PARENTS, share your stories, or post a comment or question here!
Common roadblocks – or reasons learning grinds to a halt:
- “My child won’t let me help him/her.”
- “But we practice fine at home! It’s just here at the lesson where we have trouble.”
- “My child wants to learn the next piece. When will that happen?”
- “The other students who started in my child’s class are ahead of us now. What are we doing wrong?”
Common traffic jams – or reasons that progress is slowed:
- “My child doesn’t like to be touched.”
- “Should we be doing at home what you do in the lesson?”
- “Why do you keep saying the same thing every week?”
- “I keep telling my child to do that, but somehow they’re still not getting it!”
- “Should we really be videotaping the lessons?”
Stages of learning:
- Crawling - period of trial and error, discovery of the challenge, experiencing the difference between success and failure at a particular task, and planting the seed of motivation to overcome the challenge through repetition
- Threshold – inconsistent level of mastery from day to day or week to week, inability to reproduce the skill under different conditions, not fully imprinted in the memory yet ==> the most important time to keep repeating and reinforcing and training to meet the goal!
- Over-learning – ultimate goal for each of the foundational skills, represented by true mastery under a variety of conditions (change in tempo, starting/stopping anywhere in the piece, following the leader…even if incorrect, being distracted but still able to use deeper layers of memory). To reach this level of mastery of the entire instrument is an elusive goal that takes many years. However, each child is able to reach this goal on certain fundamental skills within a few years, with the right kind of practicing.
Developing independent practice skills – becoming your own best teacher
January 1, 2007 at 5:35 pm |
Happy 2007 to everyone!
I would like to react to two points mentioned in the Common Traffic Jams section–”My child doesn’t like to be touched.” and “I keep telling my child to do that, but somehow they’re still not getting it!” My dancer/dance instructor mind sees both of these points as related. Perhaps my experience in this area (with dance students and with Isabela during home violin practice) will be helpful to others.
I occasionally have had beginning students (both children and adults) resist physical assistance during movement class. I could continue to verbalize instructions to these students over and over, yet they would never ‘get’ what I mean. As beginners, they do not yet have a physical reference point for what is being told to them. They need to be shown…using their own bodies…how to achieve what is required. Talking is not enough. I feel strongly that verbal instructions cannot take the place of the actual physical ’showing’ of correct posture, placement, position, etc.–especially for a beginner. This understanding has proven to be true in my violin experience, too.
I also have found that continually hearing words can serve to further frustrate. confuse, and overload students, especially young ones who may not have an advanced level of language comprehension. Trying to translate what is being said into accomplishing a physical task is very difficult for beginners. Sometimes a simple physical ‘correction’ is most effective. During violin lessons and dance lessons I have seen children respond best to very few directive words and to simple physical adjustments. Dr. Chu and Mrs. Haag are really great at using this technique (being simple and direct in word and touch) during lessons and repertoire classes. It is fun to watch.
So, that being said…what do I do to deal with the problem of resistance of physical touch?
First, I learned to inform students EARLY that physical touch from the teacher will be part of class. Knowledge is empowering. Many students may not have any experience with dance or violin lesson protocol. Instead of interpreting physical touch as help, they might feel that they are being singled out for criticism. Others may have been told to be wary of physical touch from strangers. A few moments explaining what will happen in class can be very helpful in eliminating resistance. I did prepare Isabela for both violin and dance class by telling her that the teachers will touch her during lessons to show her how to do things properly. I reminded her of this when she met with Mrs. Haag, also.
Second, we need to examine if the resistance shown is resistance to being touched, or resistance to being told what to do. In my case, about halfway through Year One, Isabela began to show resistance to physical help during home violin practice because she felt that she could do it herself. I had to change the ways I worked with her at home to achieve anything during practice time. Once she felt that she was in control, she would accept physical adjustments from me. What did I do? I had her take on the teacher role to ‘correct’ my position, I gave her a specific amount of time (5 seconds, for example) to show me rest position, violins up position, etc. and I also had her tell me what she was supposed to be doing–nose to scroll, scroll over toe, elbow under, and so on. This last game was probably the most effective way in getting her to begin correcting herself on a consistent basis.
I am interested in reading other thoughts/techniques dealing with this topic.
Thank you for starting this blog, Dr. Chu.
February 9, 2007 at 9:36 am |
Hi Everyone,
I felt the Live Parents Forum was really helpful. This morning my theme with Christopher was back to basics, focus on position. We did “see saw” several times focusing on position and it seemed to work. We also had fun with, “I am the dragon and you are the knight, and you need to play perfect to stop me from eating you.” Thanks for that idea!
I am glad to know we aren’t the only ones that are having challenges with practice.
February 11, 2007 at 2:08 pm |
Thank you all for the feedback on the Forum, both here and on the written feedback forms!
My hope in having several different parents share their stories was to give a sense of the broad range of parenting styles that we all bring to this process.
I have grown as a teacher in realizing that my role is to serve as a positive role model, through my interaction with each child and with the group. In each lesson, I take my own approach to building a relationship with each child, and hope that parents can observe and take some of these approaches into their homes. Realistically, I know that the parent-child dynamic is something very powerful that changes only when you willingly decide to do so.
Some things to notice about my teaching style (which is modeled after Mrs. Haag’s approach with us):
1. The tone is serious.
Mrs. Haag believes that children are actually very serious, and long to be taken seriously. She does not use “gimmicks” to get them to listen to her, but rather believes that by demonstrating respect for them, showing them that they are very important to her (see my post on “Dr. Chu’s Shoes” for why we dress professionally even to teach toddlers), and treating them with respect, they respond accordingly. I see this in the children’s responses to playing concerts in “serious” venues. When their audience is attentive and the setting is formal, the children perform better. This is also the rationale for our wearing performing attire. What we wear puts us in a certain mindset that enables us to “step up” our level of awareness and pride in what we are doing.
2. Games are used to develop discipline, and to break tension.
It may be counter-intuitive to think of a game as disciplined, but in fact a game has rules, and a desired outcome that must be pursued. In other words, the games are purposeful. Mrs. Haag was a pioneer in the use of these games to teach violin to children. I appreciate their purpose more with each day that I teach, and I remain committed to them.
3. Maintaining credibility is the cornerstone of (any relationship, but especially) the teacher-student relationship.
Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers. The reason I am very mindful of using external rewards and motivations with my students is that I know I am in a long-term relationship with them, and I want to maintain my own credibility with them. I know and believe in my heart that if they master each of the skills I am introducing to them (starting with discipline), it will eventually free them to do amazing things for themselves in music and in life. In other words, I honestly believe in the value of the hard work I am asking them to do. Therefore I feel no guilt about asking them to work on something, but rather I view it as a gift and an act of love. Small tangible rewards are fun, but the real reward is joy from the inside out. This idea works both ways. I do not use threats to motivate my students unless I am fully prepared to follow through on those threats. For example, if I attempt to “threaten” them by saying they will not be able to play a concert unless they do X,Y, or Z, I need to be certain that I will be comfortable following through on that consequence. Deciding what the appropriately challenging goal is each week for each child’s ability, developmental stage, and personality is a judgment call, and if you believe that you are studying with the right teacher, it is something that needs to be trusted.
4. We teach children because their behaviors can be shaped.
Personality traits are innate, but behaviors and reactions to different situations can be changed. In fact, behaviors are constantly being shaped, consciously or unconsciously by the responses received from the environment. The reason it is such a joy to start teaching violin to children in this age group is that their brains during these years are at the peak of their plasticity, meaning they are wired to learn how to change. The adults in their lives have control over the responses they give to children’s behaviors. We have the opportunity to instill in their minds the most beautiful things, or the most destructive. How is your child changing your behavior? How are you changing your child’s behavior? Are these mutual changes the desired ones to produce the desired result?