Hi everyone,
I've posted this in the teachers forum too, but would really like some opinions from students.
Do you listen to music in lessons? Eg, recordings of professionals on your instrument?
If so, what do you get out of it, and why does your teacher do it? Is it to help tone or tuning issues, or to help interpretation, or does it give you a standard to aim for...?
I'm writing an essay for my DipABRSM and some feedback on this would really help me.
Many thanks,
Binka
Full Version: Listening To Music In Lessons
Hi Binka
I'm an adult student, G4 on clarinet, and in my opinion, it would make a difference as to what level you're at as to whether listening to a recording is useful in a lesson or not. At higher levels, I think it may be, because that's when you're concentrating on interpretation.
At the lower level which I'm at, I think the "live" tone which I hear my teacher play, and knowing how she's achieved it, is more helpful than listening to a professional performer's tone on a recording.
On one occasion, I spent a lesson listening to a CD, at my request. This was a jazz CD some time ago, and I had been finding it difficult to pick out which instrument was which on some of the tracks. So we listened to it and my teacher helped me identify the instruments being used.
I'm an adult student, G4 on clarinet, and in my opinion, it would make a difference as to what level you're at as to whether listening to a recording is useful in a lesson or not. At higher levels, I think it may be, because that's when you're concentrating on interpretation.
At the lower level which I'm at, I think the "live" tone which I hear my teacher play, and knowing how she's achieved it, is more helpful than listening to a professional performer's tone on a recording.
On one occasion, I spent a lesson listening to a CD, at my request. This was a jazz CD some time ago, and I had been finding it difficult to pick out which instrument was which on some of the tracks. So we listened to it and my teacher helped me identify the instruments being used.
Well my teacher doesn't do this a lot but when he does its mostly to try and help you to raise your standard higher. Basically when you listen to a piece of music you feel emotions and stuff from the piece and a lot of people forget this with trying to get all the right notes etc. Personally I think it helps the tone of instrument and confidence to play the piece better than what you have just heard 
...Hope this helps!
...Hope this helps!
I don't listen to recorded music in my lessons but I do sometimes listen to CDs of pieces I am learning at home. My teacher and I have also, on occasion, swapped CDs of the same piece played by different oboists and we have talked about the differences in interpretation the following lesson. We have also talked about our favourite oboists, mainly as a way of enabling me to articulate what I would like to achieve tone-wise in my own playing.
My teacher did say, in passing, that he has never had these sorts of conversations with any of his younger pupils.
My teacher did say, in passing, that he has never had these sorts of conversations with any of his younger pupils.
I always listen to various different interpretations of pieces that I am playing, but not in lessons usually.
I think it's important to hear the pieces played by different people so you can decide what you think is important in your own interpretation and it also gives you ideas that you may not have thought of before. But I would never deliberately copy the way someone else plays it - simply pick up on their technique (if it's a video recording), tone, articulation, style etc.
The only time I've ever listened to something in a lesson was when I was preparing a Bach prelude and fugue for a recital and couldn't finalise my interpretation - I wanted parts of Gould, elements of Barenboim, Boresovsky, and my own emotions all rolled into one!
My teacher happened to have her iPod with her and played me her favourite recording of it - she likes the way Tureck plays Bach. There were parts of it that we both didn't agree with, but even that in itself was crucial, because I then knew how I didn't want to represent the music.
I think it's important to hear the pieces played by different people so you can decide what you think is important in your own interpretation and it also gives you ideas that you may not have thought of before. But I would never deliberately copy the way someone else plays it - simply pick up on their technique (if it's a video recording), tone, articulation, style etc.
The only time I've ever listened to something in a lesson was when I was preparing a Bach prelude and fugue for a recital and couldn't finalise my interpretation - I wanted parts of Gould, elements of Barenboim, Boresovsky, and my own emotions all rolled into one!
My teacher happened to have her iPod with her and played me her favourite recording of it - she likes the way Tureck plays Bach. There were parts of it that we both didn't agree with, but even that in itself was crucial, because I then knew how I didn't want to represent the music.
Yes I listen to music in all of my lessons.
Mainly its to help with ideas for my intepretation, but i also use backing tracks of mainly chords in my clarinet lessons for improvising and so on.
x
Mainly its to help with ideas for my intepretation, but i also use backing tracks of mainly chords in my clarinet lessons for improvising and so on.
x
Yes, sometimes in clarinet.
However, I find it can be annoying as I can listen to music at home or find it at home, rather than waste about 10 minutes of my 30 minute lesson
bye
However, I find it can be annoying as I can listen to music at home or find it at home, rather than waste about 10 minutes of my 30 minute lesson
bye
I listen to recordings of my pieces at home. Sometimes I'll tell my teacher I liked so and so's recording...but that's about it!
I never listen to music in piano lessons, but me and my teacher swap CDs and listen to them in our own time. At the minute I have my teacher's copy of Rachmaninov recordings all played by the composer, and she is borrowing my Beethoven piano concertos with John Lill on piano because she's playing Beethoven's 1st piano concerto in 2 weeks and wanted to hear lots of different interpretations, which is what I do as well when I learn a piece.
Jacob.
Jacob.
Often I will listen to a recordng of the piece I am learning in my lessons. However if my teacher does not have a copy of the piece then he will just play it through to me.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.