Tag: learning

Mental Energy and Fuelling Yourself for Learning Guitar

Nicole Neal1 Comment
English: Pepitas - roasted and salted
Pumpkin seeds – one of my favourite brain foods! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

I’ve been reading a book recently by the name of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Nobel Prize-winning author Daniel Kahneman (it’s a great read, you should check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555) . In this Kahneman discusses the idea that we have two “systems” operating in the brain:

 

  • System 1 – which is the “non-thinking” part of us, responsible for things that we do automatically, such as reflexes, reactions, habits and so on.

 

  • System 2 – which is the “thinking” part of us, responsible for us undertaking activities that require concentration, attention and mental effort.

 

This concept resonated with me in relation to learning the guitar, particularly so given that I’ve been learning a brand spanking new piece recently. It got me thinking that when we’re playing guitar, playing something we know absolutely inside out, backwards and upside down, something we’ve been playing for a long time, we’re really playing through our “System 1”. We’ve embedded something so much that it becomes a habit. And so it stands to reason, therefore, that when we’re learning something new, we’re utilising our “System 2” – concentrating and using real, discernable mental effort.

 

The new piece I’ve been learning recently is particularly involved, lengthy and intense – learning it has required some of the most intense mental effort and concentration I think I’ve ever exerted! After one particular lesson on this piece I felt like my brain had been pulled out backward through my head. I felt like I was like a zombie. I was also starving hungry! This is my “System 2” in full flight.

 

According to Kahneman:

 

“…the idea of mental energy is more than a mere metaphor. The nervous system consumes more glucose than most other parts of the body, and effortful mental activity appears to be especially expensive in the currency of glucose. When you are actively involved in difficult cognitive reasoning or engaged in a task that requires self-control, your blood glucose level drops. The effect is analogous to a sprinter who draws down glucose stored in her muscles during a sprint.”

 

Hmmm, very interesting. So when we’re learning a new piece on the guitar, really concentrating on reading each and every note, pitch, duration, rhythm, left hand fingering, right hand fingering, positioning on the fretboard and keeping it all together and all moving, we’re actually doing something akin to a mental sprint or some kind of mental “run” at least. You’re burning real energy, and burning it at a much greater rate than you probably would be when working on something you know inside out.

 

It’s probably a good idea, therefore, to think about fuelling yourself up sufficiently prior to a good solid practice session, particularly if you’re working on something brand spanking new! You don’t have to go crazy and use it as an excuse to pig out or to eat a lot of sugary or fatty foods. Just a little of something wholesome and nutritious before you sit down (and a glass of water so you’re well hydrated) is probably a good idea.

 

I’m no nutritionist, but something like a wee ham, cheese, salad sandwich on wholemeal, some Nutella or peanut butter on wholemeal, a handful of nuts and dried fruits or a banana prior to practice time sets me up well.

 

Here are some other ideas for you:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/16/brain-boosting-foods-that-increase-concentration_n_1096824.html

 

Listening to music to shape your learning

Nicole Neal1 Comment
292/366 Music
(Photo credit: Mark Seton)

This may sound like a bit of a silly title for a bunch of musicians. From the general population we classical guitarists, as musicians, are probably more than likely than most to listen to music on a regular basis right?

Well, what I mean to convey is the active listening to music and using it as a tool for your learning of a particular piece. With the proliferation of online services and apps such as Spotify and YouTube, pretty much the whole widey world of music is at your fingertips, night and day, at the click of a button. Whatever it is you want to listen to is right there for you. These fantastic tools can now really assist us, in a cost minimal and effort minimal way to bring new approaches and shine new lights on our repertoire.

Spotify is a particular favourite of mine. When learning a new piece, once I’ve got my fingers and head around the basic skeleton of a piece, I’ll then hop onto Spotify to check out the myriad of versions that have been recorded. I tend to do this once I’ve started to get an idea in my own mind as to how I hear the music, rather than be directly influenced by another’s interpretation straight off the bat where I can (with some of the more popular repertoire I appreciate that this may not always be possible).

Once I’ve started to get a piece underway I do find it particularly useful to check out various other interpretations, listening in particular to:

  • Tempi – these can always be wide ranging, but does it sound better slightly faster or slightly slower? Am I wide of the mark in my general approach to target tempo I had in mind?
  • Voicings – do they draw out the same voices that I’d heard? Are there voices that I’d missed?
  • Phrasing, dynamics and tone colours – how do they shape the music? What is its direction? Are there are any interesting or unusual ways of shaping or adding colour that I like and I could employ?
  • Anything else that I may have missed or that interests me in an interpretation that I’d not heard of or thought about before.

When I’m going through this exercise, it’s not just guitar music that I listen to either. This is especially the case if the piece in question was not originally written for guitar. It really help you understand a piece to listen to it in its original intended instrumentation – transcriptions from the original violin, ‘cello and piano versions are typical with guitar repertoire. Whatever the original instrumentation is it can really help to shed light on what the composer may have been intending, how you can treat your tone colours and overall sound, where the main voices and phrasings lie perhaps.

I also like to see if I can find other arrangements for a piece too, transcribed for other instruments – i.e. not the original instrument and not guitar – and listen to how they shape, phrase, colour and play the music. I always find it fascinating to listen to how other musicians on other instruments aside from the guitar do this.

Solo pieces that are given group arrangement treatments – duos, trios or other ensemble arrangements – can also present an interesting perspective on a piece too, particularly with regard to voicings and how those are shared amongst an ensemble and how they are treated.

So, next time you’re learning a new piece or even now with one of your existing pieces that perhaps you want to take to the next level or freshen up a little, I highly recommend you to hop onto YouTube, Spotify or similar and put a bit of a listening list together. There are a wealth of resources available out there at your disposal and you’d be mad not to use them!