Picture This

The idea of using recordings for pedagogical purposes is something that musicians are often told to consider but rarely actually execute, often simply due to the hassle of using and setting up decent equipment. Thankfully, as technology improves, getting effective recordings is becoming easier. While a truly professional recording still requires a studio and expensive equipment, these days, even a computer and a few well placed mics can capture something more useful to players of all levels.

For all players, recordings have value in showing what was occurring rhythmically and dynamically. It's actually very difficult to play evenly, and a lot of musicians don't realize how bad they are at it. For the advanced player, some of the better recording devices accessible today can also be very useful for working on sound. Many of the nuances are captured, and one is able to gain a valuable "audience perspective" of oneself. Most instruments sound different from 10 feet away than they do from one foot away. Am I projecting? Am I obsessing too much over slight unclarities in the sound that I can only hear because of my proximity to the point of origin? Recordings can help us as musicians answer these questions.

Perhaps most interesting to me was the idea of using pictures of wave amplitudes in teaching. It fits in with the idea of those who learn best through visual stimuli, and even on an intuitive level, makes a lot of sense considering all the time musicians spend trying to translate music, which is inherently sounded, into visual and tactile images that assist achieving certain nuances. I could definitely see the use in not just asking for big rounded notes as a band director, but using the visual stimulus of a wave chart to show students what their notes look like.

The rest of the article, as well as the guide to recording equipment, was interesting, but may be a bit outdated. Hard drive space, as is discussed with respect to recordings, is hardly an issue these days. External devices capable of holding several hundred GB of data are available at very reasonable prices. Of course, this is simply all the more reason to use recording, especially digital recording. These days, even large amounts of space online are fairly easy to come by. This makes for a convenient way to distribute recorded material. I have used my Case filer a couple times to distribute my own recordings of recitals that I played on. It's much quicker and easier than having to take the time to burn CDs.