Guthrie the Great

I discovered Guthrie just a few weeks ago and oh my… this guy has really got it. Why hadn’t I heard about him before? The world is full of hidden surprises, we just got to look for them!

As part of the Vikid School of Music, we will start today by listening to some words of real wisdom.

(Please turn on images or ‘load photo’ in your email to see the video link)

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Here, Guthrie is talking about Music as a Language. We have Guthrie’s words, so I will not reiterate everything he says in too much detail. Watch the videos if you can! They are not long and have a message that will stay with you for a life time.

Once you hear it, you will know what he says is true and I have been mulling over something similar in my mind for ages. I just got distracted by the plethora of “teachers” out there, rather than following my instinct.

It also explains why most of us have such a problem learning Music theory.

Try explaining this sentence with the function of each word in the English grammar.
Try - Present Tense
Explaining - Present continuous something…? I don’t even know!

etc… etc…

It’s very difficult and ultimately not very useful. Most of the time, thinking about grammar actually does the opposite for you.

You get stuck.

If I had to write this article thinking about the theory, I think we would be here longer than the year.

That’s no way of being creative, productive or enjoying yourself…

and yet, there are times when I consult dictionaries and thesauruses, or check some piece of grammar (rare!) or even break rules (often!) to make the reading more pleasurable.

It has its place. Reading and writing have their place.

You wouldn’t be here if those ‘capabilities’ were missing.

Though things are changing now, YouTube has become the medium of this generation precisely because it’s an easier, wider and richer band of communication.

Video > Text, quite a lot of the time.

This has been my experience with Musical Grammar too. It has it’s place but figuring out where that place is and when to use it, is probably more important than knowing the grammar itself.

The Problem

Just to be clear. This post is written by a moron to a moron. If you are not of those, perhaps you can read elsewhere.

I had a music lesson with a friend yesterday, who also happens to be an accomplished musician, classical trained (multi-instrumental too) from one of the top conservatories in the US. She really makes me understand how long and far I have to go to actually call myself a musician, to have anything meaningful to contribute ‘education’ wise.

I still hugely respect every teacher that has come before me and actively support them, where I can.

Please take the rest of this post with a huge pinch of salt as this moron is still working things out.

So, I have a plan of action but first let’s elucidate the issue.

The problem with most courses on learning an instrument and/or music theory is the methods used to teach them.

That is my claim.

Some of the problems are systematic, i.e. they are due to the very nature of what we are trying to do and others, it seems, come from the model of ‘education’ itself.

Most of problems are self inflicted.

All of us already “speak a language” for many years before we approach grammar, in any capacity.
This unfortunately isn’t true with instruments. I did not approach the subject already freely playing the guitar or piano, for example. I can’t effortlessly play and then, only then, layer the theory on top, to enrich the experience.
This is a triple-problem. We are trying to learn an instrument (the various physical and technical challenges with doing that) and simultaneously, we are trying to learn music (the language) & theory (the grammar) behind it.
Doing two or more complex things at once is usually not a good idea until proficiency in each, is achieved. No wonder only the gifted or highly determined get through.
We are trying to learn Music as a foreign language. Like the 8 years of French I did in school. I came out with practically nothing.
If teachers were to follow the plan I have given below, I can imagine some very unhappy customers and irate parents, who aren’t paying $100 an hour so little Joe can screw around!

The Solution

Well it seems that the first good strategy would be to split out the functions. Study ‘Music’ separately from your Instrument. Study theory separately from both. Easy to say. But how do we do it?

The Third Instrument

We start the discussion with the third, cause I know how impatient the reader is…

I got a good clue for an online course (that I highly recommend), called “Improvise for Real” (IFR).

To study an instrument, first you must learn to go up and down the instrument chromatically (all 12 notes). One note at a time, then in jumps, like playing Snakes and Ladders with it.

You practice going up (and down) in Half-Steps & Whole Notes. It doesn’t sound very musical and we don’t care, it’s almost the point actually.

Get your brain out of the way and get the body (and ear) familiar with the mechanical actions it needs to perform.

Most drills taught in music courses actually model this kind of thinking*. The only difference here is that you actively focus on the ‘snake and ladder’ effect and connect the sound with your mind.*

Then (and this is the Vikid addition), we practice going up & down in Minor 3rds, Major 3rds, and 5ths. As an extension we can go up in 6th & 7th’s in their varieties etc…

You practice, starting with different fingers and positions, as much as is comfortable or practical on your given instrument.

Needless to say, use a metronome or equivalent when the basic fingering or whatever, is worked out.

Once we have done that we start layering the intervals both melodically and harmonically, with scales and chords etc…

At all times we just focus on the mechanics and the sound without too many labels. Always smoothly, without jerks at whatever speed permits it, no matter how slow.

However before doing this, we have to deal with the first two instruments…

The First Two Instruments

We all have two instruments that we already know reasonably well and more importantly, we know them fluently:

Our body
Our voice

Why aren’t we using them to learn “Music”?

Without these two, it’s like pretending to go on holiday by reading travel magazines alone or learning a foreign language with la bouche fermée.

(A major crime of foreign language instruction)

That would be highly stupid.

Yet, that is how I went about learning music for the last couple of decades. Perhaps you are doing that too?

The First Instrument

Watching my children grow up, the first thing I noticed is that they move their bodies to music from a very young age. No dog nor cat does this, no matter how much music you give it.

It is our natural language and it is not ‘taught’.

Much of it comes naturally and from the imitation of others. The basic movements morph naturally to some kind of tapping of the feet, hands or bobbing of the head. We will use this to understand rhythm.

What to do

Each morning, for example, put on some really good music, music that you love, and start moving to it.

First we get the whole body going.

I have come the understanding that until we have the big muscles of the body in a groove, the smaller, more intricate muscles used for manipulating your instrument will not get with the program. There will just be a massive cross-firing of nerve signals between the large muscles and the small ones and you will continuously be out of time and synchronization.

More, over you won’t understand why, and think that you just have no talent and no coordination.

Musical Interlude:

http://www.deezer.com/track/953631

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Now that’s what I call a track!
The Deezer version is richer than YouTube, if you have it or try Spotify.

Once the whole body is in the groove for 10 mins or so and with the added benefit of warming you up (feeling awesome too!), we move to smaller and smaller muscles groups.

We start tapping to a drum, or for the guitar, we can get into free flowing strum patterns, always ear on the music, mind practically vacant. I found a sock or corona mask works pretty well for muting the strings. Your family will thank you!

We are just focusing on ‘feeling’ rhythm. Then, during strums, we move on to picking out singles strings. All the time getting ‘finer and finer’ in movements.

As you get deeper into the music and just feeling the rhythm you can add more and more complexity.

Start singing (your second instrument) while strumming. Let the body get with the grove. Always, body first.

Play air guitar (air piano or whatever!) with your fingers. Just keep rhythm. The strings are still muted and you care not what is being played. In your imagination you can be (little) Joe Satriani, Slash or John Mayer.

This form of training is getting your whole body speaking the language of music. No theory, just you, the music and a feeling of freedom.

The Second Instrument

Most of us know “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music.

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I think this song contains a hidden gem and that’s why we secretly all love it.

The Do-Re-Me system is called Solfege and it’s beauty is that it is a relative based system. So it doesn’t matter what ‘Key’ you sing in or how deep / high your voice is, etc… There is a “Fixed Do” system too, but let’s not complicate things.

Solfege, I am guessing also, is probably originally based on the Indian “Sa-Re-Ga-Ma” system and is intuitively how music works in the mind. So that’s what I am thinking we go with.

All we have to do is sing and transcribe music using it.

It will do wonders for ear training. It will do wonders for your overall musical abilities, practical and theoretical. It will do wonders for your voice.

You need almost nothing. There is nothing to sell you, nothing to bottle and that’s probably why the system has fallen out of favor.

I will be writing much about this over the next few weeks, as experience befriends me. The real benefits only come with using it, not chatting about it. I have checked the internet and found that good solid actionable information is harder to obtain than ideal.

So please look out for future articles or simply…

that way you won’t miss a thing.

What to do

So you have been listening to music all morning, stuff that you love, not some crap in a music tutorial or book.

You take that stuff and transcribe it using Solfege.

You then read the solfege daily and singing back the tunes you transcribed.

Here is an example.

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Oh, thinking about the cheesy years! Ha ha!
(I know you love Monsieur Adams, admit it 😉)

Don’t laugh at me. I had to find a song we all know…

and here is my first draft of the chorus,

Baby, you’re all that I want
When you’re lyin’ here in my arms
I’m findin’ it hard to believe
We’re in heaven

And here it is in Solfege:

Do Do Re Mi Mi
Mi Fa So So So Fa Mi Do
Do Do Re Mi Mi
Re Do Re Ti

I am not vouching for accuracy here. That, is an exercise for the reader.

But how did I know what was Re, Mi, FA or so on?

That’s a secret for the another article, so subscribe!

You do this as much as you can, with as much music as you can.

With any luck, the solfege will start becoming a ‘first’ language.

You already have the rhythm in your bones. So…

Putting it all together.

You now take it to your instrument. Use solfege to work out the melody on the instrument. Sing the melody and play at the same time, to build and intuitive connection between mind and instrument.

Listen again to the song carefully and notice where the chords change. The solfege will let you know which chords are being used.

Slowly but surely you recompose the music on your instrument and you’ve done it in possibly the most musical way it can be done.

You are speaking the Language of Music with body, heart and mind as a first language. Now, we can go for the grammar and it will actually be useful.

Well, that’s the plan. I still have to consistently enact it and I’m only a week in…

Let’s see how it works out.

In 6 months or a year from now, if Vikid has really become a ‘musician’, then you will know how it was done and the proof will be in the pudding.

And that’s all from,

The Vikid School of Music.