Mockingbird Practice Strategy for Musicians
Mockingbird Practice Strategy for Musicians
Have you ever had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful and thrilling song of the Northern Mockingbird? Many musical readers will be familiar with these bold, boisterous and beautiful avian songsters. They are native to all of the lower 48 states, most of Mexico, and southern Canada. Mockers boast the astonishing ability to do just what their name suggests- uncannily mock or mimic sounds of their environments including other birds, rusty gate hinges, electronic crosswalk signals–just about any sounds they encounter. That they become true virtuosos who can sing on and on for hours is possible because they absorb so many snippets of songs and sounds into their repertoire.
Mockers craft their songs into long series of phrases; each sub-phrase gets repeated from 2-10 times, and then a new series begins.
Because they are such masterful singers, what can musicians and music students learn from mockingbirds in order to hone their craft?
I have personally used what I call the Mockingbird practice technique. Basically it means first finding a challenging phrase or subphrase, say 1-4 measures long, in a piece of music we’re learning or mastering. Then we repeat part or all of this chunk over and over again from about 3 to 8 times just like a mocker does. Try to keep it “in-time” if possible- that is, steady and even without stopping just like a Mocker sings. Then you can stop and find another spot in the music that needs this special attention, and repeat the process. We can gain insight into the music this way and surely master each chunk as we go along. It might sound anywhere from annoying to wonderful–depending on who hears it– but Mockers have long received the same critique!