Last week, a student said something that made me stop mid teacher-spiel. I was in the middle of telling her that we are always working on being mindful of what the sounds we are creating are; It is the sounds that make up our music.
“but I don’t know how to listen”
Yes, piano lessons does in fact aim to enhance listening skills. Piano teachers work to create a curriculum that give vocabulary to identify and describe different sounds. Through piano lessons, students become increasingly familiar with discerning high notes, low notes, loud notes, soft notes, long notes, short notes, notes within a key, notes outside of a key, notes that are commonly found played together and so on and so forth. It is these acquired knowledge that allows the students to continuously expand their musical horizons. It is this enhanced skill that may transfer to foreign language acquisition and more.
But it still struck me as odd
“I don’t know how to listen”
It’s as if someone said “I don’t know how to see”, or “I don’t know how to taste”. Hearing, for those who do not require additional medical hearing support, is a natural ability. We are listening constantly; we have auditory information going through our ears and being processed in our brains at all times of the day.
This experience reminds me how removed from music making and listening a society can be. We often hear about music making as if it is something only professional and highly talented amateurs can do. As if that only with academic training can someone declare that they know how to listen to music.
This of course is not true. Sure, training one’s ear and receiving formal education in music expands the student’s mind to what is happening within the music. It allows for more in depth analysis, and therefore a deeper appreciation of the music. This is true of anything. If I was better trained in visual arts, I am certain I would appreciate the technique and choices that an painter would make. I’m not, but it doesn’t stop me from appreciating the painting in my own way. It also shouldn’t stop me from painting myself if it is something I want to do as an amateur.
When I was first learning how to cook, the best advice I ever got was “taste it and smell it… is that something you would like to eat?”. I think this is the best advice because I knew at the end of the day, I was the one who was going to have to eat this food. It freed me from making dishes from following a recipe word for word and feeling like I will never measure up with the final product. Now, not to dash all hopes of any of my students becoming world-renown musicians, but I can confidently say that the majority of my students will find the most joy and opportunity creating music for themselves. I certainly do.
So I encourage my student, and myself: listen to the music we’re making…do you like it? What does it make you feel? What do you want to add? Is there something you feel is missing? What does it sound like compare to other music we’ve heard?
Piano lessons will help enhance and build on your listening skills, but that basic ability of listening is already there. When the students begin to feel comfortable in using their own listening to make music, their music becomes uniquely in their control. A student’s personal investment in their music, is one of the main goals of EN Music Studio.
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