The Power of a Wrong Note

 

When I look back at what I've written on this blog since the beginning in 2010, the one post that has the most views -- approximately twice as many as the next contender -- the is one titled "Wrong Notes." Everyone wants to know how to avoid or correct wrong notes! I recommend you go back and read that early post (January 2011) before continuing here.

Among all the hundreds of students I've taught over the years, playing the "right notes" is their top priority. You might think, "well of course! You have to play all the correct notes, don't you?" Yes, that is one of the goals. But as you know, if you are learning to play, it certainly doesn't always happen and often doesn't come easily. It's not the wrong notes themselves, but how you handle them, that will make or break your progress, and most likely your enjoyment, of the process of learning to play. 

Here are some of the things NOT to do about wrong notes (even though most teachers and many things you'll read or hear from others tell you to do these).

1. When you play a wrong note, immediately correct it before moving on.
2. Stop and play that measure or passage with the correct note(s), as many repetitions as you can, with hands separately and very slowly

That's it! That's the sum total of the advice most people will give you for the problem of wrong notes.

Let's address number 1, above. If you stop and immediately follow the wrong note with the correct note, you understand intellectually which is the wrong one and which is the right one. But your "animal brain" just hears two notes, let's say and F followed by an F-sharp. As far as that part of the brain knows, the F and then F-sharp was intended, because that is what it heard. You may have had the experience of "correcting" it this way, but then the same thing happens again the next time. And the next, and so on. Far from being corrected, the problem of the missed note seems to persist, sometimes for quite a while. In addition to your ear having heard it as a two-note sequence, soon you will also have muscle memory of that as well. Intellectually knowing the right note from the wrong one does almost nothing to correct the problem. If this method worked, we'd all be playing all the right notes by now! But in reality that's not what happens.

Regarding number 2: hands separately, very slowly, and tons of repetition, is the stock answer many people give for a myriad of problems. You may think you have fixed the problem when you just play one hand, but then as soon as you add back the other hand, the wrong notes come back. The physical experience, and the workings of the brain, are quite different when playing with one hand versus two. So until you play it as it is in real life, that is, with both hands, you can't really count on it being "fixed." The same is true for very slowly; it may seem fixed when you play very slowly, but then when you go back to the original tempo, the "fix" doesn't stay. Some repetition will be needed, but it has to be done intelligently. More on that below.

So, what to do instead?

1. Ignore it! Yes, you read that right. The first time you miss a note, just ignore it, and continue playing. Of course, many people find this hard to do, but you CAN cultivate this habit. The "mistake" may turn out to be just a one-time thing. The last thing you want to do is fixate on it and turn it into a bigger problem. Stopping to "fix" it means that the other hand also has to stop, pause, and get back on track even though it had no wrong note. You may even create a problem in the other hand which wasn't there before. One hand sneezes and the other gets the cold. In addition, you've disupted the rhythm. People always seem to be willing to throw the rhythm under the bus for the sake of correcting a wrong note. Remember, your ear heard that disrupted rhythm, and doesn't know that you did it unintentionally. After the missed note, you may end up playing several wrong notes. Ignore those too! Instead of "fixing" just try to get yourself back on track. It can become a solid skill, but only if you do it consistently. And just knowing you can get back on track greatly improves your confidence.
2. Learn how to make use of a wrong note. I recently showed a student how, following a wrong note (which I did on purpose, for illustration), I continued to play that passage with all the correct intervals and patterns that followed that note. In other words, I was off for the whole passage, but within the passage, everything had all the right relationships. I got a lot of good practice on that passage because, to the hand, it felt the same, or almost the same, as if I had been on the right notes. And it's even better if you can do it with a light-hearted approach, not just as a bitter pill to swallow. Now that's the power of a wrong note.
3. Try to find the reason you missed it. It could be a technical problem. In the example of the F and F-sharp, above, if you were playing too far out at the edges of the keys, you can't comfortably reach the F-sharp, so your hand just did the next best thing, playing the nearest white key. This sounds simplistic, but I see it all the time. Of course there are thousands of reasons for the missed note to be due to inadequate technique. This is what your teacher is supposed to be helping you with. If your teacher is telling you to "fix all the wrong notes" but doesn't tell you how, get a new teacher.
4. Strengthen the auditory image. Your ear will help you play more correct notes as well as help you get back on track when you've had a mishap. See the earlier post on wrong notes for more about this.
5. If the wrong notes persist, you will need to isolate that passage and do some repetition. The reason for the repetition is to create a new neural pathway which includes the intended notes. The old neural pathway with the "wrong" note will still be there, but it will eventually disappear through lack of use. I believe small amounts of repetition done consistenly is better than huge amounts of repetition. And lastly, when you isolate the passage, you have to see the problem coming. If there were a pothole on your road and day after day you kept driving right into it rather than avoiding it, the answer is simple: you have to see it coming before you drive into it, so you can avoid it. The same is true with a persistent wrong note; you have to be aware it's coming up, so you can remind yourself of the way you want to play it. When you are reading music, looking ahead it critical. You can, if you want, circle the offending note in the score, as a reminder of what you want to do. As long as you see it in time.

Perhaps most important is to try to lose the fear of wrong notes. Wrong notes can have a lot of power over you, if you let them. They can make your body more stiff and your playing more stilted, possibly ruining some of the enjoyment of playing. Or, they can be opportunities to shift your priorities and focus on the beauty and musicality of what you are playing. 

Don't be a dummy

Most music is complex. A folk tune may be short and simple, and just to play the melody on the piano may be easily accomplished by many people. Add harmony and it's already somewhat more complex. But once you move up to jazz and classical music, there is a LOT going on in the music. If you are reading music, there is a lot to learn and absorb in order to be able to read fluently. If you are playing by ear and/or improvising, you may not need to know how to read music, but there is a great deal you would still need to understand, in order for it to sound like actual music and not just random sounds.

I think most people understand this intuitively. Yet I'm still amazed, after all these years, when I meet people who think they are going to watch a video and learn to play the piano just by copying. You're just skimming the surface that way and you will never be able to take your skills very far.

Another problem I see, even more frequently, are the people who have learned to read music, either on their own or from a teacher, and assume that now they can just play the notes they see and that's all there is to it. One woman I met was a pretty good sight-reader and had learned to play some reasonably complex pieces by Bach and Chopin. But she knew absolutely nothing about what makes the music what it is, how it's constructed, or for instance, what makes Bach and Chopin so different. She told me she really enjoyed playing the music so perhaps I am wrong to say she needs to understand more. After all, isn't enjoyment the main reason why you want to learn to play? Some people even think if you study more and know more, you might spoil the enjoyment. To which I say, if you love the music, wouldn't you WANT to know more about it? Why would you want to be a dummy?

For example, even though this person read music, she didn't have any idea what the key signature meant. As hopefully you know, if you're reading this blog, the key signature is the first thing you see on the printed score. It's telling you what KEY you are in for this piece. The "key" means what scale you are based on. If you see one sharp then you are in G Major or E minor, one flat and you are in F Major or D minor. The whole concept of tonality and keys is the foundation of our music. And yet some people just see the sharp(s) or the flat(s) and know they have to play them but they have no idea why. It must seem awfully random if you don't know the "why." What's even weirder is why they never thought to ask someone or research it. Sadly, many teachers never explain these things either, so the student doesn't even realize the questions they need to be asking. (Those teachers have no business teaching!)

Music in the Western world is highly developed in the area of harmony. Harmony consist of chords, and the chords appear in a myriad of ways. Someone who can read may notice they keep playing similar groupings of notes, but don't understand what these are or why they are important. If you are playing jazz or improvising, you would have to understand chords because they are the building blocks you need. That being said, someone could just show you where to put your fingers for certain chords, and you could still play without understanding them at all. There are even charts you can purchase which show pictures of the keys with red dots where you put your fingers for each chord. However, without any explanation of the system of how they're built, you may have a lot of difficulty memorizing them by their pictures because there would be hundreds of them. 

[All of this -- scales, chords and so on -- are part of what people mean when they refer to "music theory." However, there's nothing theortical about it. These are music facts.]

Being a dummy will absolutely have severe limitations. When people start to experience these limitations they often quit playing out of frustration with their lack of progress. (Of course there are many other reasons as well.) In addition, if you've learned without understanding any of the "whys," you will most likely forget a lot of what you have learned. The "why" is like the glue that holds it all together into one integrated whole.