Reading Music, part 5 - Fluency

Recognizing the symbols and understanding their meaning in relation to playing the cello isn't all there is to reading music. The next step in reading music is gaining enough knowledge, skills, experience and flexibility to put it all together so that the skills are executed easily. This yields fluency.

Just as we learn to speak and read language fluently, we learn to read and play music fluently. This only comes from...you guessed it, lots of practice. This aspect of music reading is perhaps a little bit more nebulous, little less clear. We can clearly see and evaluate understanding of note names, rhythm and symbols. But fluency? Putting it all together and getting beautiful sounding music from the page? How much practice does it take? Who knows exactly but it's a lot of frequent and sustained practice over a long period of time.

But it also develops from properly scaffolding music reading. Trying to read music in Suzuki Book 2 even if you are at a book 2 level is simply too hard. Go back to the basics. Practice reading Suzuki Book 1 level music even if you are in Book 3. Again, to make a comparison to reading language, although children can speak fairly complicated sentences with mastery of grammar and inflection, reading those same sentences is challenging. Even when I first introduce the symbols that make up music, we start from the basics even though children have quite a lot of experience playing the cello already. Of course they know where the D string is and how to play it, but recognizing what it looks like, picking it out and playing the correct note is a different story. Same with rhythm. Then we have to put everything together - rhythm, notes, symbols - to make a song! It's a lot.

Even though students know the early pieces, they've likely never seen them before so it's a totally new experience much like reading a book for the first time that you've heard read to you many, many times. You know the story but the experience of reading the words off the page involves completely new skills and experiences. But a totally necessary experience - it helps connect a lot of dots. Music is no different.

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The whole music-reading process switches from learning to read, to reading to learn. This all boils down to experience. Over time, students will have had plenty of varied music reading experiences, each one building on their current and substantial background knowledge. And each time a student reads a piece of music, they get better and better at reading the information, digesting the information, producing the information on the instrument accurately and adding musical inflection that makes listening to music enjoyable. It all becomes more automatic, which is our goal. But this doesn't happen at first. There is simply way too much information on a given page for students to take in all at once in the very beginning. When all the skills become easier, then more attention can be devoted to dynamics, bowings, etc.

But again, like learning to read words and read words fluently, this is a complex process. Fluency and automaticity varies from student to student. Some students 'get it' almost instantly, others struggle and slowly chip away at it and then others struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle until *ding!* it all clicks. And once music reading has started, we don't stop. We will read everything! And I will challenge your child to read and learn more and more pieces from the music rather than 'spoon feeding' every note or musical phrase. This helps build the knowledge and skills needed to be a fluent music reader.

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Frequent practice of music reading is necessary to developing fluent music reading. It helps strengthen the brain circuitry that governs these processes and further solidify the skills of reading music and executing it on the instrument. A lot of dots of information need to be connected in order for all this knowledge to be readily accessible, usable and applicable. Students need to be able to take in a lot of information, translate it to meaningful knowledge and use that knowledge to produce sound. This means juggling, sorting through and interpreting a lot of information. For example, the page will be a note on the staff and a finger number, which students need to figure out what that pitch is and where it lives on the instrument. Also, students will have a sound concept in mind of what that pitch should sound like, much like singing a tune in your head. Then there's a physical skill attached to make the sound happen that involves placing the indicated finger down in the right spot, on the right string and hearing whether or not that is the correct pitch.

But again, there are many skills involved in developing fluent readers and if any one of those skills are flawed, the whole reading process is compromised. Reading may be a slow process but I'd rather it be a slow process and make sure we cover all the bases and fully develop knowledge than zip through it all and miss a couple of steps along the way only to discover it later when tackling a much more challenging aspect of music. What feels like slow-going is really just fastidious development, so enjoy the ride. :)

Why the bow hold is SO important

I spend a lot of time talking about the bow, fixing bow holds, adjusting bow holds, changing bow holds, nagging about bow holds, nagging about bow placement, nagging about the bow arm...

Here's why: The bow creates our sound.

Think about that for a second.

The bow, how we pull it across the string, how we hold it, dramatically impacts our sound. If something is malfunctioning in the bow arm or hand, that problem is going to impact the sound we produce. More often than not, it severely limits the possibilities of sound we can create on the cello. Most importantly, it impacts the quality of tone we can produce.

We play the cello. Why does everyone love the cello? Because it SOUNDS amazing. It sounds rich, dark, chocolate-y, deep, mellow, soothing...I can go on and on and I'm sure you can supply many adjectives as well.

We want to sound like this:

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To ignore the bow is to ignore the possibilities of sound we can create. Typically, we get caught up in what the left hand has to do. That's understandable - there's a lot going on sometimes. Fingers are moving, the hand is shifting, later vibrato is integrated, etc. But the left hand is not unlike typing. Sure, there's a greater margin for error and you have to make sure you get your finger in the correct spot to produce the correct pitch, but in reality, it isn't that difficult to get the hang of. Even 3 year olds can do this. :)

What is much more complicated is the bow. First off, the posture itself is tricky. We spend many weeks, sometimes months teaching the bow hold. In addition, the bow hold is comprised of many skills that need to be taught in incremental steps. I cannot simply hand a bow to a child and expect them to be able to hold it perfectly. The basic posture, the 'bow bunny', needs to be developed, which, for a little one with new motor skills, is a challenge. Then, we need to take this bow bunny and place it on an object, usually a straw at first, and ask for the posture to be static yet flexible. That's hard! I'm looking for the posture to be consistent yet the hand to be soft and flexible, not firm and tense. Placing the bow in the hand even when the posture has been practiced hundreds of times on the straw is challenging - now there are specific places for each finger to go. Oh and the thumb! It's so uncomfortable!

The thumb is such a challenge for anyone because the joint always wants to collapse. But we need the thumb to be curved. This promotes relaxation in the hand. This isn't to say the thumb is ALWAYS and forever curved - it's not. But in the beginning we want to promote a soft and relaxed hand. A straight thumb will not do this. In fact, a straight thumb will likely only cause tension and later pain with playing for long periods of time. I know this from personal experience. It's not fun. In addition, there are a number of muscles and muscles groups in just the thumb: opponens pollicis, abductor pollicis brevis and flexor pollicis brevis. This is only the thumb. But all of these muscles need to be soft, relaxed and flexible.

The bow hold itself is a complicated posture and has many more facets than the left hand. But I've only discussed the hand. Other components to achieving a great bow hold posture include the arm, elbow hinge, shoulder and shoulder girdle, trapezius, latissimus and other back muscles. There are other mechanics at play here that aren't just limited to the right hand. Overall body posture impacts the bow and by extension, the sound.

Whoa.

Then, once we place the bow on the string, there are a number of other variables that impact the sound. You've heard these before:

• Playing close to or on the fingerboard creates a not so desirable sound, that fuzzy, shallow sound. 
• Playing too close to the bridge creates a scratchy sound. 
• Too much weight, crunchy. 
• Too little, again shallow. 
• Crooked bow or a bow that doesn't stay in the same spot on the string, inconsistent tone. 

Every little imprecise motion yields a less than ideal sound.

Here's a fact that's a little difficult to digest. You can get a good sound on the instrument even when you hold the bow in your fist. You can play Twinkle and sound great with that baseball bat grip. However, that 'bow hold' (if you will) won't last very long. There will be many sounds, techniques and skills that will be unavailable because of the bow hold. That's why I am so annoying,  fussy and particular about the bow hold from the beginning. Sure, you can get a great sound with a terrible bow hold. But that bow hold won't allow you to get a great spiccato bow stroke or even a truly beautiful legato stoke. Even staccato won't sound as ringy and clear.

I am setting up your child for the long haul. I very rarely approach a skill with limited foresight. Though it's frustrating that I insist on this particular posture from the very beginning, just think about it from the perspective of reviewing previously learned skills and scaffolding of skills. If I waited until students reached the point in the Suzuki books where they absolutely needed an 'adult' bow hold, we'd be dealing not only with a fairly complicated set of skills for the left hand, but also with rehabilitating the bow hold completely and developing a new repertoire of skills related to the bow. It's just too much. 

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Though I've just explained many of the complicated aspects of the bow, I want to reassure you that it's not that difficult. It's not that bad. And addressing sound and bow issues is really simply to fix. Here's how.

Focus.

Simply focus on the bow. So many bow or sound problems are the result of simply ignoring the bow.

Give it some attention!

Just by drawing the attention to the bow by watching the bow hairs touch the string, we bring focus and attention to the bow and by extension, the sound we produce. I am always amazed at how easily so many bow problems are fixed just by watching the bow. I don't even have to say, 'keep the bow off the fingerboard and in the good sounding spot'. Just watching the bow, more likely than not, addresses the sound problems.

However, here's the catch. You can't just watch the bow a few times and magically all the bow problems go away. Watching the bow a few times doesn't fix the learned skill of playing on the fingerboard. Tackling sound problems requires focusing on the bow repeatedly and consistently. The reason why the bow slides onto the fingerboard isn't because we haven't learned to keep it off the fingerboard. It's because we weren't paying enough attention to it frequently and consistently enough to keep it off the fingerboard. So it became a learned skill. Sure, it will stay away once attention is drawn to it. But once our attention is pulled elsewhere, the bow slides right back up. Consistent attention is required and then becomes a deeply learned skill because we've repeatedly executed that skill in a variety of different contexts, i.e. pieces. Repetition fosters consistency.

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If I talk about the bow a lot, it's because it's important. The bow, and how we hold the bow, determines the quality of sound that comes out of the instrument. It's true that the left hand does have a significant impact. If the fingers aren't holding the string down all the way then we get a not great, squeaky sound. But the bow is in charge of the majority of the sound and determines the quality of sound that comes out of the instrument. Because of that, it needs some attention. A lot of attention, actually. It often comes second because we are overwhelmed with what the left hand has to do. But in reality, it doesn't matter what the left hand is capable of. If we cannot produce a beautiful sound, the left hand ability is almost meaningless and pointless.

So give your bow some love and undivided attention. It will pay you back with that beautiful, luscious and rich cello sound we all love.

Why do we review old pieces? Didn't we learn them already?!

"Build ability with a piece you can play."
Dr. Suzuki

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Dr. Suzuki was known for stating the above quote often because we don't develop knowledge and skills simply through learning new pieces. Yes, it is true we do learn new things in the new pieces but it is through playing the old pieces that we refine, deeply learn and build ability. The parallels to language learning are very evident - only through constant repetition of language do you become fluent. Music is no different. 

Many students (and parents and myself) are excited to learn the next piece in the Suzuki repertoire, especially once the current piece is 'learned'. But, the goal of practice isn't to improve or learn new things. Instead, the goal of practice and, more specifically, the aspect of practice we call review, is to make things easier. In fact, most of our time should be spent on review rather than the current piece. Here's why. 

To make it easy. Playing the correct notes and rhythms isn't enough. The goal of review - and learning any piece for that matter - is to achieve ease of playing. Ease of playing translates to skills that are easily executed and performed automatically. Ease of playing only comes from doing things over and over and over again. Riding a bicycle doesn't become easy after one or two rides. Only after riding a lot does it get easier. New skills are effortful and we want them to be effortless. Improvement is then a side effect of this ease which is only achieved through many repetitions.  

To keep it easy. Practicing an instrument is similar to running or any type of workout. You can't expect to be able to run a marathon if you haven't been running regularly, even if you completed one in the past. Running doesn't come easily unless you do it regularly. Same with playing a musical instrument. Perpetual Motion won't be easy and remain easy unless it is played often and regularly.

Ease promotes flexibility. When you know something very well, your flexibility with that skill increases. When flexibility increases, you can transfer that skill to new domains without struggle. You can also further refine that skill because the basic components of that skill are no longer challenging. 

Comfort. Comfort is important because we don't want to push the limit every time we play the instrument. Otherwise, all we do is reinforce the limit instead of reinforcing ease. Cello playing is supposed to be comfortable and easy. The goal isn't to be overwhelmed with difficult skills but to be comfortable with those skills. 

Previews. Very often, I use review pieces to work on a specific technique, especially if it's a new technique or skill. It's often too challenging to introduce a new technique in it's exact context so I often preview that technique with a review piece to make it easier. For example, when I teach extensions, which students first encounter in Book 2 in Minuet No. 3, I teach students how to play Aunt Rhody Goes to Arabia. The skill in Minuet No. 3 is just too difficult and students get bogged down with too many things. Go Tell Aunt Rhody is super easy by Book 2. In reality, it's super easy by the middle of Book 1. Adding an extension, while a challenge, isn't as difficult as the real deal in Minuet No. 3. To make extensions even easier, I teach Aunt Rhody Goes to Arabia in Book 1. Why not? Then when students encounter extensions in Minuet No. 3, it's not a big deal.

Upgrade! Review pieces are also great to upgrading a skill, particularly sound and tone. Trying to improve tone in a new piece likely isn't going to happen. Again, there's just too much going on and students cannot attend to their sound when they are occupied with a number of other skills. However, if you take French Folk Song with the intent to improve tone quality and depth, no problem. Students can play French Folk Song with relative ease and quite effortlessly. Students can attend to their sound quality because they are no longer intensely attending to challenging skills. Their focus and attention can be place almost entirely on the sound they are producing. Only then can we truly make lasting changes in the tone quality, or whatever skill is being addressed. 

Deep learning. When a skill is deeply learned, it is more easily transferred to other similar situations. For example, we spend a lot of time on the staccato bow stroke in Song of the Wind. That skill has been introduced earlier, in fact, in Twinkle but Song of the Wind presents a further refinement of that skill. However, Song of the Wind is certainly not the last time we will use a staccato bow stroke. It comes back in every single Suzuki book and is present in so much of the music out there, whether it be orchestra music, chamber music or solo literature. We review the old pieces to continue to review and refine the skills learned. Those skills then transfer to other domains on the instrument therefore making new skills easier to learn. When a student sees a staccato mark on the page, they can immediately produce the staccato bow stroke with little to no effort because it has been ingrained into their skill repertoire. 

Making Music. All of these things facilitate making music. Every child, every person has something to express musically. But musically expressive playing is achieved by ease of playing which comes from consistent review. Music isn't just playing the notes on the page. Music is so much more - dynamics, inflection, musicality, interpretation. These things can't be achieved when the notes or skills are a struggle. Only after everything is easy can we add the nuances that make music truly beautiful to listen to and enjoyable to play. 

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You are never done with Twinkle. I am not done with Twinkle even though I've played and performed it thousands of times. Many of my students have heard this story: in 2012, I went to Chicago to take the Suzuki Cello Book 1 training course for the second time with Dr. Tanya Carey. First, I already have my Book 1 training - I completed it in 2006. But I thought I could use a refresher and review my Book 1 teaching. Even I am reviewing by re-taking the Suzuki courses. Part of every Suzuki course is demonstrating the ability to play through the entire book from memory. We had a separate Twinkle test in which everyone in the class had to perform Twinkle and all the variations in front of the class. In addition to playing through all the Twinkles, we each had a short lesson on Twinkle and things to improve on. Now think about this, here is a class of professional cellists, all of whom have degrees and years and years of experience playing, performing and teaching the cello. These are fantastic, accomplished musicians some of whom were Suzuki kids themselves. Yet Dr. Carey found things in all of our Twinkles that needed improvement. Things like posture, position, tone, bow hold, etc. Things we discuss often in the lessons with students. Even this group of professional cellists wasn't 'done' with Twinkle because there were aspects of our playing that needed improvement and refinement! 

Every great performing musician is playing a review piece. Sure, they add a new piece or a few new pieces every concert season but the bulk of their repertoire are pieces they've been playing and performing for years. Yo-Yo Ma has been performing some pieces for over 40 years. 

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As you go forward with your review routine, keep one important thing in mind. Review with a purpose. Review without focus or a goal in mind often results in sloppy playing. Consistently sloppy playing reinforces sloppy playing. And no one wants to listen to sloppy playing. Practice with a goal in mind. If you don't have a specific goal, simply make it "play French Folk Song beautifully" or play Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus with a beautiful, sustained sound. Adding focus to review pieces gives them a purpose and reinforces all the skills we are trying to make easy, effortless and automatic. 

Happy reviewing!

Practice Resources

“Practice only on the days you eat.”

Dr. Suzuki

Daily practice at home is an essential part of learning an instrument. Establishing that daily routine is crucial to developing skills. Even a few minutes a day is better than nothing! Here is a list of links that can help with home practice, and provide further information about music learning and the Suzuki Method. Happy Practicing!

Practice Resources
Suzuki Parent Forum

Helpful Practice Videos 

Posture

Mastery for Strings
Practice Charts

Performance Opportunities

Austin Symphony

Austin Lyric Opera

Ballet Austin

Long Center for the Performing Arts

University of Texas Butler School of Music

Texas Performing Arts

Miro Quartet
Austin Family Classical Concerts

Educational Resources & Opportunities
American String Teachers Association

The Suzuki Association of the Americas

Greater Austin Suzuki Association

GASA Institute

Texas Music Educator’s Association
Carnegie Hall
Austin Youth Orchestra

Austin Chamber Music Center 

University of Texas String Project
Cello Talks
Khan Academy - Music

Violin Shops & Supplies
Blackerby Violin Shop
Shar Music
Hutchins & Rea
Concord Music
Southwest Strings
Johnson String Shop
Robertson & Sons Violin Shop
Potter’s Violin Shop

Tuning

How to Tune the Cello

5 Best Tuning Apps

Apps for Music Learning
Little Classical Music App

Other

Violinist.com

Bullet Proof Musician

Violin Lab

Teach Suzuki

Please let me know if you find any great resources that you'd like to share!