McKinnon L., a prominent specialist in the theoretical problems of performance and pedagogy, in her book accumulated the richest performing and pedagogical experience of her own and the experience of many students of varying degrees of giftedness and sophistication. In his book, the author considers the problem of memory from the point of view of psychoanalysis. According to the theory of Sigmund Freud, there are two realms of the human "I": the conscious and the unconscious (or subconscious).

“The unconscious is the biological nature of a person and is controlled by instincts that regulate the sensual sphere of natural needs.

Conscious - controls the unconscious, determines the choice of behavior in the social environment. A conflict arises between the conscious and the unconscious, then the balance between the two spheres of the psyche is disturbed. The psyche is automatically regulated by the pleasure principle, which is modified into the reality principle, and if the balance is disturbed, a reset is carried out through the unconscious sphere.

Based on this theory, McKinnon builds his general psychological concept, which interprets musical memory as the totality of all the elements that make up musical experience, as a necessary prerequisite for learning, considered in the broadest sense. It can be seen from the author's book that the basis of improving memory is a deep understanding of the processes in the mind and subconscious, and this is a necessary element in the development of skills for mastering the techniques of memorizing a piece of music.

According to McKinnon, people differ both in the quality of memory and in its strength. One can remember a piece more or less completely only by listening to it or playing it; another takes weeks to memorize the same piece. But the memory of someone who learns quickly may be less accurate and tenacious than the memory of a "hard worker" who absorbs music gradually until it really becomes part of himself. This process of gradual assimilation allows interesting discoveries to be made about the music itself, its interpretation, and thus those who learn slowly can benefit the most.

"Natural" memory is usually associated with what is commonly called "perfect pitch", but the owners of this gift are often in too much of a hurry to use it. While memorizing with ease what they have heard or played, they do not always subject the piece to a sufficiently conscientious study, which is absolutely necessary for accurate and confident performance by heart. The memory of youth is highly receptive. Even small children can memorize entire pages from books with only a very vague idea of ​​their meaning. Such a memory, much like that of a parrot, tends to decline with the development of the intellect. This was the basis for a certain theory, according to which memory deteriorates after the age of 25 - the age of manhood. Many (including musicians) are convinced that after 35, at the latest 40, it is generally useless to try to learn something new by heart. Such a theory of the destruction of memory is very convenient for the mediocre mind, which, undoubtedly, is its author. Choosing the path of least resistance, most prefer to rest on their laurels with the thought: "I'm too old to learn", instead of following the other principle: "every day I learn something new." When a person is satisfied with his physical condition, he usually forgets (or does not want to remember) that in order to preserve youth, the brain, as well as the muscles, must be exercised daily.

There are, however, rare, exceptional individuals who choose the line of greatest resistance. Despite the hostile influence of the intellectually inert, they do not allow age to slow down the process of mental improvement. They know that when the amazing receptivity of youth is gone, it is replaced by a much more useful and reliable power - the selective memory of maturity.

A musician at 35, congratulating himself on an easy life: "I'm too old to concentrate", should be contrasted with another joyfully starting to learn a new sonata at the age of 70 and older.

The strength of the memory, more than is commonly believed, depends on the habit of learning; the growing obedience of memory can compensate for the passing years. So, Pakhman, at the age of 70, admitted that he was only now beginning to learn how to work. Older musicians should also try to find some new methods of work for themselves, to cultivate new habits in themselves, preserving the youth of the soul, which will have the most beneficial effect, both for memory and for the technique that complements it.

One who does not have perfect pitch must work hard to learn a piece by heart; another with this gift will have to work much less on the same task, but everyone should work.

This does not mean at all that the musician, like a slave, is doomed to hellish labor. On the contrary, the author is sure that the work of a musician can become much more pleasant and productive. Concentration will be stimulated by interest, reasonably organized work will be rewarded with saved time, knowledge of the elementary laws of the psyche - by the absence of excessive nervous tension.

The author believes that musical memory as a special kind of memory does not exist. What is commonly understood as musical memory is in reality a collaboration various kinds memories that every normal person has - it is the memory of the ear, eye, touch and movement; an experienced musician usually uses all types of memory.

There was a time when beginners were forced to get acquainted with music, first of all with the eyes as with something that should be “rather seen than heard. Even today, some teach in this way, encouraging in their students bad habits. It is those whose muscle memory is governed more by sight than by inner hearing that most often complain of the absence of hearing.

The four types of memory are largely interdependent; they are also highly susceptible to suggestion, and if the performer believes that his fingers cannot trust the memory of hearing, he experiences a feeling of inferiority that inhibits general development. Therefore it is obvious that if the auditory memory does not guide the muscular one, the performance becomes uncertain and unmusical.

In our opinion, the above should become an axiom for any musician.

It is not always understood that auditory memory can be developed in adulthood. A few minutes of daily ear training, followed by the study of harmony at the piano, will gradually create the habit of thinking about music not in black and white symbols, but in sound images. This will greatly expand the performing possibilities, since the muscles, acting less "mechanically", will readily respond to the intentions of the performer.

Not everyone has the same ability to see. One mentally sees a page of musical text in great detail; another imagines the same page only very vaguely, missing many details, while the third does not know how to see with his inner eye at all. However, this latter can memorize music just as well as the former, who has sharp mental vision.

Good sight-readers use mainly visual memory, however, without having time to comprehend the perceived music, they usually are unable to remember it. This indicates that music photographed visually does not necessarily have to be retained in memory for a long time. On the other hand, one can learn and memorize a work without seeing it at all. This is how music is taught by those born blind and, to a certain extent, by all those who, having ordinary vision, cannot see it mentally (or see it very indistinctly).

Many teachers insist that musical works be memorized by the visual method. This is definitely not true. If the student can “hear with his eyes” at the same time, then everything is fine, but for someone who does not have this ability, the visual method of memorization can seriously damage. Although, many teachers, not without reason, believe that visual memorization, being mechanical at first, gradually turns into a purely creative one, into the ability to “hear with the eyes”. Trying in vain to memorize the music, many have completely given up on playing by heart, believing that they have a “bad memory”.

Everyone must decide for himself to what extent he should rely on visual memory. He who naturally "sees" music will do well to use and trust this memory; but also successfully memorizes music and those who rely on acute hearing and muscular sensations.

Visual memory, like absolute pitch, can be very useful, but it is by no means necessary for performing “without notes”.

“The memory of touch is best developed by playing with eyes closed or in the dark. This teaches the performer to listen more carefully to himself and to control the sensations of his fingertips. The pianist, like the clavichord player, should touch the keys softly, not strike them. A good organist doesn't put his foot on the pedals; he feels groups of shorter keys and thus knows without looking what he has to do.

The performer's muscular (or motor) memory must be well developed, because without an instantaneous nervous reaction to touch, as well as to auditory perception, professional technique is impossible. Movements should never be mechanical - they should become automatic, in other words, subconscious. Only by learning to play without looking can one realize quite clearly how reliable motor memory can be, which also includes a sense of direction. Our ear hears sound in this moment; with our inner ear we imagine the sound that should follow it, and if memory is trusted, the hands, obeying habit, find their own way.

The two types of memory - motor and tactile - are in fact inseparable from each other, but in the process of learning by heart at least three types must cooperate: auditory, tactile and motor. Visual memory, usually associated with them, only supplements to one degree or another this peculiar quartet, which determines the formation of habits necessary for any performer.

Memories and habits together form a huge capricious orchestra, whose members, being in a secret and subtle alliance, are able at the same time to steal unexpected tricks. The upbringing and training of this orchestra should be undertaken by a demanding conductor - Reason, since deep knowledge of the matter and strict discipline are necessary to solve complex problems.

Motor memory is difficult to control the conductor. But even worse is distraction. She is able to confuse the whole orchestra. But since habits do not tolerate brutal violence, the conductor must exercise maximum patience so that the rehearsals are carried out with the greatest benefit.

On the other hand, when memory is fueled by interest, responsive habits learn their roles very quickly. Well-trained, they play orchestral parts flawlessly, unless the Mind capitulates to the infamous excitement.

According to McKinnon, the best teacher of a musician is his own physical sensations, therefore, analysis personal experience will be of great benefit. However, one should not forget about the study of theory.

In this chapter, the author delves into the theory of psychoanalysis to show how versatile and amazing the work of our memory is. In a broad sense, memory is not limited to remembering something "very important" in our opinion; memory is involved in various aspects of our life, including conscious and subconscious. Moreover, memory is the basis of human existence and development.

What happens in a dream was, and remains, a mystery to us, to which no one has answered so far. According to the theory of Sigmund Freud, dreams are manifestations of our unconscious "I", as if our soulmate, which we know so little. What, if not dreams, will describe our unconscious personality so vividly and colorfully? So let's dive into this mysterious world fantasy.

Dreams reveal a lot of interesting things about the work of our memory. They may be majestic or funny, but from the point of view of the waking consciousness they are rarely intelligent. Obviously, when we fall asleep, control over the psyche is transferred to another part of our being, which, in the absence of best name we call the subconscious. Thus, we see that our psyche, in accordance with the circumstances, works in different areas in different ways. In a dream, we suddenly see a person whom we forgot about a long time ago, but who appeared to us, familiar to the smallest features, speaking in a well-known voice. How dare a musician wake up from such a dream and say, "I have no memory?" Even a superficial study of dreams testifies to the amazing tenacity of memory. Some psychologists tend to argue that memory retains every impression we receive.

The subconscious, like the conscious, is creative in nature. We recognize the man of our dreams in the smallest detail, but he does things that we have never observed him in life, says things that we have never heard from him: this subconscious mind amuses itself by combining disparate, scraps of ideas into new fantastic forms, and we have no way of predicting his intentions and reactions. Sometimes it amuses itself with “witties” that, from the point of view of the waking consciousness, do not contain a grain of wit; sometimes creative inspiration descends on him, far beyond the limits of what is possible.

A sleeping person, whose psyche is controlled by the subconscious, can experience completely ridiculous emotions for a waking person. The subconscious, ignoring all human capabilities and physical laws, including the law of gravity, can make you soar above the ground in a dream; the sense of proportion, including the sense of time, betrays you completely, and in half a minute the experience of a whole month can sometimes be contained.

Subconscious activity never stops. At night, to the accompaniment of uninterrupted dreams, the heart must beat the same as during the day, the lungs must breathe, the tissues must recover. We take many things, including health, the ability to move, speak, for granted and take it for granted. And although close acquaintance with phenomena tends to deprive us of the opportunity to be surprised, let us nevertheless, as conscious researchers, reflect on the miracle of living memory that controls many functions of the human body. After all, memory, and not the fear of losing it, is given to us from birth. Is it possible to doubt the perfection of her work!?

The act of speech alone is a physiologically much more complex phenomenon than playing musical instrument, and if a musician can repeat a verbal phrase from memory, then recalling a musical phrase should be relatively easy.

The performance of a piece of music, as well as speech, are acquired skills, and not naturally performed actions (like a heartbeat). These skills must be consciously mastered. It takes effort to learn to speak, or write, or play the scale, and the effort gets smaller the more you practice. In the end, after a sufficient amount of exercise, you can perform these actions "without thinking." Performing a concert program by heart seems like a miracle to an uninitiated listener, while an experienced soloist considers it completely natural. When the control of movements passes to the "mind of habit" - the subconscious, these movements, without losing their original complex structure, become natural and easy.

Conscious attention at any given moment can be given only one subject, while the subconscious simultaneously manages an innumerable number of operations. If it were not for this amazing property of the subconscious, the skills acquired would be terribly limited both in scope and in nature.

The result of all learning is the formation of habits, expedient or inappropriate, but the beginning of this process is controlled by consciousness. The selection of material, the formation of skills, the analysis of the work done - all this is part of the task of Reason, and a musician who imagines the impressionability of memory and its natural tenacity must take this task seriously and responsibly.

Based on purely practical considerations, we will limit ourselves to a simplified idea of ​​​​the two sides of our being - conscious and subconscious.

Success in music is impossible without sufficient willpower, but even the greatest volitional effort is more mental than any external effort. Of course, depending on the degree of preparation, this tension may be greater or lesser, and yet determination alone, even the most ardent one, does not yet ensure success. It is known, for example, that when we try very hard to fall asleep, sleep does not come to us; if we make special efforts not to worry, it only gets worse.

In psychology, an interesting law is known, which is called the "law of reverse effort." Here is what Ch. Baidowin says about this: “If someone is in a state described by the words: “I would like, but I can’t,” he can want as much as he wants, however, the more he tries, the less he succeeds"

Even if the counter-suggestion is not as active as in the case of "reverse effort" ("I would like to, but I cannot"), the conscious thought alone can be a serious obstacle to the subconscious action; if we consciously try to play correctly when we play from memory, we will simply succeed in making more mistakes than usual. In all cases when an action has become habitual due to repeated repetitions, active intervention of consciousness should be avoided.

A man ties his tie so often that he can perfectly do it mechanically; but if, by negligence, he thinks about how this is done, the knot will turn out to be bad, and everything will have to be started all over again. Entering the stage, the speaker strives to look quite respectable, however, paying excessive attention to this, he goes unnaturally, constrainedly. An experienced typist who tries too hard to avoid mistakes is bound to make an unusually large number of them. It is unlikely that more examples of what can be called "intervention of consciousness" are needed here. So, if a musician, while playing a piece, thinks about the technical side instead of giving all his attention to the music itself, the performance will be terrible even in those cases when there are notes in front of it; in the absence of notes, the intervention of consciousness can cause a complete memory failure.

Such phenomena are not necessarily due to fear (as in the case of reverse effort); they can be generated by elementary ignorance of the foundations of psychology. It just never occurs to some people that since life is largely made up of mental and physical habits, there must be some part of us responsible for these habits. Even experienced musicians who do not have the slightest idea of ​​the possibilities of the subconscious sometimes consider the consciousness to be completely responsible for all their behavior on the stage.

It should always be remembered that the selection, education of habits, and, if necessary, their correction are the task of the musician's mind, but on the stage, habits must be given freedom of action - here the control of consciousness will already be superfluous. Conscious effort inevitably causes tension, and the mechanism of memory (or recall) can work flawlessly only when memory is free from all constraint. Attention in this case should be given, so to speak, a "passive" role.

The intelligence of which a man is justly proud is only a small part of his individuality; along with it there is a more ancient and comprehensive subconscious, which must be given freedom of action.

An experienced typist or knitter works so subconsciously that their attention is free to be distracted by completely extraneous thoughts. Some types of typing or knitting do not require attention at all, and the fact that the thought in these cases is occupied with something else actually helps the work of the hands, allowing the subconscious habits to operate without interference. It is true that playing a musical instrument is very different from working on a typewriter, and although the movements of the performing musician must also become automatic in the sense that they do not need to be thought about, they cannot be made purely "mechanical". Consciousness should not interfere with the work of the subconscious, however, in musical performance, these two sides of our "I" cannot act independently of each other: they are destined to skillfully cooperate.

Here we must ask ourselves an important question: what is the difference between an automated (free), but at the same time expressive performance and a performance that, like a pianola, sounds mechanical in the full sense of the word? Neither the physiologist nor the psychologist can yet solve this problem.

Any musician gifted with technical freedom can, while playing a piece from memory, at the same time, like a skillful knitter, read an unfamiliar book - an interesting phenomenon that testifies to the great perfection and independence of motor memory. But the resulting performance cannot be called musical in the exact sense, since in this double act the performer's mind must be occupied with what he is reading, and no attention is left to the music. It can be easily assumed that the lack of meaningfulness in performance is the result of a lack of attention. If we turn to speech instead of music, we will see that the same law remains in force: when attention is absent, meaning is lost.

Because words are the direct bearers of meaning, few public "lecturers" succumb to the temptation to use them meaninglessly. Such a sad exception can only be some ignorant guide who, repeating his monologue like a parrot for many years, has lost all interest in him.

The content of music, in contrast to the meaning of speech, is less definitely and fully revealed and understood by relatively few. Indeed, a lot of people get carried away; performers whom the dedicated musician considers completely unmusical. The general public finds charm mainly in the speed of the game; like a child, she is hypnotized by the very flow of sounds. I've heard people say, "I love music because it makes me think about a lot." And although music can and does cause a certain wandering of thought in those who listen, but do not hear, for a true musician it has a very definite meaning, which attracts attention in the same way as the meaning of words. It's one thing to feel the music, another to understand it, and it's quite a special thing to speak it authoritatively.

There are performers who are temperamental, lacking mind control and relying entirely on the senses; there are rational ones who think so much that all their feelings are in a state of oppression. The greatest artists serve as an example of the balance of feeling and reason, an example of their cooperation. This inner balance cannot be taught - it is a consequence of individual personality traits.

The daily habits of a musician form his personality, which largely determines both the manner of performance and the work of memory. One who allows emotions to get out of control can lose control of technique; who thinks too much can cause memory lapse; besieged by daily fears will be nervous always and everywhere; scattered in the usual: at home, he is unlikely to be able to gather on the stage. Only a musician with a balanced character is "safe." Always collected, he will not let embarrassment distract him. Like a conductor, he will, figuratively speaking, turn his back on the audience and calmly surrender to the music, confident that the memories and habits, trained by intelligent exercises, will obey his musical guidance.

Adults, as well as children, can suffer from absent-mindedness during classes, and many confess that they are generally powerless to direct their thoughts in a certain direction. Choosing the path of least resistance, they, like a child memorizing the incomprehensible, continue to learn music through repeated repetitions. Unreasonable methods of work lead to the fact that performance is out of control: feelings are disorganized by still fragile habits, and memory is considered the culprit of failure, although it is far from being blamed here in the first place.

Concentration is like a mental vision that can be focused by attention. In the physical sense, we see more clearly what we are directly looking at, although at the same time, less clearly, we see other objects. In the same way, we visualize an idea more clearly when we pay attention directly to it, although at the periphery of our consciousness we often feel the presence of other ideas;

The mind, like the eye, gets tired if it is long concentrated on one subject; restless by nature, he always prefers to change the objects of attention. Cinema satisfies this need of the mind for change and can hold the attention of even undeveloped people for hours on end. Music is also infinitely changeable and its moving images can occupy the mind of an amateur for a long time.

It is well known that people have different capacities for concentration; it is also known that this ability can be developed by exercise. But they do not always realize that concentration, as an attribute of memory, is an essential property of every normal intellect. Considering its most natural manifestations, one can understand what this ability is due to.

A child playing his favorite game represents total concentration. He is so absorbed that everything else ceases to exist for him. Animals can also experience a state of concentration, as can be seen in a hunting dog following a hare's trail. Obviously, when the object (or idea) on which the thought is fixed is associated with interest or pleasure, “involuntary” attention arises.

Adults, as well as children, focus on an object for a longer or shorter period, depending on the attractiveness of this object. Not only the lover, but the artist, scientist and businessman can experience moments (perhaps even years) when feelings intensify interest so much that the object of interest - a person, a thought, an object of desire - can become an obsession that completely absorbs all thoughts. Music lessons, completely absorbing attention, are also quite possible, since for a true connoisseur, music contains the main drivers of concentration - movement, interest, pleasure and emotions, sometimes rising to passion.

How can one learn to voluntarily evoke involuntary, natural attention? Here again there is something to borrow from both children and animals, observing the methods of working with them. A child can be forced to temporarily engage in a matter of no interest to him by strict command or threat of punishment, but the modern teacher knows that this method of teaching is fruitless. He was rejected even by animal trainers. Lion tamers have also come to the conclusion that their wards under the pressure of fear study much worse; if, however, the stimulus of a possible reward is introduced into the matter, antipathy is replaced by love and learning is more successful.

Recognizing involuntary attention, one should patiently study it, as one studies a student, adapt to it and reward it - only then will it be possible to correctly guide it. A musician who has not learned to concentrate in the process of work must critically reconsider his method of practice if he is to boldly discard it and prudently prescribe for himself a new system that better suits his inner needs.

Interest, doubly intensified under the influence of emotions, will always, like a magnet, attract (or repel) attention. By exerting the will, one can forcibly divert it and concentrate it on something else; but as soon as control weakens, attention again rushes to the object of interest or to something that bothers us and which thought prefers to do by force of habit. In addition to this type of attention, which requires a strong effort of the will and quickly tires, there are two more types necessary, respectively, for the worker on the piece and for the performer.

Imagine a musician looking at a painting he likes. Two cases are possible here: either he examines the picture consciously studying it, or, surrendering to the immediacy of perception, he allows himself to be completely absorbed by the picture. In the first case, the musician analyzes the work, notices the proportions, rhythm, lines, color scheme, and finally, the ratio of parts and the whole, in other words, actively uses attention; in the second case, he gives freedom to his feelings, and consciousness is assigned only a secondary role. At the same time, a certain degree of stability of attention leads to a certain balance of consciousness and subconsciousness.

Viewed passively, the senses may be moved more by the plot than by the quality of the execution; listening to music, lulling with its sounds, you can stay in a waking dream. But since in both cases the thought is also distracted by personal associations, the concentration of attention, both on the picture and on the music, cannot be complete.

Simply looking at a picture will certainly leave an impression on the mind, as will passive listening to music. But in order to remember later in sufficient detail both of them, careful study and close examination are required. Even Mozart found his recording of Miserere Allegri inaccurate: after a second listening, he was forced to make corrections and additions in his first version.

People also differ in the degree of stability of attention, and to a large extent it depends on the physical condition. One who is tired or has just recovered from an illness should exercise patience. Instead of forcing himself to work against his will, he should give himself rest by sight-reading or by playing well-known pieces. Passive attention is less tiring than its active form. A prudent student will not try to force tired attention, will stop worrying about absent-mindedness, but will try to diversify the exercises. Studying wisely, he will find enough work for himself in music; by learning to stop work before fatigue sets in, he will avoid the usual form of absent-mindedness.

Sometimes, however, the subconscious acts like a stubborn child who says, "I don't want to learn this"! But like a child, the subconscious mind can sometimes be surprisingly sensible: if encouraged by a motivating motive, it will learn with amazing speed. It has been proven that the learning time of even meaningless syllables (devoid of both interest and any connections) can be halved if an incentive motive is introduced in the form of self-examination. The incentive motive is equally effective in musical practice. Attention can be mobilized by asking, "How fast can I learn this?" If you set yourself the goal of fixing the time necessary for learning, this adds the flavor of the competition ... with yourself. It is useful to learn difficult and uninteresting parts of the works for only 5-10 minutes a day: in such a short strictly limited time, these passages will not have time to get bored. In all cases, when there is not a sufficiently powerful incentive to encourage work, one must appeal to selfishness - a magnet that invariably attracts attention. At the same time, one should reason something like this: “Doing this well, I will develop the ability to concentrate; by doing this as quickly as possible, I will save more time for the work that interests me.” These simple arguments work wonders, and they should always be brought to oneself when embarking on a task that must be solved, no matter how unpleasant it may seem. Here is what William James advises: “Systematically show heroism in small, unimportant deeds; every day or every two days, do something only for the reasons that it is difficult. Alas, the life of an artist requires more severe discipline! But it’s also good that a task that at first glance seems difficult and tiring can turn out to be extremely exciting if you take it on with interest, backed up by a motivating purposeful motive.

Many students know that close attention is necessary for successful classes. However, not everyone realizes that overstrained attention loses the sharpness of receptivity, and this circumstance, in turn, can lead to a distortion of the captured image. Although there are no limits in working on a piece, one should not spend too much time on the same piece in a row. The most fervent imagination is weary when there is not enough variety.

Full concentration for a whole day is impossible. Even a highly disciplined mind needs to be distracted from time to time: attention, like musical phrasing, requires a "play-pause". But daydreaming does not mean just wasting time. The one who works a little, but with concentration, can eventually do more than the one who never allows his thoughts to wander from the work and wander into fresh fields, where only the reward for daydreaming can be found - new inspiring ideas. Ripening in the depths of the soul, they are best comprehended in moments of peace.

Two equally good interpreters can read the same piece in completely different ways - a fact that indicates that the artist does not limit himself to the written "signs of expressiveness", and since the musical notation of a musical work is not able to absolutely adequately express its spirit, - each student should make any piece being studied as if by his own edition.

An inexperienced student plays as he was taught, or he still does not know how to think independently; the result is a lack of persuasive performance. A mature artist, on the contrary, plays confidently: his feelings tell him the only correct performance for him, and inner conviction is expressed in every note.

The problems of interpreting music and speech are in many ways similar in terms of the endless variety of means of expression, including tempo, intonation, and timbre. For the speaker, however, no signs of expressiveness are required: the reading of the word is dictated by its meaning. A good actor does not learn his role at first pointlessly in order to add expression here and there after thinking. But this is how many students learn their works. They pay much more attention to minor points, like fingering, than to the essential ones that ultimately determine everything else, including correct fingering. These essential points primarily include phrasing.

Every artist must mentally imagine a work before giving it an external form. Just as an artist sees his creation with his mind's eye before he has put it on the canvas, so the musician must create for himself the creative idea of ​​the piece he is about to perform. “Hearing does not mean just listening, it can also be done automatically,” Mattei says. “Active listening involves continuous forward listening.” This is especially true for a singer. In order to correctly intonate, he, before singing a note, must take it mentally. The performer, on the other hand, may be tempted, relying solely on muscular and tactile memory, to use his fingers in the way a typist usually does.

If it is a rule that a performer must creatively "think" a piece before playing it, then how should he work to achieve the effect? What to do in those cases when he has already developed the habit of absent-mindedness during exercise? How to cultivate attention so that without the participation of motor skills, it does not miss a single

McKinnon believes that essential role in the expressive reading of words and musical sounds, stress plays, it will be easier to solve the problem of expressiveness, paying attention primarily to issues of accentuation.

The author proposes to first sing a phrase (crescendo), preferably using a count, then play it (without a count). Singing the phrase again and emphasizing individual notes, the performer will see that he is making a crescendo in those cases when he sings to himself, and not out loud.

"To think musically about a note is to 'place' it in a context, in which case more attention will inevitably be paid to the sound than to the technique (the way the fingers and keys are used)." Thus, thinking about sounds and thinking about notes, naming them, are completely different things. The first case determines the performance of musical and free; the latter - a non-musical game with possible, very frequent memory misfires caused by the intervention of consciousness. In the first case, however, only peripheral attention will be paid to touch: the desired sound will prompt the necessary sensations.

In music, as well as in speech, sounds differ in the strength of stress, and some are completely unstressed. However, no note, no matter how short, should be played casually. In the following phrases, even thirty-seconds have the meaning of a springboard for the subsequent accent. The student must mentally imagine these phrases; then play them while singing the sounds to yourself, as in the previous example.

2) Roso allegretto Brahms, op. 90.

Looking at the notes, one performer may imagine the pitch, but not the duration, the other - the duration, but not the pitch; however, in familiar music, everyone should be able (like those who read well from a sheet) by the appearance of notes to imagine their height, duration and quality of sound.

To test whether you imagine music, you should very slowly play a well-known passage; if you mentally hear every note (or chord) before they sound on the instrument, then you are on the right track.

Counting will be of great help to the beginner in the mental placement of the sounds, since each of them is consciously associated with the spoken syllable. "One and two and one" was an old-fashioned attempt to create this kind of association, but this method did not provide syllables for smaller beats, as, say, in the example above, and therefore such rhythmic patterns were rarely reproduced by the soloist with absolute accuracy. Counting helps to give each sound its exact duration.

It should be clearly understood, however, that any account is merely a preparation for skill; not thrown back in time, it can hit its own target. So, for example, students who stubbornly count aloud during classes, at the exam, deprived of this usual psychological support, will certainly be confused. When exercising, you need to comprehend the phrase, counting aloud, if necessary; then play without counting, leaving the sense of time to guide the movement internally.

In the next chapter, the author talks about the features of correct phrasing. Competent grouping of notes gives a deeper understanding of the piece, and is crucial in understanding the work. "He who thinks clearly, expresses himself clearly."

Within the general movement we find a series of leagues, both large and small, whose arrangement is determined by phrasing. The end of one league may be the beginning of another; in other cases, their location indicates the need for a certain musical breath (see example 3 and 2).

3) Allegro Chopin, op. 66.

Whether indicated in the text or not, these leagues, however, always exist, and musical people involuntarily feel them. A non-musical performer imagines the rhythm of a waltz like this: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, but a musical person will think it differently: 1-2, 3-1-2.

If students form the habit of stammering, musical thinking also becomes uncertain. However, if in fast passages attention is paid not so much to each individual note as to the whole musical group(syllable, word, phrase) - the weakest technique will improve markedly.

From this it is clear how essential the correct grouping of notes is for learning. First of all, it is easy to learn something that looks short and that sounds melodious; Further, since the basis of memory and technique is an unbroken chain of thought, it is understandable that both memory and technique can suffer if some musical link is missed.

Physical breathing in singing gives extension to the sounds, and if the student follows the voice, he instinctively feels which sounds to stress, which to group together and where to pause. Below are a few passages in which more small groups marked with dotted lines. The end of the league, however, must not break the movements, nor should it break legato, as in normal leagues.

4) Adagio Beethoven, op. 27. No. 2.

5) Allegro Bach Prelude. bk. 2, no. 2.

6) Vivace Chopin, op. 28, no. 19.

7) Allegro vivace Bach. Prelude, Bk. 2, no. 6.

In doubtful cases, the mind can help with the same success as the voice. In example 8, the second option is preferable, as passing notes return to harmonic sounds.

During the performance, it is important, as Mattei says, to think in the direction of the climax, and not away from it, as many people do, misled by the appearance of a musical recording.

Compare the examples below, where the rearrangement of notes (in the second case) stimulates movement. (Groups of melodic sounds are indicated by dotted lines).

9) Allegro vivace Bach. Prelude, Bk. 2, no. 15.

It is essential, however, that within the long lines the sounds must be mentally grouped into shorter musical and rhythmic phrases.

There is no better guide in the art of phrasing than your own voice. But if you continuously sing during classes, you will get used to it and start singing in public, and this annoys any audience. In addition, while singing, the performer will give himself too much to feeling; his attention will become less impartial, less critical, than when it is focused solely on the music being played. Singing aloud should only be used by the instrumentalist as a sounding standard for phrasing, and should generally precede rather than accompany playing.

As already pointed out, musical attention is dual in nature, we listen to what we are doing at the moment and at the same time think ahead, as we creatively shape the sound before we take it. A good conductor is not only an actor, but also a prophet. driving sounding music, he, through his movements and eyes, creates for the orchestra the shape and mood of the approaching phrase.

Even while practicing thoughtlessly, we remember, because bad habits are trained at the same time.

A student with a "bad" memory should, first of all, improve his method of work. The behavior of memory largely depends on the quality of classes. Work on a play comes down to three processes:

1. Training of various types of memory (registration of impressions).

2. Habit training (associations).

3. Training of performing skills (remembering).

What do we remember? What we notice. What do we notice? What grabs our attention. The subconscious mind fixes impressions even without the participation of attention, but in order to voluntarily recall these impressions later, we must intelligently control the formation of images in our minds.

Many students watch a new play "just because" in order to imagine "what it looks like" in general; they do not realize that if the first reading is wrong, the play may be ruined forever. A thinking student would prefer to take advantage of the advice "You go quieter - you will continue." He knows that if the first impression is clear, accurate and musically significant part of the work has already been done.

For the subconscious memory, nothing is unimportant. Each wrongly taken note, each error in reading, each hesitation is registered - weakly, if attention is absent-minded, but nevertheless it is registered. Therefore, the student must think about what he is doing and think very concentratedly until the necessary habits are trained.

The conductor at the first rehearsal does not distribute new parts to his orchestra members without first having thought through the entire score. Not knowing music, he has no right to lead an orchestra. In the same way, before playing the piece as a whole, the student has much to clarify in it. Musical notation is only the contour of the musical picture; the mood will fill it with inner content. It is necessary to think over the large lines and outline smaller ones (phrases), after which you can already add details. When working on a new piece, every good conductor devotes a lot of time to phrasing at the first rehearsal. The performer should also do the same, linking fingering with phrasing in the first lessons - after all, habits, like memory, tenaciously hold the first impression. Everyone knows how difficult it is to relearn a memorized fingering! Even if the new fingering is better than the old one, old habits can return if mind control is weakened.

Particularly conscientious work is required self-study when learning a new work. In reviewing it, we must limit ourselves to the material that we need to learn at the moment and postpone the performance of the entire piece until stable habits have been developed. Precisely because the play is new, and we show increased interest and attention to everything new, let's "squeeze" the maximum out of what novelty gives to memorize everything and everything, including music.

Many musicians complain of a lack of memory on the sole basis that, after spending a lot of time memorizing a passage, they cannot remember it the next day. The brighter the impression, the less the danger of forgetting. But learning a piece of music reliably by heart is a very difficult task, and it necessarily takes time. It is impossible to draw an intricate map from memory at a glance; in order to keep it in memory, the first impression must be reinforced many times, paying more and more attention to detail each time.

Each student, when starting to learn a piece, should show maximum patience. Not a single impression is lost, each successive reinforces and expands the previous one, and memorization proceeds with increasing speed, if only the repetitions are correctly distributed in time. But repetitions, although necessary, cannot replace conscious thought, and in underestimating this circumstance - main mistake students. To memorize a map, it is not enough just to look at it many times: in order for the outlines to be preserved in memory in all details, one must think about them, comparing one detail with another. For all their similarities, the rivers look different on the map, and comparing the details will help us keep the confusing picture in mind. This way of analyzing and establishing conscious associations is also the only reliable way to memorize music. Here are two passages that begin the same way but end differently; here is a phrase ending in the dominant as opposed to another ending in the tonic. Only what is noted consciously can be recalled later of one's own free will. Only that and nothing else!

When the memory already has a fairly clear idea of ​​\u200b\u200bmusic, you can begin to train habits. But what? There are a huge number to choose from. This also includes emotions that can crush and overwhelm the entire orchestra if they are not restrained by reason. Here is what Paderewski writes about this: “It took me half my life to understand that there are two ways to use the piano: one is to play, the other is to work. If you use only one, you will never achieve anything. In any art, you can get drunk on your own emotions. Alas, many people waste their time in this way, without achieving any result.

It is true, of course, that feeling is necessary for any performance. However, in order to make others feel, care must be taken to form and train emotional skills, restrained and guided by common sense.

There are two types of learners: some think that enjoying music is the same as expressing it; others learn the notes with such zeal that they pay no attention to the music. Some teachers force their students to learn a new piece "without expression"; But what is the purpose of such studies? It will hardly musical artist who teaches non-musically, unless he leaves his old habits in time. And this is not so easy to do!

Why teach a melody as a sequence of "even" notes, if, in accordance with the composer's intentions, it should be sung to soft accompaniment, diversifying the sound coloring? For performers, it has to do with coordinating habits; at the same time, the possibility is not ruled out that one hand should simultaneously give different sound colors that require different types of touches. It is useless, therefore, to leave the training of fine muscular adaptations to the last week before the concert.

Again, if the music is written in quadruplets, why play it in triplets? It is true that the change of emphasis helps to subordinate the technical exercises to the control of consciousness, but it is absolutely necessary to learn the piece in the rhythm provided by the composer. There is even a special method that requires the right hand part to be played with the left hand and vice versa; but although such exercises may help the student to discover essential new details in the music, they are quite useless at the other stage of the work, which is the training of performing skills.

Not to mention other considerations, expressive play provides an indispensable aid to memory. Words are best remembered by those actors who focus on their inner meaning, associating with it the expressiveness of voice and gesture; and since we all remember things that have touched us emotionally, musicians should put feeling into every note they play the first time they play any piece.

When starting work, the student must temporarily take on the functions of a teacher: he, based on modern teaching methods, must approach his students (habits) with respect, taking into account their capabilities. This means that learning should be simplified as much as circumstances permit. Indeed, it can be said that the whole secret of learning lies in the ability to pay attention to only one subject at a given moment; students often try to learn a lot of things at the same time, changing fingering and phrasing daily to such an extent that habits are completely confused. Is it any wonder some people can't remember what they're working on? The following is an example of a passage that few people learn correctly, and meanwhile, its performance requires a combination of complex skills.

10) Beethoven, op. 27. No. 2

Here one should imitate the conductor, who at the first orchestral rehearsals works only with individual groups of the orchestra. So, by consistently exercising habits, it is much easier to coordinate them afterwards. The above excerpt becomes immediately clear if the right hand part is played with both hands (the bass can be taught separately). The freed attention is paid to phrasing, legato, staccato, sound coloring.

Measures, as well as beats, are not equal in strength, and it is very important to correctly feel the musical accent. The equal emphasis on each downbeat, especially in fast pieces, breaks the musical rhythm, making the music difficult to both remember and play. In example 13, strong bars (defined by harmony) are indicated by a double line above the staff.

According to the author, at the beginning of work on a work, it is always recommended to play with two hands, a part for one hand, this method makes it possible to hear how the music should sound. Then the question arises: "How to get the same result when performed with one hand?" Now it's time to choose a fingering that will be subordinate to the musical idea. The preliminary division of labor prevents the emergence of many bad habits. In the passage below, the beauty of the tied notes is better understood by the separation of the voices, so it is necessary to choose the fingering according to the required legato.

Conscious control must not be abandoned too soon and attention must again and again focus on the contours of our music card, deepening impressions, perfecting details, watching the formation of habits.

Usually the simplest way to solve a problem is appropriate, but in music this is not always the case. Example 10 (p. 37) is easier to play with one stroke - staccato or legato, but the composer wants something else, and until the fingers learn to automatically do what is required of them, attention cannot be paid to performance.

The first stage of work should not be spared time, as it provides a path to further improvement. You need to constantly ask yourself: “Is the bass sounding deep enough? Is the climax premature? Are there any important details that I overlooked? Critical attention is needed all the time.

Each time you take on a piece, you open up new possibilities for a more perfect interpretation, including subtle nuances. Truly, one can never say that a play is "finished". As the horizon of the performer expands, so does the performance, and therefore, to say nothing of other reasons, it is not recommended to work on one piece for too many days in a row. Repetition, if not planned intelligently enough, can even interfere with the development of necessary and expedient habits.

There is no virtue in the daily 8-hour practice. Concentrated mental work is tiring. And although it is not always possible for a professional musician to avoid overexertion, as a rule, no one should work more than three or four hours a day. Until the student learns to work properly, he should limit himself to one hour, dividing it into four short periods of concentrated work. It does not take much time to repeat a passage two or three times, and if critical attention is focused on a preselected aspect of the musical task, thoughts are not distracted by extraneous things and the work will be done well.

To arouse the curiosity of readers in a good novel with the continuation of the plot is interrupted at the very interesting place; stopping classes when interest has not yet dulled, with great zeal you return to work at the first opportunity. Of course, during classes, you should use the creative state to the end, but it is equally important to be able to stop working before the first signs of fatigue appear.

Every musician must take care of the necessary physical and mental rest; from time to time you should change the type of activity, giving yourself once a week a day off from work. But subconscious activity never stops: muscle development continues after exercise, in the brain during rest. work in progress on the development of the material accumulated during the classes. In the mysterious activity of the subconscious, the necessary associations are fixed in an incomprehensible way, and this important part of the process creative work time must be given.

Some movement takes place in the micro-muscles of the larynx even when the words are read "to oneself"; when music is thought through in silence, the nerve pathways undoubtedly transmit some impressions, although the external movement is suppressed. Nowadays, such phenomena are well studied, they are called ideomotor acts, or simply ideomotor.

The concert singer, of necessity, does a lot of work silently; the instrumentalist should also think through the passage or the whole piece more often, instead of playing it back. Experienced singers rarely practice in full voice; instrumentalists also have to conserve energy by somehow limiting themselves. Classes at the "pre-forte" level, being less tiring, have the additional advantage of better mobilizing the ear.

There should not be a loudly ticking clock in the study room. For someone who truly listens to music, the accompaniment of even a wrist watch is unbearable.

A false note taken by mistake in a passage should not be confused with a misreading of the text; an accidental mistake and in the later stages of work is much less dangerous than stopping and breaking connections, which subsequently leads to a game with hesitation. In this case, one should again follow the example of the conductor, who will not stop the orchestra at the last rehearsals unless absolutely necessary. Noting to himself certain shortcomings of the performance, he will continue to conduct until the end of the musical part, after which, after discussing the mistakes with the orchestra, he will repeat the entire passage from the beginning. The best method of working on a work that is already becoming familiar is to learn by musical parts, without breaking the chain of musical thought as much as possible.

If the same mistake is repeated again - the situation is more serious and. repeating the unfortunate passage over and over again, hoping that it will eventually turn out by itself, is useless. Instead, one should try to find the cause of each such mistake, since habits, like some orchestra players, show negligence when they are not monitored by a conductor: in spite of impeccable training and practice, they may prefer the line of least resistance. The need to correct a habit should always be justified. For example, if the habit of the initial fingering is broken, it is necessary that the absolute necessity of precisely this fingering, conceived for the free execution of a given sound sequence of sounds, should come to consciousness. Conscious associations of this kind contribute to the improvement of habits.

If the mistake turns out to be a really learned mistake, having justified the need for restructuring, it is necessary to start retraining the memory in order to imprint in it a different, clearer image. If a false note is learned by heart, one must remember the correct note in its relation to others, and harmony is a valuable help in correcting the initial impression. However, this kind of error is difficult to correct. Despite long and patient work to correct it, both memory and habits can suddenly and completely unexpectedly return to the old.

Trying to "break" a habit can be fatal. "Music stutters," for example, only get worse when you focus on them. Therefore, if a student tends to be stiff, the less he pays attention to it, the better. It must be remembered that mental and muscular freedom are inseparable. When changing any habit, it is important to give reasons for such a change, to focus entirely on the new habit, and to definitely refrain from doing something that is not controlled by the mind until, through careful and patient work, this habit has become absolutely reliable.

Observation prevents the emergence of many unnecessary habits.

I. Paderevsky told how he practiced for hours in front of a mirror, achieving a serene facial expression during the performance, which was so lacking in other artists. Observing and studying the experience and habits of others, we can reject or accept them: you yourself are not always the best judge.

Similar information.

game by heart

The specificity of musical performance activity is such that the direct goal of the performer is the ability to memorize musical material, to learn it by heart. Memorizing a musical text is one of the main and special requirements of the profession of a performing musician, since the norm of modern concert performance is performance without notes.

The most important condition for the successful memorization of a work by heart is a conscious attitude to memorization. In cases where there is no such setting, even repeated performance of the piece being played may not lead to memorization. For example, highly experienced accompanists who have rehearsed and accompanied the same pieces dozens of times in concerts often still do not know their part by heart, if they did not set themselves the task of memorizing it. In general, the speed and strength of memorization is facilitated by interest in what is being studied and focusing attention on it.

At what level of development of the student, when and how should he be required to memorize the pieces he performs?

Here's what L.A. Barenboim: “...Starting from the first piece played on the piano, all musical works learned by students should be learned by memory, and that from the very first steps of learning, work should begin with the student not only on memorizing individual pieces being learned, but also on relatively long-term retention in memory passed repertoire".1

L. McKinnon writes: “Many students ask: “When should I start memorizing?” There is only one answer to this: “The next time you sit down at the instrument.”2

One of the main requirements of A.B. Goldenweiser was also a memory game. Giving great value musical memory and the need for its development in the performer, he believed that it was necessary from childhood to accustom the student to specifically learn by memory everything that was asked of him. In general, the first thing a player should start with is to know by heart what he is playing. Moreover, he may not play this piece soon, but he must know by memory.

Learning a piece of music from memory should take place no earlier than the end of the analysis stage and coincide, approximately, with the stage of technical work on the piece. Moreover, work in most cases should be carried out according to the notes. This makes it possible to deepen the understanding of the author's record all the time and protects against inevitable inaccuracies and errors.

There are two points of view regarding the problem of memorization. According to some musicians: A.B. Goldenweiser, L. McKinnon, S.I. Savshinsky, memorization of music should be intentional, based on a specially set task and careful thinking through what is being learned.

From another point of view, belonging to major musicians-performers: G.G. Neuhaus, K.N. Igumnov, S.T. Richter, D.F. Oistrakh, S.E. should be a special task of the performer. Memorization occurs in the process of working on the artistic content of the work. A number of statements can be made about this:

D.F. Oistrakh: “If you have enough time, you should not “force” memory with special (and usually accelerated for a given performer) memorization.”3

S.E. Feinberg: “The teacher often requires from the student, first of all, performance by heart. It is believed that this method strengthens memory. It seems to me that this is not entirely correct. Bypassing the creative moment, the painful and inexpedient process of memorization begins ... Do you need to memorize this work? But in order to remember it, you have to perform it.”

This divergence of views indicates that there is no and cannot be an unambiguous solution to issues related to the types and forms of memorizing music. Only practice can determine the truth of one or another theoretical proposition and guidelines. Moreover, a lot depends on the individual qualities of the performer.

Experience shows that a significant part of ordinary students build their daily activities on the basis of repeated, monotonous, stereotyped repetitions of the work they are learning. As a result, what is learned by heart is largely devoid of meaningfulness and artistry, and the student plays “one note”.

Thus, the problem of memorizing music is to rationalize as much as possible, increase the productivity and quality of memorization. Therefore, modern pedagogy believes that memorization, coming from understanding the material, its meaningful assimilation, under all circumstances, is superior in quality to memorization to some extent divorced from understanding.

Work in conditions of low musical-intellectual and emotional activity, students' misunderstanding of the memorized material is often exacerbated by their passive, lack of initiative attitude to work, the lack of content of the techniques and methods of work themselves. Hence the result: memorization of music is slowed down, productivity drops, the quality is seriously deteriorating. Here we can add, for example, that a good actor does not learn his role at first senselessly in order to add expressiveness here and there after thinking. For highly qualified performers, memorization occurs in conditions of intense emotional and artistic and intellectual activity and is based on initiative, deeply meaningful methods and methods of work. Any repetition is their element of creativity.

Thus, when starting any kind of work, you need, in the words of N.K. Medtner, to always know what you are working on, what exactly you are doing, what your goal is, that is, when working, always think.

It is worth noting that at first a deep and thoughtful study of the musical text (analysis) is necessary. Also, special care should be taken when parsing and memorizing complex textual music, in particular polyphonic music. In the future, even with the already learned musical material, it is necessary to combine playing by heart with playing from notes.

When memorizing large, large-scale works, it is preferable to move from the general to the particular. Understand the musical form as a whole and only then proceed to the division and assimilation of its constituent parts. First, learn by heart in separate - larger or smaller sections, constructions at a slow pace, then move on to connecting them into larger parts and then - to slowly playing the entire work with careful listening and detailed understanding of the text.

Many educators advise first to carefully play out the work from the notes, until a feeling of confidence arises that it has been mastered. This usually comes before technical mastery of the piece. Then it is necessary to check what is imprinted in the memory, that is, to conduct a trial execution. It, of course, will not do without inaccuracies, and perhaps some places will have to be played “in your own words”. In these cases, you should not stop, you just need to check and clarify these places later. But, playing further, you can still reach the moment when the memory fails so much that the performing process stops. Without looking at the notes, you must try to find a new point of support in your memory and continue playing from a new place until the next stop. In this situation, there is another point of view: if there is a gap in memory, then this place (and only it) can be viewed by notes, and then continue to play.

Subsequent trial checks reveal that the memory has captured pieces of music larger than it was possible to play the first time. Having established what was possible to remember, and what requires further work, and having necessarily clarified by the notes what was played “in your own words”, it is necessary to return to a careful study of the work from the notes. After a few days of classes, you can conduct a new check. Undoubtedly, memorization has advanced greatly during this time. If much has not yet been remembered, then there is still no need to specifically memorize it. When only individual episodes and texture elements remain out of memory, you can begin to memorize.

Memorization differs from memorization in that it is a consciously purposeful and specifically organized process. Here, the main method also remains multiple repetition, but not all music is subject to repetition, but only that which could not be memorized. Such pieces of music or its individual elements need to be identified, analyzed and associated with already known cases. When repeating any piece or passage, one should not play more three times contract. After each repetition, you need to stop for a time sufficient for a breath. The repetitions must be performed with full mental concentration, which can only be maintained for a certain amount of time. That's why breaks are so important. The quantitative side of repetitions is important here only in combination with the qualitative side.

From the foregoing, you can draw up a scheme for learning a work by heart:

preview musical development from the beginning to the end of the work;

a detailed study of passages, after which one can from time to time work on the whole play;

special work on difficult places.

L. Nikolaev taught by a somewhat different method. he advised to confine oneself to such a piece that fits into memory without much difficulty. When it is assimilated, a new, equally easily assimilated piece is added to it, and so on.

Various ways work on the work is the basis for memorizing the work by I. Hoffmann:

work with the text of the work without a tool;

work with the text of the work behind the instrument;

work on a work without text (play by heart);

Work without instruments and without notes.

No matter how many ways of memorization exist, the goal remains the same - to perform expressively and at the proper level a piece of music by heart.

To check and consolidate in the memory of the piece being studied, it is necessary to demand from the student:

the ability to start playing a piece from any side or without looking at the musical text, to repeat any place shown on the piano by the teacher;

the ability to play a piece from memory at an extremely slow pace;

the ability to play separately from memory the part of the left hand or the right, accompaniment or melody.

Performing by heart is the true test of knowing a piece. And therefore, the more one tries to think while studying, the less one has to think while performing; the more you try to see in the notes during practice, the less you need to look at them afterwards.

Bibliography

1. Alekseev A.D. Piano teaching methodology. M. - 1971

2. Barenboim L.A. Piano Pedagogy. Ch.1, M. - 1937

3. Hoffman I. Piano game. Answers to questions about piano playing. M. - 1961

4. Kogan G. At the gates of mastery. M. - 1969

5. Lyubomudrova N.A. Piano teaching methodology. M. - 1982

6. McKinnon L. Playing by heart. L. - 1967

7. Neuhaus G.G. On the art of piano playing. M. - 1982

8. Petrushin V.I. Musical psychology. M. - 1997

9. Savshinsky S. Pianist and his work. L. - 1961

10. Teplov B.M. Psychology of musical abilities. M. - 1947

11. Tsypin G.M. Learning to play the piano. M. - 1984

12. "Masters of the Soviet pianistic school". Essays. Edited by Nikolaev A., M. - 1961

13. "Pianists tell" issue 2. Compilation, general edition Sokolova M., M. - 1984

In the Italian city of Livorno in 1808, during a concert by Niccolo Paganini, two candles fell from the music stand at once, on which the notes were located.

For most contemporary performers similar case would not cause a stir, but the musicians of yesteryear would be in a quandary.

It is only since the time of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) that performance from memory, generally accepted today, has come into fashion.

And this means that the soloists of that time played exclusively from notes. It was allowed to memorize only small complex fragments or places of turning the page. If during the performance the musician averted his eyes from the notes, then strict remarks were made, such behavior could be punished.

Inconceivable in 1861 was the performance of Sir Charles Halle, who performed Beethoven's sonatas from memory. The musician was immediately accused of indiscretion, and The Times newspaper said that this performer "tempts the Lord God himself."

But gradually, the execution musical works without relying on musical tex, more and more began to win the right to life. Performing musicians interpreted this situation as the need for creative freedom. But, I must say that such “creative freedom” was not easy given, some inconveniences replaced others. Now, instead of divided attention, the musician was expected to have stable memorization and textually accurate reproduction, which, in the opinion of many modern performers, limited the scope of the performing repertoire. But, despite this, Robert Schumann argued that "a chord played as loosely as you like from notes, and half does not sound as free as played from memory", even in this case, not a single musician was immune from mistakes. .

Some performers of the old school, for example, Clara Schumann, though accepted new trends in the world performing arts, but, according to eyewitnesses, she shed a lot of tears before preparing for concerts. Many gifted musicians left the concert activity, but there were also those who, contrary to new trends, continued to put notes on the console.

The real feat of that time was performed by such outstanding musicians as Anton Rubinshtein, who played his 7 historical concertos without notes; Hans von Bülow, whose memory allowed him to play works that were previously unthinkable without notes.

Young performers, following outstanding musicians began to practice the game from memory. Performances with whole concert programs, which were unthinkable for their predecessors, are today perceived as the norm.

But can even one guitarist say that his memory has always worked flawlessly, and the pieces sounded without errors? Doesn't playing by heart limit the musician's repertoire? All these questions are best answered by the performer himself.

Used Books:

1. McKinnon L. Playing by heart. - M .: Classics-XXI, 2004.
2. Schumann R. Selected articles about music. Moscow: Muzgiz, 1956.

Municipal educational institution additional education children

School of choral art "Flight" T.E.Selishcheva.

140181. Zhukovsky, Moscow region, st. Frunze, d, 28

Tel/fax 556 – 30 - 16

Sahakyan. ON THE.

Methodical message

on the topic: "The game by heart."

G. Zhukovsky, Moscow region, 2014

BY MEMORY GAME

1) For more than a hundred years, there has been a trend of concert performance without notes. Back in the middle of the last century, when concert performance without notes, not only was it not considered obligatory, but it was also seen as an act of indiscretion on the part of the performer. Memory in those days was not considered a necessary component of the complex of musical talent, but an "auxiliary", "lower" ability. Only difficult episodes and places for turning pages were recommended by heart.

Over time, concert performance without notes won its right to exist. the increasingly complex texture of the works of the era of romanticism no longer allowed the performer to split his attention between the keyboard and musical text. And the performers explained this phenomenon by "creative freedom."

But some inconveniences were replaced by others (the need for stable memorization and accurate memorization, which limits the scope of the performing repertoire, uncertainty about the reliability of the memory).

In the last decade of the 19th century, public performance by heart became an aesthetic norm and interest in the problems of memory increased, but the growth of interest was also determined by the success of experimental psychology and memory research.

In 1885, the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus gave a powerful impetus to the study of various aspects of memory by publishing his fundamental work.

2) In our time, playing by heart is accepted as the norm, but we must remember that playing from memory has come into fashion only since the time of Liszt. True, even earlier musicians were capable of feats - for example, the experience of Mozart, who recorded Miserere Allegri from memory from the first listening, but that any concertist could perform the recorded work accurately and confidently without notes - this was considered incredible. Playing by heart was mixed with playing by ear .

But playing from memory at home is one thing, and in public it's completely different. The performer, who plays excellently in solitude, often feels “something is wrong” in public and complains about his “bad memory.” Busoni writes as follows: “The unreliability of memory is a consequence of the fear of the stage. When fear comes, the head goes round and the memory fails. The presence of notes also does not guarantee pop excitement. “If you play by notes, then the fear of the stage takes on other forms; the touch becomes uncertain, the rhythm inaccurate, the tempo hurried,” writes Busoni. By playing from the notes you will prevent a complete failure, but you will not be able to prevent a non-musical performance.

Saving time, preventing fatigue are all important for musicians. The “how to teach” process is very important, all the details should be worked out in class with the teacher. Proper organization of the learning process can save both time and energy. Psychology can also help students to learn works.

Memory properties vary in quality and strength. Some may memorize a piece only by listening to it, while others will spend weeks on it. Someone who learned quickly may have a less accurate memory than someone who studied for weeks. The process of gradual absorption allows for interesting discoveries.

Young children amaze with their memory - they can easily, without realizing the meaning, repeat entire pages of books. This is called natural memory. The owners of such a memory are often in a hurry, the piece is not always subjected to conscientious study, and this is a necessity for confident performance by heart. It is generally accepted that memory deteriorates after the age of 25, and many are convinced that it is useless to try to learn by heart. But in fact, this is a matter of habit, and even more so, to preserve the youth of the brain and muscles, you need to exercise daily.

Musical memory as such does not exist; it is a collaboration of different types of memory: auditory, visual, tactile and muscular.

Many students complain that they studied, but today they cannot remember. I explain that learning by heart reliably is a difficult and time-consuming task. It is important to remember through more vivid impressions. To memorize, you need to look many times, compare one detail with another, compare details. For example, in children's plays there are repetitions very often, you need to pay attention to the fact that the beginning is the same, the ends are different, or here is a phrase ending on the dominant, but the opposite is on the tonic. It is very important to teach consciously, focusing on something bright.

When a clear enough idea of ​​the music is in the memory, you can start training habits. Paderewski writes: “It took me half a lifetime to understand that there are two ways to use the piano: one is to play, the other is to work. If you use only one, you will never achieve anything ... In any art, you can get drunk on your own emotions. Alas, many people waste time in this way, without achieving any result.” Feelings are needed to perform, but emotional skills are needed to make others feel. These skills need to be reinforced. Some students learn a new piece without expression, leaving it for later. You need to get rid of this habit because it leads to nothing. A performer who teaches non-musically will hardly become a musical performer.

Expressive play is an indispensable aid to memory. We remember what touched us emotionally. Pupils must put feeling into every note they play the first time they play it.

Also, simplifications certainly help to help the game by heart, as far as circumstances allow. For example, with chords in right hand we play with two hands. The freed attention is given to phrasing, sound coloring, etc. Then the question arises: “How to get the same result when executed with one hand? » It is very important to choose the right fingering, which is subject to the musical idea.

Conscious control must not be abandoned too soon, and attention must be focused on deepening impressions, refining details, watching the formation of habits. Until the fingers learn to automatically do what the composer wants, attention cannot be paid to the performance. Time should not be spared for the first stage of work, as it provides a path to further improvement.

It is very important to schedule your classes wisely. Working on one play for too many days in a row is not recommended. Working in the same way, during the day you need to divide by 3-4 times. And if a difficult passage is focused on a musical task, thoughts are not distracted by extraneous things and the work will be successful.

An important component of a successful game by heart is also the ability to stop classes at the most interesting place until the first signs of fatigue appear. From time to time, the type of activity should be changed. Subconscious activity does not stop: muscle development continues after exercise, in the brain during rest, work is underway to master the material accumulated during classes. You should also think through a passage or the whole play, instead of losing it.

A random mistake in the later stages of work is not a reason to stop the game, since a mistake is less dangerous than a stuttering game. In this case, you need to play to the end, after which, remembering the place of the mistake, finish it, then repeat from the beginning. The best method of working on a piece is to learn by musical parts, without breaking the chain of musical thought as much as possible.

If the mistake is repeated again and again, it is useless to hope that it will turn out by itself. The cause of each error should be found. If the mistake turns out to be memorized, start overtraining the memory in order to capture another, clearer image in it. If a false note is memorized, then it is more difficult. One must remember the right note in its relation to others. Despite long and patient work to correct it, both memory and habits can suddenly and completely unexpectedly return to the old. If the student has a tendency to stiffness, then it is better to pay less attention to this problem, since mental and muscular freedom are inseparable. When changing any habit, it is important to provide a rationale for the change, focus entirely on the new habit, and unconditionally refrain from non-conscious performance until the habit is absolutely secure.

The duration of the first stage of work cannot be the same for everyone. In the process of mastering a piece, one should check the state of reliability of habits by playing large passages in succession and the whole work. Performance without notes should be postponed until habits have firmly taken over their roles.

3) B last years work at school, when children are busy, when big information one has to look for methods of rational practice that provide good results with minimal time. It is very important to be in contact with parents who need guidance regarding homework. Parents sometimes do not even suspect the importance of the quality of the instrument. Talking to children can also be educational, even for small children. If the recommendations are backed up with a strong justification, the student will be very willing to meet you halfway. If you show how different feelings can cause different interpretations of the same musical passage.

The teacher must go through the lesson new material, choose a convenient fingering, resolve rhythmic difficulties, etc. All these methods will help to use time rationally.

It is also important to properly prepare for the day of the performance. Observe the regime of the day (do not relax), diet, etc.

List of used literature:L. McKinnon "Game by heart".

1. Introduction.

2. The main part.

3. Conclusion.

4. List of used literature.