The 100 Percent Solution by Jane Palmquist
These methods will help all of your string students connect better with their music
A violin-maker friend of mine recently told me of an 80/20 rule-of-thumb in business: Eighty percent of the company's business comes from 20 percent of the customers, 80 percent of the compliments (or complaints) come from 20 percent of the customers, and so on. This started me thinking about 80/20 ratios in music education. Using this same ratio, if we assume traditional rehearsal methods are effective for 80 percent of orchestra students, then the obvious question is: What can directors do to reach that final 20 percent?
The answer is to use complementary techniques normally associated with general music classes. Although specialized training is required to fully implement a specific music method or approach (for example, Orff or Kodaly), any orchestra director can employ such general musical skills as movement, singing and listening in rehearsals.
Movement instruction
Applying movement instruction from the beginning can solve a large number of technical and mechanical problems. It also develops rhythmic sense and awareness of others (so important for cueing and ensemble), minimal verbal communication and improved technical performance skills.
Rhythmic sense
Rolland, Suzuki and others taught rhythm concepts to string students using simple, natural movements, such as stepping, waving, clapping and tapping. Additionally, they had students imitate and invent rhythm patterns on and off the instrument, walk and pulse (bending knees) to music and swing their arms to music (especially while walking).
Awareness of others
Students move around the room, developing sufficient peripheral vision and motor control to avoid running into each other. These same abilities help instruments and bows avoid bumping others in rehearsal and performance. In a game called Pass the Beat, students gathered in a circle do just that by clapping and using hand or head gestures to direct the beat among themselves. This develops the awareness needed to watch other musicians' — and the conductor's — cues.
Minimal verbal communication
I once watched, spellbound, as a Japanese teacher conveyed the musical intent of a particular violinistic phrase with one word and an expressive movement. "Fish," he told the student, and using his fluttering hands, mimicked a fish twitching and swimming away. The student violinist played the way the "fish" moved, and the passage immediately took on life and musicianship.
Improved technical and performance skills
Rolland, Suzuki and others advocated having students stand while playing to improve position and balance. Some movement activities include using right- and left-hand pizzicato (performed with large arching movements) tapping (while in playing position, tapping the front of the violin or fingerboard with the left hand), shadow bowing (performing bow movements away from the instrument, i.e., on one's shoulder), and swinging the left arm under the instrument while maintaining playing position.
Singing
Having orchestra sections sing increases their awareness of other parts, reinforces weaker or insecure sections and develops accurate intonation. If the teacher sings confidently, without apology or self-consciousness, so will the students. After all, singing is a natural expression of musicianship. For the conductor, singing is an efficient way to convey phrasing, nuance and interpretation. Having the orchestra sing allows the conductor to check students' understanding of the concepts and focuses attention on skills other than the mechanics of playing an instrument.
Listening to music
I use recorded string music in rehearsals to develop aural repertoire, tonal concept, intonation, phrasing, musicianship and as a basis for movement activities. I do not use it to teach students "the correct" interpretation of the music. Some directors criticize the use of recordings, concerned that students will copy what they hear and fail to develop their own musical ideas. However, I feel that we all imitate our aural models at some level, and such imitation is not necessarily a bad thing. After your high school orchestra has listened to recordings of the New York Philharmonic, there's little danger one will be mistaken for the other, but if it happened, wouldn't that be a happy problem to have?
Working with these ideas can provide an effective complement to reading and performing orchestral music. When your students play a stringed instrument, it becomes an extension of their bodies. When they move, sing and listen, their bodies become the instrument. Having your students experience that difference can benefit all of them, but most especially those who are more difficult to reach with traditional rehearsal techniques.
Jane Palmquist is Coordinator of Music Education in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and has taught strings and orchestra at all levels from elementary school through college.
