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Music for late starters

Ever heard others saying that they are too old to learn something new? I’ve heard it many times, especially when it comes to music. It is such a common perception and belief (albeit flawed in my opinion) that one has to start learning musical instruments from a young age. And I wouldn’t blame them – society almost always glorifies those who have achieved XXX at a young age and the classical music scene is not an exception. We often see society celebrating the successes of gifted young artists and musical prodigies who have achieved exemplary performance standards at competitions, festivals, and recitals and they can be as young as 5 or 6. Yes, they are indeed very remarkable and it usually leads the rest of us to think about what we have been doing with our lives! At 6, I was just learning the piano for fun while trying to figure out what primary school was all about…

It is therefore so easy for us, the older ones, to doubt our abilities and be discouraged to embark on a musical journey. This issue rings deep within me as I only started learning the violin at the age of 16. I remember questioning myself repeatedly about my prospects when I was a violin major at 20 years old since everyone else was younger than me (around 16-17 years old and they all had started learning the violin at the ages of 4-6). Trust me, it took me quite some time to feel proud of my progress and to acknowledge my achievements to date.

Society doesn’t provide the same kind of support to late starters as opposed to kids and there is definitely some kind of ageism going on in the classical music world. The youngest players are always encouraged and given more opportunities. Why bother with the struggling adult when kids who aren’t even 16 years old can already perform the most difficult pieces? We also often see adult learners being put down by others especially in the early stages when they are just starting to play some open strings or a simple tune.

“Oh look, an adult trying to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! Hah! My kid is already learning concertos!” 

“So old already and still want to learn new things!”

Contrast that with a kid playing the same Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and you’ll hear tons of encouragement.

“Wow son, that’s great! Keep it up!”

“Wow, she’s pretty good at this age!”

It’s great to be a kid isn’t it?

Of course, not everyone is like that. There are others out there who remain encouraging to late starters and I am very lucky to have music teachers, friends, and family members who have been extremely supportive of my musical dreams even though I started the violin at 16. I do not see why we cannot give the same kind of encouragement to our adult friends, especially when they are faced with more obligations that life throws at them! 

Having taught adults violin and piano, I can definitely say that they have the ability to make music too. While late starters and adult learners may not be as flexible as kids, they make it up with determination, discipline, and critical thought. Adult learners are more willing to spend time to hone their craft and think of solutions to problems that they face in the practice room. Coordination and flexibility can be improved over time with practice and one needs to have patience along the way. It is not about talent! Even the most talented musicians have to spend hours to perform at a high level. 

I hope that the perception of “being too old to learn music” will change someday. I believe that anyone who is interested in learning music should give it a shot. Even late starters can reach a high standard of playing as long as he/she doesn’t give up! There are successful musicians who started later than their colleagues although statistically it doesn’t seem very promising but that shouldn’t deter one from learning music. It boils down to practising. I too spent many hours practising and correcting bad habits which I had learnt earlier on, right down to how to hold the violin bow. If I can do it, so can you. 

I always find it so important to give my adult learners the confidence that they need. The only thing that is stopping adult learners from reaching their full potential is themselves and the amount of self-doubt they have, possibly caused by society as well. And these must change.  

That’s all for the topic on late starters for now.

Do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. 

~Vanessa

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Some Housekeeping Matters for Blog Comments

It has definitely been some time since I last posted and I apologise for not being too active over the months as things have gotten busier ever since Covid-19 regulations were relaxed. I would like to thank everyone for visiting and leaving comments on my blog posts. Your support means so much to me and especially those who have left positive and encouraging words here. 

However, I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that all comments go through the moderation panel before they are approved or rejected. This explains why some of your comments show up here while others do not. I have to say that whether your comments get approved or rejected here are pretty much the same as posting rules elsewhere… That means, no vulgarities or obscene content, content unrelated to music (e.g. credit scores, technical specifics of photography, bank loans etc.), and links to any site. 

This is to protect all blog readers and create a community where we can discuss issues relating to music. You are free to post positive or negative comments/feedback but they must be related to music and/or the subject matter of that particular blog post. If you would like to post links to your site or if you have anything that you would like to ask me personally, you may contact me directly via email to vanessa@vanessacaralyn.com and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. Other than that, I hope that everyone will find something that is useful. All the best on your music journeys! 

Cheers! 

~Vanessa

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Recording for your music exams/auditions – A quick guide 

It has been quite some time since my last post. Thank you everyone for your comments and support and I hope that everyone is safe and well as we start to live with COVID-19! 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the music industry has been greatly affected. Live performances/face-to-face music lessons were not allowed for a period of time and scheduled music exams had to be cancelled or postponed. It was a challenging period for our industry. Most music lessons had to be moved online and soon after, music exams had to be done via recorded submissions instead of the usual live exams and recitals. Glad to know that live music exams are resuming here in Singapore!

While preparing students for their recorded submissions, I have noticed that we could have done certain things better. Quite a number of students have realised that their first take is usually the most musical one, but it may not be the most accurate version. It then starts to go downhill as they start to get tired and the pieces become more overplayed… Therefore it is better to be as prepared as possible so that you can preferably get a good take on the first (or first few) tries. 

For my students, I realised that they could have practised more thoroughly, practise in front of the camera, and for my violin students, to be more familiar with the piano part. For the rest of you, these are some things to take note of when you have to do recordings in future. 

Practising more thoroughly 

I understand that all of us have our own obligations and commitments outside of music-making. However, I have to emphasise that if you have to do recordings, then you have to prepare your part thoroughly! Do enough slow practising to get the notes accurately, sort out all technical issues, and remember to play with phrasing/dynamics/expression etc., so that all the details are under your fingertips. Know your part (and other parts, if any) inside out. Make sure that you are also able to play your pieces at performance tempo comfortably! Most of the time, the more prepared you are, the less that your nerves will get the better of you. 

You may also revisit my previous posts on practising here and here. 

Practising in front of the camera 

This is the step that some students conveniently skip, and they learn a really hard lesson once the camera rolls, simply because they find that they are unable to play in front of the camera! Similar to how we practise for performances by doing dry runs in front of friends/family, we can also do this for recordings by running the entire programme and recording it on our own, before the actual recording session. 

Trust me, it feels different when the camera rolls. Depending on how effective your practising was, this will reveal the spots that you are not entirely comfortable with, or even the parts that you thought were alright, were now not, when in front of the camera. This means back to the practice room, focus more on those parts, and repeat the process until you can perform under pressure!  

More familiarity with the piano part  

This point applies mainly to my violin students who have to perform with the piano. For the rest of you too, if you play other instruments such as cello, flute etc. or if you have to play in an ensemble/orchestra. 

Although we usually refer to the piano part as piano accompaniment, do treat your pianist as an equal partner! When you play music with someone else, it is already considered chamber music. Therefore, it is important that you know what exactly is written in the piano part, recognise how your part fits in, and how both instruments can work together to perform the work. 

And again, have enough rehearsals with your pianist to get used to playing together. Do check for intonation and balance along the way as well. Remember to rehearse in front of the camera if possible (see previous point)! 

To conclude, do be as prepared as possible before your recording sessions, learn your parts well, and remember to run your programmes in front of the camera! All the best! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts and subscribe to the blog for future updates! 

~Vanessa  

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The Happy Music Festival 2021 Results

I am very thrilled to announce that one of my violin students, Xi Neng, won 2nd prize in the Classical Violin Intermediate category at the Happy Music Festival 2021 (there was no 1st prize awarded)! She will get the opportunity to perform LIVE at the Post-Festival concert which takes place on the 19th of December, at Bechstein World Music, Singapore Conference Hall. Congratulations to her and I am so proud of her! On this note, congratulations to all the other winners as well! 

This is her recording of Kriesler’s Rondino on a theme of Beethoven taken from the official festival website:

You may visit these pages for the results of the violin and piano categories. 

To all my other students, great effort and I am very happy with the progress that all of you have made thus far. I hope that all of you have benefitted from this learning experience and this is a significant milestone for all of us to remember! Here’s to more music-making and towards greater musical heights! 

~Vanessa

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Happy Teachers’ Day! The joys and pains of your music teachers

A very Happy Teachers’ Day to all the teachers out there, especially to all the MUSIC teachers, because all of you are the greatest and the most passionate! To mark this day, I am going to write more about the joys and pains of being a private music teacher. My experience can’t be generalised to all music teachers but I hope that it will be helpful to those who aspire to become one. As for music students, perhaps you may think about how you can make your learning more effective and hopefully, give your teachers an easier time! 

Music teaching is probably one of the most underrated careers out there, especially if you are an independent music teacher (like me). I do not know how many times people have raised their eyebrows that I teach music privately full-time and asked when I am intending to get a “proper full-time job”. Yeah I get it, the same old societal stereotypes on freelancing, being your own boss, and so on. But hey, what’s wrong with teaching music privately? What’s so bad about not doing the usual office jobs or rotating shifts? Just because we aren’t following the conventions of the majority of the population? 

Yes I totally understand where these people are coming from. Their concerns are fully justified and legitimate. Being a freelance music teacher isn’t a walk in the park, but so are any other careers out there. Every field has its own set of challenges. I’m not going to explain more about the pros and cons of being a freelancer as you can find plenty of information on the net. 

However, if you really like teaching music, you will find joy and satisfaction when you see your students making progress over time. That to me, is the most important. 

The joys of teaching music – the entire process

As mentioned, I find that the most satisfying thing when teaching music is seeing how students improve over time. What seemed like a struggle at first slowly became more effortless. Of course, that requires a lot of hard work, dedication, patience, and perseverance from both the teacher and student to overcome the many challenges on the music-making journey. Knowing what it is like to be both a student and a teacher, I can say that the teacher has to continually find ways to help the student solve his musical issues and bring out his fullest potential. On the other hand, the student needs to put in the work required and keep striving to improve. 

When thinking back to how students at first struggled with note-reading, coordinating both hands etc., to how they are now able to play pieces fluently and musically just makes me so excited for them. They have come a long way. Besides feeling the satisfaction when hard work pays off, the fact that both the student and teacher have worked together to keep the music-making dream alive is immensely fulfilling! 

Furthermore, I cannot describe in words how it feels when students finally understand a specific thing (e.g. tone production) after struggling with it for a period of time. These moments are priceless and you will feel that all the pains (as detailed below) you have experienced were all worth it. 

In fact, it is not just the outcome that matters. Granted, music teachers will be very happy when students score well in their music exams. However, the process matters too. Lessons can be very enjoyable, especially when students take a strong interest in music and in playing their instrument. Their eyes light up when you demonstrate how to play the part that they want to learn, and the excitement that they have when they have nailed it! Others love to discuss or challenge me with questions and it makes the teaching process a very varied, interesting, and different one – no two students can be taught in the same way. That’s what makes the music teaching process exciting too. 

The pains of teaching music 

As with any other career, there are also pains and frustrations associated with music teaching. These include students who don’t put in effort to learn/practise, students who are not interested to learn, dealing with rude students/parents, fees collection, and other administrative work regarding lessons.  

Students who don’t put in effort to learn/practise 

I understand that all of us are busy. Kids have many activities while adults can get swarmed with work and other life commitments. I understand. Music teachers understand that too and we don’t expect you to put in the same commitment as professional musicians do. However, do understand that it is no longer the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that you reach high playing standards if there is no way you or your kid can take some time out to practise. It is nearly impossible for the teacher to make miracles happen in weekly lessons if the student does not do some practising at home, and then, the teacher has to practise with the student during the lesson while the student forgets what was done when he comes back the next week. Repeat this process over weeks and months. I do not have to go any further on how these students are progressing, but it makes me think that I could have instead spent the time on another student who puts in more effort to learn. I have to emphasise that these are one-to-one lessons and not group lessons! 

If that’s the case, ask yourself why you have decided to learn music and also ask yourself if you will be satisfied with this kind of progress. If you are, then by all means! But if you aren’t, then don’t play the blame game… And do know that it can get frustrating to repeat the same thing over weeks and months… Even if you are learning music for leisure, do put in some time to practise! Music teachers do not expect polished performances but we can see who has put in the effort to learn and who hasn’t. And trust me, you will reap what you sow. 

Students who are not interested to learn 

This applies mainly to younger students and I’ve heard kids lamenting that they are only attending lessons because their parents want them to. The more well-behaved kids will comply with the teacher’s requests while the more defiant ones will find ways and means to disrupt the lesson. While it is the teacher’s responsibility to keep lessons interesting, it can’t be all fun and games. Again, the student needs to put in some effort to practise (see previous section). Will they practise if they are not interested in the first place? Certain things just can’t be forced. No matter how fun and interesting the teacher makes lessons to be, it is difficult to make progress without practising. Furthermore, if the student does not like music then he doesn’t, period. We are all more inclined towards certain things so why do we force kids to do what we like? Of course, the teacher can somehow inspire the student to like music, but it takes effort on the student’s part to try. After a period of time, if the student decides that after trying, he just does not want to learn music, then it is best to follow his wishes. 

In most cases, students are unhappy when they are forced by their parents to attend lessons and practise, so why put them in such agony when they can spend time on other things that they like? They may even go further in those things instead. 

Dealing with rude students/parents 

This is self-explanatory. No one likes to communicate with rude people, so be nice to your teachers! 

Fees collection 

This is also self-explanatory and an issue that freelancers often face. Pay your lesson fees on time so that your teachers do not have to constantly press for it, or take unpleasant action such as not conducting your lesson! They have to pay for bills too!  

Other administrative work regarding lessons 

The top on the list regarding this would be last-minute cancellations or no-shows. Besides extenuating circumstances, let your teacher know in advance if you are unable to make it. Although they are usually chargeable, your teacher has already made arrangements for the lesson, and another student could have learnt something during your time slot. 

Concluding thoughts 

Fortunately for me, the joys of music teaching outweigh the pains (these students are just a minority). It has been a satisfying and rewarding journey so far. I am grateful to have the opportunity to impart whatever I know to my students and I hope that they will achieve their musical goals in future. 

To all the music teachers out there, here’s to you for being so passionate and patient in nurturing the next generation of musicians! On this note, I’d like to thank all my music teachers who believed in me and never gave up on me, even though I probably drove all of you nuts (: 

Once again, a very Happy Teachers’ Day! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts and subscribe to the blog for future updates! 

~Vanessa 

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Some thoughts on practising (II) – this time, pain-free

As requested by a reader (thank you Junior for the suggestion), I am writing this as an add-on to the previous post on practising. I would also like to thank everyone for your kind words and support that you have given me. It means a lot! 🙂 

In the previous post on practising, I wrote more about how we should be solving problems instead of playing through whatever we have learnt. If you haven’t read it, you may want to take a look at it here. Other than that, I have also noticed that students tend to disregard how their bodies feel, especially the fingers and arms, while practising. With the violin being such an unnatural instrument to pick up, it is all too easy to play with excessive tension. This can lead to injuries in more severe cases. The most worrying part is that we tend to think that it is because we are still getting used to the instrument and thus it is normal to experience pain while playing! You may feel some level of discomfort especially in the beginning stages but it shouldn’t be pain. 

Both kids and adults face this problem but I am usually more worried about adult students who have a higher threshold for pain and discomfort, as well as the discipline to practise for much longer hours – a recipe for injuries! I wasn’t an exception as well and I did get injured in my first few years of violin playing which got me obsessed over avoiding such injuries for quite a period of time (and I perhaps drove my teachers crazy back then (; ). In fact, tension problems can exacerbate during performance when you get nervous, and can negatively affect your playing especially in crucial settings like exams, recitals, auditions etc. 

As such, I hope that we will be more mindful towards our bodies during practising and not just focus on hitting the right notes at all costs. Again, I’ll use some examples from violin playing to explain what I mean and I hope that other instrumentalists can draw parallels from them too. 

Checking for excessive tension while practising 

With so many studies and books being published on violin-related injuries, I’ve realised that violinists (and violists too) need to be really careful in not playing with excessive tension. We are most at risk of sustaining a long list of injuries that include neck and shoulder injuries, back injuries, tendonitis, etc. I’ll include some links below for further reading if you want to read up more on the topic.  

It’s not just about getting injured, but playing with excessive tension makes it difficult for us to fully express whatever we are playing. How do you play with freedom of expression if you are not even comfortable with the instrument? And how will you effectively convey your musical ideas to the audience if you are grappling with excessive tension? Of course, it takes time to get used to the awkward position and movements needed to play the violin but that does not mean we need to work against our bodies and make it harder for ourselves… 

The most common issue is that students tend to focus so much on getting things right and not pay attention to what their bodies tell them. In some cases, they persist in practising although they feel pain, instead of trying to find out what’s causing it and how to fix it. 

The bow hold 

The bow is a good place to start – are you holding the bow more tightly than you need to? Can you hold it a little less tightly with the fingers? Do the fingers feel cramped or strained? Are the fingers in their natural position? Did you extend any finger too far away from the others? I’m not going to start a war on which type of bow hold is better but perhaps you’ll want to take just a few minutes to feel how little effort it takes to let the bow just stay on the strings. As one of my teachers said, “The best bow hold is no bow hold.” Work with gravity and try to feel the weight of the bow on the string. It is easier to do this at the frog where the bow feels heavier and try removing a few fingers after placing the bow at the frog. As always, this article is no substitute for a proper violin teacher and you will need someone to teach you about good sound production. The point here is to give you some idea as to what you can do during your practice sessions and be more aware about how your body feels. 

The left hand  

The left hand also has several areas which we can look at, and see if we can reduce excessive tension. Are you gripping the violin too tightly because you are afraid that it will drop? Is your thumb squeezing the neck? Are your fingers pressing too hard on the strings to get the notes to sound? Do you tense up when a shift is coming? 

See if you can relax the thumb and fingers more. Again, it is crucial to find a comfortable left hand position so that you can navigate up and down the fingerboard with ease. This can be a huge step to achieving better intonation, shifting, and vibrato.

Playing loud 

Playing loud is one of the many things that can cause us to stiffen up because we want to put in more effort to get a bigger sound, and we can get worried about whether we can achieve sufficient projection. One of the common issues is to tense up the bow arm and press harder on the bow (whatever you do, please don’t press the bow down with the index finger!). In fact, we need to relax more, work with gravity, and let the bow sit better on the string. You can also explore the sounds that you can get from different sounding points. 

The violin set-up 

Last but not least, if you find that excessive tension persists and adjustments made to your technique seem to be ineffective, you may want to take a look at your own violin set-up (i.e. your chin rest and/or shoulder rest combination).  See if they are of the right shape, size, height etc. that suits you. 

This is important as it can reduce a lot of unwanted tension in the neck and shoulders just to accommodate the instrument. For example, if your chin rest is too low, you will have to bring your head too far down just to rest on it. The opposite is true as well – if the chin rest is too high, you create unnecessary tension in the neck and jaw too. And to make things worse, you can feel aches and pains after practising, or even get injured. I’m sure that if you are reading this post up to this point, you’re pretty serious about learning the violin and the last thing you want is to not be able to play the violin for a period of time right? 

Conclusion 

These are just a few things that you may want to start looking out for in your practice sessions. A blog post is insufficient to cover much depth nor serve justice to such a huge and important topic. However, I hope that this will help you to get started on looking at these issues, even if they may seem trivial. There is no quick fix to tension issues and the best time to get started is now. 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. Do subscribe to the blog too! Happy practising and cheers! 

~Vanessa

Articles for further reading: 

Moraes, G., & Antunes, A. (2012). Musculoskeletal disorders in professional violinists and violists. Acta Ortopédica Brasileira, 20(1), 43-47. doi: 10.1590/s1413-78522012000100009 Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3718408/

Niles, L. (2018, October 23). Preventing violin-related injuries, with Pamela Frank and Howard Nelson. Retrieved from https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/201810/27513/

Schallock, M. (2017). How to hold a violin. Retrieved from https://www.violinist.com/violin/how-to-hold-a-violin/

The Strad. (2018, September 18). 10 ways to avoid tension in your playing. Retrieved from https://www.thestrad.com/10-ways-to-avoid-tension-in-your-playing/21.article

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What type of piano should you buy?

With so many options for buying pianos, we are definitely spoilt for choice. Over the course of teaching I’ve been asked this question quite a number of times and I think that this is a good time to share my general opinion on this matter, in terms of classical piano playing. I will not be going into the nitty-gritty on specific models as it is not the point of this article to open a huge can of worms and spark fierce debates. In short, I prefer students to get acoustic pianos (be it new or second-hand, upright or grand) as compared to digital pianos and keyboards although those can be considered second and third choices respectively, depending on your circumstances. 

The first choice – Acoustic pianos 

An acoustic piano. Image from Piano Mall.

I think it is a no-brainer for piano students that their first choice should be to always consider getting an acoustic piano to do their own practising. Besides, if you are learning classical piano, you are expected to perform on a proper piano. The instrument will help you to build the required techniques to control your sound – such as the touch and strength, weight etc. needed. 

There are many options out there if you consider getting a piano. Most people get the upright piano as opposed to a grand piano due to space constraints, at least in land-locked Singapore. Many of the established brand names (Yamaha, Kawai etc.) sell brand new pianos and you can always head down to their stores to try them out. 

But oftentimes, students and parents talk about some of their worries. They are usually hesitant on spending a considerable sum of money on an entirely brand new piano, especially if they are unsure of their commitment (or their kids’) to learning the instrument. In these cases, I’m glad that there are many second-hand pianos for sale out there. You can check out the warehouse sales by the usual big names, or at Piano mall (more on this in the concluding section). 

You definitely have a lot of choices here and it’s always best to head down to try the pianos. These pianos have been checked and maintained to ensure that they are in a proper condition even though they are second-hand pianos. It is also possible to install silent systems on second-hand pianos at an additional cost if you intend to practise late into the night. And you get the best of both worlds since they are relatively easier on our budgets. Of course, you can also get a brand new piano if your circumstances permit. However, do try to choose one that doesn’t have such a light touch, i.e. produces sound too easily. This is to enable one to develop more stamina in one’s playing too!  

The second choice – Digital pianos 

A digital piano. Image from Lazada.

If it isn’t possible for you to get an acoustic piano, you may want to consider getting a digital piano instead. Digital pianos have just slightly smaller dimensions than proper pianos so if you are ruling out a proper piano due to space considerations, I suggest that you get the exact dimensions of each before you decide. If not, digital pianos still allow one to develop technique to some extent, although they usually don’t offer the players as much subtlety in tone colours as compared to proper pianos. Thus, they are the second best alternatives available and you can find brand new or second-hand ones in the market. Some brands include Yamaha and Korg. 

The third choice – Keyboards 

A keyboard. Image from Lazada.

I usually wouldn’t recommend students to get keyboards unless they really can’t get either an acoustic or digital piano. However it is the last resort so that students can do some work on getting their notes and coordinating both hands. The challenge in practising on keyboards lies mainly in building up adequate technique and adapting to playing on acoustic pianos especially during lessons and performances, since keyboards usually only require a very light touch to produce sound. They also do not have the full range of keys as compared to pianos which will not usually be able to cater to more advanced students. 

Conclusion

To conclude, I will say that I’d always prefer students to practise on acoustic pianos – be it a brand new or a second-hand one (somewhat like getting a new car vs an old car). The brand new piano will definitely cost more while the second-hand piano can provide a relatively less costly option for others. If these are not possible options, you can still consider digital pianos or keyboards too, but keep in mind that you will have to make more adjustments when playing on an acoustic piano. 

Note for Singapore residents/those residing in Singapore:

In view of our collaboration with Piano mall, you can use the promo code ‘VCT50‘ to get $50 off your second-hand piano purchase (I’ll also get a small fee which will go a long way in maintaining this site), if you decide that you want to get one. 

Piano Mall is a piano store which offers curation of only the best pianos at value-for-money prices. At Piano Mall, reliability of pianos is of the highest importance. All pianos have been assessed by professional technicians and assured to be in good working condition. To inspire confidence in their pianos, all piano purchases come with free warranty, guaranteed trade-in and buy-back.

Of course, like any other purchase, do consider your circumstances thoroughly before making a decision. I hope that I have discussed in greater detail on why I prefer proper pianos (be it new or old) as compared to digital pianos or keyboards. Do also note that I am not saying that you should get second-hand pianos because of the promo code above, but I just hope to give you a better idea of all the options out there – and Piano Mall is an option for second-hand pianos too, apart from all the other established piano brands. 😉 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts, and if you have any topics that you’ll like me to write about. Do subscribe to the blog and stay tuned to future posts! 

~Vanessa 

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Graded Music Exams – how they can benefit or limit you

Graded music exams are a common goal among students and they give students something to work toward. After all, it is normal for us to want affirmation and recognition of our playing standards, as well as to see how far we’ve progressed on our musical journeys. Besides, certificates from music exam boards such as ABRSM or Trinity are internationally recognised. In Singapore, kids who have attained higher grades can add these certificates to their portfolio to make them more competitive for direct school admissions. 

The benefits of graded music exams

To be fair, these exams serve as good checkpoints along the way as students have to meet certain requirements for repertoire, scales, sight reading, and aural work (but due to covid, only repertoire work is needed now). These get more demanding as students work their way up the grades. They are really good motivators to get us to practise too! However, the exams can be a double-edged sword, if they are used as a means to an end… I’d like to emphasise that learning music is a lifelong journey and always be clear of your purpose in taking the exams, and how these exams play a part along the journey. 

A word of caution if you are too focused on graded music exams – it can limit your musical exposure 

Ideally, we should always be working on a mix of scales, etudes, exercises, and repertoire so that techniques are constantly built and maintained – for us to ultimately serve the music. However, I’ve seen cases where students were so focused on the exams that they only learn and practise three exam pieces in a year, plus whatever scales they were going to be tested on for the exam. Although it is one thing to be prepared for the exams, I believe that we still need to work on different things to add more variety to our musical palette – there is so much material out there to be explored than just confining yourself to the exam syllabus. I’ll go even further to say that Grades 1-8 serve as an introduction to classical music if you decide to engage in more in-depth studies. 

The importance of basics in playing a musical instrument – how they measure up in relation to graded music exams

Perhaps, the misconception of equating higher grades to better playing standards is the most dangerous of all. Someone who has attained a higher grade should be better than someone else who hasn’t passed that grade, right? Doesn’t that make sense? Well, yes and no. Of course, all things being equal, that is correct – the person who has passed the higher grade will be of a higher standard. However, that’s not always the case especially when people start to just compare based on grades attained. It depends on how well grounded one’s playing fundamentals are. Thus, it is possible for someone at a lower grade to sound better than someone at a higher grade who plays more advanced pieces. Think of the paper chase and rat race in a wider context. 

Does progressing up the grades mean that you are a better musician?

It is also getting more common from my side to hear so and so passing grade X in Y number of years (some sort like setting a new record), or people asking whether it is possible for them to pass grade X in Y number of years. There’s no right or wrong here. It’s perfectly normal as everyone has different expectations and goals. But no matter what musical goals people have, I’d still be telling them not to lose sight of the ultimate goal of making good music. It is always more important not to rush to a destination, but to develop proper playing habits and a strong foundation along the way. That saves students a lot of effort in future when they do not have to redo the more basic stuff, and it gives them more room to focus on playing musically! Furthermore, it is more of a joy to hear “simpler” pieces played well than to hear students whack through repertoire that is way too advanced for them. There is just no way to make good music if one is struggling to play the right notes… 

Conclusion

To conclude, graded music exams are good checkpoints along our musical journey. Always try to maintain a balance between exam preparation and practising a mix of technical work and repertoire. Remember that learning music is a lifelong journey and enjoy the process! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts, and if you have any topics that you’ll like me to write about. Do subscribe to the blog and stay tuned to future posts! 

~Vanessa

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Why scales shouldn’t be all that boring

Ah yes, scales again. Much has been said about scales and the importance of practising them regularly, just like brushing our teeth. Despite this, I’ve realised that it can be difficult for us to motivate ourselves to practise scales! This isn’t surprising. Simon Fischer wrote in one of his books, ‘The Violin Lesson’, that there are soloists/competition winners who play major violin repertoire without practising scales regularly. He also admits that before he realised the benefits of scales, he also put off practising scales until they were required in exams, but worked on exercises instead and he saw how his scales improved along the way while working on those exercises. 

It was the same for me. When I was younger, I never liked scales at all because I found them boring. No surprise, so do most of my students when I first asked them. However, that usually happens because they do not see the importance of scales and the purpose of practising them! In that regard, I will attempt to explain these briefly and hopefully make scales more interesting (or, less boring) to work on. 

Simply put, scales are important because they are used to build a strong foundation in the beginning (one octave scales in first position, for example) and for fine-tuning/technique maintenance as you get more advanced. Scales are so important in helping us play with good intonation, especially for string instruments like the violin. For a start, they help us to gain familiarity with the fingerboard and to develop a critical ear. And usually, the first blemish to be picked up in performances is out of tune playing! As you progress, try to appreciate the colour of every note in the scale (and across different keys too). However, I have to clarify that scales are made up of a combination of techniques and it takes a certain level of mastery of the different elements (like string crossings, shifting, good tone production etc.) to play scales well (i.e. exercises). 

If we were to go deeper, scales can be used to practise the many aspects of violin technique – not just the left hand, but right hand too (I’m pretty sure this applies to other instruments as well). For example, you can play a scale in all the different positions themselves, play a scale just on one string, across different positions (especially in three and four octave scales), and even practise vibrato on notes of the scale. For the right hand, there are different bowing variations such as number of notes in one bow, length of notes (and tempo), different sounding points etc. The list goes on. Also, not forgetting double stops and extended technique such as left-hand pizzicato. Combine these and you get infinite possibilities on what to work on! Just take a look at scale books such as Carl Flesch, Galamian, and Simon Fischer, and you’ll know what I mean. 

It could be shifting, tone production, intonation, and so on. Just choose something to focus on and once you get into the nitty-gritty stuff, scales become far from boring as you’ll probably realise that there’s so much to be done! That’s when scales become far from boring and all the more exciting when you know that you will be making some real progress which can be felt when working on repertoire. 

In addition, make sure that you play through the entire scale to see what worked and try to find solutions to improve what didn’t work so well. It is also recommended to balance practice sessions with etudes and repertoire so that you don’t lose track of the ultimate goal of playing an instrument – to make music. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the maximum time that we should spend on scales seems to be an hour or so. 

I hope this helps and try to practise scales regularly! I’ll also be sharing more articles on my pages and updating the blog whenever I can. Stay safe everyone! 

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. 

~Vanessa  

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Some thoughts on practising

In the years that I have been teaching, it is pretty common to find out that students usually equate “practising” as “playing through”. I’m sure that music teachers out there will agree with me. This is a misconception that is all too prevalent in students of all ages and it is the teacher’s role then to correct it. Plus, the teacher’s job is arguably to cultivate students to learn independently outside of lessons and be their own teachers in future.

During lessons, it is easy for teachers to see how (or if) a student practised during the week. The kind of practising produces the kind of results – you reap what you sow.
Thus, playing through an entire piece over and over again during your practice session, with the same mistakes happening over and over is not practice! Often, the result of this kind of practising manifests itself in the lesson such as in cases where the student fumbles over the same old problem areas, transitions not fixed etc. In short, it is all too obvious and I’m not going to spend too much time listing all the cases out.

We also always hear “practice makes perfect” and if you don’t get it, just keep trying again until you succeed. These have been discussed previously in many articles that I have come across regarding practising the instrument and the consensus reached in them is that practice does not make “perfect” but rather, practice makes “permanent”. Only perfect practice makes perfect. That explains why articles often talk about how difficult it is to break a bad habit and in more extreme cases, some say it is better not to practise at all if in doubt! So now you know, playing through your pieces is just a matter of reinforcing your mistakes! However, it must be made clear that playing through is important to see how well everything fits into place and to identify areas for improvement. It is also to make sure that you can play the piece in its entirety before you present it for a performance or exam.

So what then should we be doing during practice sessions? In short, solving problems. The articles I came across also talked about “deliberate practice” and I will include them right below for anyone who is interested to read more. Ideally, one should be identifying specific areas/spots to work on. Know what you want to achieve and how you want it to sound like. Then play it and be as critical and honest as you can with yourself in identifying the problems e.g. an out of tune note, a bad shift, poor bow distribution etc. It is a good idea to record your playing as well. After that, pick one problem, think of ways to solve it, and test your solutions to see what works best given the context of whatever you’re working on. It is important to narrow and break parts/phrases down – to one or two notes depending on what the problem is. After you have come up with a solution, you should be focusing on making that a habit. Repeat this and also make sure that you can integrate the isolated parts back into the entire piece. This should help to make practising more efficient.

It may not seem all fun and games and deliberate practice can be very mentally draining. The experts and best violinists often said not to practise more than an hour at one go and take breaks to ensure maximum focus. The consensus seems to be a maximum of 3-4 hours of total practice time in a day and the brain will not be able to absorb anymore beyond 5 hours. Quality, not quantity. You should have time to relax and have fun outside of the practice room and it is always better to keep the practising consistent i.e. practising everyday at shorter intervals vs practising for long hours once a week.

I hope this helps and continue to enjoy making music! Meanwhile, am looking forward to seeing all my students in person soon. This is slated for phase 2 of the easing of the circuit breaker measures.

I’ll also be sharing more articles on my pages and updating the blog whenever I can. Stay safe everyone!

As always, do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.

~Vanessa

The articles for further reading:

Kageyama, N. How many hours a day should you practice?. Retrieved from https://bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

MacKenzie, A. (2018). 10 tips to help you practise more effectively. Retrieved from https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/wellbeing/musician-practice-tips/

MasterClass. (2019). Violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman’s tips for practicing violin. Retrieved from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/violin-virtuoso-itzhak-perlmans-tips-for-practicing-violin#4-ways-to-establish-good-violin-habits

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Precautionary measures for COVID-19

Dear students and parents, it has been a pleasure to be working with all of you so far. In view of the worsening COVID-19 situation worldwide, the following measures will be implemented to keep our lessons safe and give all of us a peace of mind: 

  1. All students (and parents who sit in during lessons) are required to fill in an e-declaration form before lessons on whether they have travelled outside of Singapore or had contact with a confirmed case within the last 14 days. This is to keep attendance records for contact tracing. 
  2. There will be temperature taking for students before the lesson (and parents who sit in during lessons). You will not be allowed to enter if you have a fever or exhibit symptoms of COVID-19, so please stay at home if you are feeling unwell! 
  3. Students to wash hands with soap provided before and after lessons.
  4. Social distancing – I will be sitting at least 1m away from the student (this is not any different from how I conduct lessons normally).
  5. The studio and piano will be disinfected and cleaned regularly to maintain appropriate hygiene standards. 
  6. Students will be allowed to reschedule lessons during this period if they are feeling unwell. 
  7. Online lessons can be held in place of in-person lessons during this period but this should only be temporary as online lessons cannot replace having lessons in person. Not everything can be taught online e.g. postural adjustments. 

Meanwhile, do ensure that you remain socially responsible outside of lessons. The Ministry of Health (MOH) Singapore has advised the public to practise the following in its health advisory:

  • Avoid close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness;
  • Observe good personal hygiene;
  • Practise frequent hand washing with soap (e.g. before handling food or eating, after going to toilet, or when hands are dirtied by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing);
  • Wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms such as a cough or runny nose;
  • Cover your mouth with a tissue paper when coughing or sneezing, and dispose the soiled tissue paper in the rubbish bin immediately; and
  • Seek medical attention promptly if you are feeling unwell.

MOH has also advised all Singaporeans to defer all travel abroad with immediate effect. 

For more details, do refer to the MOH website https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19

Also, try to avoid crowded areas, large social gatherings etc. and adopt social distancing when you go out. It is best to stay at home and spend time with your family AND INSTRUMENT as much as possible. If anything, this is a good time to catch up on practising your instrument so no excuses to not practise! Stay safe and happy practising! 😉

Do get in touch with me if you have any questions. 

~Vanessa