Monthly Archives: May 2009

Do You Hear What I Hear?

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Have you ever wondered why a student can successfully correct a problem at the lesson when you point it out to them, but then return the following week having reverted to the incorrect way of playing it? I actually started to understand the fundamental issue involved in this phenomenon as a result of taking lessons myself. I would return home from a lesson and begin practicing a piece, only to stare blankly at a particular section knowing that my teacher had addressed something that needed to be corrected, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was! It wasn’t that I didn’t want to fix the problem, or wasn’t willing to put in the time and work to do so; it was that I hadn’t fully grasped what the problem was in the first place.

In order to remedy this teaching disconnect, I think we have to approach it with a fundamental principle in mind:

Music is sound, not what’s printed on the page. When a teacher recognizes that a student is playing something incorrectly, it is because it doesn’t sound right. Either the student is not accurately playing what is represented on the printed music (primarily the technical elements), or the student is playing in a way that is inconsistent with what the teacher wants the piece to sound like (primarily the artistic elements).

Obviously, unless they just doesn’t care, the student is unaware that the sound they are emitting is incongruous with what it should be. So ultimately, as a teacher, what I want to do is help my student hear the errors and be aware of what needs to be fixed so that they can implement an appropriate practice strategy during the week. As I am often wont to tell my students, “Once you hear the mistake, I’m not concerned; I know you can fix it during the week.” But if they have not fully grasped what exactly it was that sounded wrong, the chances of it coming back fixed the following week are pretty slim!

In an effort to apply this understanding and teach my students more effectively, here are three practical approaches that I take:

1. Relate to something the student is already playing correctly. For example, if there are two staccato notes in a row and the student is playing the first one staccato, but is holding the second one (why is this so common?!), instead of pointing to the book and telling the student that both should be played staccato, I ask them to make the sound of the second staccato note match the sound of the first staccato note. Firstly, this places the responsibility on them to listen for and determine whether they are playing it correctly. Secondly, it develops more acute listening skills and forces them to hear the sound of what they are playing. I use the same approach if a student is inadvertently altering the tempo between different sections of the piece. Instead of saying, “You’re playing too slowly at measure 22. You need to play the same tempo,” I say something like, “Play the eighth notes in the left hand at measure 4; now go over to measure 22 and see if you can match the sound and speed of the eighth notes so that they sound the same as measure 4. Does that sound different than how you played it the first time?“

2. Play two examples for the student – one as an imitation of how they are playing it, and another as a representation of the way it should be played. I have the student identify which example sounded like the correct one. Usually they get this right. Then I have them try to play a good example. If they do well, I’ll have them give the bad example again, followed once more by the good one so that I can ascertain whether they have truly grasped the problem and how to fix it. If on their second attempt they still play it incorrectly, I play it back to them again and contrast it with a properly played example. The goal is always for them to hear the difference and then be able to relate it to what they are seeing on the page and how they are executing it.

3. Audio or video record the student playing the piece and have them give a critique of it – did they like the way it sounded? do they want to re-record and try to improve it? Sometimes before I play it back, I ask the student to watch/listen for three specific things that they would like to do better if we do a second recording. It’s always insightful to see what they come up with!

Do you all have any other suggestions or ideas of approaches you use to help the students “tune in” to the sound of their playing?

Another Key Signature Game

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This sister duo is always begging to play a game if we have time at the end of their lesson, and I usually try to accommodate them! This week, the younger one was working on all her Major flat key arpeggios and memorizing the corresponding key signatures, so I decided to play a related game.

I gave each of them a set of scale blocks (+an extra “C” block). Then I lined up the flat key signature flash cards and had them line up their blocks according. Once they understood the pattern, I had them scramble their blocks and race to see who could get them put back in the correct order the fastest. When they both were getting this figured out without any problem, I decided to increase the challenge; I scrambled the key signature flashcards and then they had to rearrange their scale blocks in the corresponding order. This proved to be a bit more of a challenge, but was incredibly helpful in determining how well they really knew which key signature was which.

This is one of the benefits of having lots of ready-made tools (like scale blocks and flashcards) at your fingertips. You can spontaneously come up with games and activities that reinforce specific concepts that relate to what the student is studying that week. Plus, I tend to think this is a more fun and effective way to learn and reinforce concepts than filling out worksheets/theory books anyway.

Monday Mailbag – Carnival of the Animals Summer Piano Camp

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I have been thinking about doing a summer music camp theme, but haven’t done it yet…could you give me more of an idea of what other type of activities you did with your Carnival of the Animals piano camp?

Here’s what my daily outline looked like for the camp.

Daily Outline:
20 minutes – welcome, play game
20 minutes – Carnival of the Animals #1
20 minutes – ensemble work
20 minutes – Carnival of the Animals #2
10 minutes – choir
10 minutes – ensemble work or game
20 minutes – Carnival of the Animals #3

Each of the Carnival of the Animals sessions included the following:
1. Listen to CD recording
2. Color the corresponding page in the coloring book
3. Discuss sound, create sound by playing instruments and learning the rhythm and melody – For this I let the students use any combination of piano, keyboard sounds, rhythm instruments, etc. to come up with a way to play the piece. (For the aquarium, they even ended up rubbing glasses with water in them!) I gave them the printed music and either let them read the melody or taught it to them by rote. Then we experimented with different people doing different things on the instruments to try to capture the essence of the piece. We just played the pieces for fun – not for an audience – and didn’t do it for every piece, just the favorite one from each day.

I chose different ensemble pieces for each piano camp group and let them work both on their own and with me coaching them during the ensemble times.

For the game times, I just used various music games I have in the studio that I know the students like to play. For the choir time, I used a song I wrote and helped them learn the parts and polish it throughout the week.

It was pretty laid back and I couldn’t believe how much the students loved the coloring books! We would listen to the corresponding CD track over and over while they colored and when the time ran out they would beg me to please let them have a little more time. If I had known how much they would get into the coloring, I could have just held a coloring camp! :-)

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Music Education Blog Carnival – May Edition

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Welcome to the May 1, 2009 edition of music education blog carnival! Hope you enjoy checking out these great contributions!

Patricia Turner presents 100 Favorite Library Sites for Children and Their Parents posted at Online University Lowdown.

Music Pedagogy

Laura Lowe presents More From the MTNA Convention posted at The Lowe Piano Studio Blog, saying, “Click on the MTNA category for more blog posts about the 2009 MTNA National Convention in Atlanta, March 29-April 1″

Nancy Flanagan presents Nice Homework, if You Can Get It. posted at Teacher in a Strange Land, saying, “Is practicing “homework?” And is it any different than the kinds of homework other teachers assign?”

Joseph Pisano presents PMEA Clinic 2009- Bridging The Gap Between The Composers, The Performers, And The Audience posted at Music, Technology and Education: Mustech.net.

Natalie Wickham presents Songs from Around the World and Key Signature Games posted at Music Matters Blog, saying, “Help your students gain an appreciation for world music and play some high-energy key signature games while you’re at it!”

Lorraine presents from photoheaven7 posted at The hidden healing secrets of music.

BNC Edcuation presents Evaluating Students for Percussion posted at BNC Education, saying, “Drums are probably the most popular choice among young people when choosing an instrument. Everyone wants to be a drummer. But you can’t have a band full of drummers. In our program, as is the case with most, we don’t have enough equipment for any more than about 12 percussionists. Evaluating Students for Percussion is a two step process. Once narrows the field from wanna-bes and the second actually gets to the heart of the matter.”

Music Performance

Sheila Scarborough presents All that jazz on San Antonio’s River Walk posted at Perceptive Travel Blog, saying, “No better way to appreciate classic jazz like Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton than to hear it live, with Jim Cullum’s Jazz Band in San Antonio.”

Dennis Gray presents Speech Level Singing Technique posted at How To Sing Better (Now), saying, “The Speech Level Singing technique is a powerful technique used by many of today’s top recording artists that can help artists at any level learn how to sing better.”

Nui Loa presents Interview with Debbie Cavalier posted at Boston Children’s Music, saying, “Great interview with Debbie Cavalier, Head of Continuing Education at Berklee College of Music and leader of the popular kid’s band Debbie and Friends.”

Peter Micic presents Musicking posted at an imperfect pen.

Music Technology

David French presents Computer Singing posted at Tanbur Music Education Blogspot, saying, “Using the computer to promote singing activities in the music classroom.”

Andy Zweibel presents “Computers, Keyboards, and Music” – A Curriculum Restructure posted at Andy Zweibel – Music Musings and Other Randoms…, saying, “This is a proposed restructure of the curriculum to a college level music technology course at the University of Miami, including proposed activities/projects that would keep students engaged and excited about the material!”

Other

Karin Le Blanc presents Discografie | Ampiphy | The Official Blog ~ This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll ~ posted at Ampiphy.

HazardousPaste presents Why Music Encompasses Everything posted at Black Holes and Snowy Mountains, saying, “A music appreciation post.”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Arts and Smarts: Test Scores and Cognitive Development posted at SharpBrains, saying, “At a time when educators are preoccupied with standards, testing, and the bottom line, some researchers suggest the arts can boost students’ test scores; others aren’t convinced. Karin Evans asks, What are the arts good for?”

Tips

Angelique Lee and Francine Kenney presents Bagged! Pushy Parents Actually Slow Down Music Learning posted at Music Practice For Kids.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of music education blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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