What Do You Need To Learn?

Nancy Zeltsman 9/17/11

Your Checklist as a highly competent musician who plays percussion or marimba

These items will be met through musical situations and experiences.

You should:

❑ Feel comfortable playing under a conductor.

❑ Feel comfortable playing without a conductor.

❑ Feel comfortable playing a solo part within an ensemble.

❑ Feel comfortable playing a solo (alone).

❑ Play in a variety of chamber groups (2-6 players).

❑ Be able to blend your sound with other instruments.

❑ Be able to cue others (in a group without a conductor).

❑ Be able to lead an efficient, productive rehearsal.

❑ Feel that you can prepare a part, or a piece, quickly.

❑ Play freelance gigs (i.e. experience situations with new colleagues).

❑ Be able to take musical dictation. At least be good at writing out rhythms. (This is
very valuable for writing cues in parts in rehearsals.) Ideally, transcribe melodies and
rhythms to improve your ear and your understanding of notation.

❑ Record yourself; study your performance (audio and video).

❑ Develop a sense of dynamic range, and dynamic levels.

❑ Understand the effects of various sticks and mallets. Develop an outlook on what
mallets achieve. Develop your touch to be able to sometimes compensate for less-
than-ideal sticks/mallets.

❑ Build a critical ear for quality of sound. Be able to describe what you value in
sound.

❑ Build a personal repertoire.

❑ Besides repertoire-building, learn for the sake of learning.

 ❑ Try to understand not only what teachers want you to do, but how they get you
to try a new way. Try to understand their values and their process. (Each little
thing a teacher asks or suggests is a step toward showing you their whole world.)
Ultimately, the goal is to understand how to effectively learn on your own.

❑ Teach others. Begin to develop an approach to pedagogy.

❑ Be able to talk about music like an expert, in your own way.

❑ Be able to write about music like an expert.

❑ Build your critical skills to make judgments about music. Hopefully, your
openness constantly expands.

❑ Become a supportive colleague. Respect people doing their best. Fellow students
will be with you for life! Be a generous citizen of the musical community.

This list will be met through learning to play a lot of music.

You should:

❑ Understand style references. Understand at least a few really well.

What gives them their “flavor”? For example: French, German, Spanish /
jig (gigue), waltz, tango / ragtime, swing, funk … & many more!

❑ Be a master of beat subdivisions.

See Four-Mallet Marimba Playing, Chap. 1I. “Basics of Good Rhythm and “Feel”
(pp. 18-20) “If you’re not sure whether or not they are perfect, they aren’t!”

❑ Be able to play with a metronome and sometimes “bury the click.”

❑ Be able to play a funky groove.

❑ Understand how to inflect syncopations.

❑ Play along with recordings, or a piece with a pre-recorded accompaniment.

❑ Be able to listen to (and, ideally, sing) one part while you play another.

❑ Collaborate with (advise) a composer to write a piece for you and perform it.

❑ Play a piece by a major, renowned composer (who is not a percussionist).

 ❑ Play a minimalist piece.

❑ Play a 12-tone or atonal piece (or it could be called “chromatic” music). Don’t use
the terms “12-tone” or “atonal” if you mean “modern” or “contemporary.”

❑ Play a piece with extremely complex rhythms.

❑ Play a piece you don’t like, and then discover you DO (really) like it!

❑ Understand rubato.

❑ Understand what is meant by “direction” in music (i.e. musical flow).

Dynamic inflection plays a part in this.

❑ Be comfortable with space in music. This includes rit.s and restarts.

❑ Be able to play by memory (even a short piece or section).

❑ Be comfortable in your body behind (and between) instruments.

Percussion is physical. Develop grace.

❑ Be able to improvise (at least with some simple parameters).

❑ Feel that you can interpret written music. This includes being able to:
1) project different meters; 2) project the hierarchy of pulse suggested by the
notation; 3) observe myriad directions supplied through notation; 4) receive “the
message” in the notes themselves (what they want to say); 5) understand that after
you’re in control of all that, it’s still about something else (the music)!

❑ Say something when you play … everything you play (including studies!).

In general:
- Some items are ones you might feel you can check off right now. However, they could still
be taken to a deeper level.
- Some items might not be things you want to take to a deeper level—which reveals
something about your particular interests.
- You will not do all of these well—or care about them equally. But try to understand what is
meant by everything here.
- The points that make less sense could be the beginning of good conversations with teachers.
- Some of these may define something you never thought about … that you might turn out to
love!
- No one does everything well. Accept this. Build on it.
- When it comes to choosing new repertoire, use the list above as a guide. Seek music to
address particular issues.