Musicians know what you are doing

30 years ago, Brigitte Bryner-Kronjäger's first book title Practicing is stupid (co-author Peter Schwarzenbach) to speak from the hearts of generations of pupils. However, anyone who read the book quickly realized that practicing - provided you do it right - is not stupid, but can be fun. This comprehensive and, at the time, revolutionary study turned some of the concepts of practicing and teaching on their head and put them into perspective: it was important to repeat success, not to dwell on mistakes - this was the astonishingly obvious quintessence. 30 years of experience as a flautist and teacher lie between this first and her latest book My leap into playing. On the interaction between auditioning/pre-singing and practicing. In between, the author published Cross country (2001) and Meeting point for lessons (2010).

My jump into the game can be regarded as a résumé of Bryner-Kronjäger's work. The work is at once a basic book, a textbook for studying, a workbook, a practical guide and a reference work for teaching practice and performances. The author uses the image of a music house with a playroom, practice room, rhythm room, group room and concert hall, a trick intended to make readers aware of what they are currently doing musically, which "room" they are in.

First, the continuum of learning and playing is illustrated using the figure eight, which is intended to symbolize the interaction between the two activities. Play is therefore not only seen as the fulfillment and goal of preparation, but is also a prerequisite for renewed practice; a kind of cycle is formed. The author repeatedly denounces the widespread phenomenon of mixing practicing and playing - one of the main reasons for experiences of failure.

It is a basic book because it provides detailed background information on each topic. There are explanations and definitions for each chapter. The special features of playing music are emphasized in contrast to other types of playing, basic principles of learning and memorization are placed before the practice principle, breathing and posture are given special attention, the concept of rhythm is explained in detail, playing and practicing in a group is psychologically supported and the concert experience is evaluated against the background of the concepts of success and failure as well as stage fright. Exercise instructions and checklists are provided for each section and can be easily consulted.

This comprehensive work for general didactics saves every instrumental or vocal student a lot of work, because it contains everything that future musicians need to know about learning and playing.

The appendix contains a clearly laid out stylistic study by Heinrich Baumgartner entitled "City of Music", complete with working instructions.

Brigitte Bryner-Kronjäger: My leap into playing. On the interaction between auditioning/pre-singing and practicing,
288 p., € 34.00, Musikverlag Burkhard Muth, Fernwald 2017, ISBN 978-3-929379-45-7