Reversing Old Presumptions About Playing Music

Is it brain-muscles-ears, or ears-muscles-brain? This may surprise you.

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There is a common presumption that learning a piece of music is processed in this order:

1.  The mind tries to understand what’s going on through analysis, reading, listening to the teacher.
2.  The hands are told by the brain what to do so they can practice and learn their job.
3.  The ears serve as audience and judge to see how it comes out.

These presumptions seem plausible but only serve to create frustration. For example, some players may feel they don’t know how to play a phrase of music even though they just played it. I’ve seen students play several notes of a musical phrase and have their fingers poised correctly for the next note, but feel unable to play it because they don’t “know” what comes next. Others need to read the music in order to play it, and feel confused if asked to play even a few notes in a row without reading them. 

What is going on here?  Maybe that presumed order of learning music is not actually how it works.  Perhaps there is a mismatch between expectations and reality.

What I’ve found is that the process actually works in the reverse of the above sequence:

1.  The ears quickly learn the sound of the music to be worked on, its profile and timing.
2.  The hands learn their job according to what the ears tell them is right.
3.  The mind becomes familiar with what the muscles have done, and notices connections in patterns, fingerings, phrases, to help do it all again next time.

I’ve noticed that most students, even beginners, know how a phrase of music goes after hearing it only twice. I can tell because when they try to play the notes, they stop at the first wrong note. Instead of getting mad at themselves for making a mistake, I tell them they should congratulate their ears for recognizing right from wrong! Our ears are almost always better than we give them credit for, and our brains are a lot slower to catch on to things than we’d like to believe.

How does this change music learning?  Here’s a comparison of scenarios where someone thinks “mind/hand/ears” vs “ears/hands/mind,” based on actual situations of students.

~ Mind first:  Beth’s fingers are in the right place, poised to play the next note, but she won’t play it because in her mind she’s not sure it’s correct.
~ Ears first:  Beth tries out what may be the next note in order to hear it, and her ears confirm that it sounds right — or wrong. She’s either played it right, or can try a different note and see if her ears feel it matches what she has heard. Her mind observes the process in order to help repeat the right choice next time.

~ Mind first:  George remembers that a passage of music uses a descending scale. He plays down a scale, but it doesn’t sound right. He knows there’s a scale going down so he tries it again, but it still doesn’t sound right. Frustation ensues; he’s not sure what to do.
~ Ears first:  George plays down the scale but it doesn’t sound right, so he tries again, paying attention with his ears and noting which note sounds questionable. He tries a different note option or two to find the right one, trusting his ears to make the right call, rather than relying on his logical memory about the desending scale idea.

~ Mind first:  Ari learns successfully to play a phrase of music by ear, then after learning a second phrase, claims that he completely forgot the first one.
~ Ears first:  Ari doesn’t think he remembers the first phrase but with a few reminders about a starting note, or even trial and error, he gives it a shot and discovers that it sounds familiar. His muscle memory helps him approximate the phrase as he played it a short while ago. He might have to try again but is on the right track.

~ Mind first:  Ellen hears the teacher say, or remembers from the sheet music, that she must use the first finger, open string, then third finger — 1, 0, 3 is the order. She knows what she’s supposed to do, so she doesn’t need to pay attention as her teacher sings her a descending scale. She plays 1, 0, 3, but all on one string, and believes she’s played the correct notes. Unfortunately, the last note is a fifth higher than it should be.
~ Ears first:  Ellen learns the finger numbers and hears the descending scale.  She might try third finger on the same string once, but her ears know immediately it doesn’t match what she heard. She tries again, using third finger on the next string, which sounds right. Her ears have just taught her an important lesson about finger numbers vs sound.

Trusting and valuing the ears, and giving the muscle memory the benefit of the doubt, requires an open mind — a mind that can learn from the body, rather than a mind that has to always be in charge. When learning a new phrase of music, it’s great to play it correctly, not just once, but a second time for the ears’ sake, and a third time for the hands’ sake.  Playing music is not about merely knowing or understanding what’s to be done, but about hearing it first — and then allowing the muscles to get used to actually doing it. We need to give our ears and hands a chance to learn, not just tell them what to do.

If learners sometimes resist these ideas, it is in large part because we tend to think about only what we can verbalize — and we don’t really have words to describe what the ears or the muscles do. Those who are intent on applying their brains to the problem at hand usually limit their thinking to ideas that are verbalizable or visual, such as written notes, numbers, descriptions. For such learners, it can be difficult — but very rewarding — to learn from and trust the ears and hands. After all, our brains and eyes may control much of our daily lives, but they can’t play music for us; only our ears and muscles can do that!