In these following four instalments I will be sharing some basic ensemble training strategies for developing specific instrument knowledge, teaching pedagogy principles and applications for the three instrument families common to the concert band ensemble.

We will be looking at the importance of using visual and aural templates for these families with regards to the essential visual, and often less conspicuous aural cues. These cues/templates in turn, will assist you in knowing what to look for and listen to, hopefully fostering a passion for the details in our task of ensemble training while also providing some useful strategies.

Remember: In the critical first 5 weeks of instrumental class/ensemble practice, it is important to commit to the consistent reinforcing of correct posture, hand position and embouchure.  If not, we will be tacitly reinforcing that whatever is incorrect is OK. And, of course, we all recognise that this process is an on-going task!

We simply cannot assume that the itinerate/studio teachers will take care of everything for us. In fact, in order to competently reinforce good habits, we will need to understand and use the essential information on each instrument in aiding us towards fostering successful habits, leading to both lasting and rewarding learning!  Our rehearsals should always include lessons on how to practice at home, which aides students in building healthy practice habits, critical listening and self-observational skills, along with the ability to apply proven learning strategies demonstrated in our class lessons/rehearsals.  We will need to be committed to consistently and patiently reminding our students until the correct responses become automatic, internal and organic.

Great supporting article on beginning band training rationale! http://www.dansr.com/wick/resources/the-beginner-band-student

It is equally important that we understand that one cannot simply stand up and conduct our ensemble without being fully engaged with how the learning, sharing and demonstration and assessment process actually works. In fact, I do very little conducting with a learner band.  I don’t want to focus on my conducting. My ensemble needs both my eyes and ears to be totally focused on the ensemble.  Instead of thinking about my conducting, I need to be looking and listening, focused on using and employing the visual/aural templates I plan to share in my three future instalments. It is my hope that they will assist you in reinforcing correct performance habits, while also identifying those needing to be adjusted or corrected.

If we are to be effective ensemble trainers we cannot afford to have our heads stuck in our scores. Most method book exercises, including young band ensemble repertoire are straight forward enough for basic score study and preparation.  Both generally contain clear, identifiable goals and targets necessary for even, consistent technical and musical development and growth.

At this point of our discussion it is important to understand that the proper use of a method book as an essential part of your rehearsal is not optional, and that you will need to regularly employ one as it was designed, sequentially moving from page to page, beginning to end, including its extra resources.

The method book purpose is to introduce and use the often self-directed learning strategies shared through a series of short, purpose written and self-explanatory exercises. These sequential exercises provide opportunities to learn, develop and acquire both technical and musical mastery through the use of ‘scope and sequence’ learning. These skills include; developing pitch and rhythm vocabulary notation, the use of counting & sub-division, articulations, phrasing, general musical knowledge and terminology through a systematic and sequential approach. It is easy to point out to the students the goals/targets contained in each exercise and assist them in recognising when the targets have been achieved. What is more, use of the method book provides for a daily discipline with clear ‘investment’ in practice strategies for experiencing rewarding advancement returns, which is comforting and encouraging for young students. 

In fact, the ‘method book’ training materials provide our students with one of the most important educational motivation factors in our tool box; that of a student achieving daily achievement with the ‘five-minute’ goal process!  Arriving at a successful outcome with a method book exercise that can be generally achieved within a relatively short time can be intrinsically rewarding and encouraging. I have found that students generally find more satisfaction receiving success from a shorter and more realistically achievable goal with clear, identifiable objectives, than waiting for weeks to experience a moment of success in, say a concert, contest or festival experience.  If effective and informed home practice, leading to motivation, personal engagement, recognisable progress and, ultimately, retention is to be cultivated and achieved, we will need to share with students how their little successes gained through the use of a systematic approach to learning basic fundamentals will lead to greater rewarding achievements!  It goes without saying that the method book also provides one with an excellent framework lesson/rehearsal planning!

I know that many will say that due to a lack the time it is not practical to use a method book, or for that matter, any training materials. However, with careful time management and the appropriate repertoire choice, you can do it. In a sense, you don’t have time not to include these essential study materials in your rehearsals. Besides, learning your repertoire will be that much easier when your ensemble possesses the skills necessary for meeting the musical demands of your repertoire choices. More on this in a later post!

​Come prepared with your lesson plan, and know your scores and method book lesson material, including the array of targets for each exercise you wish to use and share with your students. Teach them to identify the targets for effective and rewarding home practice. It will also encourage developing their own personal ownership of their learning experience!

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there" John Lennon 

Please stay tuned for the next three instalments which will include helpful points on gaining a workable understanding of the fundamental pedagogies
·      Woodwinds
·      Brass
·      Percussion

​Thank you for reading! Warm regards, Monte

A Saturday Afternoon Recital
Organ, Piano and Sackbut

​Presented by
Lynda Nicholls and Monte Mumford
With guests, Andrew Polden and Stephen King
         
Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries in works by

Marcello, Handel, Corelli, Cesare and Bach

Pilgrim Uniting Church
Saturday, March 24th –3:00 PM

The choosing of educationally and artistically appropriate repertoire for our ensembles can, at times seem a difficult and daunting task.  I offer for your consideration the following points when selecting your repertoire.  Work toward choosing works that will:
​

1. Provide ample opportunities for the nurturing of musical creativity, expression and inspiration and lie within the technical capabilities of your ensemble.  
2. Provide for the necessary connections that allow for the transferal of both technical facility and musical concepts introduced and developed in the warm-up and training portion of your rehearsals.  
3. Provide for the ‘all-important’ motivation, which should lead our ensembles toward the perfecting of manual dexterity, rhythmic vocabulary, articulations and expressive interpretation.  
4. Provide possibilities for exploring the wide range of human emotion through the exposure to and engagement with significant art music. 
5. Provide opportunities for your ensemble to experience a balanced range of works that includes: original, serious 20th & 21st century compositions; faithful transcriptions, or arrangements of significant works and composers that retain the composer's original intent, and finally include well-crafted works drawn from the popular/contemporary genre.

 
And for further thought:
 
All of our repertoire choices generally pass through the following filters:

• Our personal aesthetic criterion
• Our personal tastes
• Our musical & extra-musical values, including our overall music education philosophy

 
Therefore, it is important to regularly examine our own understanding of what constitutes quality, significant music, and to commit ourselves to maintaining our listening through consistent exposure to significant musical performances.

Is your Ensemble watching you? Why should they bother…? One of the most frustrating, challenging and rewarding aspects of conducting young ensembles is the realisation that our students actually do not need for us to be their time keepers.  So what are they looking for?
 
As conductors we often feel that our students need us to conduct strict time patterns, believing that they will become lost and disoriented without them.  Nevertheless, it is important to remember that they are, or should be the time keepers; we are, or should be the time givers. As the conductor, we are responsible for both the choosing and delivering of tempi.  It is the ensemble’s responsibility to keep the time until we wish to adjust it for interpretative reasons.  If you are finding yourself endlessly asking your ensemble to watch you, it may be that simply keeping time for them is insufficient to engage their curiosity and interest.  If they are capable of keeping time without our help then we need to offer a more creative approach to conducting which will attract, engage and hold their attention.
 
If you want to go beyond conducting time patterns and communicate a more expressive interpretation, here are five tips to consider:

1. The very nature and shape of the three basic patterns (and other asymmetric configurations) are actually designed to convey aural and visual shapes within the context of meter.  All we need do is to work on moulding our standard patterns into shapes that look like, and reflect the style and character of the music we are performing.  The best place for finding expressive gesture inspiration is to watch proven conductors effectively employ music shapes that produce emotionally charged, exciting, significant performances.
   
   
2. It is important that we regularly engage in active music listening, and watch a variety of live, or recorded music performances. We can then begin to experience, like children how to move, or look like the music. Do not be afraid to experiment… while in your listening/watching mode!
   
   
3. Provide rehearsal time for your ensemble to play chorales, ensemble etudes, rhythm exercises or passages from your performance repertoire ‘un-conducted’.  It is a brilliant way to pass music-making ownership and responsibility on to your students.  It also develops ensemble listening skills like no other exercise.  In fact, it proves that they can be more in-charge of music-making then they ever believed possible.  And, it frees you from the need to ‘keep time’, allowing you to focus on the business of inspirational musical direction and leadership!  I seldom conduct the first 20 minutes of my rehearsals. This portion usually consists of Ed Lisk’s “Alternative Rehearsal Techniques of the Circle of 4ths”, scale/arpeggio exercises, rhythm vocabulary studies, ensemble etude exercises, and finally, chorales: all un-conducted!
   
   
4. Video record your rehearsals.  This is an incredibly powerful tool, not only for considered reflection on your rehearsal technique, but also for observing on how well you effectively communicate your musical interpretations. I suppose my favourite question to myself when observing my rehearsal videos is, ”would I enjoy and be inspired by my musical body language and visual communication skills”? 
   
   
5. Finally, reach down into your personal musicianship and take a step of faith by asking ‘what does the music itself demand of me, and how can I best communicate my beliefs to my ensemble? What is more necessary; the projecting of time or expressive phrasing, and is it possible to creatively convey both?  Even beginner ensembles can be taught to play perfectly in time without our help by simply breathing in the time and listening to each other, while we occupy ourselves with the more important issue of phrasing, shaping and inflection.

Last April (2016) I posted an article which dealt with the importance of active and engaged listening, and its special relationship to conducting.  I have finally found the time and energy to finish the article as promised. However, much has happened to expand my thinking since I posted my original thoughts, which includes the intense mental journey I have taken in the completion of the final three Professional Development courses of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra's Professional Development Programme for Instrument Music Educators. With this in mind, I now submit the complete article for your consideration...

Often in the effort to improve our conducting skills, there comes the temptation to expend an inordinate amount of time and energy focusing on addressing the physical skills of controlling time-keeping and the development of expressive gestures, as if technical mastery of time and gestural actions should form the basis of the definitive act of conducting. (Looking like the music)
 
However, it has also been countered that the true definition of conducting is in reality a listening activity, from which the physical act of conducting derives its true inspiration. (Looking like the music, through your inner ear) In fact, informed, active, engaged listening should always be considered the major contributor in achieving successful, effective and musically satisfying proficiency as a conductor. The importance of focused, informed, and attentive listening is essential in at least two different ways:  One, the act of hearing the score and its potential interpretation, while the music still remains on the page; and two, the ability to hear the score while it is literally coming off the page. It is these two considerations, which I would like to examine in this article.
 
The first listening consideration has been addressed many times, and from many different angles. Most of us would agree that it is important that one endeavours to aim towards training themselves in effectively hearing the score, as yet unsounded on the page.  But, achieving this skill often leaves one frustrated, especially if the conductor’s piano skills are of a limited nature. A helpful analogy here is to remember that hearing a score in silence is much like using the skill of reading books silently to oneself.  How did we, as children move from reading aloud to the internalising of our reading skills?
 
The explanation is not difficult.  Obtaining effective reading and comprehension expertise in music reading requires the same mindful, or comparative repetition of basic reading comprehension skills, such as the mastery achieved through the application of vocabulary acquisition, spelling, pronunciation, and correct grammar usage.  Effective reading also requires consistent exposure to reading, including listening to someone read. It also includes aural modelling of pronunciations and the correction of definitions, and spelling errors.  It is important to understand that none of these learning activities were fast-tracked.  In fact, these activities required a careful, repetitive ‘time-on-task’ framework for achieving the mastery of silent reading over a period of time.
 
Learning to read/hear music in silence requires a systematic immersion in basic ear training and aural recognition.  These are essential skills that enable one to understand both the vertical and horizontal elements of music notation.   It is one’s technical proficiency in rhythmic notation reading, gained through internal pulse, counting and subdivision, along with the capacity to hear basic harmonic progressions, identify and sing intervallic relationships,  identify chord qualities and melody lines, combined with the ability to see phrase structures through note-grouping relationships that facilitates mastery.   These are the essential tools that will enable one to silently read/hear the score as intended.  Another important factor in obtaining effective silent score reading skills is to be found in strengthening one’s visual and aural skills through sight singing, as well as the exercise of engaging in personal music performance experiences on their principal instrument.
 
The second listening consideration is a bit more problematic, for it requires the conductor to hear, respond and adjust the music as it is literally coming off the page; all at the same time. This skill is of vital importance for achieving significant musical outcomes through effective rehearsal communication.  The process is dependent on three factors: seeing and hearing the music as it is being performed, intuitively knowing what the composer had in mind through systematic score study, and holding a personal interpretative understanding of what one desires to hear and wishes to change, thus enabling the ensemble to realise the conductor’s interpretation.  This process, of course requires that one already holds a firm belief in their interpretation of the passage, or work under consideration, knowing how they wish it to be performed, and has confidence in their rehearsal strategies, including appropriate gestures, metaphors and/or analogies. 
 
Inspirational musical leadership requires one to communicate the composer’s innate intension through understanding the emotional narrative and related connections with conviction, passion and confidence.  This includes understanding the historical, cultural, emotional and stylistic context of the music, along with its attendant set of descriptive, expressive instructions.   For instance, why is a particular passage marked ‘forte’, or why is another passage marked, ‘allargando’? To fully understand expressive directions one must also appreciate the musical context in which they appear.  The music itself is always pleading with us to listen to how it wishes to be performed, and these ‘directions’ are merely reminders of what the composer intended.   I believe that it is imperative that physical gestures and body language be derived from deeply held convictions and understanding about the ‘character’ of the music, and how the notes and rhythms should be performed in view of communicating this ‘character’. It is difficult for conductors to expect their ensembles to respond meaningfully to their gestures if the conductor does not hold a personal commitment to an authentic interpretation, character and context.
 
Therefore, this second kind of listening calls for our regular exposure to a wide range of significant music performances that feature virtuosic artistry, mastery, conviction and passion. It is vitally important to understand the correlation between regularly listening to a wide range of musical performances while appreciating their role in assisting one in forming opinions of what constitutes significant music-making in general.  This kind of listening can also provide opportunity and inspiration for the expansion of one’s emotive vocabulary of physical gestures and facial expression.  Truly effective musical communication requires empathy, understanding, emotional connection and deeply held beliefs about music performance, which can only be obtained through one’s personal exposure to great music and music-making on a regular basis.   The benefits of listening and viewing of significant music performance cannot be underestimated, for it is an essential ingredient in developing one’s inner ear towards the purpose of stimulating personal interpretation, as well as providing models of expressive definitions, which may include:  

• tempi considerations,
• dynamic contrasts,
• articulations & inflections,
• note grouping considerations,
• phrase shape,
• melodic/harmonic contour
• tone colour /timbre

 
Conducting is certainly more than just knowing what is happening in the score, such as conveying a set of literal instructions; time, key signatures, tempi indications, meter, dynamic symbols, articulation markings, volume adjustment, fermata considerations, cues, etc. It is also about acquiring an informed opinion, and a conviction about the repertoire one is to rehearse/perform, while knowing how to effectively communicate their personal interpretation of the repertoire to their ensemble.  A commitment to engage on a regular basis to listening and watching of significant musical performances will go far in both feeding and inspiring our musical souls.

Listening: The foundation of effective musical leadership
 
Often in the pursuit of becoming a conductor, one can wind up spending a great deal of time and energy focusing on developing the physical skill of body motion and movement as the definitive act of conducting. (Looking like the music)  However, it has also been said that the true foundation of conducting in reality is, at the heart, a listening skill, in which the physical act of conducting derives its true inspiration. (Looking like the music through your inner ear)  In fact, listening forms a major key to successful and effective conducting, and can be considered essential in at least two different ways:  One, the act of hearing the score and it’s potential interpretation, while the notes still remain un-sounded on the page; and two, hearing the score while it is actually coming off the page. It is these two considerations, which I would like to examine in this article.
 
The first listening activity has been addressed many times, and from many different angles; and most would agree that it is important that we perfect this skill.  To this end, we have to train ourselves to effectively hear the score while it remains printed, yet unsounded, on the page.  However, achieving this skill often leaves one frustrated, especially if piano skills are of the limited kind.  Maybe a helpful analogy here is to remember that hearing a score in silence is much like using the skill of reading books silently to oneself.  How did we, as children move from reading aloud to the internalising our reading ability?
 
The explanation is not difficult.  Obtaining effective reading and comprehension expertise in music reading requires mindful, or comparative repetition of basic reading skills, such as the mastery achieved in spelling, pronunciation and definition comprehension.  However, it also requires consistent exposure to reading, including listening to someone read. It also includes aural modelling of pronunciations and the correction of definitions, pronunciations and spelling errors.  It is important to understand that none of these learning activities were fast-tracked.  In fact, these activities required a careful, repetitive ‘time-on-task’ framework for achieving the most effective mastery of silent reading.
 
Learning to hear a music score in silence also requires a systematic immersion in basic ear training, sight-singing and aural recognition skills.  These skills are essential in assisting both the acquisition of both the vertical and horizontal notational elements of music.  For it is proficiency in both the comprehension and the internalisation of rhythmic notation (gained through internal subdivision): the ability to identify intervallic relationships, recognising chord qualities and the structure of harmonic progression; understanding the importance of note group relationships in creating recognisable phrase structure, which enables one to actually hear the score. 
 
At this point, I cannot stress strongly enough how incredibly important it is to regularly spend quality time, both to the listening and viewing of a wide genre of music performances; live and recorded. The exposure to consistent listening and viewing cannot be underestimated as essential towards developing one’s inner ear for the purpose of acquiring a wide range of expressive definitions, such as understanding the expressive relationships of tempi, dynamics, articulations, note grouping, melodic/harmonic contour, as well as for the acquisition of physical gestures and facial expression vocabularies.  Truly effective musical communication requires empathy, understanding, emotional connection and deeply held convictions about music, which can only be obtained through exposure to great music making.  Consistent exposure to significant music performance provides the vital inspiration necessary for truly expressive leadership in music making: More about this later.
 
This kind of listening is not about the need to hear several performances of music for which one is studying, or for preparing a performance.   This is the actual need for consistent exposure to a wide range of significant music performances that will provide us with the essential framework for the developing, not only improvement in silent music reading, but will allow for a wide range of expressive and imaginative possibilities from which to draw both gestural and mental inspiration.
 
Another important way we can develop effective silent score reading skills is to be found in strengthening our visual and aural skills through sight singing and personal music performance experiences.  In my next instalment, we will explore the use of, and need for singing/playing, towards improving our score listening and interpretative abilities.   

In my fourth installment of Effective Studio Teaching and Learning Strategies we investigated the primary pedagogically based teaching methods with reference to human learning and relevant teaching applications. 

In my final installment I will continue the discussion on developing home study habits, along with further discussion on developing and sharing specific learning and practice skills.

A major consideration for cultivating successful individual study habits is assisting your student to understand the innate difference between ‘learning’ and ‘practice’.  In the ‘learning’ stage the student approaches the sequence of pitches, rhythms, articulation and expressive challenges at a comfortable, slow tempo allowing the student to correctly perform the whole passage in question.  In the ‘practice’ sequence the student now begins to bring the passage slowly up to required speed, while also refining the appropriate expressive control.  However, there are several elements at work in assisting students toward developing a successful individual study habits commonly referred to as ‘practice’.   

In developing effective practice habits one begins by promoting inspiration through programming the brain with superior musical images as mentioned in my previous installment discussion.  These in turn engender dreams, visions, inspired imagination and future goals. Generating excitement through reflection on these aural and visual experiences plays an important role in further stimulating the creative mind.  In effect, most physical actions that are learned are acquired through the act of imitating visual and aural images formed in the mind.  It is important then to remember that time spent in creating mental images is much more useful than mindless rote repetition on target performance material that is ultimately finite and seldom retained past the target performance or exam. 

The engagement with, and imitation of visual and aural images requires the capacity to remain ‘focused’. Concentration in the practice room can be fostered through encouraging students to be 'here and now’ in their practice sessions.  Maintaining focus and attentive listening will aid in defeating the ever-present mental and physical distractions referred to by Timothy Gallwey as ‘roof brain chatter’.  To assist in this task one should encourage students to practice in quiet environments.  One should also require that students start each practice session with a plan, or 'roadmap' in mind. ‘What do I wish to accomplish today? How will I accomplish it, and how will I recognise when my goals are achieved?’ 

“If you don’t know your destination, any road will take you there.”
George Harrison.

Another aid in improving effective practice skills is found in applying the three developmental learning stages.  These are referred to by Kohut as the Synthesis-Analysis-Synthesis approach, meaning "from the whole to the parts and back again".  The three stages are comprised of the following elements: The conceptual-learning stage where the student is presented with a model; the voluntary-action stage where the student tries to reproduce the model through trial and error practice; and the involuntary-action stage where the student’s performance through trial and error practice reproduces the original model.  I observe the model. I try to emulate the model. I evaluate my attempt to reproduce the model.  I now make the necessary adjustments and then try again, repeating the process until success in matching the model is achieved.

Like a master builder with the apprentice, first introduce the student to each tool and then show the student how to use the tool. This in turn will allow the student to create many kinds of objects of art or utility, while continuing to grow through the experience. By the age of 20, our oldest son had successfully completed building a beautiful 7 meter sailing vessel; a project of two and a half years.  His manual arts teachers had never built a boat but they showed our son how to use and care for the tools he was to employ in building his boat.   

The musicians’ inventory of tools includes the mastering of memory as the means, or process through which one is able to remember.  Developing the tool of retention is building the ability to memorise, retain or remember.  The ‘often abused’ tool of repetition is the act of doing something with thoughtful purpose and reflection, over and over, thus locking proper physical, visual and aural responses in place. As discussed above, the tool of practice is the act of repeating what is already known with a goal to perfecting the physical, visual and aural response.  The tool of experience is exercised through the actual living through of the performance act in which we are engaged.  The tool, motivation, is the desire, or the urge to achieve a goal or target found within an individual that provides the incentive for purposeful activity.  Of all the components related to learning, motivation is the most important of all. Developing and refining strategies to introduce and demonstrate these tools should be one of the foremost goals of all teachers.   

The teacher's role here is essential as student frustration and disappointment can dampen early eagerness. The use of suitable, stimulating study material and performance works, supported with proven practice strategies and identifiable outcomes is invaluable.  Systematic learning and practice strategies supplemented with excellent teaching materials and repertoire will assist in sustaining students’ engagement, ownership and achievement. Once again, the student must begin to focus on the positive first, instead of the negative; observing what has been achieved, then moving on to what needs improvement. Remember to encourage students to use their strengths in addressing their weaknesses, not the opposite. "What you think upon grows." Anon

In a sense we teachers are investment counsellors. Our students are investors.  We are asking them to invest time, money and energy into mastering their instrument.  We must be able to demonstrate that the return is worth the investment.  Our son’s vision of his completed sailboat was fed by the incremental successes he enjoyed along the way, gained through his investment of time and energy.

Finally, teaching is a profession in which teachers give lessons or instruction on how to learn. Robert Duke in his text, “Intelligent Music Teaching” puts it this way; “Teaching is that activity which causes learning”[1] After all, it is the students who do the learning.  In other words, students generally learn through the act of doing. Students who are in possession of good learning skills and enhanced musical perception generally use effective personal practice habits through attention to detail, delayed gratification and focused attention span.

The process of learning can then be defined as the act of gaining inspiration, purpose, persistence, knowledge and skill. It is important to remember that the student’s personal ownership of the process of the learning is what will ultimately produce the lasting transferral of vision, knowledge and skills.   It is essential that we imbue our students with the desire, ability and passion to go on learning well after the time for our practical input has finished.  We must always be careful to link the ongoing process of learning toward achieving the desired performance goal.  Performances, concerts, exams, festivals and auditions are no more than stops on the railway line of human experience, indicating our ongoing progress toward our ultimate musical goals.

In conclusion, for studio teaching to remain effective for both the musical and personal growth of students, it is imperative that studio teachers continue growing in their craft, thus demonstrating their relevance in today’s education environment.

References:
Gallwey, T, The Inner Game Of Tennis, Pan Books, N. Y., N.Y., USA, 1974
Kohut, D., Musical Performance, Stypes Pub. Champian, Ill., USA, 1985
Suzuki, S., Nurtured by Love, 1969. Exposition Press, Smithtown, N.Y., USA
Robert D., Intelligent Music Teaching, Austin TX, USA, 2011
Severson, P. & McDunn, M. Brass, Wind Artistry, Accura Music, N. Y, N.Y., USA, 1983

Bibliography:
Blum, D., Casals, and the Art of Interpretation, U. of Calif. Press, Berkley, CA., USA, 1980
Farkas, P., The Art Of Musicianship, Musical Publications, Bloomington, Ind., USA, 1997
Lautzenheiser, T., The Art of Successful Teaching, GIA Pub, Chicago, Ill., USA, 1992
Lautzenheiser, T., The Joy of Inspired Teaching, GIA Publications, Chicago, USA, 1994
Lisk, E., Intangibles of Musical Performance, Meredith Music, Miami, F A, USA, 1996
Lisk, E., The Musical Mind of the Creative Director, Meredith Music, Miami, FA, USA, 2010          
Kohut, D., Instrumental Music Pedagogy, Stipes Pub. L.L.C. Champaign, Ill., USA, 1996
Palmer, P., The Courage to Teach, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, Ca., USA, 1998
Ristad, E., A Soprano on Her Head, Real People Press, Moab, UT, USA, 1981       
Stewart, D., Arnold, and J.: Legacy of a Master, Instrumentalist, Chicago, ILL. USA, 1987
Wilson, F., Tone Deaf & All Thumbs?, First Vintage Books, N.Y, USA, 1987



 

Installment 4

In my last installment I examined the issues of developing and establishing an effective home practice routine. I also discussed the importance of both accountability and ownership in addressing effective student learning development.

In this 4th installment of Effective Studio Teaching and Learning Strategies I would like to investigate the primary pedagogically based teaching methods with reference to human learning and relevant teaching applications.

Before we can know what it is that we wish to teach, how to introduce and reinforce it, we also need to know some basic tenets on how people learn.  And, we need to understand the central role of personal ownership in the learning process.  In fact, fostering personal ownership in our students generally leads to their increased motivation towards learning. Duke Ellington says; “When a man finds out what he wants to know, that’s the beginning of education”.  However, on the other hand, Plato states that, “All learning under compulsion has no hold on the mind”.  It then should become our first priority to assist our students in finding out what it is they wish to know.

The primary responsibility for studio teachers is to both passionately share and demonstrate the benefits and joys to be gained through investment in consistent, systematic personal practice. Therefore we should strive to lead our students towards developing their own learning process. The student’s growing self-motivation should, in turn be affirmed and strengthened through recognition of the rewards gained through successfully achieving realistic performance challenges. Private lessons will hold little value if students are not encouraged to engage in self-motivated personal practice on their own intuitive.      

At this point it is important to assess how we ourselves as musicians were taught, incorporating those successful elements, while discarding those that are not effective in today’s educational environment. It is important to realise that we generally teach the way we were taught – How often have we found ourselves repeating strategies our teachers used with us?

Daniel Kohut, in his text, “Musical Performance”, states that… “There are many ways of learning, and no two people learn exactly the same.  However, there are certain basic concepts of learning that can be broadly applied to almost everyone.”    This model is known as the ‘Natural Learning Process’. It is this method that children regularly employ to acquire the basic human functions. This learning model is reinforced by Suzuki’s recommendation that children should learn to perform music the same way they learn to acquire other common functions such as crawling, walking, talking, etc.

The ‘Natural Learning Process’ involves the use of four primary methods of learning:
·      Mental imagery
·      Imitation (purposeful, comparative repetition)
·      Trial & error practice
·      Body feedback

We as teachers should seek to spend more time observing how children learn and this ought be a primary requisite in learning how to teach. Children learn by watching and listening, and then trying to imitate what they see and hear.
·      Children are good at imitating others.
·      Children learn by doing, and enjoy comparative, repetitive activities.
·      Children improve their skills by trial and error.
·      Children need love, praise, encouragement and understanding as much as food and shelter to survive  and grow.

Through analysing and synthesising the above points one can then formulate an effective model for studio teaching.  The teacher presents a model of what is to be recreated, either from personal demonstration or from another source; professional recordings or live performances.  The student then tries to emulate, re-produce the model through ‘trial and error practice.  Following their attempt to reproduce the model, the student is encouraged to compare their performance against the model. Once the necessary adjustments are applied they repeat the process until a close approximation of the model is achieved.  Correct student performance is instilled as an automised habit by additional repetition through personalised application. We should strongly encourage them never to play the passage under consideration any faster than they can play the most difficult portion correctly.

This then is how we apply the ‘Natural Learning Process’ with our students.  We begin by programming the brain with suitable musical images through demonstration, exposure to fine recordings and live performance models. (Be sure to play for, and with your students.)   The student is introduced to the concept of learning to focus on the performance goal, not the performance procedure.  That is, involving students in visualising what it is they wish to sound like, focusing on imitating the model instead of trying to work out how to achieve the desired result. 

The next task is to reinforce the use of trial and error practice, always focusing on the end result with patience.  This can be illustrated by assisting the student in measuring their performance against the model they are attempting to imitate.  This is much like using a set of scales that measure and compare weights of objects against that which is be evaluated. If we are truly interested in the value of intrinsic, self-motivated study that can be applied to all learning tasks, then this system will promote personal ownership of the learning process.

At this point it is best to avoid over-verbalisation, moving directly to the creative experience of making-music itself. Be sure to avoid the temptation for excessive intellectualisation, for it is always better to show than to tell, and a picture, aural or visual, is better than a thousand words. In fact, words often have vague or multiple meanings. If a verbal instruction doesn’t produce positive results, either the verbal communication is faulty or there has been a misunderstanding of the words. Words too may block students’ ability to perform musically, often creating confusion. Timothy Galwey[3] recounts the moment he realised that his best efforts to help a tennis student failed through giving too many instructions. The student only achieved the desired performance goal when Galway physically demonstrated the action, and then asked the student to copy his example.   

Words describe experiences, but words are not the same as the experience itself.  Music deals with emotions, feelings and insights that words often cannot describe. Essentially, we learn through doing an activity much more effectively than by trying to respond to verbal instructions about the activity.  Regardless of what students may understand or misunderstand of verbal or written communications, the strategy should always lead to an artistic response.  What does the student’s musical response sound like? The use of metaphors, analogies and stories can effectively aid students in forming visual musical images.

It is vital that we direct students toward obtaining personal problem solving skills. Teachers must be able to affirm, as well as lead students in recognising when a musical target is reproduced, passes the test of aesthetic judgement and that music is produced.  As musical mentors, teachers should make it a point to share how and when significant musical performance is achieved in the lesson, as simply playing the right notes at the right time does not constitute a significant performance. The acquisition of effective personal assessment is dependent on understanding and implementing four fundamentals: good mental conceptualisation, relaxed concentration (the ability to focus completely on a specific goal), awareness of body feedback, and attention to proper posture/embouchure/hand position.

Of these four points, the ability to use relaxed concentration or ‘single-mindedness’, is the most important. Kohut describes four keys in achieving ‘relaxed’ concentration. They include: focused attention, requiring self-discipline; interested attention, requiring motivation; absorbed attention, requiring strong distraction to change focus, and merging with the experience.[4] This is where the performer and the instrument become 'one', and are now capable of playing in ‘automatic response’ mode.

In the pursuit of acquiring musical conception, Arnold Jacobs states, "Begin by training the performer's brain, not the muscles"[5]. Before a musician plays or sings even a single note they must possess a mental image of the note itself, including all of the expressive and acoustical properties with which it is associated.  Significant ‘music-making’ starts when we begin with an aural musical image. Aural images are acquired through active listening to professional performance examples. This involves a process most of us used as children when we first gained language skills: verbal association of speaking first, then reading and writing later.  It requires repetitive and attentive ‘listening and response’. Likewise, it is through the ‘listen/response’ activity that we acquire our basic musical concepts of tone, intonation, internal pulse and expression.

Therefore the quality of our musical understanding is directly influenced by the quality and variety of the music our students hear. It is essential that our students’ musical ears be ‘programmed’, through systematic exposure to the finest examples of musical performance.  The more brilliant performances our students hear, the more discerning their ears will become.

“The musical mind is concerned predominantly with the mechanism of tonal memory.  Before it has absorbed a considerable variety of tonal experiences, the musical mind cannot begin to function in a creative way complex enough to be considered art.”[6] Daniel Kohut

Effective teachers expose their students to superior musical performances while outlining specific things for which students are to listen. It is important to remember that the quality of past 'life experiences' can also influence the quality and nature of our student’s musical perceptions. These ‘life experiences’ may include reading an engaging novel, lingering over a lovely sunset, a visit to an art gallery, a great dining experience, going on an adventure or experiencing the joy of friendship, or of deep sadness and hardship.

Yet, it is one thing to work on developing our students’ musical perception. It is quite another to motivate the student in the use of their newfound musical understanding and appreciation. The student’s continued investment in personal practice requires a positive return from the time that they invest in practicing. What returns will the student receive for their investment?  I believe that our students will return again and again to the practice room when there is recognition of tangible, intrinsic achievement rewarding students with a sense of personal accomplishment and lasting satisfaction.

In my final installment (5) I will continue the discussion on developing home study habits, along with further discussion on specific learning and practice skills.