Becoming a Good Musician

    Everyone has heard that learning music has been proven to be beneficial in the study of other school subjects, as well as providing development to the person as a whole.  All you have to do is Google “why study music” and you’ll be able to read countless quotes and reasons explaining why it is so advantageous.  What you generally do not find out or hear about, however, is HOW music should be taught in order to prove all its benefits.  Many teachers and parents believe that as long as the student is playing their instrument in tune, passing examinations and performing nicely in recitals, their job is done. 

   The key to truly effective musical training is well-roundedness, and the establishment of a solid foundation starting from the very first lesson.  As Zoltán Kodály, the famous Hungarian composer and music educator once said: “The walls of a building without a foundation will crack and soon collapse”.  These words of wisdom apply to every subject, but unfortunately music teachers too often ignore this.  

    How then, does one become a good musician? What is this solid foundation? Kodály explained this extensively in his speech “Who is a good musician?”, one of my favourite articles by him.  First of all, developing the ear is probably the most important skill that needs to be developed from the very beginning.  However, this shouldn’t be done purely by imitation, from one instrument to the other.  It needs to be internalised and felt, and this is best done through singing. Through singing, you also learn musicality -  if you can sing the melody musically, you can play the melody musically.  This is why the student should sing the melody first before playing it on their instrument.

    If the student is encouraged to sing every melody they learn on their instrument, especially if it’s a stringed instrument, they are more likely to play it in tune.  This is why solfa syllables (do, re, mi, etc.) are widely used in music education as a tool - the process helps incredibly with intonation.  And while singing a melody in this way, you are multi-tasking without even realising it: you are making a functional tonal analysis as well as developing your musical literacy, even with the simplest of melodies.  Think about it: with the solfa syllables you learn musical vocabulary rather than the alphabet, just as children learn words and sentences before the structure and grammar of a language. 

        While developing the ear through singing is the most important skill, music theory is a close second.  This is where mathematics and other subjects are most present in a different way, as well as where intellectual thinking begins on the page. I believe every music student should learn to read music from the very first lesson, no matter how young they are.  For the youngest student this can (and should!) be done playfully, such as just using one or two lines instead of the whole stave at once, depending on the range of the tune they’re learning. I am constantly surprised at how intelligent small children are - I have to remind myself never to underestimate them. 

    For slightly older students I try to spend a few minutes of the lesson working in a music theory workbook, as this also helps with their reading skills and expands their knowledge and understanding of music earlier on.  I found that if theory is made a part of the instrumental lesson from the very beginning of their studies, they will be less likely to be “afraid” of the subject later on.  Theory is musical mathematics and philosophy, and this is possibly the strongest aspect of music that helps non-musical subjects.  It also allows more creativity in music making and gives students more ideas for composition and improvisation.

    Finally, teachers should encourage chamber music or other forms of communual music making early on in the student’s musical career.  Music-making is about communication, and nothing is more enjoyable and rewarding than bringing the joy of music to more people than just yourself and your teacher.  Playing in groups also helps individual playing become more fluent and confident as well as a very helpful motivational device.  The ideal routine for a student would to have one or two half-hour individual lessons a week, at least one group lesson (preferably more!) with others at the same level complemented by orchestral or band rehearsals.  In this way they would get the most out of the possibilities offered by the music world.  

    To conclude, I’d like to quote Kodály again with his definition of a good musician.  The characteristics of good musician (and teacher!) are: 1. a well-trained ear; 2. a well-trained intelligence; 3. a well-trained heart; and 4. a well-trained hand.  All four should develop at the same time equally.  Of course, it is nearly impossible to become a perfect musician, just like it is impossible to become a perfect person, but it would be better to have these thoughts in mind to guide us towards truly ideal musical goals.