In this “May the Music Be With You” month, we’re exploring lots of ideas connecting Star Wars to music. In today’s post, I’m going to try to give some examples of using piano technique as Jedi training.

 

What is Jedi Training?

We’re familiar with the Jedi. Their use of the force. But what goes into Jedi Training? Some of the techniques in training are:

Force Techniques: Learning to sense, manipulate, and commune with the Force, including telekinesis and empathy.

Mental Discipline: Intense meditation and emotional regulation to avoid the dark side, focusing on peace, knowledge, and serenity.

The Jedi Trials: Rigorous tests—courage, skill, flesh, spirit, and wisdom—that Padawans must pass to become Knights. 

 

 

How Can Jedi Training Help Piano Technique?

Let’s start with the force techniques. Could we consider the music we create as “the Force”? I think so, if we’re looking at it in the terms of sensing, manipulating and communing with the music, along with bringing out the empathetic nature of feeling of the music. If that’s the case, what techniques could be implemented to move from a musical Padawan to a musical “Jedi Knight”? 

 

When we’re looking at sensing and communing with the music. techniques like legato and focusing on phrasing can be helpful techniques. In terms of communing with the music, there is something that isn’t always talked about, but I believe to be very important and that is listening to recordings of the music. Not only so that you can get a feel for the style and speed of the music, but also, to help you hear what others have done to interpret the music. And that goes a long way to inform your interpretation.

 

In terms of manipulating the music, this is where things get a little fuzzier. Yes, thinking about the melodic line and phrasing is important, but this idea of “manipulating” I think can be more of the practical playing of the music. So, I tell students this regularly, that when you look at a song for the first time, identify the challenging or difficult spots and focus on those first before anything else. That typically means that you won’t start at the beginning. And that’s alright!

 

Feeling the music is very much a challenge. Why? Well because the ultimate goal here is for it to be musical, not very robotic. As beginners start out, they’re very focused (or should be!) on a steady tempo. And that’s a good thing, but as music created by individuals, not a machine, the speed is fluid. And sometimes that feel changes. Especially in a different musical era or style. This takes time and repetition to master. 

 

What about Mental Discipline in Jedi Training for Piano Technique?

I could probably write about 30,000 blog posts about this idea. But I’ll try to simplify and keep it short, so you’re not bored. Taking music that’s written on the page and turning it into sound takes so much focus. You’re not only coordinating your right hand and left hand together, you may have to use your right foot to hold down the damper pedal. That’s notated below the music. You have dynamic changes in between the clefs, You may have tempo variations which may end up between or above the clefs, depending on how best it fits in the layout. There’s a lot to keep track of!

 

It’s easy to lose focus. If you’re doomscrolling, you know this quite well. If something doesn’t catch your attention in the first 3-5 seconds, you’ll flip up to the next thing. Music is typically longer than 3-5 seconds. So this definitely requires discipline! 

 

One of the biggest mental discipline techniques needed to improve your overall piano technique and skills is……you know what I’m going to say. Practice. You can’t do something once and call yourself a master. You have to do it repeatedly. In his book “Outliers”, author Malcom Gladwell talks about something called the 10,000 hour rule. I’ve linked a summary here. The idea is to master a skill, you have to put in 10,000 hours. That may or may not be the case, but it really comes down to repetition. But correct repetition. If you practice a rhythm incorrectly and learn it, you’ve mastered that rhythm….incorrectly. From experience, I know that unlearning something you’ve learned and performed incorrectly many times and relearning it the correct way is very difficult. It’s better to do it the right way the first time!

 

Finally, What About the Jedi Training Trials?

The easiest way to describe this is performance. Performing your music for others. Back when I was in college, and of course, being a music education major, my “finals” were performance based. I had “juries”, which was I had to sing or play the organ for a panel of music professors. And their critiques and feedback made up my final grade for the semester. Talk about pressure! Performing can be stressful and bring about anxiety. I’m sure for the imaginary Jedi of Star Wars, their trials would be anxiety inducing as well! There’s really no easy way to prepare for the feelings of anxiety that comes with performing. I was talking with a good friend over the weekend about her son, who is in college, and is an amazing musician, studying to get a music composition degree, has been diagnosed with severe performance anxiety, and what has helped him immensely is a prescription. Typically it will not get to that point, but a lot does depend on your personality. A key technique that I’ve found to be helpful if you’re nervous of have anxiety is deep breathing. It doesn’t always solve the problem, but when you’re anxious, your breaths are typically more short and shallow. If you breathe slowly and deeply, that helps out a lot!

 

There is More Here Than You Think

Yes, I know that the Jedi are made up, as is Jedi Training. But, there are some very comparative skills that can help you improve as a musician. Comment with any additions you have or thoughts!

 

Summer Lessons

If you’re in the Spring/Klein area of Houston (or I do have online lessons), and you’re looking for something for yourself or your child(ren) to do this summer, piano, voice, trumpet, beginning guitar or ukulele lessons are a great way to go! You can find out more about the summer lesson offerings here.