To Hear Ourselves As Others Hear Us: Tape Recording As a Tool in Music Practicing & Teaching (Paperback)

by James Boyk (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American
A treasure-trove of information, advice, and entertaining musical insights for both amateur and professional musicians. James Boyk's enthusiastic philosophy for musical excellence is contagious and should be required reading for all lovers of music.

From The New Yorker
Heartfelt and helpful.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: MMB Music (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918812879
• ISBN-13: 978-0918812872
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,399,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will revolutionize your attitude towards practice., August 7, 1998

By A Customer

Since so many famous musicians have reviewed the book already, I thought it might be useful to have a review from a rank and file musician who is primarily a private studio teacher but does a fair amount of performing.

Mr Boyk's book focuses on using the tape recorder as a tool for practicing but in reality, it is much more. It is one of the few books I've ever read which succintly addresses the all important question of how to practice, period. Any teacher or performing musician has witnessed a point where practice for their students or themselves becomes duller than dirty dishwater, an automatic and meaningless physical motion disconnected from the very thing that drew us to music in the first place. It's called burn-out, frighteningly common in our profession and something I have experienced first hand.

I urge anyone who is serious about improving their musical skills to buy this book, read this book, but above all start actively implementing the ideas prese! nted in this book. This is not a book to put on the reference shelf with your Grout and Groves. I have been reading and implementing the ideas presented in the book for just a couple weeks and the results are absolutely mind-boggling. I came into this as a complete technophobe, considering myself to be an "artist" type. I thought it would be very bothersome to keep turning some silly machine on and off as an adjunct to my practice. Quite the opposite. The immediate feedback the tape gives you makes practice much more efficient because you hear what you are actually doing as opposed to what you think you are doing. It also motivates because you can also hear improvement immediately. Isn't that the goal of practice? To improve our playing?

In addition, Mr Boyk's book includes helpful guidelines for setting up a taping situation in your home or studio and some pointed observations on the process of teaching, some of which may, frankly, be hard for teachers to ! read. However if we are going to get classical music back ! on its feet in this country, drastic steps will need to be taken. Purchasing this book can be an important first step toward doing just that.

I've done more constructive work towards improving my playing in the past two weeks with this book than in 4 years of advanced study at the Doctoral level. And I'm blessedly, completely free of burnout. Can't wait to get up and practice and do so several times a day.

I can't dream of a higher recommendation than that for any book aimed at musicians.