As a performer, it is vital that you not only play the part,
but also look the part. My colleague Kyle Cosman wrote in a blogpost about the
importance of looking the part and I agree with him wholeheartedly. He argued
that he saw this amazing marching band perform and was blown away by their
sound. But, when he watched them, suddenly the sound was not as good. This is because
the performers were stiff and didn’t look like the sound that they were
creating. As soon as he closed his eyes the sound was back to being as
beautiful as he remembered. This is remarkable because it supports the fact
that humans process information in a variety of different ways in order to
construct meaning. As vehicles of non-language meaning makers, musicians need
to be acutely aware of how we present our meaning both in an auditory sense and
a visual sense.
It is for that reason that it is vital for musicians to
record themselves to hear what they sound like and see what they look like. If
I have a habit of crunching my face up in a frown when I perform, the meaning
of Happy Birthday is certainly going to be lost. This in the classroom would be
a fantastic form of assessment. There could be mock video auditions where the
students record themselves in hope that they will be accepted for some major
ensemble. Not only are they getting the practice, the teacher is assessing
performance skills (sound and sight), and the students are learning about the
uses of modern technology.
I actually was mentioning this in someones post earlier this week. Recording is a fantastic tool of self reflection that can be a great tool for musicians to grow. The aspect of a performance is not only aural though, there is definitely a physical aspect and your body has to sell the music you're expressing, that is how humans connect to the performer on that physical/emotional level. Recording is a great idea, mock trial, fantastic. This along with constructive feedback will definitely help anyones music students grow as musicians.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting concept - you bring up a good point with recording yourself. I am not a music major, but I can see where recording yourself can apply to any particular image that we have to uphold. For instance, it is important for teachers to uphold their image as authority figures in the school. If you are a teacher, you need to sound like one as well as dress like one. If a teacher came in wearing jeans and a sweatshirt (unless it is dress down day or something), I would not take them seriously as holding a professional job. Great blog post!
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