Music Teaching Tips

Time has to be spent on note learning. Again this varies enormously depending on the intellectual quickness and physical co-ordination of the player. Some players have to do hours of actual physical playing because they rely on what is known as ‘muscular’ memory, while others can simply look at the score and have it memorised in a matter of minutes. This is not necessarily a matter of the superiority of one player over another, rather it reflects a different balance of physical and mental aptitudes. Slower learners sometimes have a superior sensitivity for sound quality, for example, while a quick reader (as far as the notes are concerned) may not be someone you would want to listen to! I feel that the development of knowledge in the theory and analysis of music should be started early, as this can save a huge amount of time spent at the keyboard later on. Not everyone would agree, however, and to quote the American pianist, John Browning, “Students often seem to think that there is some secret formula that the masters use to learn a work. If there is, I never found it. I simply play a piece over and over until I know it by heart.” One could argue that his intellectual processes must still be involved, whether he is conscious of them or not.