“Think Global, Act Local” Musicianship

"Think globally, act locally" is common encouragement given to people desiring social or political change, but who doubt whether they as individuals can make a difference. Interestingly, this advice is valuable beyond the social-political arena. It can serve as a helpful credo to those who seek to effect change in their own musicianship; that is, to improve their musical skills.

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For psychologically informed musicians, the terms "global" and "local" are not geographical descriptors as they are in the advice given to would-be activists. Rather, global and local describe the adaptable multi-level mindset that allows musicians to optimize their performance activities, especially if they consider themselves on a path of growth and skill development.

Thinking globally

A proper global mindset is reflected in performers who consider themselves, first and foremost, musicians, rather than a more specialized title. In other words, even if their primary performance medium is violin or vocal performance, they still consider themselves primarily a musician rather than say, only a violinist or singer.

This is more than a matter of semantics. Violinists who identify as musicians rightly recognize the robustness of their musicianship and consider themselves capable in musical situations beyond the type in which they are most comfortable. People do not become accomplished violinists by learning and retaining only violin-specific knowledge. Rather, they build a more general musical knowledge base; this knowledge can be applied to their violin performance activities, but it is broader, which is why they are able to collaborate with performers of other musical instruments.

Of course, there are some who choose to consider themselves specialists rather than complete musicians; for example, someone who describes him-or herself as “just a violinist” or the music professional in a school who insists on being called a choir director rather than a music teacher. Such people seem to prefer the more specialized title because of some expected benefit, likely that they will never be asked to do anything that is at all outside of their preferred musical setting. I would suggest that to do so betrays a relative low regard for their own musicianship and that they are choosing comfort over capability.

In fact, there is no advantage gained by musically limiting oneself or ignoring the breadth of one's whole musicianship. Even in a specialized performance setting, approaching the music-making with the entirety of one's musicianship is a key to success.

From a psychological perspective, expertise is practically defined by having a large knowledge base (including procedural knowledge, that is, skills). In any given musical context, an all-around musician—compared to an ultra-focused specialist—is better equipped. After all, music-making is always a multi-dimensional undertaking. Making music with an ensemble (whether large or small) requires anticipatory perceptual-motor skills and adaptive and integrative attention from a cognitive standpoint (Keller, 2014). And even when working from notation on a printed page, expert sight-readers rely on a strong ear musicianship and large musical knowledge base in long-term memory (Woody, 2021).

Acting locally

In terms of musicianship, “acting locally” means thinking with precision and clarity, and applying the entirety of one’s musicianship to specific music-making settings. This kind of thinking especially comes into play in one's individual practicing.

A mindset of specificity is important when setting goals in advance of one's practicing and choosing strategies while carrying it out. This is when it is extremely helpful and productive to be detailed and analytic in examining one's own skill set, in the effort to know how to best improve oneself musically. While it is great for performers to consider complete musicians (that is, thinking globally), it is also important that they enter practice sessions with more detailed goals than just “trying to get better.” For example, a musician who identifies the need to increase use of dynamic contrast (in expressive performance) can plan to devote time to this specific goal and devise a practice strategy to improve performance skills in that regard.

Choosing a global or local mindset

For some, it can be a challenge to know when to have a global versus local mindset. In other words, how do you go about seeing the musical forest when you are deep in the trees?

The solution to this puzzle likely lies in the verbs think and act. When musicians are thinking musically—that is, when they consciously engage their musical mind—in any setting, they should aim to draw upon the fullness of their musical knowledge. When, however, they are in an actual music-making moment, whether it be in practice or a performance setting, they are well served to act with a detailed awareness of the specifics of the musical context.

In reality, global and local cognition naturally work together in skilled performance. The best musicians approach their music-making with a vast musical knowledge base—a global understanding of music. When they see, hear, or feel musical things any specific moment, they easily recognize it (from that knowledge base) as something that is familiar to them. This allows them to process and respond so fluently and skillfully in the specific moment.

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Finally, the idea of fluency suggests another good rule of thumb for deciding whether to take a local or global mindset in a music making situation. When musicians are working on a new skill or re in a relatively unfamiliar musical context, then they will likely find themselves with a local mindset. That is, their thinking will be very conscious. In this “cognitive stage” of skill development, musicians essentially instruct themselves deliberately or methodically to carry out the performance actions required. Their focus needs to be specifically on what they are doing. As familiarity is gained, though, musicians become able to perform without much conscious thought. Here is when a global mindset is helpful. That is, they allow their musical awareness to take in everything in the musical moment and trust their broad musicianship to function.