Well, I missed another week....naughty, naughty. I have good excuses, related to Holy Week, the Bernstein Mass, and some annoying health-related woes, but nobody likes a whiner, right? Onward and upward!
During aforementioned Holy Week, I was privy to some quite good sermonizing on the part of the clergy at my current gig....and I must say, the speakers at this gig really are a cut above. You know it must be something kind of special if I keep on stealing material...sincerest form of flattery and all that jazz, yes?
Anyhow, at Easter Vigil, the preacher talked about language acquisition, and naturally, my ears perked up. His language up for discussion was Spanish, and specifically, how he really wants to learn Spanish, and he can decline and conjugate and memorize vocabulary with the best of them (being, as he is, a scholar and teacher of Hellenistic Greek), but what he feels is the missing link in his linguistic learning experience is immersion. Immersion is the gateway to fluency.
The speaker went on to tell a story about a friend of his who learned formal Castilian Spanish in the classroom, and considered himself quite accomplished in the language, and then he up and moved to Nicaragua and guess what...all his vocabulary and skill was essentially non-functional in that environment. He toughed it out, but had an incredibly hard go of it for a long time -- months, maybe longer. Then, it's the part of the story you already know if you've had an immersive linguistic experience: he woke up one morning, and he suddenly understood. He was thinking, speaking, even dreaming in the language of his surroundings. Having had a small taste of that experience myself, I couldn't stop smiling through that part of the story, even though I knew it was coming. Why? Because that feeling of finally getting it, of finally fitting into the rhythm of what is around you, of not having to struggle for every word anymore feels SO GOOD. I remember it as euphoric, no exaggeration, and my own experience was just a small transition from idiot American to barely functional temporary expat. But, when my teeny-tiny functional Hungarian vocabulary became second nature, I was completely delighted, and I have a suspicion that a linguistic neophyte has kind of an advantage in these matters, because the jump from one plateau to the next must be similar each time, and the joy must be just as wonderful and just as surprising each time.
You probably already know where I'm going with this.
Why do I fuss at you for writing in all your solfa or for wanting to read things on a neutral syllable before you "add solfa" or for not keeping tuning forks on your person, etc.? Why am I so picky about things that don't seem to matter? Because it's about immersion. And, the difference between learning a language and learning to be fluent in solfa is that you have music to interact with everywhere, all the time, all around you. It can certainly be helpful to have other people around you to help reinforce the immersiveness of your experience in daily life, but you can actually opt to be immersed in solfa anytime you want.
Really.
I know it for sure...because I was the kid on the trampoline in my backyard with a hymnal and a Casio keyboard to give me starting pitches (this was before my first encounter of the tuning fork kind). Granted, that's a little extreme, and definitely very homeschooled of me, but I know that's the time it took for me to get from stumbling over re, fa, and la to being able to apply the syllables instantaneously. The same thing happened when I was in college and struggling with dictation -- I just made myself solfa everything I heard and then write some of it down. I opted in for an immersive experience in my daily life, and it took some mental discipline and some time, but mostly it just took me making the decision. It didn't cost me any money. It took a lot less time than I thought. It just took me committing to it, buying in, deciding I wanted it, and choosing to pay attention to what I heard all the time. And the best part of all? Once you have it, it's yours. You get to keep it, and it doesn't go away, and no one can take it away. The more you do it, the happier and more empowered it will make you. Check it out: personal fulfillment, happiness, and empowerment, courtesy of Guido d'Arezzo, a dude who's been dead for 1100 years. It doesn't get any better than that.
So, this week:
All Levels:
Make an immersive decision, just one, every day this week. Stop yourself when you hear a tune you like (even if it's something you already know), solfa it, and write it down. Pick up a piece of music, any piece you like, and read it in solfa. Then read another part in solfa. Then tap one and read the other. Switch.
You can do this. It just takes time, and making the decision. Who knows? You might become addicted! Don't say I didn't warn you!
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