回望我自己十一二歲時，總是非常想其他人把我視為”大個仔”。當時的”症狀” 包括對家人的善意提醒嚴加斥責: “使乜你提?” “得啦，你好煩啊。”其實甚麼是” 大個仔/女”? 教琴和學琴在促進细路仔成長的過程中有甚麼幫助?
我現在覺得，”大個仔/女”的其中一個條件是要有Feedback Mechanism。甚麼是Feedback Mechanism? 簡單來說是”檢討”。”檢討”有甚麼特別？因為它涉及幾個方面: 1) 訂下目標，2) 執行，3) 測量目標與結果之間的差距，4) 想一想如何可以做好一點。
這些全都是common sense，但我有兩點想補充。第一，就我自己專長的兩種樂器– 鋼琴和古典聲樂– 來説，只有鋼琴可以”自己聽自己”；唱歌”自己聽自己”是大忌，會做成flat 等問題。唱歌應該是”自己感覺自己”，而不是”自己聽自己”: 應該在課堂上老師跟你說這音你唱得好好，然後你記着怎樣做到的和這”好”音的感覺是甚麼，然後在台上表演時盡量repeat 這感覺。
鋼琴則不僅可以，更是應該”自己聽自己” 的，事實上，在台上”自己聽自己”更是放鬆的一個必要條件。在台上演奏之前，心中先有想要的音色，然後邊彈邊聽琴音在音樂廳中的回音。所以Feedback Mechanism 對彈琴來說是必要的。
再者，一個小朋友如果可以自己做上述的step one – 自訂目標，那麼他/她真的”大個仔/女”了。所以，學琴可以是一個”成長實驗室”！
[English Version]
When I look back at my adolescence, I always wanted other people to treat me like a grown-up – a wish of which its symptoms include being hostile to my family’s benevolent reminder. I would retort, saying “I can take care of it” or “OK, you are annoying.” What constitutes a “grown-up?” How can teaching and learning piano help the growth of a child?
I now consider the existence of a feedback mechanism an essential quality of being a “grown-up.” What is a feedback mechanism? Simply speaking, it is self-evaluation which entails the following steps: 1) setting up a goal, 2) taking actions to realize the goal, 3) measuring the difference between the result and the goal, 4) coming up with improvement suggestions.
All these are common sense. However, I have two points to add: first, concerning piano and voice (the two instruments with which I am most familiar), you should only hear yourself when you play piano; hearing yourself while singing is a grave mistake which will create lots of problems, such as intonation issues. You should feel, instead of hear,yourself when you sing. When your voice teacher commends you for a particular note you have just produced, you should remember its concomitant feelings and all the necessary steps you took to achieve that – then you try to repeat both the execution and the feelings when you perform onstage.
Whereas on the keyboard, hearing yourself is not only something you can potentially do, but also something highly advisable. In fact, hearing yourself, in my opinion, is an indispensable step to relax onstage. Before you play a note onstage, imagine the colour, the tone that you want. Then hear the sound which you have just produced reverberates in the hall. This forms a feedback mechanism which is crucial to piano playing.
In music or life in general, if your children can set up a goal by themselves, without any external help, then they are really maturing! I believe one of the values of learning piano lies in the opportunities it provides for children to attempt the whole “feedback mechanism” by themselves; this will definitely boost their developments.