Category Archives: Philosophical Musings

What’s the Purpose of Your Studio?

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In the latest newsletter from Character First!, column writer Gene Linzey asks the question, “What’s the Purpose of Your Business?” He shares the responses he received from several business owners and then reveals what he considers the correct answer: To serve others without a selfish motive.

I was immediately compelled to ask myself the same question in relation to my teaching. What is the purpose of my studio? I ponder this on a regular basis and feel like I am always refining the answer and readjusting my priorities. One thing that occurred to me after I read Mr. Linzey’s “correct” answer was to contemplate whether my business is something that I would continue doing at no cost if it wasn’t necessary for me to make a living doing it. Perhaps that’s a good litmus test of sorts for evaluating business motives – or even whether your job is a good fit for you if you’re employed by someone else.

So…I’m curious to know. What’s the purpose of your studio? Would you keep teaching at no cost to your students even if you didn’t have to make a living at it?

[please note: this is meant to be purely philosophical in nature, not practical, since there are many reasons why it's important to charge for lessons even if it's not financially necessary.]

Inspirational Quotes to Ponder

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A couple weeks ago, our pastor at church shared a portion of a quote that caught my attention. I jotted it down and looked it up when I arrived home. It is attributed to British historian, Arnold J. Toynbee. I’ve been thinking about it off and on since then in relation to teaching and thought I would share it with you:

“Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.”

I love the balance between idealism and practicality. It reminds me of a friend of mine who once told me, “Good intentions are good; good results are even better.” As teachers we can cast a vision for our students of what they can achieve, and as we work with them week after week we can also lay out a step-by-step plan to make it a reality.

As I was searching for the above quote, I came across this other one also attributed to Toynbee:

“It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.”

Intriguing. I’m not sure if I totally agree. What do you think?

Commitment to Innovation

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In the latest issue of the American Music Teacher magazine, a publication of the Music Teachers National Association for its members, I found a couple statements by Executive Director Gary Ingle to be quite thought-provoking:

“I believe the next 15 years will be the most challenging in our history and will require more commitment to innovation. Over the past 135 years in general and the last 15 in particular, we have done a great job with the second part of our mission statement: to support the professionalism of music teachers. However, we haven’t done as good a job on the first part of our mission: to advance the value of music study and music making to society…

if we don’t aggressively and innovatively pursue the first part of our mission, there will certainly be no need for the second.”

More commitment to innovation. I love the prospect of innovation in the world of music study. The word innovation means, “the act of introducing new things or methods.” Just like every other business and organized activity, we are competing for the time and attention of the market. And just like anyone in the business world will tell you, in order to remain viable in the marketplace, you have to be innovative. The one who stubbornly refuses to understand the changing times and resorts to whining about declining interest in his field might as well close up shop and apply for a job somewhere else. But the one who sees, embraces, and learns to utilize the changes for greater effectiveness has unlimited opportunity for creative development and growth!

I know this is all more philosophical than practical, but (to borrow a quote from author Voddie Baucham in an entirely different context) “it is much easier to go from good theory to good practice than it is to go from no theory to good practice.”

And so I find myself thinking about this whole concept of commitment to innovation and wondering how I can apply this to promote music study and achieve greater effectiveness as a music teacher in the coming years. Any thoughts?

Congratulations on Brushing Your Teeth!

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I had to smile when I read this opening excerpt in a recent column by Jane Magrath that a blog reader kindly e-mailed me:

Recently I saw a cartoon that showed two smiling parents watching their child as he brushed his teeth. A banner was posted over the top of the bathroom mirror that said, “Congratulations on brushing your teeth!” One parent was looking adoringly at the child, hands clasped, while the other stated, “I just feel like we’re setting him up to be disappointed in the real world.”

I could relate to this because sometimes I feel like that as a teacher. I hold my breath while a student carefully plods through a scale and let out an excited congratulations when they complete it with all the right notes and fingerings. Deep down I know that this is hardly a cause for celebration for most students; it’s just the weekly reality of poor practicing and failure to aim toward a high level of excellence and mastery. But at the same time I find myself grasping for anything praiseworthy that I can latch onto to hopefully spur the student on toward greater accomplishments in the future.

In the remainder of Jane Magrath’s excellent column, What matters more: talent or effort?, she goes on to discuss the importance of recognizing a student’s effort rather than the talent (or lack thereof) itself. Especially enlightening was the result of the research conducted by Dr. Carol Dweck on students responses to different types of praise.

I’ve touched briefly on this topic in the past, including a discussion of praising character vs. achievement in this post on Teaching Students to Play Beautifully. It’s a distinction that is almost foreign to education in our culture, though, so it’s easy to forget and revert back to coddling students and trying to make them feel good for every little positive thing they do, regardless of whether it springs from hard work or minimal effort. I am inspired anew to develop a deeper perspective as a teacher and use words and teaching approaches that address a student’s character, not merely their achievement. In other words, no more congratulations for just brushing their teeth! :-)

The Anatomy of a Practice Incentive Theme

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Every year the process looks slightly different, but in a nutshell there are some tried-and-true steps that seem to work for developing a practice incentive theme that will captivate students!

  • In the spring, use year-end questionnaires to collect input on what they liked best and least about the theme, what things they’d like to focus on the next year, and specific theme ideas.
  • Spend a couple months thinking and praying about what to do. Periodically pull out the student questionnaires and review them.
  • When August rolls around, make arrangements to go to the home of a friend with a swimming pool. Make sure it’s someone who is stocked with a comfortable raft. Lay out on said raft for a couple of hours and contemplate all sorts of wild and crazy ideas that might inspire and motivate students.
  • If you hit on an idea that seems like a keeper, quickly exit the pool, dry off, grab a pen and paper, and start scribbling furiously before the idea disappears. A home that also supplies lounge chairs is of primary consideration for this portion of the planning. :-)
  • Spend the next week letting the idea develop and ferment, jotting down additional thoughts as they come. Be prepared to do lots of scratching out, too!
  • When formulating ideas, there are two sides – the objective side and the execution side. The objective side is the consideration of what you want the students to accomplish. This is primarily musical. The execution side is the imaginative, creative approach that will captivate the students and give them an exciting reason to work toward the established objectives. This is often non-musical.
  • View My PortfolioOnce the objectives, execution, and title have been decided, start scouring iStockPhoto.com (get 10 free credits when you sign up through this link!) for the perfect image(s) to capture the theme!
  • Start designing the cover. I always begin with the cover because it helps me set the mood and look for the whole theme. Once the cover is ready to go, I start working on the interior pages and all the other supporting documents and studio decorations.

It’s always so much fun to see the theme come together and to build the suspense until it is revealed at our September Surprise! I’ve had students (and parents!) asking me for months what the theme is, so I know they are “chomping at the bit” to find out. Which is also why I can’t post anything else here yet about the theme – I know there are sleuths in my studio who patrol this blog just waiting for me to slip up and give away the surprise… :-) Not happening! But I can hardly wait to tell you all about it and will do so as soon as I can!

A Wealth of Thoughts on Early Childhood Development and Music Programs

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Even though I have had a number of students begin piano lessons with me as early as 3 and 4-years old, I feel like I have a long ways to go in learning and understanding the most effective approaches for working with children this young. That’s why I made a point to keep Jenny’s post, Preschool Music: Methods & Schools of Thought, open in my browser tabs until I had a chance to read it. It took me longer than I realized to get to it (she wrote the post in May!), but I’m so glad I did! Not only does she have some helpful thoughts and links in the post, the comments led me to some other wonderful resources!

The Make Me Musical! blog by Susan Seale looks like a great place to pick up tips on working with little ones. The Early Childhood Music & Movement Association is will probably provide a good first step for researching and learning more about early childhood development and various philosophies. Blogger Laura Lowe shares some helpful insights from her extensive experience in the post, Piano Lessons for Twos and Threes?. The book, The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning, by Sally Goddard Blythe has been added to my wishlist and I look forward to gleaning additional information and practical ideas from it for approaching music education with young children from a holistic perspective. The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology website looks really interesting, too. I’ve just barely begun to look over it, but plan to look over it more extensively in the coming days.

Also, for anyone who’s interested in a deeper look into the American government education system and those who have guided its formation over the years, I read R. J. Rushdoony’s work, The Messianic Character of American Education, earlier this year and found it to be quite enlightening.

As fascinating as it is to study developmental theories and educational philosophies, I usually take it all with a grain of salt, so to speak. As a firm believer that man is uniquely created by a personal God, the only unchanging revelation about man’s nature is the inspired Word of God – the Bible. While much can be gained from the discoveries and research of others who have devoted their lives to understanding the complexities of human form and function, all of it is susceptible to inconsistencies and flaws. Not to mention that a lot of times one body of research contradicts another and leaves you wondering whether you’re helping or harming the child with whatever approach you’re using! Anyway…it’s good for me to remember that as I delve into research and study of different areas, I always have one source that I can turn to and depend on for absolute Truth.

The Difference Between Teaching Boys and Girls

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It’s fascinating to study psychology and try to gain a deeper understanding of our design and how it contributes to various areas of life. Earlier this year, I came across a short book titled, In God’s Image After All, after hearing the author speak at a seminar. It was so interesting and got me to thinking about all sorts of different concepts and how they are relevant to me as a teacher.

Several weeks ago I came across this post by Chad Twedt called, Why Gender Matters in Music Performance Anxiety. Perhaps because of his reference to the book, Why Gender Matters, I was also reminded of a workshop I attended by Andrew Pudewa – a violinist and educator – who also referenced this book in his session. His workshop title was even more attention-grabbing, though: Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day. Anyone else have students like that? :-)

While not everyone fits the stereotypical male/female characteristics, there is so much to be gleaned and applied from these studies that are willing to dig a little deeper into human design and acknowledge that there are differences inherent of the two sexes. This observation from Chad seems all too true in my studio most of the time:

“Boys think they’ve practiced enough when they really haven’t, and girls think they haven’t practiced enough when they really have. Consequently, girls will tend to prepare more carefully and thoroughly for a performance than boys.”

And I have to say that I personally found this comment rather amusing:

“Then I remembered something else from the third chapter of Why Gender Matters: boys tend to overestimate their abilities, while girls tend to underestimate them. This is certainly at least a partial reason why there are slightly more females than males in the world: less females die of sheer stupidity each year.”

I think that being aware of some of these underlying differences will be helpful in knowing how to more effectively teach practice skills and performance preparation. And I think this will be my new motto for all my male students:

“Risk-taking is only a good thing if it’s supported by an appropriate level of skill.”

Think they’ll go for that?! :-)

Thoughts to Ponder…

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Things have been a bit scattered around here lately, so sorry for the intermittent posting. Summer tends to be that way anyway, but I also had a huge convention last weekend and am in the throes of preparing for my sessions at the KMTA Conference this weekend. I came across a couple quotes that I found quite thought-provoking, so I thought I’d share them with you:

“I believe that a lack of drive is not the main reason a person fails to live up to his potential. Rather, it is a combination of two things:
1) an inability to discern what his path to success looks like, and
2) a belief that he does not have what it takes to succeed.”

~Dr. Jeff Myers

and this one:

“We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure—all your life.”

~John W. Gardner

The latter came from this page of quotes on failure. Any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with these sentiments?

Piano Students in the Real World

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Last December I posted about Students Performing Without Teacher Knowledge. As I mentioned then, I whole-heartedly believe in the importance of letting students use their musical skills in lots of various outlets. My students usually fill me in on events and opportunities before they happen, but either way, I think it’s great for them to be musically involved in the community. As I was thinking back over the spring semester and wondering why I felt worn out trying to keep up with my students, I began compiling a list of special opportunities or situations that my students had this year that have required extra work on both of our parts to locate, acquire, and prepare the necessary music.

I’m thinking this also helps explain why I don’t do weekly lesson planning :-) (there are always new and exciting things popping up and we like having the freedom to adapt within the structure of our yearly practice incentive theme). The more things I listed out, the more excited I got! This is what makes music so much more than just a personal endeavor. This is how we take the talents God has given us and invest and multiply them (Matthew 25:14-30). This is piano students in the real world…

  • asked to compose and play several pieces for a special event.
  • young friend wants to learn to play piano, so student began teaching them the basics.
  • received request to start accompanying the praise band at church, playing from lead sheets.
  • wants to be in upcoming competition; needs flashy piece that can be learned quickly. Oh, and asked to play for brother’s wedding, so needs a collection of wedding songs to learn as well.
  • invited to play for special church service; must learn hymn and several praise songs by following week.
  • heard a cool song on YouTube; wants help tracking down sheet music and learning it.
  • needs two contrasting pieces to learn and memorize for a competition in a couple months.
  • will be playing background music at a community event; needs 10-15 minutes worth of appropriate music.
  • dad signed student up to play special music at church; need to learn several songs and arrange them so that they fill the allotted time frame.
  • getting bored with beginner songs and parent requests some variety to add challenge and excitement.
  • excited about upcoming studio recital and requests a specific style of piece to learn for the occasion.
  • asked to play other instrument parts on keyboard with an ensemble group.
  • church is preparing for an upcoming program and music director asks student to be the pianist; must learn a dozen songs in less than a month.
  • parents request that student be given more hymns to learn and play for the family.
  • found simplified arrangement of Fur Elise and starts working on it, even though it’s a harder level than current repertoire.
  • assigned to play offertory at church in several weeks; needs to have an arrangement learned and ready quickly.
  • friend is getting married and asks student to play for prelude, processional, recessional, and postlude; specific music arrangements written for string and piano ensemble must be learned in two weeks.
  • wants to compile a collection of original pieces and needs help notating and preparing for publication.
  • suffers broken wrist from an accident and must learn to play music for one hand alone.
  • asked by vocalist to accompany for contest next week.
  • wants to participate in school talent show; audition is next week.
  • asked by friend to play duet in upcoming community festival; need to select and prepare music.
  • requested to perform special music for a large convention.
  • encouraged to put together a compilation CD as a special gift for Grandma.

These are the kinds of things that truly make teaching an adventure. And even though it does require a lot of extra time and work that wasn’t part of the original plan, it is so worth it!

Why Should Wii Practice?

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The same reason I deplore video games is the same reason that so many people love them. They’re addictive. Pianist and cellist, Erica Ann Sipes is on the same page as me, but she has some fascinating thoughts on capitalizing on the psychology behind video games in our music practicing. Her post, Tapping Into the Video Game World When Practicing, is very thought-provoking! Here are a couple snippets that I thought were very insightful:

“Part of the key to being successful in Tetris is learning how to spot patterns quickly and knowing what to do with them.”

and

“When I am truly playing the game, I succeed, and that, my friends, is addictive.”

I also appreciated this comment from Bob Woody:

“I think the main advantage of video games is the immediate feedback they provide. The goal is clear and the player knows, in real time, how well they’re doing.”

These kinds of discussions are fascinating to me because I love trying to understand what motivates my students and how to tap into that to help them achieve success as musicians. The thought of practicing being addictive, though, is a new one for me! It’s one thing to know what constitutes effective practice (which most of my students do when queried), but it’s a whole different thing to actually implement effective practice strategies (which most of my students don’t). The video game developers have figured out how to keep kids tethered to their screens for hours at a time, and I’m with Erica when it comes to figuring out how to employ similar elements to have them racing to the piano for as much quality practice time as they can get! This will take some thought, but I’m excited to ponder it more in the coming days and hopefully implement some related ideas into next year’s practice incentive theme. :-)