What the heck is an “Ecouteur" and why do I need one?
One of my best coaches is Zoya Leybin who studied at the Moscow Conservatory.
When she studied there, every student had 3 lessons per week with their primary teacher and their ecouteur.
An ecouteur is someone who listens to your practice and gives you feedback and strategies for improvement. What a miraculous idea!
The good news is that EVERYONE CAN HAVE AN ECOUTEUR!
How? By recording yourself practice.
If you think about it, your sound is like a painting. If you’ve ever been to an art museum, you know the feeling of standing too close to a painting. When you’re that close, all that you see are the brush strokes. It’s only when you step back that the painting comes into sharper focus and you can see what it is.
As violists, we are too close to the “painting” of our own sound. The sound can often be distorted under our ear. The best way to get an accurate perspective is to self record.
How often do you record yourself practicing? Weekly? Daily? Never in a million years?
When you record yourself and listen back, you will notice things on the recording that you never notice under your ear.
You don’t have to be fancy about it - just use your phone or your tablet. It’s super convenient.
Here are some tips for self recording:
Set the device to airplane mode to avoid distractions.
Set a countdown timer for focus (I use this one).
Use a dedicated recording app (I use this one).
Use an external microphone (I use this one).
Use a tripod when recording with a mobile device (I use this one).
Once the recording is done, store it on a cloud platform like Vimeo so that you can have easy access to listen to it on other devices.
I have to confess that I find self recording extremely distasteful. But since I can’t afford an ecouteur, I have become my own listener/practice strategist.
I am one of my best coaches when I self record and in time, you can be too!