Blocking

 

A learning tool that I use all the time -- for myself and for my students -- seems so obviously beneficial that I can't believe other teachers and students don't do it. It's called blocking. Whenever the piece, or part of the piece, is comprised of chords, you would intially learn the piece by blocking the chords, meaning playing the notes of the chord all at once.

[Spoiler: everything is made up of chords, even if it's not obvious.]

A prime example of when this makes total sense to do is Bach's Prelude #1 (from Book I of the Well Tempered Clavier) in C major. As you can see, the entire piece is made of arpeggiated ("broken") chords in a repeating pattern. (If you have played this piece or wanted to play it, and didn't realize these were all chords, then you definitely need to learn to use this technique to develop your chord awareness and understaning.) The first five notes of each measure -- 2 notes in the left hand and three in the right -- comprise the chord, and there are no other notes that are not in this chord in the measure. So by playing those notes all at once, blocked, you have played/learned all the notes in the measure. How much more efficient is it to play one thing, the blocked chord, instead of 16 separate notes, most of which are duplicates??? I should add that ideally you would play each chord/measure at a steady pace. And here's your chance to make it beautiful because you are not so busy finding notes. (All of this assumes that you are at a reading level that this piece requires.)

Another example that comes to mind is the last movement of Beethoven's sonata Opus 54 in F major which I was playing earlier today. The last movement is a delightful "romp" in perpetual motion (the entire movement is constant sixteenth notes in both hands). Some measures would have two basic chords, some have up to four. Again, you'd need a basic understanding of chords to see when the chords change and how to block them.  

A type of piece that would be difficult to block would be a Bach fugue, or any other polyphonic (multi-voice) piece. These have multiple melody lines happening simultaneously. However, they still form chords when the notes are heard together. It's impossible for them not to. Blocking is still possible and potentially useful, but you can't really start learning this skill with a polyphonic piece.

There are hundreds if not thousands of examples of pieces where it makes sense to block at least certain sections of the piece. In many Mozart or Haydn sonatas, for example, the left hand has what is called an Alberti bass, which is a broken chord. When you first start learning the piece, just play the chord blocked.

The advantages of doing this are many. First, you will hear what is happening in the piece better. You can hear the hamony more clearly when the chord is played all at once, because tones sounding together is the essence of harmony. Second, blocking will help you with fingering. When you play a three- or four-note chord all at once, there is probably only one fingering, maybe two, that will be comfortable and easy for your hand to manage. In the Bach Prelude, mentioned above, you will likely get better fingering than if you just pick your way through it, note by note. I like to say that blocking informs your hands where they need to be. Third, it is more efficient. It takes less time to play one entity instead of many notes, and yet you are still learning those notes. And fourth, you have the opportunity to focus more on musicality because you are not so busy processing so many notes.

After you have played the piece or the passage blocked and are finding it has become easy and fluid, then you can simply unblock and play as written. You already have the muscle memory of the chord shapes so your hands should, ideally, go right to those notes. 

Many students don't seem to realize that virtually all our music is based on chords. This is true for Classical, jazz, pop, etc. When you listen to a piece of instrumental music, and certainly a song, you are more aware of the melody. The melody is also based on chords! The melody and the harmony aren't just each doing their own thing; they are conceived together by the composer. It is the harmonies that create the structure or architecture of the piece, whether it is a three-minute pop song or an hour-long symphony. You cannot understand music -- any genre -- if you don't understand chords. Yes, if you are a decent sight-reader you can play the piece by just reading the individual notes and you'll get through it. But you won't understand it.

The idea of blocking goes well with the idea of outlining, which I have talked about in many previous posts. With outlining, you initially play a sketch of the piece -- the main "ideas" -- as opposed to all the notes. Blocking chords can and should be a part of the outline.