“Hello, World! I made a mistake!”
Nope. That's not the fastest way to let your audience know
you made a mistake.
Scrunch up your face or shake your head.
Nope. Too subtle. If
someone is listening but not watching, they’ll miss it.
Error Detecting Machine
As a music teacher, I have heard many students and
professionals perform. I can easily spot mistakes with my eyes closed, having never heard the piece before, whenever a performer does this one thing.
Am I some sort of error detecting machine? Nah. You could catch these mistakes with ease,
even if you knew nothing about music!
Try it out
Imagine you’re listening to someone sing the ABCs:
(Underscores are pauses in the music.)
“A B C D E F G_ H I J K L N M O P_ Q R S_ T U V_ W X_ Y and
Z”
Did you catch their mistake? Maybe you did. Probably you
didn’t.
Imagine someone else singing the same song and making the
same mistake in this way:
“A B C D E F G_ H I J K L N M O_ _ _ L M N O P_ Q R S_ T U V_
W X_ Y and Z”
Did you catch the mistake this time? Yes! It was obvious!
Mistake made here!
What made the mistake obvious the second time around?
The break in the music.
It was essentially a neon sign saying “Mistake made here!”
Do we want our mistakes to stick out like a sore thumb? I
know I don’t.
The Musician’s Goal
Why do you listen to music?
People listen to music for a variety of reasons – to feel happy, to set
the mood, to feel sad, to dance, to exercise, and so much more!
People do not listen to music to hear a perfect
performance. It is your goal as a
musician to provide a effective, musically sensitive performance. Your goal is not perfection.
Your goal is to create music.
When you stop and correct your mistakes, you break the flow
of the music and the feelings expressed through your performance.
Not only that, you’re letting your pride get in the way of a
musical performance because you can’t stand for anyone to think that you don’t know
the way it’s supposed to be performed.
The joke’s on you because your performance sounds worse when you go back
and fix your mistakes mid-performance.
Just keep swimming
If stopping and fixing your mistakes makes them obvious to
the world, doing the opposite will help hide a good number of your mistakes and
maintain the flow of the music.
When you make a mistake, don’t sweat it. Just play or sing the next note and keep the
music moving forward.
Will it be a perfect performance? Nope.
Will it be a musically pleasant performance? Yep.
Will you maintain the emotional content of that musical
moment? Absolutely.
Whatever you do, don’t stop! Don’t go back and fix.
Don’t let your pride force you to wreck a beautiful
moment.
Love covers a multitude of sins
and moving on covers a multitude of musical mistakes!
Now, go forth and make music!
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