A rough typology of music micro-skills from my first year and a half learning saxophone.
Reading music
Getting notes + annotations correct
Binding notes + annotations + physical movements together crisply. Annotations were learned significantly after notes.
Reading the rests as intervals
Reading ahead on the sheet
Executing the next physical move correctly
Keeping your place in the music synchronized with what you’re fingering...
...even while you’re beginning to chunk the music into phrases
Knowing where I am in the piece of music, being able to find my place again if I lose it.
Generating an internal metronome
Those moments when I notice I’m swaying to the beat vs trying to kickstart with a foot tap
Maintaining a foot tap in time with the music
This is close to, but distinct from Synchronizing with the beat/metronome and Continuing to count beats as you play
Perception
I feel like at least half of the learning has been being able to perceive things, especially in the time domain.
Being able to discern/repeat beat patterns, eg, couldn’t even perceive 1⁄43⁄161⁄163⁄161⁄161⁄4 at first. Slowing down + isolating to the minimal (ie, clapping), localizing to different body parts + drawing out the 16th interval all required to integrate what feel like even more granular nano-skills, just with my hand on my leg.
Reminds me of cog reflection tests, where my rhythmic intuition intuition STRONGLY force me towards playing 1⁄41⁄163⁄161⁄163⁄161⁄4, the inverse of the intended swing. This was made worse by the visually even spacing of the notes on the page.
Breath
Getting breaths between notes: not running out of wind
Exhaling from the diaphragmatic, with an open throat. Mostly the breath stream should be continuous with stops created by the tongue on the reed—maintaining a steady stream of lung pressure is counter-intuitive.
Volume control
Mouth
Not destroying your tongue when tonguing notes
Not destroying your lower lip
Coordinating fingers, tongue and breath
Stable embourche
Hands
Keeping the fingers on the keys
Hand/finger positioning to minimize strain
Eg, getting crisp transitions between notes
Slurring
Eg, getting crisp transitions between notes, eg B → C
Crossing the break, from C to high D
Sitting and standing postures that don’t leave me sore or with soft-tissue issues
The ability to love the sound and love the process
Instrument maintenance & care
Daily and less frequent cleaning
Safe handling
Executing multiple micro-skills at the same time or quicky in a chain
Breath/mouth/hand coordination
Diagnosing problems: is it the reed, mouth, sax, etc? Guidance here is important.
A rough typology of music micro-skills from my first year and a half learning saxophone.
Reading music
Getting notes + annotations correct
Binding notes + annotations + physical movements together crisply. Annotations were learned significantly after notes.
Reading the rests as intervals
Reading ahead on the sheet
Executing the next physical move correctly
Keeping your place in the music synchronized with what you’re fingering...
...even while you’re beginning to chunk the music into phrases
Knowing where I am in the piece of music, being able to find my place again if I lose it.
Generating an internal metronome
Those moments when I notice I’m swaying to the beat vs trying to kickstart with a foot tap
Maintaining a foot tap in time with the music
This is close to, but distinct from Synchronizing with the beat/metronome and Continuing to count beats as you play
Perception
I feel like at least half of the learning has been being able to perceive things, especially in the time domain.
Being able to discern/repeat beat patterns, eg, couldn’t even perceive 1⁄4 3⁄16 1⁄16 3⁄16 1⁄16 1⁄4 at first. Slowing down + isolating to the minimal (ie, clapping), localizing to different body parts + drawing out the 16th interval all required to integrate what feel like even more granular nano-skills, just with my hand on my leg.
Reminds me of cog reflection tests, where my rhythmic intuition intuition STRONGLY force me towards playing 1⁄4 1⁄16 3⁄16 1⁄16 3⁄16 1⁄4, the inverse of the intended swing. This was made worse by the visually even spacing of the notes on the page.
Breath
Getting breaths between notes: not running out of wind
Exhaling from the diaphragmatic, with an open throat. Mostly the breath stream should be continuous with stops created by the tongue on the reed—maintaining a steady stream of lung pressure is counter-intuitive.
Volume control
Mouth
Not destroying your tongue when tonguing notes
Not destroying your lower lip
Coordinating fingers, tongue and breath
Stable embourche
Hands
Keeping the fingers on the keys
Hand/finger positioning to minimize strain
Eg, getting crisp transitions between notes
Slurring
Eg, getting crisp transitions between notes, eg B → C
Crossing the break, from C to high D
Sitting and standing postures that don’t leave me sore or with soft-tissue issues
The ability to love the sound and love the process
Instrument maintenance & care
Daily and less frequent cleaning
Safe handling
Executing multiple micro-skills at the same time or quicky in a chain
Breath/mouth/hand coordination
Diagnosing problems: is it the reed, mouth, sax, etc? Guidance here is important.
Vocalizing the beat to yourself internally?
Probably not everyone does this?