Re: Practicing by playing songs

On May 23, 10:52 am, Sean <s...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

It's like learning a language. The "grammar first" approach usually ends
up with the student knowing "about" the language, but not able to speak
or understand it very well. A better approach is to learn how to say
some things by ear, and after that learn the grammar that explains how
the sentences are put together. In the case of a first language, most
people do just fine without ever learning any grammatical theory at all,
ever. That can be the case with music and music theory too.

Hi Sean. Great insight comparing learning guitar to learning foreign
languages.

Interestingly, I learned a second language using pattern-drills and
the violin using graduated etudes. It never occurred to me that these
are essentially the same method applied in different contexts. In
both cases, the outcome was semi-good: I achieved basic functionality
and could probably have moved on to real personal expression with a
bit more work. Both took years, though...and there was more than a
little drudgery.

In the case of learning etudes, one of my advanced teachers told me
explicitly why he emphasized them. He saw them like Lego blocks: they
isolated the basic skills needed to play anything in the repertoire.
Once your learned them you were (mostly) free to think about the music
on any new piece you tried. Or so was his theory.

Pattern drills were basically the same. I learned to say "This is a
pen!" and "This is a book!" under the assumption that when the need
arose I could say "This is a holy hand-grenade!" For the most part,
this actually worked out ok. No one in my class enjoyed language lab,
though....

Reading this group and talking to people about guitar have pushed me
more towards the "songs" direction. I still work on etudes, but less
so than with either piano or violin. Songs aren't a royal road to
quick mastery (at least not for me), but they're fun and my wife
doesn't mind them as much.

--Cliff (US)
.

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