I have a young student in the first half of book 1 who loves
to play and perform. Music is one of her languages, and she loves to entertain.
The problem is that she is so eager to get playing that she does not take the
time to do her set up steps and get into proper playing position. If we do not
stay vigilant every moment, she will let things slide, and bowing gets messy
and her posture falls apart completely. She has such a good time though that
she does not notice how she looks and sounds.
At her last lesson, I had to step in and remind her to do
her set up steps. That reminder was not enough, however, as her posture fell
apart within a short time once she started to enjoy her playing. Before I had a
chance to get her sorted out again, her mother spoke up:
“Practice Awesomeness!”
When the child heard that, she immediately straightened up,
corrected her bow hold and left hand, and improved how she sounded. I looked at
her mom with amazement.
“What’s that?” I asked. “Practice awesomeness?”
My student’s mom, Michelle Robinson, explained that they had
spent some time during the week talking about awesomeness and trying to
remember to make awesomeness part of everything they did during the week, no
matter what it was. I think this is a great tip, so I want to pass it on to
you.
What does it mean to “practice awesomeness”? What is
awesomeness to you? When someone experiences awe, they are witnessing something
terrific or excellent – so terrific or excellent that the person is amazed to
see or hear it. The "something" must be really amazing though to cause the
witness to experience awe. Ordinariness does not inspire awe. The commonplace
does not inspire awe. Just getting by and doing what is required does not
inspire awe.
Awesomeness is something more than mundane, average, or ordinary.
It is more than routine and commonplace. Instead it is unworldly, exceptional,
and extraordinary. What does that look like to you? Sometimes I encourage
students to give me more than their ordinary best by asking them to pretend
that they are playing for God or the president of the United States or a
special person in the student’s life. Just as I find that people straighten up their posture and speak with grammatical correctness the minute they find out that I am also an attorney (retired), so my students stand up straighter and play with better tone and attention to detail when I ask them to do this pretend game.
In the case of my young student, awesomeness meant fabulous
posture and something more. I watched her straighten up and correct her posture, but she had an
additional sparkle to the way she looked. I find it difficult to define what
the extra sparkle was other than to suggest it was charismatic. She was
reaching out to me, her listener, and working to make a connection between us
with her music. That was truly awesome!
Once you define what awesomeness entails in your particular
situation or moment, look to something specific that you can work on to add the
awesomeness factor. One of my favorite instructors at Texas State is Dr. Joey
Martin, the director of Choral Activities and Assistant Dean of the School of
Music. I have watched Joey coax marvelous performances from his student
chorales. He explained his technique to me once. He takes a small section of
the piece the students are learning, and he rehearses it until it reaches the
highest level of perfection. It may be just one phrase in the music, or a small
section, but Joey teaches the students how to attain awesomeness one detail and
one layer of complexity at a time. Joey explained that after he spends this
time teaching the students what his expectations are and how to place similar demands on themselves, Joey finds that the students apply these same principles
elsewhere throughout the music.
I call this technique the “specific to general” principle.
Start with something small and specific, work on it, and then let that specific
work effort grow to influence a larger, general area. I center on this principle in the “Bits
& Pieces” practice days (for more about this practice tip, click here). When we focus on small areas and really work to
perfect them, we will find that our efforts spill over into the bigger picture.
We will have raised our standards and expectations, and we will view other
areas of the work before us with a new eye toward improvement.
This week, look for areas to practice awesomeness. Hang up a
few signs in your home or studio and talk to your students and family about
what awesomeness is and how everyone might be able to practice it together.
Happy Awesome Practicing!
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