THE UNDENIABLE MISSING LINK
Can you relate to any of these
statements?
I cannot seem to play what I am hearing
in my head.
I am not where I want to be with my
playing.
I sound good but I know there is so much
room for improvement.
I am giving it time and effort, always
practicing and improving but am not just there yet.
If you said yes to
any of the above, then THE UNDENIABLE MISSING LINK is
written with you and your likes at heart. It’s a bit long reading but I assure
you it will be worth your while if you will read it through. Enjoy your
reading.
The art of learning
is an interesting human phenomenon, it permeate every facet of human being.
From the cradle till the day we breadth our last, we never for once stop
learning. It’s as needful as the fabric of life itself. It however sad that we
tend to want to change the flow of things as soon as we have the opportunity to
do so, how? We will get to that in a moment.
The baby has no
problem with the learning phenomenon it is usually the adult that seem to
always without number tries to short circuit the system. How sad.
Learning to play the
instrument of your choice is no different especially if one happens to start
learning as an adult. We tend to break all the rules of the game and expect to
come out tops and awarded the Medal of Honor with the obvious satisfaction that
come with such feat. Sadly that is not the case; we many times end up at best
as mediocre instrumentalist that is king only in his or her comfort zone. NOTE!!
Mediocre don’t set out to be mediocre; they are mediocre because they focus on
just getting by.
If you really want
to be fulfilled with your playing, and are willing to make the necessary minor
adjustments to incorporate the undeniable missing link into your
system of learning, then read on you will be thankful you did. The intent of
this write up is so that at the end of it all you can identify with the
statement;
I may not
have arrived yet, but am not what I use to be; I have just learned how to
rightly keep going on until I get there.
Am glad you are
still reading, it shows you are on way to a fulfilling playing experience.
GENESIS: Where
it all began:
The Brain Factor:
Have ever wondered
why it takes only few hours for a kid (Goat, Sheep or a Cow) to learn and
perfect the act of walking, hopping and running? On the other hand it takes a
baby a minimum of ten months to one year to begin to have a grasp of the same
experience? Simply put, we are wired and programmed differently.
The brain capacity and development process of a goat and that of man is quite
different. Unlike the goat that needs minimal intelligence for its existence,
our brain being the control tower, needs continuous growth and development starting
from birth to the day it can send out the necessary information to all the
different parts of the body responsible for let’s say walking. Even after the
necessary instruction is given there is still a lot more to be put in place for
the perfecting of the act of walking, hopping and running or any other
activity.
Having this concept
at the back of your mind try humming a tune of your choice; where do you think
the hum is originating from? Your mouth I guess? Try humming the tune again,
this time be conscious of what you are humming see if you can identify where
it’s really coming from. Yes! It’s coming all the way from your mind (or brain);
it’s more like the subconscious instructing the vocal cavity to sound the tune
in a hum. A careful research will show you how science has over the years proved
that virtually every action or motion of any part of the body emanates from the
brain.
The point is this; the
most important skill or ability required for an exceptional playing of any
instrument should be the effectual development of the link between the brain
and the part of the body responsible for playing the instrument. WHAT??? YES!
It’s as you read it. It is not how many lush chords you have mastered or how
many exotic scales you know and certainly it has nothing to do with how many
tunes or songs you have scored. Now please don’t get me wrong, sure there are
other factors that are as well of significance and must be considered and not
taken for granted however the truth is first things must, and should always come
first. The horse must always be before the cart for a smooth ride. The
foundation is not the only necessary requirement for a beautiful structure but
in my opinion it’s the most important, without a good one, an expensive
building will soon be rubles in a matter of days or months. You see playing
the instrument is no different. Unfortunately we tend to short circuit the
process to suit our desire to want to start making music on our instrument of
choice, sure it’s fun to start hearing yourself make beautiful sounds almost
instantly on the piano or say the guitar, but this fun many times don’t last a
life time. Soon you begin to notice limitations in the way you play which ends
up killing all the fun you once had at the beginning.
This concept is the
foundation of what is called “PLAYING BY
EAR”. It simply means producing any sound you can hear with your ears or
better put any sound in your head. Imagine you hear a bird singing, instantly
you can naturally replicate it by whistling. This happens intuitively with
almost no effort on your side or so it seems. Why is that? How is it that the
lips can easily replicate a bird’s sound? This is because over the years, one has
effectually
developed the link between the brain and the part of the body responsible for
whistling.
Consider a baby
trying to utter out his or her first word. This word is usually MAMA, BABA or
DADA and the likes. In the head, the baby knows what he or she want to say but
cannot because the vocal cavity, tongue, lips etc. involve in speech are yet to
completely align with the instructions generating from the brain. This
limitation of course in due time is overcome. The baby not only utters the word
BABA or MAMA, but is fluent in speech. Worry as much as the parents could, they
will just have to let that all important links to develop. There is no short
circuiting the process except they would want the baby have some kind of speech
impediment.
Many of us today
have playing impediment or limitations because we jump the gun in our learning
process. Yes we can play the instrument but not to the extent we would love to.
We would love to be able to replicate intuitively every note sung, ad lib and chant
that a singer makes but we are not able.
Sure it is possible
to score the song before time and be ready for the presentation; it is also
good that we have some wicked slush chords and riffs up our sleeves ready to be
unleashed when the need arises (there are many resources available in the
market to meet this need); while on stage however, it is usually a different
ball game. The mechanical instrumentalist tends to be stiff and ends up
throwing his prepared arsenals off target or at best in a predictable way. The
intuitive player on the other hand is king of the ring. Why? Well for one, he
is only having fun since he is only playing what his brain tells him at the
moment. He is doing what he always does; “TALKING”. The only difference is that
his fingers are doing what his mouth should be doing.
If you really want to
move to the next level playing the instrument of your choice then you need to
as a matter of urgency engage the missing link of which the
first step is working on the brain factor.
How do I go about this simple but important step in my desire to be the player I want to be you might ask?
If you ask me, I
will say you do the following:
·
1. Google on PLAYING
BY EAR and use the information you find.
·
2. Ask someone you
know that can help you OR
