Learning in music

Melissa Bucholz
Kirkby
ENGL120
LE 2
21 February 2007

Independent Learning: A Paradoxal Concept

When many people hear the word ‘audition,’ they probably have little reaction to it. For a musician, it will often strike fear into them because of the ultimate musical unknown. For the percussionist especially, little guidance exists for the college audition.
Two years ago this month, on a cold morning in February, I woke with a start at about six in the morning. A fellow percussionist at my high school had promised to meet up and run drills on intervals before my audition at Eastern Michigan University. My mother drove, leaving me free to carefully review the musical materials. I marked them as taught in the six years involved in Student Achievement Testing Day (SATD) training at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. Having been to Eastern many times before, the unforgettably dark and musty auditorium was easy to find. Thankfully, the audition cut the fifty-five minutes of repetitious facts about the school short.

Hurrying up the stairs at 8:57 in the morning, clutching my music and little stick bag swinging at my side, I reached Professor John Dorsey’s office as high school friend Jeff had just finished. Partially to my dismay, my mom came out of the elevator just in time to follow behind into the office. Looking around, one could not help but notice all the symphony posters and photographs lining the yellow concrete and wood-paneled walls. A vibraphone, two marimbas, bells; a xylophone, piano and drumset lined the floor of this single office. Gongs hung from the walls, recognizable by their more distinct shape and coloration from a tam-tam, which is not pitched. In the corner stood four filing cabinets and judging by the mountains of music, CDs and auxiliary percussion instruments, the drawers were undoubtedly full. Sitting in front of the desk on the far side of the room was a hard yellow chair in which I sat in front of an equally cluttered desk. It made sitting even more uncomfortable and as Dorsey started talking, we began what we now fondly call “the talk” that begins every semester. It seemed ages sitting there fidgeting nervously and answering questions for a profile on which he quietly wrote. At last, standing before me was the most beautiful instrument I had ever seen in my life, and finding myself leaning slightly, it was easier to examine the Marimba One logo burned into its front beam.

Going to the back, it seemed second nature to settle myself by closing my eyes, feeling the feet beneath me and trying to reach 500 feet into the earth, though the office was on the third floor. One should try to feel calm so that they can feel every vibration and feel every note as a moving motion picture. This proved to be difficult as Dorsey tossed the extra music copies and stood right behind me. I wiped my perspiring hands on my pants before repositioning. Placing the mallets in the Traditional Cross Grip, the music began. First, quiet resonances of the blonde-stained rosewood bars reverberating the pentatonic song, and then slowly crescendoing as the right hand joined in on Alice Gomez’s Mbira Song. Before even realizing it, there came the passing and sweet completion of Yellow After the Rain for marimba by Mitchell Peters, Concert solo 21 from Portraits in Rhythm by Anthony J. Cirone, and Solo for Three Timpani from Solo Impressions by the legendary Vic Firth. A sigh of relief of my own and the shocked look on my mothers face indicated that I had done well.

Never before had I prepared a complete performance on my own. Who would have expected it for a college audition? Showing others and myself my full capability of this proved readiness for the beginnings of a college percussionist. Actually, it makes one feel like they have been educated to the full extent and gives a false sense of confidence.
What everyone discovers when entering a higher level of education is that they ultimately know nothing. Until they know the new material, they cannot connect the old material; they cannot understand the new material without knowing the old. Learning is ultimately a paradox of concepts. “What does it mean to be educated? What should it mean? These are two questions people should ask, though it oddly will lead to a division of perception (134),” states John Spayde in his article, “Learning in the Key of Life.” It is true, everyone will have different opinions and in many cases, the answers will be different for both questions. Generally, society decides what it means to be educated and the well-grounded student discovers what it should mean. Spayde relays writer Earl Shorris in saying that humanities are the foundation for co-existing with others, thinking and for learning to reflect on life instead of concentrating on the negativity that is often thrown at you (135). Learning about oneself and others is indeed the path to learning process, rather than learning how to process. It gives a deeper understanding in where one stands in their thoughts.

       As a musician, one finds out very fast that everyone expects you to have a sense of musical independence, but at the same time, it is expected that you interpret music ‘correctly.’ Obviously this is all opinion other than the few basics such as rhythm and playing of the correct notes. Even tone and dynamic shaping can be debatable interpretations. Music is a living and breathing work of art, constantly in motion without ever being able to see it other than in your mind. However, there tends to be a general consensus of musical ideas that make it difficult for musicians to take chances. Many people give up on being inventive because it seemingly reaps no benefit. Rebekah Nathan says in “Academically Speaking” that students lack interest in debates on issues. Everyone winds up believing the same thing, so why argue (125)? This is simply an inadvertent display by the students that they conform to one another and in doing so, limit their learning experience. Complying with others puts a stopper in motivation. Billy
Thompson and Holly Thornton use various studies to exemplify this in their article “The Transition from Extrinsic to Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom: A First-Year Experience.”
The 1988 study by Zemke and Zemke says, “Motivation is derived by the learner’s perception of topic value in relation to their own interests and needs (85).” The difficulty is that many educators believe that a student should be able to see and understand the importance of the teacher’s perception of materials instead of trying to get the student to relate to it in order to understand. It is like asking an English-speaking student to read a book in German and translate it in front of the class. While they may be able to say the words on the page, they will not understand it.

The same is true with music. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote primarily for piano and violin, Bach being a student of both. However, students trying to transcribe for other instruments have a difficult time understanding his work. Many percussionists especially tend to make it seem monotone and metronomic on the marimba because they are just reading notes on a page. There is no expressiveness, no dynamic contrast, and no phrasing other than that which exists naturally by the cadential points in the piece. It is because they do not understand it and generally they say that they do not like it. It is natural to not like what one does not understand. The problem is the learning strategy. Thompson and Thornton relay the NBPTS study of 2000 by saying that multiple teaching and learning strategies such as hands-on, problem solving, visual, dialog, and cooperative, are essential to a healthy learning environment (85). Art is all of these at once no matter what you’re doing. The real learning strategy first starts with interpretation of these. Music is a visual and audible dialog that does not use words. It expresses a feeling and a musician has to discover what the composer is saying before working on technique, tone, rhythm and dynamics.

       This is only one step in the musical process. The performing artist must plan musical choices, order, good practice, and exercise musical interpretation in order to prepare a good performance.  Ultimately, being able to come up with one’s own ways of learning, motivation, and means of interpretation are essential, especially for a college audition. Constantly looking back, I realize that all the concentration on technique, notes and rhythm did not matter in that moment. Music was made and it was one of the most self-reveling performances of my life. There were no worries of feeling inferior or whether or not professors liked my interpretation. Sometimes I would give anything to just have that moment back. However, as someone grows as a musician, they must rediscover things as they add knew knowledge to it. A good student and a good musician is the one who discovers how to do this and builds a foundation for learning independence and for their own success.



Works Cited
Nathan, Rebekah. “Academically Speaking.” Reading and Writing: The College Experience. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007.
Spayde, John. “Learning in the Key of Life.” Reading and Writing: The College Experience. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007.
Thompson, Billy and Holly Thornton. “The Transition from Extrinsic to Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom: A First-Year Experience.” Reading and Writing: The College Experience. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007.