If You Can Sing It, You Can Play It! by Violin Teacher Corrin Evans!
Posted by Michelle Petty on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 @ 06:50 PM
If You Can Sing It, You Can Play It!
By Corrin Evans (violin faculty)
“If you can sing it, you can play it.” I have found this to be true in my own practice. I used to listen to songs so many times in a row I could learn them by ear and play them on my fiddle with no conventional practicing at all. The ability to sing to myself came in very helpful when I needed to slow things down to pick out the notes- in the “dark times” before software applications like the Amazing Slow Downer revolutionized ear training by being able to slow a song down without changing the pitch. I like to use the analogy that although we can see a tree and notice it’s beauty and uniqueness, drawing even with just a pencil, really simply, accesses our abilities to see this tree with prismatic perception. Drawing opens our eyes to a new way of seeing that can bring a deeper meaning to what we thought we knew so well. This is the same thing that happens when we learn to sing a song we are working on. It’s also called “internalizing” the melody. Just like we literally and metaphorically draw the tree into our consciousness and expand our awareness of the tree, and therefore all other trees that we pay attention to in the future, so we internalize the melody which gives us access to much more than what we thought we heard before we let it come into our ears and into our hearts and out again through our voice.
You do not have to train to be an expert singer (although the vocal faculty at CSM is splendid) to reap the benefits of this technique, humming the tune/song/piece and listening over and over again to excellent recordings of excellent musicians is quite adequate. Whistling and La la la are a little difficult to do with the fast stuff, so I recommend da di di dum. Any “da,” “di,”and “dum,” at your pleasure and intuitive whim. Or try deedle deedle de. I know it sounds silly, but oftentimes the silliest and simplest thing is the most effective solution. I found those to be the best syllables for me, but I also want to greatly encourage (which means, “with heart,” en Coeur- age) you towards experimentation! If we fail, great! What a remarkable experience! What did we learn? Every outcome is a treasure. The unexpected discoveries we encounter illuminate the path before us and give us insight into what to do next. Let’s enchant (which literally means, “to sing in”) with our voices and express the great beauty that lives in our hearts through the songs/tunes/pieces that we are learning in our lessons. Huummmmmm…………………………. di di da di da