Listen!
When I first informed my parents and friends that I wanted to become a musician, one of their greatest concerns was what I would do if I ever injured one of my hands or possibly even lost one...or both! I think the actual issue was whether I would ever make a decent living! As if musicians were at a higher risk of losing body parts than other professions? What if I had said I wanted to become a plastic surgeon?
My only worry was that I should never lose my ability to hear. The reason I started playing an instrument was because of my love for music, because of what I heard. (Yes, I am well aware of the exceptions such as Beethoven and Evelyn Glennie, to name a few, but I do suppose that most musicians are not hard of hearing!)
I listened to certain records over and over again, discovering something new every time. Sometimes I focused on one instrument, for instance just the drums. This is how I found out that listening actively can be challenging, rewarding and equally important as practising.
Hearing vs. listening
In a conversation, just because you can hear something it does not mean you’re listening.
Once when I asked a former student of mine whether he understood what I had just explained to him, he answered: ‘acoustically I did!’
In music, just because you can hear the soloist it does not mean you’re listening.
Music that involves interaction obviously demands the ability to listen in order to complement each other.
Attention
When I started listening to more complicated music, I found it difficult to pay attention to longer lines or segments. I was simply overwhelmed. The more I listened and learned, the easier it became to follow. And this is an ongoing process…
It’s just like hearing a foreign language. Somebody needs to break it up for you into words, phrases, sentences, similarities to your own language, etc. Eventually, it becomes easier to follow even though you may not understand an entire conversation.
A good ear
Ear training: good! (There is so much material on the market.)
Ear protection: good! (There are so many products on the market.)
Tinitus: bad!
Sometimes louder is not better!
Hearing vs. seeing
On one of my rare visits to a museum I actually went to an exhibition which tried to demonstrate how life is experienced by the blind. We were led through ‘darkrooms’ by a blind man and were confronted with daily situations such as ordering a coffee, crossing streets, etc. The daily noises of life were also simulated via speakers and what I noticed most of all was that the ‘street noises’ were particularly loud. The guide informed me that this was exactly how loud they were (they actually measured the average level of noise on the street) and went on to explain how our senses impair each other.
So sometimes I made my students wear a sleeping mask (yes, the kind that you get on long flights!) while improvising over a tune. The results were amazing - without exception everyone played far more musically (no more staring at the frets!). Their phrasing benefited, they didn’t just noodle around and they listened to my comping and occasionally reacted!
Hearing vs. seeing (alternate version)
Just because someone’s bending a note and grimacing simultaneously (like mad!) it doesn’t necessarily mean that this was a ‘soulful bending’!
Just because someone is
not jumping up and down like a fool, it doesn’t necessarily mean that his playing lacks feeling.
And vice versa:
Just because somebody makes faces on stage, it doesn’t automatically imply that he’s a poser.
15th March 2005
© Alex Machacek
