound man will do it, and they shouldn’t.

What other differences do you find between young music directors and experienced music directors?
You could work with a great young music director and a great older music director, there’s no black and white. But there is something to be said for experience. It’s really a matter of the more experience one has, the more comfortable they’ll be in a rehearsal situation.

Although I’m finding that the new young music directors are more adaptable to the more rock and popular styles, like American Idiot or Rent. Just the youth gives them a better understanding of the music itself.

What makes you want to work with a music director again?
If I like them all, it comes down to the style of the show. If I’m doing a classical piece, I’d want somebody who has a keen understanding of classical music.

If I’m doing a show like Hairspray, I want somebody who can transform a 18 piece band into a 7 piece band and make it sound great. 

How to say no as an accompanist

As collaborative pianists, we are always saying yes to more work than we can chew.

Here is how to say no in these 3 common situations.

1. No to a gig: When you don't want to take a gig, emphasize how much you wish you could have done it, how sorry you are that you can't, and how you really wish you could have done it. And then make sure to recommend the absolute best players you know for it.
   
   
2. No to a rehearsal or a lesson: To say no to playing for a rehearsal or a lesson, simply say that you are unavailable, without explaining why.
   
   When people insist, say that you'll double check your schedule, but do not take your calendar out in front of them. Otherwise you run the risk of people taking a peek at it, and of you saying yes before you even had the time to understand what happened.
   
   
3. No to sight reading a piece in public: When someone asks you to sight-read the equivalent of, say, a Rachmaninoff piano concerto in public, ask the soloist what other pieces he or she is working on to hopefully find one that would work for both of you.
   
   If he or she insists on that one particular piece, say that you'd rather play it at the next class, after you'll have had a few days with it.

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