Connect to your Fundamentals

Have you ever been at a concert listening to some virtuoso artist backed by a major orchestra shred their way through some fast, technically involved music with elegance and ease, as if it is the easiest thing they have ever played? I think we all have! But don't you wonder how they do it? How do they play with such flawless virtuosity and make it all seem easy? Well, here's how, and NONE of it has to do with so called "talent"! 

Although some people may claim that the most virtuosic artists connect with audiences because of their overwhelming amounts of innate talent, they are flat out wrong! Talent alone has nothing to do with it. Their persistent and dedicated work to the refinement of their fundamental skills on their instrument, in conjunction with informed and developed musical ideas is what has propelled their performance to such a high level of virtuosity. As my former saxophone professor Steven Banks was famous for saying, "We need to play in tune, play in time, with no fuzz, and no buzz". To this day, this quote resonates in my head every time I step into a practice room or onto a stage for a performance. In order to connect with audiences through virtuosity on our instruments, we must perform in such a way where mistakes in our performance are not a distraction to audiences, and do not detract from the performance. What do I mean by this? Consider this; have you ever been to a high school band performance where there is an errand squeak, squawk, or dropped pair of crash cymbals? YES! WE ALL HAVE! Now consider what reaction you have as a result of that sound. It is usually something along the lines of "Yikes! What was that?" In the world of high school band, a mistake like this is commonplace and accepted, as young musicians are learning their instruments. However, as professional performers, we have to do everything possible to not allow distractions from un-pure sounds, gaps in legato, and sloppy technique to jolt our audiences and give them the same reaction. Paying audiences want to be marveled by the virtuosity that is on the stage in front of them. They want to be engaged by your impressive playing, and distracted from the hum-drum of their lives. As soon as your fundamentals collapse and cause one of these feared squeaks, squawks, or biffed technical runs, audiences are jolted out of their amazement in your playing and begin to wonder "oof, what did I pay to see?" 

So how do we protect against this? Simply put, through slow practice and refinement of our fundamental skills each and every day. In my own practice each day, the first 1-2 hours of playing that I do is focused on warming up and improving upon my fundamentals of playing with a round tone, even legato, clear articulation, and relaxed finger technique. Listed below are some of the areas that I focus on the most when practicing my fundamentals each day:

• Relaxed technique: Above all else, muscular tension in our bodies has the most potential to completely derail performances. Practicing SLOW exercises while focusing on relaxing the body is crucial to speeding up technique, improving air flow, and preventing mistakes due to performance anxiety. 
• Seamless legato: Playing with a consistently supported air column is central to creating smooth connections between all the notes in any register on the instrument. I recommend practicing slow scales, in all keys and patterns in order to develop a completely legato transition between every note and register. Furthermore, it is important to focus on creating an even tone color between all the registers of your instrument, allowing no note to pop out suddenly (a distraction). In turn, this slow practice helps to create smooth and connected musical phrases at any tempo.
• Clear articulation: Articulation should really be defined as simply starting the note, and then interrupting it when called to do so in the music. All too often, I hear articulation styles where there is an extraneous sound, pop, or "swoosh" of air before the note is started, and between notes. This is a clear distraction to audience members, and detracts from the purity of sound that you are trying to create. In my own practice, I am constantly focused on starting each note with the same pure sound that I hope to sustain throughout the length of the note. Furthermore, when changing or interrupting the note with an articulation the goal should be to do so in such a way where the audience is not aware that anything is even happening. Simply, the note is just changing. 
• Scales: All music is essentially comprised of scales and patterns from scales. When practicing our fundamentals, scales are comprised of all of the skills listed above, combined into one package. Likewise, scales are the last thing I practice in my fundamentals warm-up in order to focus on combining each of the skills above to create beautiful and virtuosic playing in any pattern in any musical key. With scales, my biggest piece of advice is to practice them slowly. Give yourself time to think about, and focus on each of your fundamental skills. Do not allow any small mistake to creep in without correction. DISCLAIMER: Anyone who says they "know their scales" is lying to you! It is impossible to perform every scale, in every pattern, in every key, with 100% perfection always in regards to all the fundamental skills above. Scales serve as our constant exercise and reminder to combine relaxed technique, seamless legato, and clear articulation in one musical package. Practicing scales every day is the musical equivalent to eating your Wheaties!

And then we get to the music... As I said before, we are only seeking to improve our fundamentals in order to create virtuosic playing that dazzles and engages audiences, rather than distract them with noticeable mistakes and imperfections. This is where etudes come into the picture. Although some etudes may not be the shining stars of beautiful musical material, they do serve a purpose! Etudes, much like scales, serve as the testing ground for all of the fundamentals that we practice each day. Etudes serve as a musical medium in which we combine our refined fundamental skills with informed musical and phrasing ideas to create one whole piece of music. Likewise, if we as musicians commit to recording our performance of etudes (or really even any repertoire) regularly, we have the unique opportunity to hear it from the audiences perspective, identify any weaknesses in fundamentals, and address them as we have previously talked about. Essentially, the loop we are talking about here is the cycle of continually refining our fundamentals, applying them in the music, identifying shortcomings, and then further refining the fundamentals.

Overtime, we are able to creating the awe inspiring virtuosic performances that we see from many of today's greatest musicians.  It's all in the fundamentals! But just remember, even for these top performers, the refinement never stops...

If you are interested in a more detailed look at how to improve your fundamentals, please message me via my contact form at the end of this page or on social media to inquire about private lessons, either online or in-person. Remember, your first lesson is entirely free! Additionally, if something in this blog post connected with you, let me know in the comments. I would love to connect with you and answer any questions you may have!

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