Hi,

Help! I have an adult pupil in his 50s who appears to lack confidence in regard to musicality. He is capable as a player: he picks up technique well, he is interested in the music and he appears to put a decent amount of practising time in. However, when it comes to expression, he seems very reluctant to do so musically. He listens intently, and if we isolate a bar, a note, etc. and I get him to play it in different ways as a means of applying dynamics, etc., he can do it capably. However, he seems very nervous when he plays and falls into a "comfortable" mezzoforte with little or no variation. He is quite scientific, seems to be very left-brained and certainly is far more interested in the specific mechanics of technique than the comparatively nebulous area of musicality.

My concern now is to find ways to increase his confidence in regard to musicality, and I wondered if any of you had any advice please?

Thank you,

Krieg-Schmidt.

Suggest some music for him to listen to, perhaps suitably romantic style (not sure if his instrument is piano or something else?), or concerts to go to if possible.

Also, I'm not sure what level he is at, so difficult to be specific.

I had similar problems in my 30s - being essentially of a scientific background too. I had taken up piano again after a few years adrift and went to a different teacher to the one I'd had in my teens. He was far more outspoken and blunt about things (in a nice way) and really gave me a good shove into playing with more dynamics. He would demonstrate a section and tell me to go away and play with more feeling and he said he would let me know if I was overdoing it.

Now my teacher (yet another one!) has actually said I was playing too loudly - hooray I nearly shouted, because obviously it's better than a bland mf.

It's difficult for you. You have to get over the scientific thing, and also (presumably) the general reticence of your pupil. I think you might need to point out that there's more to music than just playing the right notes. Perhaps you could give him a baroque piece and a romantic piece (or similar contrast) to allow him to experience the contrast.

I too was very self conscious about this. My teacher got me to play fairly simple tunes - that is ones where I didn't have to focus so hard on fingering or bowing (I play the violin). When I'd played them through fluently he got me to imagine melting chocolate, for example and then to play the piece while thinking about that. It sounds really daft, but it worked. While I was thinking about chocolate pouring I made a richer smoother sound. Maybe something like that could work, if you could work out what would have an effect for him.

Also once when I started crying in the lesson (I was frustrated) he told me to stop wasting the emotion on my tissue and to pour it into my playing. I actually sounded more cross than upset when I played, but it DID make a difference.

Hmm... sounds like a description of me

I can do dynamics singing, struggle on cello though. From personal experience you may need to ask them to exaggerate - it's amazing what to someoneseems over-the-top changes dynamics is in fact quite a small variation.

Sounds like me too
However, I think it is slightly more complicated than just the scientific part of the brain taking charge. Giving a bland performance is a "safe" way of playing, and it doesn't matter if someone criticizes it because you are not putting any of yourself into it. Playing it more musically is offering your inner-self up for criticism, which is potentially a lot more damaging and a far more scary thing to do

My teacher has told me many times that I am too protective of my "inner space" that I offer tantalising glimpses of my musicality but then push it back "out of sight and that it's almost as if I feel there is something indecent about showing emotions in my music.

Something I find helpful is playing alongside my teacher (I'm not sure what instrument you teach, if it's piano this is not going to be practical unless you have two pianos in the room) and trying to match my expressiveness to his. This is helpful not so much because I'm just "copying" but because I no longer feel that all the attention is on me so I don't feel so exposed.

I think I cry more from anger and frustration than from feeling upset... not something that sounds very nice when channeled into music, though, as my teacher has sometimes pointed out...


Maybe it's a particularly common feature in self-conscious adults? When I'm feeling particularly anxious or nervous my musicality, such as it is, goes straight out the window. So, in a lot of my lessons...

My teacher says exactly the same thing about dynamics - what can sound over-the-top the player can be barely noticeable at the back of the hall to a listener.

All of the above was exactly me. I did also struggle with the scientific mindset thing of just not knowing how to turn it on. But I realised eventually that it was reluctance to be put my interpretation on display that made me constrain my musical expressiveness. I wish I had an answer but it seems that I just grew out of it, and other similar things. I used to care very much what other people thought about some things (my music included) but at some point I just decided it was too much effort and stopped bothering.

And this is very true of me as well.

I think also, for me, that after taking the piece to bits and working on all the technical difficulties, getting the notes, breathing, articulation right I find it hard to put it back together as "piece of music" again. It becomes almost a technical exercise and I lose sight of it a whole thing. I'm not sure if I've explained that very well...sorry. Any tips for practising playing musically? My attempts at the moment is playing larger chunks, whole phrases, playing through the whole piece. I think I should probably record myself as well.

The Same applies in a different way to me as well. Practising dynamics in the past ive found can be really quite depressing because when your learning runs etc you dont really think about dynamics, however then at the end of a piece you play it back to yourself and find it lacks musicality.

My way around was to practise the run your working on, then when sufficiently got (i.e can be played most of the time) practise the run focusing on over the top dynamics. If it says ff then push your instrument same with pp. If you practise this way they eventually you dont even think about having to practise dynamics, they just seem to fall in with the piece.

Another way ive found with my 2 pupils is if you get them to sing really quiet and then really loud (just a scale) At first youll find you will sing at a mezzo forte, but then push yourself to sing the loudest you can and then the quietest you can. Both are outgoing individuals but seem to be quite shy on their instruments. So if you really push yourself out of your comfort zone one way, then apply it to your instrument over the top dynamics "appear" to be within your comfort zone so Ive found A.they dont freak when they have to play loud and B. Their dynamic confidence has just shot up

Hope this helps.

Sounds like we oboists all struggle with dynamics then.

I'm not frightened of dynamics, I'm just not very good at it. I think the trick is that, when you are learning, everything has to be thought about and massively exaggerated (playing "in a box" or "to the neighbours across the road"). My teacher gets me to try to "perfom" rather than play to myself. On winds it's fairly easy to get the feel of dynamics by playing long notes or scales, but then when put back into the context of a piece with all its associated difficulties (especially when it's a new piece at or beyond your current ability) dynamics are the first thing to go out of the window.

My teacher has always made a point of talking about phrasing and dynamics right at the start of learning a new piece. It used to wind me up a bit and eventually I complained that I couldn't play the notes right yet, to which she replied "Yes, I'm trying to take your mind off it". I'm now inclined to think that looking at the "musical" aspects of a piece right at the start makes playing the right notes easier. Or is it just that I'm now less sensitive to playing wrong notes?

Good point. When teacher and I play duets it seems easier to be expressive.

We don't look at the pieces too technically. For example he'll play some of the melody and ask me how it feels, or what it reminds me of? I'll maybe say dancing, or marching - something that gives me a feel for the piece. Or he might play the harmony part and ask me what the chords are doing? So when does the tone change - and get me to respond to that.

Flobiano - FWiW - I think the single most important thing for me is to hear the piece in my head as I play it. If I can sing it in my head it comes out sounding like music. If I just think about reading/playing the notes and the techical aspects it comes out sounding like notes being strung together, not musical.

I like this approach. I expect both things are happening...



I find it LOADS easier to be more musical when playing duets.

And I particularly like lessons when I have copy-me session with my teacher. It never comes out as good but usually a lot better than I'd been doing on my own.

Wow, this is all fantastic advice, thanks! There are lots of things here which give me food for thought on how to help this pupil: particularly what people have said about comfort zones, offering onesself up musically, playing together with me, exaggerating dynamics, singing a piece first.... lots to think about!

For info.: the instrument is the cello, so playing together (and particularly singing first to vocalise dynamics/phrasing) could be very useful. I'll have a think about getting him to listen to particular cellists and note down what it is about their playing which makes it musical - perhaps this will help to bridge the gap between his mechanical understanding of the cello and the expressive voice which comes out of it.

My pupil feels very comfortable in technique, so I've been "teasing" dynamics out of him by working on technique-specific ways to achieve different dynamics on the cello, then expanding that into applying dynamics to scales, etc. But the advice given here has given me a lot more ideas.

Thanks to all! I'll let you know how I get on!

Krieg-Schmidt.