Workshops Offered by Marianne Ploger

If you have ever felt “terminally challenged” in music or lacking in confidence in your aural abilities, then these workshops are what you have been looking for. Marianne Ploger’s philosophy of teaching is that there are no such things as untalented ears (so long as you can actually hear), musically speaking, only untalented training. Every musician can learn to know, recognize and understand what they are hearing in music, at the speed of music, if they already know, recognize and understand what they are hearing in their native language, at the speed of speech. The key, she believes, is to have correct knowledge of what you hear and learn how to use that knowledge at the speed of music, just as you do in language. When you can do that, your confidence will return and be stronger than ever. Marianne Ploger’s workshops and master classes are usually described by her students as the opportunity to get “Olympic” level training aimed at getting their minds to move at the speed of their hearing. They offer you an opportunity to get totally immersed in recognizing instantly what you are hearing and knowing what it means. Learning to become mentally fluent in music at the speed of music is the cornerstone of her method. Marianne Ploger’s revolutionary ideas about how the elements of music actually work help you become better at reading, performing, learning, teaching, and composing music. Unlike most theories about music, which are mere verbal descriptions of musical scores, her “theories” are based on how the brain perceives sound, sound combinations (intervals), and sound patterns. What can’t be converted into practical techniques to make life easier for a busy musician doesn’t last very long in her “theory book”. Knowing what you are doing in music doesn’t mean much if you have no skills in communicating the meaning of music to an audience. That is why each Ploger workshop includes sessions on how to communicate the meaning of music as efficiently as possible. The knowledge of musical communication, also based on perceptual principles, involves skills which every musician can and must learn. This holistic approach to teaching music is unique to Marianne Ploger. In her workshops, participants learn how to perform music so that listeners feel touched, inspired, and energized by the music they hear. The following workshops for 2008 will be held in Manchester, Michigan. Each workshop size is limited to a maximum of 10 participants. These workshops are set up to instill the maximum degree of fluency at three different skill levels. Level one focuses on fluency in recognizing, at the speed of music, intervals, chords, and pitches, as well as developing rhythmic skills. It also introduces particpants to basic musical science in terms of how the human brain processes heard sounds and how it makes sense of what is heard. Level Two carries on where Level One leaves off and adds to it tools for teaching this way of understanding and hearing music to others. Level Two seeks to provide participants with a clear understanding of how this method works. Level Three workshops are application oriented. Participants work on improving sight reading, score reading, atonal hearing, and musical communication techniques. If you want to attend a Level Two workshop, you must first attend a Level One workshop. To attend a Level Three workshop, you must have attended workshop Levels One and Two. It is advisable but not compulsory to attend the workshop Levels Two or Three in the same year that you attended the previous workshops in order to not lose momentum. Workshop dates are: May 18th - May 22nd (Level One) May 25th - May 29th (Level Two) June 15th - June 19th (Level Two) June 22nd - June 26th (Level Three) The cost of each workshop is $800.00. This cost is for 24 hours of instruction offered over 4 days. The workshops are designed to show you how you can recognize and verbalize what you are hearing in music so you can become fluent in these skills, in the same way you are skilled in your native language. Instant recognition of intervals, scale degrees, modes, triads, seventh chords and the basics of transposition is the aim. Naturally, this can best and most efficiently be learned in a friendly, non-threatening environment. Improvisation and composition sessions are also offered as a way to increase fluency and to help cement the newly acquired skills. To register to attend a any of the workshops, you can pay by Paypal, send a check or money order in the amount of $100 made out to Marianne Ploger and send it to the following address: 10332 - M52, Manchester, Michigan, 48158 (USA). This amount will be deducted from the cost of the workshop at the time you attend.