Practicing: Part Six

Learning New Music!

Congratulations!

You were just assigned a new piece of music to learn and master.

How do you feel?

It’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed and not sure of how to attack practicing a new piece of music.

So let’s break it down a little with some basic things you can do to alleviate the anxiety:

• Research

  • When was your piece composed?

  • Who is the composer?

    • What are some basic facts about them?

      • (Also, be sure you know how to pronounce their name correctly, please!)

      • Was your composer inspired by anything when they composed the piece?!

  • Is the piece part of a bigger movement?

• For vocalists:

  • Who is the librettist?

    • What are some basic facts about them?

    • What is the text about?

      • Does the text come from a poetry series?

  • What emotions are you conveying?

  • Are you singing an aria or solo from an opera/musical?

    • What is the basic synopsis?

    • Who is your character?

      (Don’t worry - I’ll cover role preparation soon!)

• Listen

  • Find recordings of the piece/solo and listen to other interpretations

    • It’s totally okay to listen to other musicians perform the piece you are about to learn - just remember - you are your own person. Don’t mimic their sound

    • Follow along with your music when you listen!

      • You may even hear mistakes - I know I have ;-)

• Break It Down

  • Read through the entire piece from start to finish

    • See where there are tempo changes or any repeats etc…

  • Mark it up! Mark those tricky parts. Just like I told you here:

    Practicing: Part Four

• Work Backwards

  • Who says you have to start at the very beginning?!

    (Besides Maria in The Sound of Music)

  • Work through that part that scares you the most

• Translations

  • Is your piece in a different language?

    • If you are singing in another language, write out:

      • A word for word translation

      • A poetic translation

      • What do the words mean to you

        (I’ll talk more about Translations soon too!)

• Musical Notation

  • Take note of:

    • Key signature

    • dynamics

    • tempo marking etc…

I geek out when I am assigned new music/new role. I get this incredible rush of excitement.

And that’s why I created My Practicing Tips to share my excitement towards practicing with you!

Are you inspired?!

Awesome! Let’s do this!

Remember: Practice Makes Progress.

Happy Practicing!

Look for Practicing: Part Seven in the weeks ahead!

Click Here for My Practicing Tips sub series. Share it with your students!