Pedagogy Archives - SmartMusic Wed, 02 Mar 2022 17:33:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.3 https://wpmedia.smartmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/cropped-SmartMusic_Icon_1024%402x-32x32.png Pedagogy Archives - SmartMusic 32 32 Deconstructing Hidden Beliefs and Implicit Bias https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/deconstructing-hidden-beliefs-and-implicit-bias/ Thu, 09 Sep 2021 11:00:04 +0000 https://www.smartmusic.com/?p=36524 When I was in elementary school my mother always made me lunch to take to school in a brown paper […]

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When I was in elementary school my mother always made me lunch to take to school in a brown paper bag. While all the other kids were on the lunch line getting chicken patties and pizza, I had homemade tuna or turkey sandwiches with a side of carrots and sometimes a small baked sweet potato—yes… you read that right… a baked potato… I was a weird kid. My mom even packed in a little note sometimes too, reminding me to have a great day. In looking around the cafeteria at other people’s lunches I noticed many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which was something I never understood as a kid), lots of cookies, and I didn’t see any “have a good day” notes. I remember thinking, “Where was the protein? Why so much sugar? Didn’t their mom love them?”

At the ages 0-8 we see the world as if it’s through a video camera recording everything in our brains and making meaning of it. Meaning is particularly important here because developmentally, everything at that age is experienced in relation to self. In other words, your brain is always subconsciously asking, “What does this mean about me?” As we grow up, the lens in which we see the world is heavily tinted with what we’ve experienced during our earliest years which in turn influences our thoughts and actions. So yes, I have to admit, until I was an adult, I thought that kids who brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for lunch had parents that didn’t love them. I laughed out loud at this realization when the thought occurred to me when I was, in fact, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my own two children for school without notes because it was easy, and PBJ’s are delicious (and yes, I love my children very much).

But this is all good news! Your brain is AMAZING! Our “meaning-maker” helps us develop a sense of self! And, among many other incredible things, our brains are so efficient that it constantly takes large amounts of information and simplifies it, creating mental shortcuts. Imagine if we had to process all of the stimuli we experience all of the time—it’s exhausting just thinking about it. Your brain is FANTASTIC at its job, but it really doesn’t care if these shortcuts aren’t actually serving you. In simplifying information, there are sometimes flaws: dots are connected and stories are weaved that don’t necessarily reflect reality… yikes! In the words of neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor speaking about her own awakening to the inner workings of her own brain in her book, My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, “​​…there was both freedom and challenge for me in recognizing that our perception of the external world, and our relationship to it, is a product of our neurological circuitry. For all those years of my life, I really had been a figment of my own imagination!” 

So why does this matter for teachers and how can we work with the amazing biology of our brain? Well, at the risk of sounding cliche, you don’t see the world as it is; you see it as YOU are… which is your implicit bias. The trick is to determine the difference between what’s true for you and what is actually universal Truth. Most of the time what’s “true” for you is really just a reflection of you and your past lived experiences. Imagine implicit bias as a pair of invisible glasses; it’s your perspective. The Truth is that there are always more than two sides to every story—I’d argue there are as many sides to the story as there are people who have experienced the story! As a teacher this is super important to understand because of the great responsibility you have when you stand in the front of the room of young, impressionable students. Your bias will get in the way simply because you are you and you are not them. You must be aware and accept that you have implicit bias in the first place, and then understand how to respond when something challenges that bias (which will also definitely happen). Here are some ways to do that:

Mindfulness & Self-Awareness

Mindfulness is how we pay attention to some things and not to others. It’s about tuning into yourself and checking in with what you are experiencing in the moment as it is happening. When an implicit bias is challenged, there might be a physiological stress response that affects your nervous system. For example, you might sweat, your heart rate might increase, or you may even feel lightheaded. Breathing is one of the best ways to practice mindfulness and return your nervous system back into a state of calm. A box breath is a great tool to lock into a place of ease: breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4 and then hold for 4. It’s helpful to repeat that pattern three times so your nervous system can relax. When you are mindful, you become present and can be self-aware of what you are thinking, feeling, and what your body is responding to. Then, you can move on to getting curious about what you are noticing.

Noticing & Curiosity

If a student or colleague confronts you about a potential bias, you can either react or respond. Reaction usually involves your ego and a connection to what this interaction means about YOU (remember that sneaky meaning-maker?). You might be thinking, “If I’m wrong about this, then what does this mean about me?” But what would happen if you set your ego aside and actually listened? What if you took off your invisible implicit bias glasses for just a minute to hear another perspective. Then, being mindful and self-aware, become an objective observer of yourself. Instead of judgement, just notice. Ask yourself: How do I feel? What thoughts are causing me to feel this way? Is this thought that I am thinking true for me, or is it a universal Truth? Judgement and curiosity cannot exist in the same space so start to replace those judgy feelings with a sense of exploration and start to ask those questions. Only then can you be open to changing the prescription on those implicit bias lenses.

Grace & Kindness 

Here’s the thing… you’re not perfect. But don’t worry, because nobody is. When you meet the world with an open mind and open heart, your ego takes a back seat and you get to learn. We are all always learning, and that’s pretty cool! When you take a misstep, put your foot in your mouth, or blunder in front of your class, meet yourself (and others) with kindness. When we know better, we do better, so let’s extend grace to yourself and others with an intention of learning… and perhaps a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

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Creativity Workouts: Helping Students Build the Creative Muscles to Compose https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/creativity-workouts/ Fri, 14 May 2021 16:02:46 +0000 https://www.smartmusic.com/?p=35721 Fear of Composing “I couldn’t be a composer. I’m just not a creative person. It’s difficult to come up with […]

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Fear of Composing

“I couldn’t be a composer. I’m just not a creative person. It’s difficult to come up with good ideas!” Have you ever engaged in this kind of negative self-talk? I have. Many times! Thankfully, none of these statements are true. The fact is that everyone on the planet is highly creative. Creativity is what defines us as humans. If you’ve ever had to solve a problem, and we all have, then you’ve engaged in the creative process. If you’ve ever taken unrelated things and put them together to make something new, you’ve engaged in the creative process. I want to assure you that you are, indeed, very creative.

So why do we think we’re not? Our creativity muscles are out of shape. If you were going to be a bodybuilder you wouldn’t expect to be able to lift heavy weights after just one workout at the gym. You have to workout daily and you wouldn’t even see any noticeable results for a long time. Well, if you want strong creativity muscles you have to workout daily and being out of “creative shape” doesn’t make us feel too confident.

Ideas are Cheap

In a previous article I quoted Merlin Mann who said, “Ideas are cheap. Making them into something awesome is super hard!” I believe what Merlin is saying is that creative ideas are plentiful (not that they don’t have value) but developing them into a work of art takes a lot more time and effort. I agree with Merlin. I’m often surprised at the amount of ideas I have when starting a new piece. This may seem hard to believe because we tend to judge our ideas too soon.

Perhaps we think we have to compose a piece perfectly from start to finish the first time. When we try this approach we often (always?) second guess ourselves and this can lead to a belief that we are not creative. There is a point in the creative process where we do need to evaluate our ideas but that point is not during the initial brainstorming stage. We simply need to generate as many ideas as possible without judgement. Just get them all out on the table. Only then can we sit back and start to prioritize and evaluate. More on this later.

Theory is Not Music Creation

Perhaps you’ve thought, I can’t compose music, I don’t know enough theory. Theory is important and if you are going to get serious about composition, you’ll have to engage with it eventually. Let me tell you, theory is not the same thing as music creation. I repeat, theory is not the same thing as music creation. Music creation (composition) is about two things: 1) thinking in sound and 2) organizing sound. That’s it! This is what every composer does on a daily basis so it makes sense that if you want to get good at composition, to build strong creativity muscles, you have to workout daily. Enter Creativity Workouts.

Teaching Tip: Try these Creative Workouts as class assignments using SmartMusic’s Compose app!

Creativity Workout #1 – Write What You See/Hear

So, this is Creativity Workout #1. Whatever you are listening to, do two things: 1) Note what images the music is evoking in your mind and/or what emotional or physiological changes you are experiencing and 2) Listen again (multiple times if necessary) and note what, specifically, you are hearing. What instruments do you hear, e.g., brass, strings, etc. How did the composer increase or decrease the intensity level? Is the tempo fast or slow (did it change? If so, when?), are the dynamics loud or soft (did they change?), is the texture (layering of instruments) thick or thin (did it change? When, how?)? 

Constantly asking these questions about the music you are hearing will teach you a great deal about how composers organize sound and, pretty soon, you will begin to use these tools yourself.

Music Can Change Your State

Have you ever listened to a piece of music and noticed that it changed your emotional and/or physiological state? You were feeling normal and then, while listening, you felt sad or happy, or perhaps your pulse increased, you started tapping your foot, or you had a rush of goosebumps because of a beautiful harmony. As a kid, this happened to me frequently. Still does! I heard a lot of great classical and big band recordings as a kid. Every time my state would change, I would think, “How do composers know how to organize those ink spots on the page” so that they affect me like this. I started trying to figure out what I was hearing. I did this so often that it just became a habit. When we do this regularly, an interesting thing happens. We build up a musical cause-and-effect library in our mind. To get this sound, put these instrumental colours together. To elicit this emotion, try this harmony, etc. We have all done this but how often do we pay attention to it. This is why Creativity Workout No. 1 is so important. Listen, analyze, imitate!

Creativity Workout #2 – Thinking in Sound

If you were paid one million dollars (now there’s motivation!) to compose a piece of music with the title TIME by next week, no doubt you could do it, but what would it sound like? Close your eyes and for 10 seconds, think in sound. What, specifically, you are hearing, e.g., strings, winds, percussion? Describe the tempo, dynamics, and texture. Did any of these elements change?

If so, when?

Let’s try another one. This time let’s do 20 seconds (and 2 million?) and the title is “JOURNEY.” Close your eyes, think in sound. Ask yourself the same questions: What are you hearing (instrumental colours, tempo, dynamics, texture)? Ok, one more, 30 seconds (3 million? Ok let’s not get greedy). Close your eyes and think in sound. Again, theory is important but (you guessed it) it’s not the same as music creation. The study of theory, harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration is essential, just as learning the alphabet and the rules of grammar was when you were young, but doing creativity workouts daily is just as critical in your journey as a composer.

Creativity Workout #3 – Melodic Contour

When we speak in a monotone (every word on the same pitch) it gets boring and difficult to listen to. The same with melodies. To be interesting, to engage the listener, the melody needs to have an interesting shape, one that leads the listener forward. This isn’t theory but rather, a simple technique you can put in your composer toolbox. Whether you sit at the piano or are capturing your thoughts on manuscript, try writing a melody every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s two bars or thirty-two. Just write regularly and pay attention to the melodic contour. Experiment! Take some musical risks. Are you listening daily as well? Sigh! So much to do, so little time!

Creativity Workout #4 – Repetition and Variation

Did you know that human beings are pattern recognition experts. Have you ever walked into a room and had the feeling you’ve been there before. Or perhaps, an unexpected aroma reminds you of someone you once knew. No different in music. Your ear is constantly aware of musical ideas (motifs, rhythms, harmonies, timbres) you’ve previously heard. If every measure of the melody was exactly the same, it would be boring. If every measure was completely different from every other, it would be confusing and eventually we would lose interest. So, how do composers know how much to repeat an idea and when to change it up? Composers are constantly working to find a balance between repetition and variation and a classic example is the opening movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Listen to how many times the Master uses that four-note motif and when, and how, he varies it to keep things interesting. The balance between repetition and variation cannot be taught but you can learn it by just actively listening (A LOT!!). The great thing is, you can find this relationship in pretty much every piece ever written. Incidentally, things like sequence, elongation, and diminution are also musical devices (tools) to listen for. 

Take one of your themes or any other musical element (rhythm, harmony, texture) of a piece you are working on and experiment with an eye to the balance between repetition and variation. Try moving things around. How does using a sequence, elongation, or diminution change the balance. These tools shouldn’t be used indiscriminately but always with the goal of making a piece musical and expressive.

Creativity Workout #5 – Resolving Vision

“Creativity is the process of resolving vision.”

—Kourosh Dini

Much of the angst or fear of composing can stem from an unclear vision. What is your piece about? What’s the inspiration? This is the part of the creative process where we begin to organize sound. It’s difficult to organize sound if your vision or concept of the work isn’t clear and you will experience more stress than you’d like. The blank page can induce a great deal of fear but it doesn’t need to stay blank for very long. Poems, pictures, and stories can help because they often provide a lot of vivid imagery (remember workout #1, write what you see?). The practice of connecting images to sound is a great help in clarifying vision. Thinking in sound (workout #2) gets much easier the more we do this.

Mind Maps

Mind mapping is a great way to work towards clarifying your vision. Remember, ideas are plentiful so just start generating them and don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. As I said earlier, we often try to write a piece perfectly from start to finish and in the process wind up with a lot of discarded ideas crumpled up in our mental waste paper basket. It is so much easier to not evaluate ideas in the initial stages of music creation. Just capture each one and wait for your brain to offer up the next idea. Start with a word or concept that you feel the piece “could” be about. Write it down. That will make you think of a related word. Connect them with a line. It’s important to actually do this with paper and pencil.

Play the word association game. Even if you aren’t sure the words are connected, just write them down. Remember, do not evaluate. It doesn’t matter if the words aren’t music related (though you may eventually be quite surprised at the number of words you write that are). Just keep writing them down and when it seems there aren’t any more ideas flowing, then you can look at your list and decide which to focus on. The point is that evaluation comes later, after you are finished brainstorming. If you tell your brain that every idea it offers you isn’t “perfect” it will stop generating them. Professor Gerard Puccio, Professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State University, tells us that “It’s only after we exhaust that which is familiar to us, do we start to really generate novel and unusual options.” Makes sense! Your mind map should literally look messy because of the sheer number of ideas your brain has generated. The more options you have, the better your choices will be. So, see what’s inside the box first, then when you’ve seen everything there, see what’s outside of it.

Mindmap often. I do this with every new piece. I highly recommend it!

Coda

Reflection

I do need to mention that reflection is an essential part of the creative process. Yes, composers think in, and organize, sound but if they don’t have an opinion about that sound, then it just won’t be a work with any authenticity or artistic honesty. So experiment, create, and reflect. It’s a constant cycle until you come to a point where you know the piece is done.

Final Measures

Well, that’s about it for now. Five very effective workouts that, if done regularly, will help your creativity muscles to get in great shape. To recap, they are 1) write what you see and hear 2) think in sound 3) write melodies daily 4) experiment with the balance between repetition and variation balance and 5) mind map regularly to help resolve your vision. Remember, regular workouts are vital to the creative health of students AND teachers so be a great role model. Encourage kids to do creativity workouts regularly. We do scale warmups, why not creativity warmups as well? Don’t stop!

You’ll soon be on fire! Keep it going. These workouts will prove beneficial even in your non-music life. Hey wait a sec…there’s no such thing!

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Taking the Pain Out of Sight Reading https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/taking-the-pain-out-of-sight-reading/ Tue, 29 Oct 2019 21:11:38 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=32606 True music literacy extends beyond symbol recognition to actually being able to internally conceptualize the sounds that the symbols represent. […]

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True music literacy extends beyond symbol recognition to actually being able to internally conceptualize the sounds that the symbols represent. This “sound before sight before symbol” concept is far from unique to music learning theory. Pestalozzi, Mason, and Kodaly all recommended and utilized this approach to training the ear before the eye. 

While elementary general music teachers tend to be more faithful to this sequence in their pedagogy, many secondary ensemble directors often abandon it for an increased focus on repertoire preparation, hoping that the literacy groundwork laid in the elementary years is sufficient. Many times this is not the case, and directors become frustrated with the limitations of their ensemble members’ literacy skills.

Audiation, a term coined by Dr. Edwin Gordon (2012), is central to musical literacy. It helps us to process, recognize, reproduce, and apply music content both as we listen to music, as well as after the performance is over. This concept is not new – Kodaly’s term was “inner hearing” – and it describes our internal concept of music. The more music we hear, the more our music vocabulary of tonal and rhythmic content (as well as aesthetic elements like tempo, dynamics, instrumentation, and style) expands. The more expansive our vocabulary, the more musically literate we are. 

Notational audiation/literacy (Gordon 2012) is only possible when one has an established aural/oral vocabulary from which to draw. This established vocabulary also allows students access to more advanced music skills such as improvisation and composition as a natural extension of the literacy process.

The Premise: Music Learning Theory

The extensive body of research of Dr. Gordon and his students (known as “Music Learning Theory”) asserts that we learn music according to the same sequence that we become literate in any other language or mode of understanding. 

LISTEN – SING – THINK (AUDIATE) – READ – WRITE

We acquire an aural/oral vocabulary that is demonstrated through speaking/singing. First, we are only imitating others, but by the “think/audiation” stage, we have assimilated enough content to begin to formulate – and use – our own thoughts and ideas based on that vocabulary. This is improvisation, the language equivalent of conversation. Once the material is familiar, it is easy to associate it with its symbols (reading), as well as writing (composition). 

It is generally held in education that the teaching and learning process is most effective and engaging when it is sequential and aligns with students’ most natural modes of understanding. If this is true, we are currently teaching music literacy backwards by starting with the reading stage of the process. To expect a musician to decode the melodic and rhythmic content of musical notation without having a foundational aural/oral musical vocabulary is just as unreasonable as expecting a child to read if they haven’t yet acquired any language skills. No wonder our sight-reading efforts are so painful!

However, if we approach teaching literacy in such a way that we follow this universal, natural learning sequence, our instruction would become more efficient and effective, the content would be more memorable, and the skills our musicians would acquire would be transferable to the next sight-reading example, the next audition, the next concert. Can you imagine the time you could save in rehearsal by having more musically independent ensemble members?

Getting There: Strategies & Sequence

Note that in the first three steps of this process, one experiences music aurally and orally by rote before any visual associations (notation) are introduced. As learners are hearing, singing, and assimilating musical examples from various tonalities, meters, and styles, they begin to build a musical vocabulary. As the different elements of the music are given their names, verbal associations are made that are specific to the musical qualities themselves – major tonality, minor tonality, melody, harmony, duple meter, triple meter, etc. This gives the director the ability to introduce music theory terms early and make them a part of the regular rehearsal conversation. By engaging in daily warm-ups that give the students repeated experience with these elements,  the aural/oral vocabulary is solidified and there is a strong association with the concepts. 

NOTE: While my applications are choral, they are equally applicable – as prescribed –  to instrumentalists. Singing is one of the best things your instrumentalists can do to enhance their musicianship, intonation, balance, blend, and overall literacy skills. While you may experience some pushback at first, you and your students will find it’s worth the effort to normalize singing in your rehearsals when you experience the results!

Building Blocks: Pattern Instruction

Pattern instruction is very effective as it reveals relationships between pitches, not just individual pitches in isolation. Especially in western music, certain patterns are the building blocks of melody and harmony, so if students have a vocabulary that centers around those elements, it is very efficient and transferable. This saves a lot of time when learning new music!

I teach my choirs major and minor scales with solfege syllables (movable do, la-based minor) and a set of eight patterns that center around the major and minor tonic triads, because these form the most recurring tonal material in the music we learn. It is truly helpful to have students equally proficient in both major and minor – and it doesn’t take much extra time! – so I always juxtapose the two tonalities.

Each day, the students echo these patterns until they have the order memorized. When they can recite the sequence of all eight patterns in both tonalities, I know they have fully assimilated the tonal content. This is the “listen” and “sing” stage. 

At the “think/audiate” stage, students have fully assimilated this content enough to devise musical responses of their own based on those patterns. You’ll assess this with a simple improvisation exercise: If they can “answer” your tonal pattern back with one of their own, or use solfeggio to decode the patterns when heard out of context / familiar order, they are successfully drawing from their aural/oral vocabulary. If they are unable to do this, continue echo patterns until they are fully assimilated both in familiar and unfamiliar order. The same process holds true for rhythmic patterns. 

NOTE: The first three stages take the longest to establish (based on how often your class meets), but taking the time to lay the foundation is well worth it! Once it is there, students move very quickly through improvising, reading, writing, and even composition. 

Now We’re Ready to Read

The first attempts at reading should center around the content that your students have already assimilated. Remember, “sound before sight before theory.” (Bluestine 2000) Prepare their ears first for what the eyes will eventually see.

Begin with the familiar echo patterns notated and numbered. Have students read the patterns in the familiar order in which they were learned, then out of order to assess whether or not they are reading or merely reciting:

When students are successful at reading these patterns both in familiar and unfamiliar order (in both major and minor tonalities), it is time to move on to melodic material. This can be taken from warm-up books, octavos you’re working on, or your own compositions – the key is that the content center around the tonal vocabulary they have acquired. 

Prepare the students’ ability to recognize pitches and patterns by having them echo short melodies that are similar to what they will read, in the same key. When they are ready to read a melody from notation, analyze the score by asking them questions that help to orient them in the music and recall their aural/oral vocabulary: 

  1. Does the selection start and end on do/la?
  2. How many measures are in the passage?
  3. In which measures do we only have Major/minor tonic triad pitches?
  4. In which measures are the triad pitches ascending? Descending?

Once the students realize how much of the material is familiar to them, their reading attempts are far more confident and successful.

Sight Reading Builder offers infinite sight-reading material. Try SmartMusic for free.

Additional Helpful Hints and Extensions

  1. Provide context: When they are ready to sing the passage, play a basic accompaniment using tonic / dominant chord progressions on piano or keyboard. Do not play the melody they should be singing and be sure to play at a moderate tempo, not overly slow. The rhythmic and harmonic context both gives confidence and aids in audiation skills as students process both melodic and harmonic progressions in real time. 
  2. Instrumentalists: Follow up by immediately playing the passage on your instruments as an ensemble – only after you have sung it! Perform the vocal and instrumental versions back to back, one beat apart. Take your starting breath in time, tempo, and style for the most musical result. 
  3. Transposition: Challenge students’ transposition skills by changing the tonic/resting tone (“Now G is Do instead of F”). Give the new harmonic context, have them sing and play on their instruments. Also try transposing from major to minor! 
  4. Improvisation: Change a singular element, but keep the overall structure of the exercise, i.e. play the pitches in the order given, but improvise the rhythm. You could also go “down the line” and have each student contribute a measure to the “tonic triad song,” vocally and/or instrumentally.
  5. Composition: Have students (individually, w/partners, or as sections) write their own four-measure exercise using the pitches of the tonic triad. They must be able to both play and sing it.

There is so much depth to this material and the applications are endless! When students have mastered each step of the learning sequence with tonic triad patterns, we move to tonic and dominant patterns (taken from the Jump Right In instrumental series). These patterns give me a lot of material to work with as we isolate certain elements to master: melodies in unison, part-singing, harmonic elements/chord building, and more! 

Closing Thoughts

These applications should not take much rehearsal time, especially after students have assimilated the rhythmic and tonal patterns. Plan to spend about 5-10 minutes on vocabulary building and application, so you have plenty of time left for repertoire preparation. When engaged in the process of preparing repertoire, take every opportunity to reinforce students’ music vocabulary by highlighting these familiar patterns wherever they appear in the music. 

A holistic rehearsal plan that includes body and breath warm ups, ear-training via pattern instruction, sight-reading, and repertoire preparation is well worth the time spent as it yields significant growth in individual and ensemble skills and performance. As the adage goes, “It takes time to save time,” and this is certainly true when investing in literacy skills and students’ music vocabulary. Trust that it will pay off time and again, both for you and your students.

Work Cited & Additional Resources

  • Blustine. E. (2000). The Ways Children Learn Music. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications. 
  • Conkling, Susan Wharton. (2005). Reframing the Choral Art. In Runfola, Maria & Taggart, Cynthia (Eds.), The Development and Practical Application of Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA Publications. 
  • Gordon, Edwin. (2012). Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications. 
  • Gordon, Edwin. (2004). The Aural / Visual Experience of Music Learning Theory. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications. 
  • Grunow, Richard & Gordon, Edwin. (2001). Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series Teachers Guide for Winds and Percussion. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications. 

This post originally appeared, in a slightly different form, on the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division blog.

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Using Scaffolding to Teach your Students Vibrato https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/using-scaffolding-teach-students-vibrato/ Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:48:36 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=29821 In learning psychology, constructivism is a paradigm or worldview that states that learning is an active, constructive process. In this […]

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In learning psychology, constructivism is a paradigm or worldview that states that learning is an active, constructive process. In this worldview, new information is linked to prior knowledge, and personal experience plays a prominent role in the development of the new knowledge. Lev Vygotsky is one among several psychologists who contributed their own theories of learning and provided the foundation of constructivism.

Vygotsky’s Theory

Vygotsky proposed the Social Development Theory. Its three major components are:

  • Social interaction
  • There is a “more knowledgeable other”
  • Zone of Proximal Development

In Vygotsky’s view, social learning precedes development. This means that culture and community context affect cognitive development. Secondly, in all cultures and learning situations, there is a “more knowledgeable other;” a person who has mastered the task or skill being learned and from whom the child or student can learn it. This “more knowledgeable other” in most cases is an adult (a teacher or a parent), but can also be a peer with a higher level of expertise.

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the zone in between what the child can do on their own and what they cannot do unaided. The ZPD provides the space in which the social interaction with an experienced peer or adult promotes learning. It’s the space where the child can perform the skill or task with guidance. The ZPD provides valuable insights that can help us help our students learn more effectively.

Today I’d like to share a practical, real-world example of how you might use “scaffolding” to help students work in the ZPD and grow as musicians.

Scaffolding: The Theory Put to Practice

The process by which a teacher, parent or peer supports a learner to work in the ZPD is called scaffolding. The person providing the scaffolding has already mastered the skill and is able to model it for the learner.

One way to provide guidance and support is by breaking the task into simpler, more accessible elements. This is referred to as “chunking.” The learner, in turn, is able to “construct” the new knowledge or skill one step at a time. As the new skill is learned and the knowledge acquired, the teacher then gradually withdraws the support.

Scaffolding in the Music Classroom

It is hard to imagine that any music teacher would simply hand out a piece of music to their students and say “play.” Instead, it is very likely you are already using modeling and chunking as strategies in your music classroom to scaffold the learning for your students.

If you are a teacher of beginner students, for sure you are doing this: break each skill into small, easily achievable chunks. For example, the first thing you might teach to your beginner students is how to take the instrument in and out of its case, then you may teach them how to hold it. Next you might teach where to put each hand and finger. Now, why stop there? If you teach advanced students, they will clearly and easily incorporate prior learning, but they will still need you to provide guidance for the acquisition of new skills.

Social Interaction

A good music teacher doesn’t only talk about and explain how to perform each skill, but also demonstrates how to put the skill into practice one step at a time. The teacher provides a model. This social interaction, and the back and forth between the teacher and the student is the guidance that the student needs to achieve in the ZPD. Alternatively, a more advanced student can help the least advanced one as well.

Using Scaffolding to Teach A Specific Task

I taught cello in private lessons and orchestra in public school, so I will give you an example of scaffolding and you can use in your orchestra classroom. Though this example is very specific to cello and bass, I hope my experience will spark some ideas of your own. The original idea is not mine, but rather one of those pedagogical tricks that get passed down from one teacher to another.

Vibrato

As you probably know, vibrato is a skill that allows the musician to slightly change the pitch of a note to produce a richer tone. For string players, this is a skill that takes some time to acquire and should only be taught once a student has a strong foundation of intonation. I am going to narrow down the strategy further to cellists and bassists.

Step 1: Understanding the basic motion

  1. Take a small empty prescription bottle and partially fill it with rice or small dried beans. Shake it to make sure it makes noise. Alternatively, you can use a partially filled Tic Tac box.
  2. Hold the box or bottle in the palm of your left hand
  3. Hold your left arm to the side and bend the elbow, so the hand is in front of your chest
  4. With the arm in that position, shake the bottle up and down until it sounds like a maraca

Step 2: Practicing the basic motion

  1. Find a rubber band and wrap it around your left hand, putting the bottle or Tic Tac box between the rubber band and the back of your hand. The palm of the hand should be free.
  2. Hold your left arm to the side and bend the elbow, so the hand is in front of your chest
  3. With the arm in that position, shake the bottle up and down until it sounds like a maraca

Using Scaffolding to Teach your Students Vibrato 1

Step 3: Transferring the motion to the cello

  1. Hold the cello or bass in playing position. The right hand should be resting on the right knee.
  2. Place the left hand over the fingerboard as if you are going to play. Do not press down on the strings with the fingers.
  3. Keep the thumb loose and slide your entire hand up and down the fingerboard about 2-3 inches, making sure you don’t press down on the strings or with the thumb. The bottle or box should still be making the “maraca” sound.
  4. Slowly place the fingers in between the D and G strings and make the movement smaller while making sure you still hear the “maraca sound”
  5. Finally, when the student has control of this motion, have him press down on the D string with the 1st or 2nd finger while keeping the motion and making the “maraca” sound.
  6. Have students practice vibrato like this in the classroom/lesson for a few minutes each day.

Step 4: Putting the right and left hands together

  1. Repeat all the steps above and once the motion has become natural, have the student bow on a different string from the one they are vibrating on. Sometimes incorporating the right hand will make the left tighten up.
  2. Repeat this process several times and have students practice it at home and at school
  3. Once the right hand can bow on one string while the left vibrates on another, try bowing on the same string where the left hand is vibrating.

Step 5: Removing the scaffold

  1. Have the student practice all the steps above with the bottle/box and rubber band
  2. Remove the bottle/box and rubber band and continue

Some more refinement of the skill and motion will be necessary, but if done correctly, consistently and without rushing, this exercise will set up your cellist or bassist to have a beautiful, loose vibrato from the start. To augment the impact of this scaffolding strategy and put it in the context of social learning, you could pair students who have mastered the skill with those who haven’t yet and let the more experienced one, help the other.

I’ve provided an example that is very specific to a particular task. The key was to break the process down to each of its individual parts and work on each one to help build the next. The key is practice and social interaction with an adult or a peer who’s already mastered the process. I hope the article provides some ideas that you can apply on your own.

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Antidotes for Performance Anxiety https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/antidotes-for-performance-anxiety/ Mon, 19 Mar 2018 16:54:07 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=27748 In a recent TMEA convention, I asked;“How many of you have ever felt nervous while performing?” You can see the reaction […]

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In a recent TMEA convention, I asked;“How many of you have ever felt nervous while performing?” You can see the reaction above. So I asked,“Nobody?”

That got a laugh.

I find laughter and a sense of common humanity to be very helpful in approaching this uncomfortable topic. The focus of that clinic was to help music teachers cultivate confidence in their students. Teachers and conductors have a unique challenge when it comes to performance anxiety in the ensemble. Musicians are diverse in privilege (race, class, gender, ability), familial upbringing, and stories of struggle. With this diversity comes a wide range of confidence levels, from those who have a strong sense worthiness to those who don’t. Many teachers work to cultivate confidence through pedagogy and preparation, building connection and trust between students through fun social activities, and by keeping rehearsals focused, enjoyable, and rewarding. What should a teacher do when students still struggle with performance anxiety?

In order to combat the varying ways in which performance anxiety manifests in musicians, teachers must make themselves aware of the origins of the problem and be equipped with strategies for alleviating symptoms.

Awareness

Performance anxiety is a physiological response to varying stressors that may create a barrier between a musician and the intended musical product. Performance anxiety is identified by the physical reactions from the “fight-or-flight” response. This can include shaking, increased heart rate, muscle tension, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, dry mouth, hearing loss, and tunnel vision.1 There are cognitive elements as well, including: increased attention to undesirable sounds (stimuli), negative perceptions toward uncertainty,and perceived control.3

I theorize that there are three main causes for musicians’ performance anxiety:

  • Adrenaline (Thrill Seeking): excitement, bringing with it a rush of adrenaline.
  • Instability: a removal from habit caused by unforeseen events, setting off the fight-or-flight response.4
  • Shame: the fear of disconnection, setting off the fight-or-flight response.

Everyone is familiar with the shakes that come from excitement or added pressure. Adrenaline-based performance anxiety is relatively the most gentle because there is a belief in one’s abilities, a positive outlook.

Instability-based performance anxiety is a little harder to deal with as unforeseen events tend to remove the ground from beneath the musician. There is a subtle awareness surrounding the temporary obstruction of a moment of instability, like recently being in a car accident, dealing with a breakup, recovering from injury, or having an unexpected death in the family. Sometimes musicians react to these events with added pressure or desperation to play well.

Shame-based performance anxiety is the least discussed. According to renowned shame researcher, Brené Brown, shame is the deeply held belief that one is “not good enough,” the idea that one is unworthy of love and belonging. “Shame lives and thrives in secrecy, silence, and judgment.” Musicians who are not resilient to shame will either over-function or under-function in response to it.5

Examples of over/under-functioning in response to shame include:

  • Negative self-talk/self-imagery
  • Unfair expectation
  • Self-sacrifice or lack of self-care
  • Over-practice, obsession
  • Mistrust, faithlessness, evidence seeking, constant surveillance
  • Scarcity mindset, “never enough,” hustling in response
  • Upward or downward social comparison
  • Perfectionism, fear of disapproval
  • Social inauthenticity, fitting in, adjacency, or alienation
  • Imposter syndrome
  • Procrastination, apathy

Musicians who are susceptible to shame may have an unhealthy relationship with failure, which is a problem seeing as how we need error in order to learn. For musicians with a deep sense of love and belonging, error (or failure) feels like learning. For those who struggle with shame, error feels like disconnection.

If a student struggles with shame, they may also struggle with:

  • Unsuccessful auditions
  • Inactivity in freelancing
  • Playing simpler music than colleagues of the same age (or younger)
  • Loss of ability/technique, especially because of over-identification as a musician (this is a huge issue for aging musicians who experience changes in their bodies after a life of earning their living as professional musicians)
  • Traumatic performance experiences
  • Working hard to no avail

If a student’s’ worth is coming from their ability to perform, they are in trouble. It is possible to move from being locked down by shame to performing with worthiness, difficult as the process may be. Performing with worthiness requires authenticity and a realignment of motivation.


Strategies

Countless musicians experience performance anxiety. This struggle is normal. Whether met with the turbulence of adrenaline, the discomfort of instability, or the shutdown of shame, many musicians have strategies they employ to be able to perform. They do the best they can to make it happen.

Whether caused by adrenaline, instability, or shame, the following are examples of short-term and long-term strategies that may help your students move through performance anxiety into relaxation, focus, and flow.

Breath

Breathing in and out very slowly is a short-term strategy that helps calm the body and increase focus.6 Encourage students to stay aware of how they feel and pause between repetitions if feeling faint or dizzy.

Box Breathing Exercise

  1. Start by breathing out all of the air in the lungs, and keep the lungs empty for a slow four count hold.
  2. Then, inhale for 4 counts through the nose.
  3. Suspend/hold the breath for 4 counts (maintain an open feeling or a feeling of “surprise”).
  4. Release the suspension and exhale for 4 counts.7

Repeat all four steps.

Optional: Increase the count for each step from 5 to 8 seconds. If breathing slowly at larger counts is too difficult, try breathing in through rounded lips (as if saying ‘ooh’) and breathing out on an ‘s’ sound.

Mid-performance Breathing

If experiencing shakiness within the performance of a piece, slowly breathe in before the next phrase. Instead of breathing in the preceding beat, slowly breathe in for the preceding one measure or two. This must be practiced in order to be effectively utilized.

Heart Breathing

Guide students to imagine there is a pinhole in their back, behind where their heart is. From there, have them imagine breathing in through the pinhole, through the heart, and imagine breathing out through wherever they feel tension. As they breathe in, encourage them to think pleasant thoughts. This slows down the heart rate and alleviates unhelpful muscle tension.

Posture

Power Posing

Another short-term strategy is described in Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk, Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are. Cuddy explains that holding a posture of confidence may help boost feelings of confidence, even if plagued with feelings of doubt. Power posing chemically changes your body (lowers cortisol, raises testosterone), and may alleviate symptoms of the fight or flight response.8

  1. Stand like Superman or Wonder Woman, feet shoulder width apart, hands on hips, chest up, shoulders back, chin level.
  2. Hold this pose for two minutes (or up to five minutes).

Cognitive

Self-compassion

For many musicians who experience performance anxiety, their first instinct is to attempt to run away from it. Responding to performance anxiety with panic will only make things worse. Self-compassion is a short-term solution that helps dissipate uncomfortable symptoms by treating oneself like a dear friend would be treated in the same situation.9 Write down or say out loud:

  1. “I am struggling with _____________________ (name symptoms, i.e. tense, shaky, short of breath, unable to focus, etc.)

I feel __________________ (name emotion, i.e. excited, scared, uncomfortable, doubtful, etc.).”

  1. “It is okay that I feel this way.”
  2. “I’m not alone. I’m not the only one who experiences this.”
  3. “This feeling is temporary.” (be sure not to over-identify with emotions, symptoms)
  4. “I am doing the best I can with what I have.”

Gratitude

Some musicians experience performance anxiety out of a fear of uncertainty. The antidote to this fear is gratitude. Suggest that students speak their gratitude out loud, write it down in a journal, or record it in a voice memo. Have them list everything for which they are grateful.. The state of gratitude may fade, so daily practice is necessary in order to embrace uncertainty.10 This strategy works well in the short-term and works even better as a habit in the long-term.

Faith

Encourage your students to believe in themselves. Musicians who approach practice and performance with faith that diligent work will bear fruit, are more likely to experience their best music making than those who wait for evidence that the work will work. Many musicians are highly capable just by virtue of being human. With dedication, human beings have been able to accomplish incredible things. When it comes to confidence, having faith in oneself is paramount.

Mindfulness/Meditation

Meditation is an acquired skill, and training the mind to be present and focused requires time and patience, but this is one of the greatest tools there are for managing thoughts and feelings.11

Helping students to Move Through Shame

  1. Have them acknowledge what they are feeling (“I am feeling shame”). Ask them what is the shame ‘tape’ is saying. (i.e. “You’re not good enough” or “Who do you think you are?”) Ask when was the first time they heard this message? From who? What was the frequency of hearing this message? Did they hear this from more than one person?
  2. Reality-check the message. Practice self-compassion, have them speak to themself like they would to someone they love.
  3. Have students share their story of struggle with someone they trust. Encourage them to seek empathy. Find someone who will hear what they’re saying and respond, “That’s so hard. I know how you feel. I’m with you.” Shame cannot survive empathy.12

Working through shame takes time and involves the examination of painful memories. What makes this process difficult is that the origin of shame may be the words of beloved family members, friends, or teachers. This process may require reexamining traumatic experiences such as bullying or abuse. In the case of trauma, enlisting the help of mental health professionals or counselors is invaluable for working through shame to owning the irrefutable truth: “You are imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging…you are enough.”13

Mental Health Issues

There are exceptions to the rule when it comes to strategizing one’s way out of performance anxiety symptoms. If a musician is dealing with unresolved trauma or PTSD, mental health issues (clinical depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa/bulimia, etc), any shame associated with disability (chronic pain, dyslexia), addiction (substance abuse or codependency), depending on one’s story, strategies for performance anxiety may help but may be weakened in effectiveness.

In the midst of mental health struggles, a musician’s priority is not to be as flawless as possible (although one may certainly continue work toward goals). A musician’s number one priority is to love oneself, to work toward self-acceptance, and to participate in any necessary therapy or support groups. At that point, a musician’s number one priority is to do whatever it takes to cultivate worthiness of love and belonging even if feeling unworthy. If a musician is performing, and the performance is suffering because of mental health issues or stress, it will always be more productive to let the performance suffer temporarily as feelings are acknowledged. If that musician’s first thought is “I can’t sound like this”, that is on par with telling oneself “I am not allowed to feel this way.” That is a recipe for compounding anxiety.

This is significant for today’s generation of young musicians who have been raised on certain kinds of reality television and social media, where comparison, shame, and validation seeking run amuck. When fear underpins motivation, though going through the same motions as learning, a musician will not absorb information or newfound skill in the same way. For those who struggle with feeling as though they are not enough, confidence is the absence of anxiety. For those who have a strong sense of lovability, confidence is audacity.

The height of bravery when facing the urge to be everything to everyone is to ask, “What do I need?” If a musician is bold and brave enough to answer and act on that question, to be ordinary and empowered (vs chasing the extraordinary or creating the façade of extraordinary and feeling powerless), then music may be made from a place of love, curiosity, enthusiasm, and experiment. This is the place of love and acceptance from which we are connected to the music in our souls.

When in fear, addressing one’s feelings and needs creates a sense of agency that allows the brain to slow down the stress response. If self-deprivation or self-denial is a habit, the brain and body have no reason to expect any sense of agency and the stress response may continue.14

Performance anxiety is not an enemy to be rid of. Sometimes it is a demand from the body and mind for authenticity, self-love, and empathy. As musicians, how do we respond to this demand? We have a golden opportunity to lessen the grip these struggles have on musicians through awareness/literacy, conversation, empathy, and connection.

Notes

  1. Henry Gleitman, Alan J. Fridlund and Daniel Reisberg (2004). Psychology(6 ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-97767-6.
  2. Reid, Sophie C.; Salmon, Karen; Peter F. Lovibond (October 2006). “Cognitive Biases in Childhood Anxiety, Depression, and Aggression: Are They Pervasive or Specific?”. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 30 (5): 531-549.
  3. A. Wallston, Kenneth; Strudler Wallston, Barbara; Smith, Shelton; J. Dobbins, Carolyn (March 1987). “Perceived Control and Health” Current Psychology. 6 (1): 5-25.
  4. Brown, Brené. The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection, & Courage. 2012.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Relaxation techniques: Breath control helps quell errant stress response – Harvard Health. Harvard Health Publications, January 2015.
  7. The Breathing Technique a Navy SEAL Uses to Stay Calm and FocusedMotto: Words to Live By – From the Editors of TIME, May 2016.
  8. Cuddy, Amy. Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are. TEDGlobal, June 2012.
  9. Neff, Kristin.Self-compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind. New York: William Morrow, 2011. Print.
  10. Brown, Brené.The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection, & Courage. 2012.
  11. Puddicombe, Andi. Mindfulness and Mental ToughnessHeadspace: Mind/Mind Science.
  12. Brown, Brené. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. New York, NY : Gotham Books, 2012.
  13. Brown, Brené. The Power of Vulnerability. TEDxHouston, June 2010.
  14. Madhumita Murgia. How Stress Affects Your Brain, TED-Ed.

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Fluency and Music https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/fluency-music/ Wed, 07 Mar 2018 17:56:44 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=27627 Music performance, at its best, must be fluent. Listeners expect to hear uninterrupted lines that include clear communicative information. Listeners […]

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Music performance, at its best, must be fluent. Listeners expect to hear uninterrupted lines that include clear communicative information. Listeners desire accuracy and true competency from performers. From the simplest tunes to the most virtuosic concerti, the test of a fine performance is demonstrated fluency.

In recent weeks, I have been using a model/metaphor of fluency and music a great deal in my classes. Many of you know that my early music training is Suzuki violin instruction and the fluency model seems natural to me as a result of that instruction. I would like to take a little bit of time today to outline some of these thoughts.

What Is Fluency?

Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Fluency provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy. Fluent readers demonstrate accuracy, expression, pace punctuation, and comprehension.

So, in music it is very similar. Fluency in music would be explained as the ability to read and perform a score accurately, quickly and with expression. I often tell my students that there is a difference between “comprehension level” music learning and “performance level” music learning. A fluent musician would demonstrate accuracy, expression, pace, punctuation, phrasing and comprehension within the context of the performance.

I am using the fluency model particularly frequently in my Classical Piano and Guitar course at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. This is a course designed for all levels of instruction. I teach beginning piano and guitar as part of the class and also work with more intermediate or advanced students who have some or extensive experience on their instrument. Many of these students come to me with a blank slate of experience and others come with varying levels of competency in music and music reading. In order to get all students moving in a similar fashion, I ask them all to consider their work in music using the fluency model.

The Fluency Model

The model is as follows:
Everybody learns to speak by learning individual words. As we learn a word we use it over and over. A great example would be the word “hot.” A small child learns the word “hot” and then uses it in repetition until it becomes an active part of their vocabulary. The same is true for the repertoire my students are learning. They learn a musical concept, technique, or song, repeat that technique or song many times and it eventually becomes part of their active musical vocabulary.

We can also add the act of music reading into this model. Initially, small children read one letter at a time, then one word at a time, and eventually read full phrases and sentences with ease. The same is true for music. We can tell when students are reading isolated individual notes, then phrases, and eventually entire pieces.

Beginning Students

For my beginning students, I explain to them that by learning repertoire and maintaining that repertoire, they are developing a vocabulary. They must continuously use that vocabulary of musical techniques to become fluent. Thus, if a student continues to play a basic song over and over, the song eventually becomes fluent and flowing. The student can play the piece much like we speak, without over-thinking the individual aspects of the piece. Thus, they are operating in a fluency model. My beginning piano and guitar students typically learn between 10 and 15 songs in a trimester. By the end of one term, they are fluent in each of those pieces and have a repertoire or “vocabulary” to build on.

Intermediate Students

Often times it is more difficult to convince my more intermediate students of this concept. So many students with some experience come to me thinking that they are much more fluent than they actually can demonstrate. Fluency involves a true understanding of all aspects of the vocabulary. In other words, one must know how to identify individual letters of words, define each word in a sentence, put the sentence together, and say and read it with inflection. That requires a great deal of skill!

It is the same with music.

The fluent musician must understand each individual note, its rhythm, its place in the musical phrase, how to read and perform that phrase accurately, and how to inflect that phrase accurately and fluently. So many students have spent all of their time working on simply notes and rhythms or just imitating their teacher or recordings. It is rare for students to arrive in my class fully fluent in every aspect of the repertoire they are used to learning. This sometimes causes problems because I want them to be able to demonstrate fluency in all aspects of their performance. Many of them have to revert to simpler repertoire to actually achieve this goal.



In Rehearsals

I find that the fluency model is also effective in my orchestra rehearsals. Early in the rehearsal cycle, we are reading. We are sounding out “words,” finding connections and cues in the written score, and operating on a more remedial, functional level. As the students begin to learn a work more extensively, they can perform more fluently. The work is less about the minutiae and more about the larger ideas. Some students never get past the point of the remedial reading phase. Others get to the fluency phase much earlier.

One strong difference between an ensemble performance and my piano and guitar class is the fact that everybody needs to be fluent for the orchestra to perform with fluency. Even a small number of players that haven’t achieved that fluent level can bring the ensemble performance down. Right now, my orchestra is preparing for a performance of a Mozart symphony and it is so imperative that every player is fluent in their part. Even small inconsistencies can yield negative results.

I also find the fluency model to be applicable to the world of improvisation. When we are speaking extemporaneously, we are effectively “improvising” with words. In other words, we are calling on phrases and ideas that we have learned and prepared ahead of time that fit into the context of the conversation at hand. This is improvisation at its best. In order to improvise, we call on our experience with and preparation in concepts surrounding key, mode, rhythm, time, melody, and expression (to name only a few).

Listening

Additionally, fluency in conversation requires listening. So, this model provides a great vehicle for discussing the importance of listening in solo and ensemble music performance. In order to respond appropriately to a phrase or idea, one must be willing to listen to the information that precedes.

I recently had a wonderful conversation on this topic with a student who is bilingual. English is his second language. He learned English as a teenager and did so by putting labels with the names of objects all over his house. There were labels on the table, chair, desk, book, shirt, etc. He told me that now he sees labels in his mind all the time. And, in fact, now both languages require thought. For him, music does not have any labels. It never did. So, now music is his most fluent language.

In closing, I asked my students to articulate their understanding of fluency as it relates to both language and music. One said, “Fluency is getting past small picture to big picture. Another shared, “Fluency is not having to think specifically about the technical. It is simply expression.” Finally, a third remarked, “Fluency is like liquid: free and expressive.”

I encourage to give this model a try with your students. It has really resonated with my students and I feel like they have a more accurate picture of the true goals of rehearsal and performance.

I wish you all and your students many fluent performances!

This article was originally published on the Thoughts of a String Educator blog and is used with permission of the author.

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Music Ed Mentor Podcast #018: Motivation Tips from a GRAMMY-Winning Educator https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/music-ed-mentor-podcast-018-motivation-tips-grammy-winning-educator/ Fri, 23 Feb 2018 14:18:19 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=27545 In this very special episode of the Music Ed Mentor Podcast, we welcome our first GRAMMY-winning guest! I’m excited to share […]

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In this very special episode of the Music Ed Mentor Podcast, we welcome our first GRAMMY-winning guest! I’m excited to share my conversation with Melissa Salguero, who was recently named the GRAMMY Music Educator of the Year. You may recognize Melissa’s voice from Episode 12, where she shared tips on how to get the most from music education conferences.

Melissa and I became Facebook friends after the NAfME conference, and when I realized she won a GRAMMY, I knew I wanted to share her story with all of you. In this episode, Melissa describes how she got involved with music, why she became a teacher, and how she stays motivated.

This Episode Is Also Available On:

Melissa’s GRAMMY Video

As a semi-finalist, Melissa was asked to submit a short video that covered the following topics:

  • One of your proudest moments as a teacher.
  • One of your most significant challenges and how you address or have addressed it.

It’s not hard to imagine why this video stood out:

Here’s another video that’s equally inspiring.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn How To:

  • Retain more of your current students
  • Empower student leaders
  • Figure out why students quit
  • Make sure you’re retaining the right students over the long term

100 Motivational Memes

Melissa and I put together a folder of 100 motivational memes for you to print, post, or just enjoy when you need a boost. Download the entire folder here. 

Download the free memes

Three Key Takeaways

“Music that resonates with me are the songs my students love the most.”

When Melissa started in New York, she was working with a school that hadn’t had a music program in 30 years. She started with “Don’t Stop Believing” because it’s her favorite song, and the kids loved it. Being passionate about the material helped engage students with no musical background on day one, and it’s something we can all take back to our classrooms.

“Every year I tried to up the ante.”

In talking with Melissa about her journey to the GRAMMY award, she described the entire process, and also talked about the work that she invested each and every year. Consistently trying new thingsand being passionate about the ways you teachare clearly tactics that have served Melissa well and that others can learn from.

“Celebrate the small successes.”

Celebrating success doesn’t have to be about teaching. When Melissa is feeling low, she actually does the opposite of what you’d expect. She reaches out to other people who have impacted her life and tells them how much they have meant to her. Giving to others helps lift her up and focuses her perspective.



Additional Resources

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3 Science-Backed Tips to Keep Your Students Motivated https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/3-science-backed-tips-to-keep-your-students-motivated/ Tue, 06 Feb 2018 15:17:54 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=27371 As a music educator, the way in which you manage your classroom can have a major impact on students’ success. […]

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As a music educator, the way in which you manage your classroom can have a major impact on students’ success. Here are three important lessons that science teaches us about keeping students motivated, challenged, and continually improving.  

Beware of the “OK Plateau”

There are three stages to learning any skill: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. In the cognitive stage, students are learning how a skill is performed in their mind and all the nuances that go with it. In the associative stage, students are getting better at performing the task without heavy concentration. Finally, in the autonomous stage, the task is done with hardly any conscious attention paid.

The best example to illustrate this process is driving a car. The problem drivers have in common with musicians and performers is the tendency to make frequent tasks automatic in their minds, become content, and stop looking for ways to improve. Just like these kinds of drivers are more prone to accidents, these kinds of performers are prone to complacency and won’t be as successful as others.

All musicians striving for constant improvement will take note any time they hit a comfort zone, also known as the “OK Plateau.”

Here’s an excerpt from the book, Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career by 99U and Jocelyn Glei. It explains why students should strive to always come back to the cognitive stage and how top performers like apply deliberate practice:

They develop strategies for consciously keeping out of the autonomous stage while they practice by doing three things: focusing on their technique, staying goal-oriented, and getting constant immediate feedback on their performance. In other words, they force themselves to stay in the cognitive stage.

When you want to get good at something, how you spend your time practicing is far more important than the amount of time you spend. Regular practice simply isn’t enough. To improve, we must watch ourselves fail, and learn from our mistakes.

As educators, we should encourage our students that failing as you’re learning is better than becoming good at something and coasting comfortably.



Beware of the Fixed Mindset

You may have already heard of the “fixed” mindset and the “growth” mindset, popularized by the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by psychologist Carol Dweck. A fixed mindset is a state of thinking where someone believes their traits and qualities are based on luck. A growth mindset is when someone believes their traits are based on effort.

As lessons get more challenging, frustration starts to kick in for many students. Students begin to face moments of failure and setbacks. All the practice put in one day is forgotten the next. When this happens, it’s important that students are able to self-talk their way back into a neutral state of mind. Unfortunately, this is when many students (and even their instructors) start labeling themselves as “incapable.” This is when students begin to believe they’re as good as they’re ever going to be, and the fixed mindset starts to creep in.

Day by day, the fixed mindset is reinforced and the student begins to lose hope, motivation, and enjoyment in music. He or she concludes they’re lesser than the other “lucky,” “special,” or “born gifted” students. The fixed mindset can turn into an endless cycle, which makes students feel incompetent in music but also crosses over to other areas such as school and relationships.

If you notice these traits in a student, reverse the effect by constantly reminding him or her that skill and talent is a byproduct of work, lessons learned from failure, and getting back up when you fall short at any project.

Even success can breed a fixed mindset when adults constantly label children as “special,” “genius,” or “the best.” Be mindful of your praise and criticism, and be sure to emphasize verbs over adjectives.  In other words, focus on what a student does or doesn’t do, not who a student is or isn’t. Encourage them to keep trying until they get it right. Here are some notes of encouragement for music students.

Beware of Distractions and Multitasking

In a world of constant distractions, does practice always make perfect? Or is quality more important than quantity? Let’s say you have a student who is embarking on the 10,000-hour rule to become a successful musician. It’s a common goal nowadays that many young musicians are attempting.

Students should ask themselves though if each of those hours spent practicing is an hour that they’re able to focus their full attention on the task at hand.  

The common misconception about the 10,000-hour rule is that all hours are invested equally. Chances are, most students spend half of that time distracted, multitasking, or honing the same skills repeatedly. They rack up the hour count, but not the quality of hours spent in deliberate practice.

Help students learn the difference of practicing more efficiently by ensuring that their environment is free of “background noise” – computers, phones, and TV. There shouldn’t be any temptations to multitask.

Here is some convincing research on how multitasking wears you out, and how even small distractions lead to negative consequences.

Try holding practice sessions at different times of the day, as everyone’s circadian rhythm is different. Help students schedule their own practice sessions ahead of time, so they don’t deplete their energy and succumb to decision fatigue.

Final Thoughts

Discourage complacency in your classroom. Praise effort over character when a student fails or excels. And improve your practice sessions so that time spent is efficiently and productively. Following these steps can help students maintain the right state of mind and increase their chances of long-term success as a musician.

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Managing Stage Fright https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/managing-stage-fright/ Tue, 16 Jan 2018 17:15:04 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=27256 It is not unusual for performers to worry about memory slips and technical insecurity when playing before an audience. Understandably, […]

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It is not unusual for performers to worry about memory slips and technical insecurity when playing before an audience. Understandably, anxious performers wish they could get rid of performance anxiety! As a therapist, I wish I could wave a wand and make this happen – but I must share the unwanted news that I cannot supply this magic.

Consider the following questions:

  • How does stage fright interfere with self-esteem?
  • Do teachers and students believe that mental preparation is a helpful “insurance policy” for performing well?
  • If the playing goes well in the practice room, why doesn’t the same thing happen on stage?

Ultimately the big question is how can music teachers help students learn to cope more effectively with stage fright?

There are no guarantees that intensified practicing will lead to an emotionally and technically secure performance. While teachers help students practice intelligently and effectively, there is no such thing as a perfect perfor­mance. Perfection is a wish that ultimately will raise anxiety, since perfection is unattainable in life and on stage. But a lack of perfec­tion (or a “perfect” performance) does not mean that there cannot be satisfying, good, and exceptional performances.

Simply Too Much of a Good Thing?

Frankly, it would not be helpful to totally “get rid” of performance anxiety. Using a cooking analogy, the right amount of spice enhances the recipe. If there is too little spice, the food is not tasty. If there is too much spice, it overpowers the food. Mental energy in the mind works similarly with anxiety and stage fright. Performers need to have, or develop, the “right” or optimum amount of mental energy to add spice to a performance. This is different for each performer. Anxiety can be used to enhance performance when anxious feelings are managed.

Appreciation of one’s personal best is an important lesson for music teachers to convey to their students, and this lesson needs to be continually emphasized. Attitude can facilitate anxiety reduction as much as, or sometimes more than, aptitude.

Many famous performers, including Beyonce, Adele, Barbra Streisand, and Vladimir Horowitz and many others have struggled with perfor­mance anxiety. Some have been sidelined by fears or chosen to discontinue performing in public. Regardless of how well prepared or experienced, there is a certain level of “unknown” about what will happen when going from backstage to center stage. Performers try very hard to be in control. That is one reason why musicians of all experience levels practice so hard. Yet hours of technical prepara­tion may not offer mental security in public performance. Mental preparation is as crucial as repertoire preparation.



Managing Expectations

Performance anxiety does not have to undermine or intimidate performers. When teach­ers emphasize that students do not have to strive for magical performances and “perfection,” students’ anxiety levels often drop significantly. Students and all performers can be encouraged to enjoy shar­ing their talent, the music itself, and the fruits of their hard work. An emphasis on sharing rather than proving has pro­vided significant anxiety relief to many performers.

I frequently have heard comments suggesting that talk­ing about performance anxiety makes it worse, but this is not true. This is another form of “magical thinking,” a term psychologists use to connote the belief that thinking about something literally makes the thought come true. Performance anxiety must not be a forbidden feel­ing or topic. No feeling or thought is forbidden. Performance anxiety begs for informed discussion in the teaching studio. Teachers and students should not be bullied, sabotaged, or imprisoned by it.

Discussing performance anxiety in the teaching studio in an intelligent, sympathetic, and informed manner is reas­suring and calming. Such discussions indicate to students that teachers can handle tough topics and feelings and convey the belief that students can too.

Teaching Tips to Empower Students

  • Demonstrate a non-judgmental willingness to talk with students about performance anxiety.
  • Validate students’ feelings. Do not tell them they will be “ok”. They are not feeling “ok.”
  • Inform students it is not desirable to get “rid” of performance anxiety. In fact, it is not possible to do this.
  • Help students transform anxiety into positive energy.
  • Challenge the notion of being “perfect.” Help students strive for the best they can.
  • Emphasize the idea that sharing music vs. proving oneself can lower anxiety.

Performance anxiety reduction strategies need to be approached as seriously as practicing for musical performance. Minds do matter.Conveying the attitude that musicians are more than the sum of their musical parts can help your students begin to see the whole picture and put the challenge into perspective.

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Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser: The Contextual Aspect of Teaching https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/dr-tim-lautzenheiser-contextual-aspect-teaching/ Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:23:05 +0000 http://www.smartmusic.com/?p=26917 Why are some ensembles more musical, proficient, or engaged than others? Why do some continually achieve at the highest levels […]

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Why are some ensembles more musical, proficient, or engaged than others? Why do some continually achieve at the highest levels while others struggle to keep their programs alive?

It’s all about the content you teach and the context in which you teach it.

In this archived webinar, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser shares which character traits make master music educators and how you can train student leaders who will build better culture. In less than an hour, you can learn how to create the right context in which to help your program thrive.

About Dr. Tim Lautzenhieser

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser began his teaching career at Northern Michigan University. He continued developing highly acclaimed groups, in both instrumental and vocal music, at the University of Missouri and New Mexico State University. In 1981, he created Attitude Concepts for Today, which provides teacher in-service workshops, student leadership seminars, and convention speaking engagements focusing on effective leadership training. Millions of students have experienced his popular sessions.

Tim presently serves as vice president of education for Conn-Selmer. He is a nationally recognized advocate of arts education for every child. His books, produced by G.I.A. Publications, are bestsellers in the educational community. He is a co-author of the popular band method, Essential Elements, as well as the senior educational consultant for Hal Leonard. Tim is also the senior educational advisor for Music for All and NAMM.

He holds degrees from Ball State University and the University of Alabama and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the VanderCook College of Music. He continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member at Ball State University, Indiana-Purdue/Ft. Wayne University, and Butler University. Dr. Tim is on the board of directors for both the Midwest Clinic and the Western International Band Clinic/American Band College and is presently the chair of the Tri-M Music Honor Society.

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