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Understanding Levels of Musical Development: Performing

Dec 3, 2023

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We’re in the middle of our Fall recital season with two recitals done and one yet to go after the first of the year. These are small “mini” recitals so that we can accommodate all of our students schedules on the weekends. These small recitals are much better for me as a teacher because I can focus on a smaller group of performers at once. They take a lot less time for me to put together and feel a little more “casual”. However, for my students, a small recital is a BIG recital, especially for the newer ones with less recital/stage experience under their belts.


people at theater

HOW DOES PERFORMING FIT INTO THE MUSICAL EQUATION?

For parents that are not musically inclined or just new to the lesson process it’s important to understand where live performing fits into the levels of musical development in kids. All music students need to work towards performing on a regular basis.

In music the “PERFORMANCE” is the CHERRY on TOP of the Musical SUNDAE. The “Musical Sundae” being all of the layers need to learn to balance to become good musicians and performers. In music, we learn things in varied levels based on the ability for our brains to understand certain concepts and ideas. In learning music we are dealing constantly with an invisible variable and this is what makes music study unique and powerful all the same time.

MUSIC doesn’t happen until WE MAKE IT HAPPEN. It exists in print and on paper but we are the vehicle in which music exists. Learning music takes every fiber of your being. Your body, mind and soul are enveloped in the process. The weekly practice, the lessons, the hard work – all of this builds exponentially over time. To keep balance in the process we must constantly move between the practice room and the stage because these two things require us to be two different things in this process.

IMAGINE TWO ALTERNATE ZONES:

The best way to describe this is to have you imagine two differnt zones in your mind and being.


We’ll call these two zones 1) Analysis and 2) Creation. The two zones are part of your being but you cannot live in these two zones EVER at the same time. You know them each independently and they serve two different purposes.


LET’S BREAK IT DOWN:

  1. ANALYSIS: Analysis is simply what it sounds like – to learn - we analyze facts, figures, concepts, ideas. All the time our brains are comparing and contrasting to analyze data and information. As music students we are constantly in “analysis mode” learning songs and concepts. When we analyze we learn, we use good and bad input to make the process faster. We are really “diggin