PROTOTYPES
Building a model of the ideal performance
Randall has finished getting on top of the notes and rhythms in his new piece, and he's ready for what's next.
However, his idea of what's next is "Get it up to tempo."
His teacher disagrees. "You can speed the piece up as soon as you're completely clear on what the final version of your piece should contain, feel like and sound like."
How is Randall supposed to figure that out? And surely that's not going to matter until the performance is looming...?
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Let's travel into the future for a moment. Let's imagine that you've just given a performance of your piece - a performance that you were proud of from start to finish.
That's good timing, because let's also imagine that in the audience was a music critic, who will be writing up your performance in the newspaper tomorrow.
Here's the key question:
What would you want that review to say about your playing?
Now before you reach for the thesaurus to look up "breathtaking" and "genius," I'm not talking about general superlatives. I'm talking about comments that target specific qualities in your playing. Were these comments directed to your intonation? Your stage presence? Your delivery of rhythms? Your use of rubato?
And if those were the elements mentioned, what exactly did the comments say?
This "what-do-I-want-to-be-proudest-of?" is one of the most important things you can ask yourself. If practicing is supposed to prepare you for performance, that preparation has to start with a clear picture of what you want your performance to offer. That way you can suit up to meet the demands of that vision.
The earlier that picture appears, and the clearer it is while you practice, the more compelling your final performance will be.
So if you want your critic to be writing "effortless and precise control over the fast passages," then working towards effortless and precisely controlled fast passages needs to form part of your practice now. Otherwise it's not going to form part of your performance then.
Defining your prototype
In the end, this whole exercise is a question of values. Obviously you want every musical element to be in good shape, but what are the elements that you really want to showcase? What, above all else, do you want the audience buzzing about afterwards?
Once you know, write it down, just to make it an official wish.
You're then going to build a model of your piece that will help make that wish come true.
Preparing your model
Ok, so you've got your piece in front of you, and a concert in three months. You've just finished creating your list of expectations of the performance itself:
- Excellent tone production in all registers
- Crisp and precisely delivered staccato notes in the centre section
- Perfectly even semiquavers in all the fast runs
- Wide dynamic range
Now that you've named the performance values that are most important to you. it's time to create a prototype version of the piece that has all those values in place.
Just what is a "prototype?"
It is a version of your piece that is performance ready in every way except for tempo.
The reason for the tempo limitation is so that speed doesn't sabotage the other things you're trying to get right.
Building your prototype
Armed now with permission to play as slowly as you need, it's time to work your way through your values list, and shape your prototype to match.
So from our list of example values above, you might start by selecting:
"perfectly even semiquavers in all the fast runs"
It's definitely a worthwhile aim. But perfectly even semiquavers aren't going to magically appear in your performance just because you hope they might.
But they will magically appear in your performance if you build them into your prototype now.
And so your next few practice sessions now have a clear mission. They'll be dominated by working on the even delivery of your semiquavers, because you know that you're not just shaping a prototype here...
...you're shaping the performance itself.
Once you're done with this value, move on to the others on your list.
The whole process adds a high-sheen polish to your playing - but even more than that, it adds a clear sense of purpose to your practice. You're not practicing just to "improve." You've got a prototype to prepare.
In short, you're making real the things you wish for in your playing.
How to tell when it's ready
The test is a simple one:
If somebody were to record your prototype, and then speed up the playback so that you were hearing it at full tempo, it should match exactly what you intend the performance itself to sound like.
The only difference between your prototype and what you'd be hoping for on performance day is the speed itself.
Getting it up to tempo
Because you've carefully created a prototype, you've got an ideal foundation for speeding up your piece.
So if you combine your prototype now with the technique of building up the tempo gradually, you'll end up having it all - a full tempo performance that's packed with the sort of quality control that only a prototype can bring.
Make no mistake though - this process does not work reliably the other way around. You can't take care of preferred qualities. You just end up with a fast mess.
But as long as you are careful with how you tackle each of the two stages, you'll always end up with a high quality, up to tempo performance. Always.
Prototypes are that powerful.
Matching values to pieces
Because your prototype is going to be created especially to reflect your wishlist of values, you need to be careful what that wishlist contains.
This means that you can't just have the same set of values for every piece.
You may well have a favorite value of "crisp and energetic staccato," but some staccato passages just aren't meant to be delivered that way.
Instead, you've got to tailor your choice of values to match the special inbuilt qualities of the piece.
Again, having been listed, those values would then be carefully built into your prototype... and would be evident for all to hear on concert/exam day.
Candidates for your values list
Your ability to create compelling prototypes is limited by the number of values you're able to think of.
It's a balancing act though. You're going to drown in details if you give yourself a 100 point checklist for your prototype. But too few items, and you simply won't do the piece, or yourself justice.
As a result, when you're working with prototypes, the best thing to do is to construct a list of twenty or so possibilities, and then cull that squad back to a team of 4 - 6.
Go build your prototype in the image of the values in that team, and then enjoy the results on concert/exam day.
Expanding your values list
Part of the reason that you have lessons in the first place is that your teacher's musical values list will be longer than yours. As a result, your teacher is going to be a great source of values that perhaps you hadn't considered yet.
Eliminating negatives
As well as listening for the presence of all the items on your values list, you're also checking for the absence of anything noticeably bad in your prototype - even if the bad thing wasn't specifically mentioned on your list as a thing to watch out for.
So if you notice your prototype getting faster and faster, you don't stop to check whether "maintain steady tempo" was on your list of values. You fix the problem there and then.
End result? You have your values list adding sparkle and mastery to key elements in your playing. And you're still scanning carefully for any non-listed items that are letting your piece down.
This twin combination ensures that your worst is not so bad... and that your best dazzles!
J J
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