A few days ago, a particularly talented student played through three songs beautifully. Over the course of the last several months, she has tackled challenging pieces and has improved dramatically from lesson to lesson. She is very determined to play guitar and she has a strong desire to play music. I told her that learning an instrument was a lot like climbing a very high mountain and that instead of taking a step at a time, it seemed like she had a helicopter to the top. I think she got the metaphor because of her smile. For parents of young musicians, the mountain metaphor is a good one. Note: although I enjoy a good hike, my mountain climbing is purely imaginary; experienced vicariously through my wife’s ascents of Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, etc., and through a story I read to my children about the road to Lhasa. Nevertheless, peaks, as I understand them, are elusive, concealed in fog and clouds. With perseverance, intelligence, questioning, and some gentle guidance the peaks come into view. Sometimes, as my student’s parent chimed in, you have to stop and enjoy the view. Sometimes we tumble backwards and have to consult maps. Sometimes we have to go back to base camp and evaluate a new way to the top, etc… I could keep going.

The metaphor of the long haul is valuable for parents but for very young children it is not as useful though it is nice to share. Most parents have the perspective to see the learning curve and what a long term commitment could yield. Small children are zen creatures, living in the now, and living in the now for parents is sometimes as elusive as that mountain top when you’re cleaning, making dinner, and carting the siblings to their various sports and lessons. This is one of the reasons why it is challenging to sit patiently with your child while they explore every note on the guitar except the one you ask them to play. Suspend the future and past, provide specific activities and small goals to ensure success, offer praise for achieving and more importantly, for trying, and take another small step with your child tomorrow.

Most of my blog entries focus on helping parents help their young children. And I tend to write on topics that are most useful for developing good playing habits at home. However, I am going to spend sometime focusing on advancing students – students who may be working more independently or who have reached the sophistication to add some more subtle points to their practice routines.

Though many parents and students have heard their teachers (I hope!) remind them to practice difficult parts slowly, most students do little of this because of the problems exposed – mainly, that they don’t know the piece as well as they thought they did. Nevertheless, slowing a passage or a few notes down provides ample time for actively questioning and observing what works and what doesn’t. So here are a few things to try to help develop focus, listening, and control:

Activity 1
1) Find and isolate a difficult passage from a song.
2) Play the first note and listen to it until you can no longer hear it (no buzzing allowed).
3) Imagine or visualize where the next note is, then, as smoothly (not quickly) as possible, place the next note.
4) Play this note and listen to it until you can no longer hear it.
5) Keep going until the passage is complete.

Activity 2
1) Choose a closed position scale (no open strings).
2) Immediately after plucking the first note, slowly relax the active left hand finger until hearing a buzz but don’t lose contact with the string. This is the breaking point at which the pressure of the left hand is too light to create or sustain a resonating note.
3) Continue to the next note and relax the active finger until the breaking point.
4) Complete the scale to acquire a feel for where the breaking point is.
5) Now, repeat the scale in the same fashion but relax the left hand fingers after they pinch to what is perceived as the moment right before the breaking point. In other words, relax the active left hand finger but retain just enough pressure so that the note does not buzz.

Good luck.