Can Late Starters Be Fluent Musicians?
Phil Best, Pianist and Composer
By Phil Best, Guest Contributor
What does it mean to be ‘musically fluent’?
Young children acquire musical fluency on the keyboard or any instrument more naturally because their experience of music is not yet established as a passive one. A passive approach to learning music blocks fluency. An active or fluent musician only plays music that is internally understood. A fluent musician is therefore able to improvise, harmonize, transpose and read a score by hearing it internally without having to decode it first onto an instrument. A passive approach tends to oscillate between two poles. On the one hand, there is automatic playing or copying music that we know by ear and relying heavily on muscle memory. On the other hand, there is decoding or thinking of the music as a list of notes. Some people are so enticed by the latter approach that they think theoretical knowledge must be the source of musical fluency. It is not; in the same way that an awareness of grammatical theory is not a prerequisite of fluency in language.
Students starting later in life can develop into a fluent musician. It requires a particular discipline and vigilance in avoiding passive tendencies. Many fluent musicians are talented and do not need to train themselves out of being passive. They may even be unaware of how they do the amazing musical things they do. In fact, in my view, most fluent or partially-fluent musicians did not really acquire this through training, and they rely almost exclusively on their innate facility. But for many aspiring musicians, such an undisciplined route is totally unsatisfactory or even useless. A system of training is therefore necessary. Over the past few years, I have developed an approach to training musical fluency that works extremely well.
The first and most important step in this training is developing a clear awareness of how music follows a rhythmic pattern of pulse and unfolding structure. An awareness of flexible meter – the matrix as I like to call it – is sadly neglected in music training today. Consciousness of the rhythmic structure that underpins all music produces results that amaze people when they train themselves to see it. We start with the ubiquitous common time and then gradually move into more complex patterns. From this place, it is possible to build a clear understanding of the rhythmic components of musical language. For many people, experiencing music in this way is radically different from their habitual passive sense of it. Because of this, resistance is normal. People often feel that they can no longer hear the music they play in the way they are used to. Actually, they are right. But making music is not meant to feel the same as listening to it. If you want that experience, then go to a concert or play a CD!
The next step is in the tonal realm, starting with melodic awareness before moving on to chords. It is vital that all the components of musical language are fully internalized and obtained incrementally. If you walk before you can run, you will fall down! It takes practice. The key is patience and discipline combined with a sense of playfulness. And as fluency is possible with only a small amount of musical language, you can enjoy it straight away. A fluent musician always sounds great whatever the level of complexity of the music being performed.
To find out more about Musical Fluency, click on Phil Best’s photo above to visit his website. He offers free starter course in musical fluency.
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Adult language learners can be fluent speakers. And even those that are fluent can write some incredible work — Nabokov always said he wrote English like an angel but spoke English like an idiot.
Musical fluency is some-how in-born to some people, but others I think strives hard to achieve the mark! Practice! Practice! Practice and Listen! Listen! Listen! You might be born with a talent but it need to be watered to grow into full broom. Age is no problem at all, just keep practicing!
I’m a teen starter, and by getting lessons and practicing a lot, I have been able to become fluent in my music. I am now minoring in violin at college
I was a very later starter – played a little as a 14-and 15 year old. In college, at 19, I dropped out to study, workin 8 hours a day as a bus boy to pay for lessons.
two years later a big scholarship to Juilliard, and the rest is in my BIO.
I am 66 years old now, and getting better every year because I love it and work hard at cello playing.
It’s interesting that you should mention that many late starters don’t really need training; I guess it depends on the instrument. When it comes to singing, my musicality is innate, but as one of my violin teachers who had heard me sing observed, when I play the violin my sense of musicality seemd to just disappear. I guess I would just so caught up in the technical execution of playing that I would forget the artistic aspects of playing.
After many years it is getting better, but playing an instrument is a much greater challenge.
I believe you are right to emphasize rhythm; I have had the experience of trying to teach rhythm to students who didn’t have the slightest clue about how to count rhythms, even after beginning with a basic 4/4 meter and building on that. Rhythm is so important to a clear understanding of music. As I have developed a better understanding and feel for it over the years, I am a better musician and can read a line of music faster and more fluently than I did before, without having to count it out in advance. THAT is a great feeling!