Chicago School Concepts In Practice

dales · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:49 am Post subject:

What are some of the ways you use Chicago School concepts in your study?

dbacon · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 8592

_Don Herman · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 12:31 pm Post subject:

I struggle with two basic concepts:

(1) Breathing more often, and more deeply, to keep half ful or better (more or less -- opinions vary whether the low point is 1/3 or 1/2, but y'll get the idea). Running out of air trying to make it through a phrase is one of the biggest issues I face. Kills my sound, endurance, etc. It still boggles me to think that I can't simply tell when it's time to breathe, but I can't. Too often I'll try to blow through a phrase which is beyond my capacity (err, no pun intended, but it's there anyway

).

(2) The business of hearing the sound in my head before I play it, then matching my sound to what I hear. Jacobs emphasizes having a sound in mind and playing to it. It is rare when I actually do this, but wonderful when it happens. So much seems to crowd in -- note recognition, are my chops set for the range I need, is my tongue working OK for those sixteenth notes, breathing... It's rare when all I hear in my mind is the music I want to play. Something to keep working on.

FWIW - Don (still hearing The Voices...)
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Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

dales · Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2002 9:07 pm Post subject:

I'm trying to hear the sound in my head first, too, and it's motivating me to improve my sightsinging and hearing skills.

Jacobs learned to play by ear and had solfege training, as did most of his contemporaries. Solfege training is not nearly as common now. I think many of us who had no real background in music prior to a school band program fall into a mechanical, hit-or-miss approach to playing that we have to overcome eventually to really get good.