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.