We all know that when we are playing a piece of music, it is near impossible to listen with perspective, as we are too busy with the process of doing. For our students, it is even harder to listen constructively, as they are concentrating on what is written in the music, which fingers to use on what keys, and the co-ordination needed to execute their piece successfully. They are even thinking about things such as “I could play this perfectly at home, why am I making mistakes now?” (which I will address in a future blog) and “someone is listening to me…what are they thinking?” All these things interfere with their aural ability while they are playing.
As teachers, we let the students know what we hear, and how to make their music more expressive or ‘musical’, such as bringing out the melody more, eliminating pauses, fixing rhythms etc, but once again, when they play with these things in mind, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have enough awareness to hear the differences this makes to their playing.
Once a student is becoming familiar with a piece of music, I will record their playing of it (occasionally without their knowledge, so it doesn’t put them off while they are playing) and have them listen to it straight away. I then ask them to critique what they hear – noting what needs improvement and why, but also stating things that they do like, or moments they feel are well done. This way, it is not serving to knock their confidence, but helps to make them more aware of things that need attention, and also what it is that makes the music come to life. By having the student give their comments, it also increases their ability to listen while they play – they have something to compare it to in their mind, and makes them concentrate on what they commented on. The process of ‘teaching’ then becomes a shared responsibility between myself and my student, and is the basis of discussion, rather than me just telling them what to do.
I also encourage my students to record themselves when they are practicing, and listen back at home. This way, they are getting constructive feedback from themselves during the week when I am absent. I have found that this accelerates their playing ability and musicality drastically compared to the times before they were doing this, as it keeps their practice constructive and on-task.
Everybody comes to the stage where they feel that they are making no progress, and nothing is working. By having recordings, it is proof of how far the students have come. It is not necessary to keep every recording of every student, but it doesn’t hurt to have a file for each student with a few to call on when needed.
I once had a student say to me that she was playing much worse than she ever had and asked me why. I was rather baffled, as this student had made leaps and bounds with her playing in the last month. Then it clicked – she used to not hear the mistakes she was making, as her focus was not on the sounds she was producing. After increasing her aural awareness, she noticed a lot more of her mistakes, even though in comparison there were a lot less than the previous weeks. This increased aural awareness meant that her practice at home became a lot more constructive, and her progress continued to climb.
I would like to share my audio set-up with you, as I find that it works extremely well, is moving forward with technology, and makes my life a lot easier:
I have an iPod that holds all my teaching music on it. This has meant I no longer need to sort through CDs to find what I am looking for, and eliminates recordings skipping or not working. I use a TDK iSlim dock for my iPod, and I have found the volume and quality of sound is of great quality for my purposes.
For recording, I have found the iTalk, which connects to the bottom of my iPod. The recordings are clear, however, there is a little ambient noise on the tracks as well. The quality is definitely better than using a tape recorder though, and it is extremely user-friendly. I can then sync these recordings with my computer and email any recordings I wish to my students, or save them into my students’ folders.
This is my first blog with Music Teacher’s Helper, and I would appreciate any comments or thoughts that my blogs provoke, so feel free to share!
Hi Leah,
It was a great idea to post on this subject! I recently began offering recording for my students and they absolutely love it. I only wish there were some way to set aside more time for it… the benefits are endless! Students who have “made up” there own songs will also ask to be intentionally recorded. Recording can be such a wonderful motivational tool.
Keep up the great work with the articles. I am looking forward to “I did it better at home!”
Great article. I think most students and musicians know that it is a good idea to record themselves. However it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves of the reasons why.
I think the use of iPOD is a good idea – quick playback is essential – I’ve just transferred from mini-disc which was good but required searching for tracks.
Also looking forward the the article the previous poster mentioned – sounds very useful.
That’s fantastic. There is no place to hide. It allows for a level of feedback that was only available to a few 20 years ago.This is a link to a free open source Audio Editor that is used by the US goverment.http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. There are many open source programs available to help students and teachers.There are many programs that can be safely and legally downloaded that are also open source.
I have been using my Belkin attachment in my voice studio for the last year. Since I teach many high schoolers, most of my students already own an iPod classic or Nano, which are compatible with the Belkin recorder. My students bring their iPod, connect it to my recorder, and once we save their lesson, they are to listen to it 2-3 times during the week, either to practice with the warm-ups or listen to how they sang their solo piece and what changes made what impacts. This is great for the voice studio because we NEVER hear what we actually sound like!
Hi all,
thank you so much for your comments. And also for the link and products you use. It is a great idea to record whole lessons for them to refer to at home (especially for voice). I find myself spending more and more time outside of my students lessons sending recordings and researching studio set-up, but I feel that this extra mile is what helps retain students and build and keep the rapport!
Hi Leah,
You and I are totally on the same page. I’ve been using an iPod in lessons for a couple years now, and it’s very convenient. I think often of my own private teacher’s rickety cassette deck and LP player!
I’ve been recording my students over the past couple weeks as well, and have been using a Zoom H2 digital recorder. It’s been very easy to transfer the files to a computer, as you mentioned. I’m planning on a blog post about this experience, so stay tuned!
Thanks for the great post!
I use my laptop to record all of my students vocal lessons. I have downloaded the free version of Goldwave and plug in an external mic. I can save the file as an mp3 directly to the student’s external hard drive/jump drive and also as a .wav file to be able to edit out examples later on.
I have found that the iPod Talk attachement eats the battery really fast. Maybe I’m using the wrong setting?
Elizabethe McDonald
Queens University School of Music
Kingston, ON
http://www.fromthevoiceof.blogspot.com
Hi Elizabeth,
I haven’t noticed my battery being chewed quickly, but I do make a habit of docking it every night so it is always charged. Also, when I dock it to play back over the speakers, it charges automatically, so it is never dead in my lessons.
I’ll have to get myself savy on how to edit files I think, it will be very handy. Does anyone have any tips on converting an mp3 or mp4 to a wav file?
Recording is essential in my studio but we go one step further by using the video camera. (I have the kind that burns directly to mini DVD) It makes my job easier and shows exactly what is going on from the audience view.
We video tape the entire lesson and then if we need to we review it together so that I can point out the good and the bad. If we record and they choose not to use the recording as a practice tool, then that is their fault, not mine.
I record every recital performance and every competition performance that I can. I also video record every lesson that I have with my teacher and offer an opportunity for my own students to see me in my lesson. It’s amazing what an improvement it makes for all of us. The video camera doesn’t lie. And also a great tax write off for your teaching.
Leah, Great Blog, thanks mucho! Recording our daughter has been very helpful as she can hear better how she sounds, it seems like during her recital at Colorado Music Quest in Aurora, Colorado she just either didn’t hear herself or is too young (4) to really listen during the heat if you know what I mean. Thanks Leah!