'Three Neglected Techniques' in the Instrumental Music Education: Technique of Practice - Technique of Study - Interpretative Technique

Abstract

BACKGROUND Most often, music students' instrumental training consists of (1) lessons, planned and led by a teacher, and of (2) students own practicing, going on without any supervising. During lessons the student is teached, during practicing the student, in fact, teaches himself. In the training of professional instrumentalists, for example, the student gets about 30 hours/year individual lessons, while his/her own practicing could be estimated to at least 600 hours/year. Usually the teacher's as well as the faculty's concern and effort are focused on the teaching part of the education. Both its content, forms and methods are discussed and planned, the results then supervised and evaluated. While this part is considered to be teachers' obligation, students' practicing is considered to be students' own responsibility. It is correct, but only if the student knows how to practice. Unfortunately, quite often students' ideas of practicing are limited, or restricted to one aim only: to build up a fast finger-mobility, without any larger regard to the body's dispositions and the character of music. Hardly ever a student asks How should I practice?', the most frequently asked question is How many hours every day I should practice?'. Nevertheless, consequences of bad practice habits can be that the practicing becomes ineffective, that the student's instrumental and artistic development will be impeded, and at worst that serious occupational injuries occur. AIM The project's aim is to give students solid and objective advice for their own practicing (in form of a compendium and a periodically recurrent course) - which would make students' work more efficient to increase students' awareness of the connection between instrumental technique and musical interpretation, that is of the brain-body-instrument-music interaction - which would benefit students' artistic development to learn students how to plan and evaluate their own work effort - which would increase students' independence to exclude all basic and to any instrument generally applicable learning problems from instrumental lessons - which would give more time at teacher's disposal during lessons.