The other day, we were chatting with a fellow aspiring composer. He asked a great question, one that is on the minds of many hopeful musicians, composers, pianists, and even mothers and fathers of young music lovers.
How do you learn about music?
Here are a few ideas of things that have helped us.
1. Find an encouraging musical mentor. Someone probably introduced you to music. Talk to them about their experiences. Glean from them. This could be the pianist at your local church, the conductor of the local youth symphony, Great-Uncle John who plays the tuba, or someone else. Don’t think grandiose. Find someone with whom to start the conversation. They won’t have all the answers, but if they love music, and you spend time with them, it will start rubbing off on you.
Your musical mentors will grow in number over the years, and will shift and change. Rebecca’s first musical mentor was her mother (who didn’t play any instruments but had watched “The Sound of Music” as a child, and couldn’t wait for her children to sing and play). After that, her grandmother, who was an accomplished musician, played a key role by purchasing the family piano.
The next mentors were 16 year old twins who introduced the first aspects of the piano. Then, it was a home-school mother choir director who joined the scene. Time continued on, and a 75 year old man played a pivotal role in encouraging the young but blossoming musical interests. A church pianist-piano teacher built a solid foundation of music theory.
An elder in his church and the best-piano-teacher-ever, taught, challenged and stretched Rebecca’s ability to the max. A sweet Texas mother called on the phone for chats about piano and choir pedagogy every once in a while. A music historian taught a class on hymnology. A gracious composer-conductor welcomed our questions. And so on, and so on. It has been remarkable to see God provide musical encouragers to spur us on to glorify Him through music.
If you can, find mentors who have the same presuppositions as you. This doesn’t always happen, but you can glean even more from these precious people. Be persistent and prayerful.
2. Find a piano teacher (for starters). Often people will ask us, “Do I need to learn piano first, or can I jump into another instrument?” Though it is quite possible to become an accomplished musician and start with learning the piccolo, the piano does provide a solid foundation for an aspiring musician. We reccomend starting with the piano, then after that is mastered (to what ever point meets your goals), add more instruments.
The piano provides an excellent venue for learning music theory, for the simple reason, that you can “see” how theory works though scale, chord structure, etc. because of the visual layout of the keys on the keyboard. This might not make sense to a new musician, but trust us, it’s really important. For example, piano, harpsichord, organ, and harp are the only instruments where you can sit down and “see” all the notes at once. With flute, violin, trumpet, and others, you can “see” and play only one to four notes at a time (depending on the number of strings). This adds much complexity to understanding theory. So, in short, start with the piano. It gives a excellent foundation for your musical journey.
How old should your child be when they start piano? Our rule is, when they can:
- Read. [decoding skills]
- Tie their shoes. [dexterity skills]
Usually, this happens for children from between 4-10 years old. Rebecca has taught a few children who were either very young (3/4/5) or they were older but couldn’t read well, and in both situations, she felt that the parents were wasting their money! The child just wasn’t quite ready. So, be patient. Work on obedience, reading solidly, and tying those shoes, then your little budding musician is ready for lessons. : )
And, do keep in mind, it’s never too late to start lessons. Whether you are 12, 17, 23, 45 or 89, it’s always the perfect time to learn.
As far as what to look for in a piano teacher, and how to go about finding one, that is a subject for another blog post, which we hope to write over the next while! Start by asking everyone you know who takes piano lessons who they take from and why they like (or don’t like) their teacher. In our upcoming blog post, we will also address why we feel it is important to take lessons, and not just teach yourself.
3. Take a class, seminar, or go to a camp. Occasionally, you’ll find an interesting opportunity to learn from expert musicians. When that happens, snatch it! These providential occurrences take many shapes and forms. Some are free, and some cost thousands of dollars.
Again, Rebecca’s experiences have run the gamut. From a “class” from a friend taking apart the entire piano on the living room floor, to a 3 week intensive music camp in another state, to a music and worship conference which she attended with her pastor-dad, to a music history class at a local seminary, to correspondence courses on a variety of skills . . . be on the lookout for unusual, but key points to learn, build friendships, and get key recommendations from people who know way more than you do.
One resource that has a bunch of interesting aspects are some music courses through the International Academy of Music (Caveat: like any organization, they also have some things with which we don’t completely align). This is a great starting place to take some home-study courses or seminar.
Also, check out your local community college for their musical courses. Keep in mind, they probably won’t be coming from a Biblical perspective. It will be important to view everything you are learning through the lens of Scripture.
Lastly, every once in a while, Steven and Rebecca’s church has it’s very own WCWC with music classes. Shoot us a message, and we’ll let you know if they are having a music professor at the current year’s conference.
One “class” that we are considering is a hymn improvisation course with the Pastor-pianist George Miladin. We’ll let you know how it goes. : )
4. Read good books. Two that we’ve especially enjoyed are Singing and Making Music by Paul Jones, which particularly talks about a reformational perspective of music, and What to Listen For in Music by Aaron Copland which gives a crash course in music appreciation and a few basic aspects of theory and composistion. The Gift of Music is a fabulous music history overview written by Jane Stewart Smith and Betty Carlsen.
After recently going to a free and amazing concert of Bach’s Mass in B minor with a 40 men and boy’s voice choir, and 30 period accurate instruments, this is a book we’d like to read, by Gregory Wilbur: Glory and Honor: The Music and Artistic Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach. And a course, a few more books to start from are our listed on our Links Page.
Lastly, keep an eye out for excellent articles. It is a challenge to find biblical books and articles on music and musicians. Every once in a while, though, you’ll find a keeper, like this thought provoking one by R J Rushdoony [Editor's Note: You'll have to create a log-in, but don't worry, it's free].
5. Practice, practice, practice. More than the old adage quips: “Practice makes perfect”, practice is the key to immersion, and immersion is the key to mastery. In fact, “perfect” is not the goal. If you want to learn something, you have to do it. You can’t just read about it. You have to dive in, no matter how messy it is, and keep on keeping on. Perseverance and patience are inextricably linked to good practice. Ben Botkin has an excellent article with key thoughts on developing your musical skills.
Keep in mind, practice, doesn’t just mean mindless repetition. You have to use your brain (as Rebecca is frequently heard telling her piano students). You need to analyze what you are working on, both seeing the big picture and the little parts. Figure out the history behind the song: what made the composer write it and what was going on historically during the time of the composition. Dive in wholeheartedly, doing everything for God’s glory.
6. Listen, listen, listen. This last point, could arguably, be the most important. The more you listen, the greater your musical discernment will be.
Go to concerts. Connect to the local music scene. If you live in a metropolitan area, this should be easily accessible to you. This doesn’t have to be expensive. Lots of groups give one or two free concerts a year. Find concerts outside your “genre-comfort-zone”. If you only listen to country, find an early music concert. If your tastes center only on symphonic classical, find a folk concert from a different culture (Mexico, Greece, French, etc).
Many, unfortunately apostate churches, happily sponsor beautiful concerts with Christ-honoring music. Lots of city parks have concerts during the summertime. Colleges will often have recitals with their music students or choirs. And of course, there is always the local Symphonies. Be discerning and creative.
In addition, listen to recordings. Have a varied, but high quality musical diet. Listen to the “greats”: the great composers, the great compositions, the great performers, the great choirs. They are famous for a reason.
In addition, narrow in on your own field of interest. If you are interested in learning the oboe, listen to tons of oboe music. Get to know the pieces, composers, and performers in your field. If you want to compose film scores, listen to film scores. If you want to conduct symphonies, listen to symphonies. If you want to play the ukulele, bodhran, and kazoo, . . . well, you get the idea. : )
You can find music to listen to at your local public library, on Amazon.com, BlueBehemoth.com, and even free web music sources like Pandora.com or Spotify.com.
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We hope this article will be a resource to you as you travel your own musical journey. Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord, and do all things, including music, for His glory, and by His grace!
Photos courtesy of Flickr by Atle Brunvoll, Nathan Russell, Oude School, Audio-TechnicalUK, Today is a Good Day, John-Pa and CazatoMa. Thank you all.
