Frederich Chopin is often cited as saying of my instrument that “nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, save perhaps two.” As with many quotes this proves slippery to track down, but the idea of the poetic master of the piano reflecting on the beauty of two acoustic guitars playing together, perhaps informally in a 19th century drawing room, gives a resonant image - although perhaps today we might relate a twin guitar line up to the music of indie rock and progressive metal bands.
Christian Miller.
Guitar Teacher
It also focusses us onto something that I think is very special about the guitar that has informed my approach to teaching, which is its natural propensity toward being played socially, and in ensembles. While we might think of the lone figure of the classical guitar recitalist playing virtuosic and complex music on a single instrument, there’s no doubt that for most guitarists at all ability levels, this inexpensive and highly portable instrument has always lent itself to being played in groups. This is something we can very much appreciate in pop and rock music where the instrument played in ensemble is also most often a vehicle for song, songwriting and improvisation. There is also a tradition of classical guitar duets and ensembles.
For me, encouraging guitar students to participate in ensembles solves a simple practical need. It’s a less stressful gateway into performance. Rather than the spotlight being on a single performer, the student is part of an overall group, meaning that there is less pressure. It also allows me to mix ability groups. A less experienced player can be doubled up with someone more experienced. This can be highly effective with a group of players simply playing the exact same thing in unison – which can add legitimacy to a simple, beginners, part. With the right repertoire there’s also the possibility of combining simple and more complex parts so that performers of different levels of instrumental ability can play together, including myself.
Once a player has more confidence, they can consider performing a solo piece, although in practice almost all of these pieces are accompanied with another guitar, the piano being very much louder.
Ensemble playing also teaches a number of key skills that are distinct from solo performance.
First is learning to feel time in a group of players. As a simplest level, we have to focus on playing the piece in time. You can’t double back on yourself or hesitate in a group, so ensemble playing mandates a discipline in mastering the material – however simple – so that it can slot into place like clockwork. Often, students lose their place – persisting to the end of the performance and getting them used to ‘getting unlost real quick’ as sax legend Cannonball Adderly put it – can teach them important skills that will help them play with other musicians in other settings and be more robust when playing with others. This counts for any approach to music making – sight reading, playing practiced material or improvising.
This is something that is best taught, in my opinion by doing.
Secondly, many students report the enjoyment of being part of something larger than themselves that sounds good.
Thirdly, and perhaps even more importantly for me, is the potential of ensemble playing, from duet to orchestra to teaching students about the deep and intuitive aspects of music. Although we often think of teaching as being a verbal affair – the transmitting and understanding of information, so much of music is based on what the philosopher Michael Polanyi called Tacit Knowledge.
Children are sponges for experience and tacit learning. I’m often struck by children’s natural tendency to jump in right away – often they want to learn by doing and join with the teacher immediately. While this isn’t always helpful, having the teacher play with the student early on can teach the student a tremendous amount even without anything being said. I like to focus the student’s attention and reflections with questions in the lesson and rehearsals, to encourage the development of their own listening and musical awareness while playing.
We can most effectively communicate the tacit elements of music such as phrasing, micro rhythm (such as swing) and through demonstrating and playing with the student. When we move from the one-on-one music lesson to the group, this becomes even more the case. Beyond this point, a group of players will start to feel time together, as unspoken communication, and this is one of the most rewarding aspects of music for me – in jazz and rock/pop this relates to the all-important concept of groove. This also applies to other aspects of music such as dynamics (louds/softs) and phrasing (the way a musical line is played).
As a chordal instrument, the guitar is well suited to this, but this may be less immediately practical for instruments such as the voice, clarinet, violin and so on. This can be helped by using backing tracks – which I do use a lot in fact, when I want to double the student’s part.
Lastly, I’ve talked a lot about teacher/student duets and groups on the same instrument, but the most rewarding experiences have for me always come from mixed ensembles. Aside from the musical rewards, there’s also a social aspect to this type of music making which can become a life long interest. Most will not choose to go into professional music, but many people find the ability to play in amateur orchestras, chamber groups, choirs, rock bands and jazz bands enormously enriching and a great means for self-expression in their adult lives.
With that in mind, one of my few regrets about choosing the guitar is that it is not an orchestral instrument. However, we do have a role in big bands, pop orchestras, musicals and occasionally, classical chamber ensembles. Even small rock bands feature a mixture of instruments, including at least vocals, bass guitar and drums and possibly extending to keys, sax and many others. The important thing for any instrumentalist working in mixed ensembles is what the shared understanding of music is between different instruments. For me this is where learning musicianship really enters the picture.
This could be aural – learning to play back ideas sung or played by another musician, for instance. Another might be notation based. This is keenly felt on the guitar, because much guitar music is written in tablature, a form readable only on the guitar. The universal language of (Western music) is staff notation. I always felt glad I had some basic knowledge of staff notation and that it was never alien to me, something I try to pass on to my students so that they can access these broader areas of music beyond the guitar. I would imagine there are different, but similar, considerations for instrumentalists looking to play in mixed ensembles.
I’ve only really scratched the surface of this subject – I hope these reflections may be of interest and help to others looking to incorporate more ensemble playing into their music lessons.
By Christian Miller