Fragility

'Tis the season for _______. Fill in the blank. Love, peace, giving, kindness, generosity, all the good things that people usually associate with the holidays. For others, the season is not as joyful, and the blank may be holding space for loneliness and need. And fragility.

Much of winter is fragile: snowflakes, icicles, brittle branches and dead leaves. They don't last. They are leaving their current state to move on to another. Sunlight itself is at a premium, fading early into night.


The symbols of the holiday are also mutable and delicate. Ornaments of glass that can shatter when knocked off the tree. Lights that twinkle but go dark when one on the chain ceases to shine. "Fra-jeel-ay," reads the father of Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" as he ponders the mystery of his unopened major award.

The much-acclaimed but not often clearly defined Christmas Spirit is fickle as well. It extends to those we wish well, those who may become subjects of our road rage or customer impatience the very next day.

Perhaps we would do better if we considered the fragility of human nature. No matter how tough our exteriors, we have parts that are less resilient. Maybe egos, maybe hearts, maybe memories, and of course our physical structures. This is true all year long, both for us and for our students. And for their family members as well.

The lessons that haunt me the most as I look back, the other habit of the turning of the year, are the ones where I failed to see fragility and focused only getting the results I thought mattered. They didn't.

The Meaning of Mean: Part Two

     

     Which one of these signs demonstrates how you teach? Are you a demander, like the exclamation point? Or are you a questioner, like the question mark? More than likely, you participate in many different expressive aspects of teaching, like this:

     If you are teaching a large number of millennials, you have probably already figured out that the exclamation point is not the best way to express yourself, unless is it a sign of energy and enthusiasm. If you put a period on the end of every sentence, that may not work as well as it used to either. I learned recently in the book "Because Internet" by Gretchen McCulloch that the use of a period in social media and in texts suggests passive aggression. My seventh grade English teacher would be appalled. Period.

     The best mix of expressions is the one that is non-threatening - a pause to let the student speak might be a dash, for example. Remember, millennials like to have input into what is going on. In some cases, you may need to ask for a pause in their speaking! However you do it - through dashes or question marks or commas or the ubiquitous ellipse - getting them engaged in the process is key to keeping them interested. While this is not a revolutionary idea, it is more important for today's students who prefer engagement to passive instruction.

     Engagement can include movement away from the piano. It can include use of manipulatives like blocks, crayons, movement toys, floor staff, even my ever faithful Wright-Way Note Finder, a simple quarter note on a string that rides up and down a vinyl staff. If you find computer games and apps to be useful, add them as well. However, it is my experience that students are more engaged with the novelty of 3-D objects since they already spend lots of time in the digital world. Watch them come alive when asked to join in a game of Koosh® Ball catch. Or enjoy rolling a 10-sided die for a random number of repetitions of a challenge spot.

     Getting back to the now-problematic period, telling students to do something that makes no sense to them rarely works these days. "Do this, period," just isn't satisfactory. "Here's why we are doing this" is an expression that is much more likely to be successful. For example, why should a very young student struggle to play hands together scales just because scales? (internet talk) In recent years I have delayed teaching hands together scales until it is more likely that they may have to play them in literature. They learn them faster with ease, and it makes more sense. Quite frankly, a lot of piano literature never involves hands together scales. (For some insight on this, check out this link: www.bachscholar.com/four-octave-scales)

     Millennials may also have a false sense of their skill level, which might be represented by air quotes. If they have parents/teachers/friends who have built up their self-concept beyond reason, this needs to be addressed. I had a student some years back who would come to a lesson with a piece her father had insisted was very well prepared, and it wasn't. He did not welcome my offered suggestions for improvement because he had praised her insufficient preparation. On the other hand, a different parent told her son that he needs to walk before he runs. I love her.

     My favorite way to approach this is not head-on criticism. Instead I teach them to self-evaluate. What did you like about that performance? Name three things. What needs to change? Name three things. This addresses the millennial's need to engage in a process that yields authority, or, as the common expression goes, agency. They are in control in a way that requires responsibility rather than abandoning it.

    Millennials will also have ways to record their practice and performance that are at their fingertips. Their phones can do this, for starters. I recently picked up a handy little flash drive that also records. The one I chose from the various models is called RecJoy, but you may choose another brand. It's not top notch music quality, but easy enough to use and transfer to iTunes for repeated listening. And it's inexpensive - about $20.00. Learning to listen to their practice can be another useful tool for self-evaluation.

     It is always perilous to expect every member of a given generation to behave the same way. Ten years ago, when I started this blog, I wrote a post called "No Method." As tutors, independent music teachers have the luxury of finding what works and what doesn't work for an individual student. Publishers of method books revise their output to allow for changes in cultural trends, and we can take advantage of new materials and approaches as needed. But it is helpful to notice how contemporary students respond in order to meet expectations effectively. Period.

    

    

The Meaning of Mean: Part One

The word on the street is that a well-known piano teacher is mean. She is highly respected among her peers and has been honored at the state level for a thorough approach to developing young pianists. She is stunned at this new take on her reputation.

Another experienced teacher got back her piano class evaluations. Guess what? She is also mean.

Welcome to teaching toward high expectations with the current generation of students. They are not less able, less skillful, or less intelligent than past generations. They can learn, they can. But they want it on their terms, and most of them have been more likely to call shots in other arenas of their lives than former generations.

Their terms are less about rigidity and more about making learning entertaining. If requirements aren't couched in generally pleasant terms, they just might be labeled as mean. And I didn't make this up. Google "teaching millennials" for a list of articles on this topic.

But let's not be too hard on them. They are used to having the world at their fingertips on digital technology. When they get bored, they switch to another source, and something else more engaging flashes in front of their eyes. Their information comes in bursts on short videos on YouTube or posts on social media platforms. Quite honestly, experts who study this phenomenon cannot predict whether the inability to focus for longer periods of time is temporary or permanent.

Learning is also a lot about hearing information for them rather than reading information. Ear buds come with their phones. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that current piano students don't like to read music but will enjoy picking out tunes instead. This is the opposite of how I learned to play, so I experience this phenomenon with at least a little envy.

They also like to be engaged in the process, which is something I warm up to immediately, rather than being talked at by someone in authority. My biggest challenges are with students who are reticent and reluctant to answer even the simplest questions. A student that comes in with ideas is a delight, as long as the ideas lead to attainable goals.

Millennials also want to know why they are learning what they are learning. They are less willing than my generation to learn because "I said so." Finding a connection to present and future goals is important.

The other far less pleasant aspect is the prevalence of anxiety and depression. I'm no social psychologist, leaving me without a useful explanation for this trend now being addressed in public schools and secondary institutions. And when parents choose not to share this information about their children, the teacher is going to proceed as though nothing is out of the ordinary, possibly adding to their distress unintentionally. How you approach this is up to your relationships.

For tips on working with millennials, read The Meaning of Mean:Part Two.

Motivation: A Little Brain Science, Part Two

Reward activated movement is the term for movement that happens because it is rewarding in some way. You read this term in Part One, where the chemical reward of dopamine was introduced.  This category of movement is fluid and comfortable and successful at reaching the planned goal. It feels good, so we want to remember it and repeat it.

Now for the tough question: what interferes with this kind of movement? The number one response I would get from my students is, "IT'S TOO HARD!" When a student says this, what is your reaction? I'll admit that I may question how the student worked on the piece first because "too hard" may very well be code for not practicing. But if I notice movement that is full of hitches and tension, I may need to concede that the piece is just too hard.

I call pieces that are a bit beyond the student's current level "challenge pieces." I am always clear that challenge pieces will be longer term assignments as compared to the pieces right at their level that tend to be learned quickly. I also give very specific practice guidelines for challenge pieces so the student doesn't become overwhelmed. And yet, sometimes the piece is simply too hard. There is no reward in the movements required to master the piece because the student doesn't have enough skill to get it to that level. Even if the student claims to want to learn the piece, even if the student brings in the arrangement of a popular tune and appears motivated in the emotional sense to learn it, a piece that is too hard is not a motivator if the student exhibits jerky movements when playing it. This is a sign of stress pertaining to the learning of that piece, and stress impacts dopamine negatively, which impacts the quality of movement. This is the cycle of events likely to crop up when the piece is too hard.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the role creativity plays in relationship to low dopamine. Anxiety and creativity may be linked for some people, largely due to the way imagined outcomes can be positive or negative. Both of these mental states may be exhibited in people with low dopamine levels. A student whose imagination runs to the negative will conjure up all kinds of perilous potential outcomes in performance and practice. These fantasies manifest in halting movements or extensive tension that limit success even further. As much as we encourage creativity, we would do well to check the nature of the creativity when it comes to movement.

Addressing Depression: Stephen Sitarski, violin | The WholeNote

Stephen Sitarski reports honestly on his travails with depression and anxiety in the above link. Notice how his creative thinking process disrupted his success. Notice he suffered from another sign of low dopamine: joint pain.

Creativity for movement can also go horribly wrong when the performer has limited knowledge of physical structure. A student who is moving according to confusions, fuzzy metaphors, or incorrect knowledge about how the body is structured is going to lack fluidity in movement. The series of posts under Finger Play and Cans of Word Worms include valuable information on Body Mapping, the process of conscious correcting and refining of the body map to find graceful, coordinated movement.
Check www.bodymap.org for resources on Body Mapping.

While we have little or no control over our students' basic health needs, we can observe movement that suggests stress or negative fantasies. As teachers, we can address stress from a musician's standpoint and help students to use their imaginations in more productive ways.

Motivation: A Little Helpful Brain Science, Part One

Not long ago I admitted to a colleague that I'm tired of "motivating" students. I want students to study and practice because they want to, not because I lit some magical motivational fire under them. I hear you all laughing, blog followers. I do. You want the same thing.

Probably most of us have employed the usual motivational tools: rewards, games, pieces that hook the student, even public performances for the students that only get really excited when they know a performance is coming up. These are all extrinsic motivators, and many of them work, at least in the short run.

But let's talk about truly intrinsic motivators. Like so many English words, the word motivation has multiple meanings. This blog defines motivation as the catalyst for physical movement. What spurs us to put one foot in front of the other or our hands on the piano keys to get ready to play? The interplay of brain chemicals and brain cells that results in a desire to move. In short, the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Neurotransmitters are the chemicals of communication between nerve cells. Nerve impulses jump across gaps between nerve cells in order to transmit information. Neurotransmitters are released into these gaps, called synapses, activating the conditions required to send messages from one cell to the next. Okay, that's all the science you need to know right now. Not too hard, right?

Neurotransmitters have particular jobs, and dopamine is key to stimulating muscles to move. Dopamine starts the engine of movement, it facilitates the continuation of movement, and it helps the brain to learn the movement to make it easier to access the next time it is desired. Pretty great stuff, right? And, guess what? It is often called the "reward neurotransmitter" because it also creates a sense of pleasure when we are doing something we like doing, which includes movements we like doing.

The brain is designed to create reward activated movement when everything is working according to plan. However, everything doesn't always work according to plan. Some external factors can impact the amount of dopamine in the system, thereby making movement less pleasurable or even harder to learn.

Here are some of the common interferences with reward activated movement:

• STRESS   Big surprise, right? How do you move when you are feeling undue stress? What do you notice about your students' movements during stressful periods in their lives? Less dopamine means it's harder to get moving and to continue moving.
• UNHEALTHY NUTRITION  Another obvious dopamine blocker. Junk food may offer a temporary "feel good" sensation, but over the long haul, it reduces the availability of dopamine.
• LACK OF SLEEP  Do you or your students lack sufficient rest? Here's one more reason why you need sleep.
• LACK OF EXERCISE  Prime the dopamine pump through purposeful movement. Walk the dog, cat, llama, whatever you own.

There are other conditions, including diseases, that can cause or contribute to a lack of dopamine in the system. Anyone with serious symptoms of fatigue, depression, and movement challenges needs to be evaluated. This list is by no means complete or to be used as a diagnostic tool. The purpose of this list is to help us understand that basic good health practices also help us move better. It's brain science, and it's not too hard.

Check out Part Two for practical tips on encouraging reward activated movement.