Lesson 4 - application
So here it is - a specific approach players can use to apply gestalt principles to their practice and performance:
Phase 1 - start with each note as its own gestalt
The first step in learning a new piece should be to ensure that every note can be played as its own gestalt - its own thing, its own whole. This might seem too obvious to be worth mentioning, but it’s surprising how many players jump into a piece headlong before weighing it out and asking, honestly, if they are capable of playing all the notes and executing all the technical demands required. If not, it’s hardly worth playing it through from the top as a first step. In reference to the baking analogy in lesson 1, would you make a cake without first collecting and measuring the ingredients? Perhaps, but probably only after you had gained some significant experience making cakes according to a verified process (ie a recipe).
(Note: While there is great value in sight reading new music, the sight reading phase should be approached separately from the gestalt approach to practicing described here.)
To practice making each note its own gestalt, choose a phrase or line of music on which to focus. If you have already been working on the piece, choose a passage which is difficult or troubling. Play the first note, all by itself, as a long tone, multiple times if necessary, and / or across multiple breaths until it feels easy, confident, consistently centered, and full-bodied - as if you could play it comfortably all day.
Ignore tempo and dynamic markings for now, just play at a comfortable mf. When - and only when - the first note feels like a comfortable, confident, and familiar whole (a gestalt), move on to the next note and repeat the process.
In Phase 1 we are making a whole out of the various parts that shape a single note: the beginning, middle, and end of a note are parts that deserve independent consideration, even though it might be impossible to practice them independently (for example, you can’t practice a note’s end without also practicing its beginning).
By way of example, it’s not uncommon for the beginning of a note to present its own difficulties in terms of articulation or production (especially due to high/low extremes of register), while the middle of the same note presents other difficulties (perhaps due to its length or volume, etc), and the end of that same note might have still other difficulties (perhaps due to the kind of release desired). Have you ever panicked over the beginning of a note and approach it too tightly, then settled into the note’s middle once you “got it,” then choked off the ending - perhaps due to anxiety over playing the next note? If so, you have experienced the various parts that comprise one note.
All the parts of a single note must become one gestalt before that note can be included effectively in a phrase, and it’s probably not worth practicing the phrase much before the notes within it are whole unto themselves. This wholeness includes other aspects, like embouchure formation, tongue placement, air speed and direction, etc.
Because each note is already “one” thing already, Phase 1 need not last for an exorbitantly long time. However, be sure to avoid the temptation of moving to the next note too soon simply because “it’s there.” Musicians tend to gain a compelling sense of pressing onward in the music “no matter what,” especially once it becomes familiar to them. This musical momentum, while important in ensemble playing, actually works against the individual in the practice room, who, even without a conductor to follow or a group to play with, can feel compelled to hasten to the next note before ensuring that the current note is sufficiently whole all by itself (again, “whole” means comfortable, centered, full, rich, and confident).
Acknowledge the reality that other demands may be influencing your desire to hurry through practicing: maybe you feel overwhelmed by all the music you have to learn (an etude for your lesson, symphonic band music for the upcoming concert, some brass quintet parts for tomorrow’s rehearsal, and solos for your upcoming recital - yikes!), maybe you have only a short time for your practice today, or maybe you feel intimidated by the sounds coming from the practice room next door. Whatever the case, it’s import to bear in mind that gestalt brass playing is a process of seeking quality, not quantity. High-performance vehicles are not fast because they were designed or built hastily.
Phase 2 - add tempo, length, etc, to the “one-note” gestalt
This phase is especially important when the first note of your musical phrase poses a challenge. For the purposes of this explanation, let’s say that our phrase begins with a short, low-register note in a brisk tempo that is immediately followed by a note one octave higher. Let’s also assume a forte dynamic and a marcato style. Something like this:
Play the first note alone, but rather than making it a long tone, as you did in Phase 1, work toward making the first note a gestalt that includes not only pitch, but correct length as well. You may be surprised to find that your progress from Phase 1 has seemed to disappear - that the note which was comfortable and consistent as a long tone just a moment ago now feels foreign, unfamiliar, and difficult again just by trying to play it shorter. But don’t worry - the addition of any new parameter to the gestalt commonly results in this “step backward” effect. By expecting it, you will feel less frustrated by it.
Play the first note - and only the first note - in this way (ie with correct pitch and correct length) until it feels as comfortable, centered, and “whole,” as it did when it was completely separated from its context and played as a long tone, all by itself. Then, one by one, continue to add parameters that affect this note as suggested below (or in whatever order makes the most sense). The important thing is not to add a new parameter until the first one is sufficiently comfortable, familiar, and whole:
play the note in time
play the note in time, and at the marked dynamic
play the note in time, and at the marked dynamic, and with the correct articulation
etc.
Remember that each element added to the gestalt may bring with it a feeling of unfamiliarity and disconnect. This is to be expected. After all, it is the combination of multiple elements in context that made the phrase “hard” in the first place. By addressing each musical element individually, you can better isolate those that are the most challenging, master them, and ultimately create a gestalt that includes them.
Like Phase 1, Phase 2 need not take an exorbitant amount of time since, again, the focus is on individual notes. However, it is equally important not to move on too quickly from this or any Phase, because doing can defeat the purpose of the gestalt approach.
Phase 3 - form “two-note”gestalts
Once every note of the phrase or line in question has been verified as its own gestalt as described in Phases 1 and 2, play the first two notes until they, together, begin to feel like “one thing,” like a gestalt of their own. In the example shown above, this would mean playing the octave leap until it feels comfortable, confident and whole, rather than feeling like this note, followed by that note.
Once again, the addition of a second note (even a note you have already verified as its own gestalt, no less) may cause unfamiliarity and discomfort to resurface as the one-note gestalt stretches to accommodate two. Don’t be discouraged by this, and be sure that the first pair of notes becomes one in concept and execution before moving on.
Phase 4 - adding more notes
The process of adding notes to the gestalt continues basically as described above. Generally this will mean adding one note at a time, though it should be noted that, depending on the developing skill of the player, the level of difficulty of the music, and/or the player’s general familiarity with the gestalt approach, there need not be a pedantic focus on only, ever adding one note at a time. In choosing how fast to move along, or how many more notes to add to the gestalt at once, just bear in mind that the process is basically defeated if your goal shifts away from “growing a comfortable, confident gestalt” to “getting through the piece.” Check yourself occasionally and be honest about your motivations.
In my experience, the gestalt approach to brass playing works very well on the phrase level, but is somewhat impractical to extend much beyond that. For example, notes that are separated by rests, or by a breath, are understandably more difficult to connect into a single gestalt than adjacent notes in a phrase, and might be better considered as either the last note of the previous gestalt group, or the first note of the next one.