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The
Principles of Practice
Based on "The Principles of Correct
Practice for Guitar"
by Jamie Andreas
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| IN
THIS ISSUE |
July
14, 2002 Volume 85
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Let the Student Beware!
Last week, I gave you my glowing and heartfelt recommendation of
a book on singing, "The Voice", by Michael McCallion.
I mentioned in passing a teacher I had for awhile, and contrasted
some bad instruction he had given me on the vital concept of "support"
in singing with how it was explained in this book.
Well, it seems someone recognized this teacher just from that bit
of information, and this person has asked my opinion on the overall
worth of the teacher. I feel it is vital to the success of the learning
process for every student to have the right attitudes about these
things, and about their own responsibilities as students, and as
consumers in a marketplace. Don't forget, you are spending money
here to purchase a specific product, playing ability on the guitar,
or the ability to sing, in this case. (Actually, the writer doesn't
seem to have forgotten that!)
I am not going to use the real name of this teacher, so I have substituted
a made up name. I wrote to Pete personally to confirm his suspicion,
but there is no need to broadcast my judgment publicly in such a
specific way. Rather, it will be of great benefit to everyone to
understand the nature of this whole "music teaching profession",
and the nature of the path of artistic development that we have
all decided to place ourselves on. And I can illustrate the nature
of these things by discoursing a bit on this particular teacher.
His faults are, in my experience and belief, shared by most of the
teachers you are likely to run into, of any subject. (Yes, thank
God for the exceptions).
Jamie,
You mentioned that a vocal teacher once taught you to tense your
stomach muscles in an effort to teach you support. I once went to
someone in New York named "David Lane" who taught me the
same thing. Is this the person you went to also? I gave my girlfriend
your Principles book and she is doing fine with it and loves it.
She also wants to learn how to sing so I sent her to David Lane.
I don't want her to waste her money ($90 for a 1/2 hour lesson)
and I respect your opinion. If David is the teacher you went to
do you think he is not worth the money?
thanks Pete Hi Pete,
The answer to whether this teacher is worth the money is yes and
no. Your job, as the student, is to know when the answer is yes,
and when it becomes no.
One of my greatest assets in all the years of studying with many
teachers, and many kinds of teachers (guitar, voice, music theory,
composition, songwriting), bad teachers, good teachers, and great
teachers, was knowing when to leave. I may have left because I knew
they had nothing more to teach me, or because what they had left
to teach me was no longer contributing to my goals strongly enough
to warrant further lessons.
"David" is in many ways an excellent teacher. I learned
many things from him that were of the greatest value. Essential
attitudes and understandings about voice, as well as learning in
general. He got me past certain obstacles in singing that I was
thrilled to overcome. And then, after a number of months, I knew
that I had hit the end of the road with him. I knew I had certain
other obstacles remaining, and he was not going to be able to get
me past them. If it had been another student, one with more natural
talent then myself, he probably could have benefited that student
for years more. But not me. I knew we would just continue doing
the same exercises, in the same way, and I was not going to see
any more improvement, and I still had a long way to go to get my
voice where I would be happy with it. There is a category that so many things, and so many people, fall
into. And that is "good as far as they go, but they don't go
far enough". Now, I have always been told that I am too demanding,
and that I expect to much from people. Maybe so, but it feels right
to me. Yes, I expect everything. I expect whoever I am relating
to, whether it is myself, a student, a teacher, a friend, to always
be willing to give %100 percent, all the time. I don't know, is
that asking too much?
I expect someone who is asking the top price in their field (and
it seems David went up from the $150/hr fee I was paying to $180/hr)
to be professional about things. If I go to a professional in any
field, I expect that person to be engaged in lifelong "continuing
education". I expect a doctor to know about the latest treatments.
I expect my accountant to up to date on tax matters. I expect myself
to be always trying to broaden and deepen my understanding and abilities
about all things, especially about how to do the thing people come
and pay me money for: how to get someone else to be able to play
the guitar.
This is not, in my opinion, what you will get from this teacher.
You will get a certain system that has some wonderful qualities,
and has no doubt worked wonders for many people. But there are many
people whose real needs will not be addressed, the same way it is
with guitar. I have the advantage of knowing for a fact that in
the guitar teaching area, few people have the skill and knowledge
to get results with absolutely anyone. And yet I know it is possible,
because I can do it. And I know that the only reason I can do it
is because during 30 years of teaching, I have responded to every
"problem student" by trying to find a way to "move
them forward", to remove whatever obstacles were present. Not
to have the attitude "well, I've done my best, works with most
people, I don't know what your problem is , well, I guess you just
don't have it buddy, sorry 'bout that".
This has led me, and continues to lead me, to study all kinds of
subjects, methods, ideas, and continually find new ways of explaining
and expounding things to students. It has led me to see that anything
can be taught to anybody if you can just get down to the right things
in the right way with the student. I have seen it done in books
on guitar, and when I found this book on singing, I knew it was
being done there. A teacher like David should be ashamed of himself
for not having studied this book, and other books like it (I'm sure
there are others, I just haven't run across them). He is simply
someone who probably could have been a great teacher, but has remained
merely a "good" one, and really, that is not good enough.
The fact is, in this business, when you have average people trying
to learn to do an above average kind of skill, and do it to a professional
level, a "good" teacher is not going to cut it for about
half of everybody. You need a great teacher.
And it's not that hard to be great, it really isn't. I used to tell
my son "just try a little bit, and you'll be ahead of most
people, because most people aren't trying at all!" What does
it take to read a book or two a year on new ideas in your field,
new approaches to teaching, if you are a teacher? Everytime I mentioned
something I was reading on singing, I would get a very negative
response from David. Everytime I pursued trying to understand something
I knew I wasn't clear on, he would explain it the same way I didn't
get it before.
Now it seems kind of insane to me, if a student is telling me they
are confused about something I am trying to get across to them,
to keep on explaining it the same way. There are only 3 reasons
for doing so, all of them bad. In fact, these 3 qualities are the
most expensive things you can have in your life: stupidity (the
willful maintenance of ignorance), laziness, and pride. I am either
to stupid to come up with a way that works, or I am too lazy, or
I know that I know the right way, and you are just too stupid to
get it.
In my experience, most of the teachers I have seen will fall into
this category, sooner or later.
I am reminded of another big New York City voice teacher. You will
see her ads all over the place, with a long laundry list of stars
she has taught. She also charges a lot of money and has a thriving
business. The average schnook will be very impressed with the list
of great singers under her instruction, and will feel honored to
sign up and take lessons. I got to know her quite well personally
in the course of taking lessons, and she is also a wonderfully nice
person. Again, if you can already sing well, she will probably make
you sing even better, and keep you tuned up. If you are in need
of "special help" like me, you are going to think there
is something very wrong with you as you continue to struggle to
do things it seems everyone else can do. Again, I found the only
answer being provided to me as week after week I saw no progress,
no increased ability to do what I couldn't do last week or last
month, was to do more of the same exercises. She never even checked
to see if I WAS gaining any ability, just an idiotic repetition
of the same crappy (for me) exercises!
So, what is the bottom line. You have a teacher here who has some
valuable knowledge, experience and insight. You also have a teacher
here who is missing some vital pieces of the puzzle that many people
need. The book I recommended to you is an example of a work by someone
who is a master teacher, miles above David Lane or the other teacher
I referenced. Happily, such people often do the world a great service,
and after years of truly honest and committed study of their subject,
codify it for others to benefit from. (I have seen other books of
this type on many subjects; their rare, but their there.)
There is no single more valuable thing you can do than to arm yourself
with the knowledge in this book as you walk into lessons with David
Lane (or any voice teacher). You will not only be able to detect
his shortcomings, you will be able to make up for them, at least
in part, and, you will be better able to benefit from what he does
have to offer. No doubt, if you brought the book in and asked for
his opinion, he would pooh-pooh it, as many guitar teachers do when
students bring in my book. He would pat you on the head, close the
book, and get on with doing what he has been doing for 35 years,
thank you!
Well, as you can see, I don't really have a strong opinion on the
subject, but I hope I was able to offer some clarification of your
situation!
If you missed my review of this book, here
it is.
"Back in Black" Lesson
I have always loved Angus Young's guitar work. He is a great musician
and guitarist, and a model of "musical feel" in his playing.
Anyone who studies his playing and copies his style will add a lot
to the polish of their own playing. Here is a lesson
on a rock classic, with details and pictures on how to bring it
up to performance tempo!
Insane Guitar!!
Hi Jamie,
I know you're busy these days, but after reading your June
30th newsletter I just had to make a comment. You wrote: " 'I want to play great guitar, and I can get to be able to sound
great like that guy by just grabbing my guitar and trying real hard
to do it just like he is. Whoops, that didn't work, I'll try it
THE SAME WAY again.' "
Well, what's interesting is that one definition of insanity is "repeating
the same behavior over and over while expecting different results
each time"(!) Yet, so many "sane" people continue
to do this all the time! How ironic!
Cheers,
Hisham
Hi Hisham,
Yes, I have heard that. Actually, I don't consider that a "definition"
of insanity. Rather, it is a description of one way "insanity"
may manifest itself. In other words, it is a characteristic of insanity,
not the essence of it. My definition of insanity is "the inability
to function appropriately in accordance with one's nature and environment".
So, this may lead us to behave in the way you describe, doing the
same thing over and over. However, I don't think someone who does
that is REALLY expecting anything different. I don't think they
are expecting anything. I don't even think they are thinking! They
are just reeling around mindlessly for lack of any better plan.
Actually, it sounds more like stupidity than insanity!
Meaning of "chord"
Hi Jamie,
On "Shenandoah" last week, you stated: "This is a
very simple arrangement, most of the melody is already a single
note, with only occasional chords thrown in to fill things out.
When the melody does appear as the top note of a two note chord,
as in measure 2, 2nd beat, make sure that top note is heard clearly
and a bit louder than the two notes below it."
I thought the definition of chords is "the simultaneous sounding
of three or more notes." Can you explain?
Following in Texas,
Robert
Hi Robert, Yes, that goes to show you how confusing terminology can be when
learning a subject. You are right, technically speaking, a chord
needs three notes to really deserve the name "chord".
However, the term "chord" is often used loosely, to mean
ANY kind of harmony, even just two notes played together. True,
two notes are not enough to determine the exact chord name or quality,
(major or minor), so it is best to think of them as "implied
chords". So, an F and A together could be a true F chord if
there were a C added, or a Dminor chord if there were a D added.
In any case, F and Dminor are closely related chords and can be
exchanged one for another in a song without causing a dis-agreeable
harmony (that is why they are called "chord synonyms").
The context, the other notes present before and after (or in other
parts if it is an arrangement) will supply or imply the determination
of the two note chord as to exact letter and type name. Technically
speaking, two note "chords" are really "intervals".
Don't worry if you don't really understand this. It is one of those
things that will become clear as you progress in your development.
From Marnie, who attended our July workshop:
Hi Jamie & Geraldine,
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the workshop and I'm looking
forward to my practices now. It's funny how things can become so
much more enjoyable once you understand the "principles"
and start to see noticeable improvements. I've been raving about
the workshop to everyone I meet and I've forwarded Jamie's website
and newsletters to several people.
Best regards,
Marnie
Coming to New York this summer? Why not change your guitar playing
life and get PERSONAL instruction from Jamie! Check here for details.
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material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com |
