By Merlin Thompson
Practicing: What Music Teachers Need to Know
By Dr. Merlin Thompson
What does successful practicing look like? How can music teachers support our students’ practicing? What works and doesn’t? Most likely as a music teacher, you’ve already got a few ideas on how to answer these questions – after all the practicing you’ve done in your own musical development. And you’ve undoubtedly provided guidance for your students.
So there’s a good chance in this article you’ll encounter ideas that feel familiar – but I also hope to introduce you to some ideas that may not feel as familiar. Ideas that come from the fields of instructional design and neuroscience. Let’s take a look.
Real Life Students
When it comes to practicing, I like to keep in mind that I’m always working with real life students who come in all sizes and shapes, all kinds of personalities and idiosyncratic characteristics. That means some real life students are younger, some older. Some students learn quickly. Others learn slowly. Some students display confidence and ease in everything they do. Some real life students are shy and hesitant to take part. Some students have lots of time to practice. Some students have many obstacles that get in the way of practicing. Some students are highly disciplined. Some students prefer spontaneous explorations. Some real life students easily follow their teacher’s instructions. Some students need massive amounts of independence. All students are interested in exploring music on their own terms.
I acknowledge my students as real life individuals because music teaching comes with a tendency to thinking there’s some kind of ideal student out there and that it’s the teacher’s job to turn every one of their students into the ideal version. That’s not the environment we’re living in today. We live in a world where diversity, inclusion, and acceptance are paramount. We know that not all students learn at the same pace. All students don’t respond to their teacher’s instructions in the same way. Not all students end up with the same outcomes. We know students don’t experience the same background. We live in a world where we’d never expect Elton John and Lang Lang to deliver the same musical performance. Acknowledging students as real life individuals is an important starting point.
Our History
Many of the ways music teachers think about practicing date back several centuries to strategies that originated during the 1800s across Europe and North America. As various countries initiated compulsory public schooling, educators at that time developed instructional processes influenced by the prevailing Scientific/Industrial Revolutions. They modelled the instructional environment on the characteristics of an effective factory line assembly. Music teachers of the era followed suit by introducing a systemized approach to music teaching characterized by linear progression, standardized repertoire, isolation of skills, rote repetition, and graded learning. The goal was to create sequential and replicable teaching methodologies that resulted in efficient student musical development.
While many students have obviously achieved high levels of competency and musical artistry through the above strategies, it seems fair to say that Scientific/Industrial models of instruction may no longer be entirely adequate for today’s music teaching environment. So, how can music teachers assist students in their musical development without falling into the trap of assembly line teaching strategies? Here are two strategies.
#1 Cyclical Process –
Over the past few decades, educators have moved beyond the step-by-step standardized process inherited from previous generations to incorporate a thoughtful approach known as Instructional Design. Rather than prescribing how students will learn, Instructional Design includes an intentional balance between planning and flexibility. A good design provides structure and direction, but also allows space for adjustments and for students to interact with the material in unexpected ways. As an example of Instructional Design, I appreciate how music teachers may use the cyclical process of Goal setting, Testing things out, and Playing around to achieve structure and flexibility. Each of these three steps plays an important role.
With Goal-setting, students intentionally focus on specific goals. There’s a destination in mind that may come from the teacher or it may be something the student has observed. Concentration is paramount. For Testing things out – students test out what they’ve been working on to see if they’ve achieved their goals or not. It’s about figuring out what’s working and what’s not. Students go through what they’ve been working on and introduce challenges that test their ability to complete the task at hand. With Playing around, let me emphasize I’m not talking about playing in terms of formal concert performances. I’m talking about students letting go. They include playfulness and experimentation in their practicing. Students let go of cognitive processes to play for the joy of it. They take risks, use their imagination, connect authentically without overthinking.
Also important in this cyclical process is the role of reflection. Without reflection, any one of these activities can lose its purpose. With reflection, the cycle of goals, testing, and play has a different meaning all together. For example by playing around, taking risks, or using their imagination, students may find out what they don’t know or cannot do. Which may point them in the direction of goal setting and taking specific actions. Which might need to be tested out in more playing around. With reflection as a key component, teachers and students are constantly adjusting, experimenting, and learning from what unfolds. Without reflection, teachers and students may find themselves trapped in a singular diet of repeatedly doing the same thing at the same level for extended periods of time. It’s the cycle of reflectively moving from one activity to the others that makes it work.
All of which brings me to an insight that my student Jesse shed light on many years ago. As he was working towards an upper level RCM exam, one week, it occurred to me that we should talk about goal setting. I started by explaining the benefits of goal setting meant students know what they’re working on and working towards. When I asked Jesse what he thought might be a disadvantage of goal setting, he immediately replied, “Dr. Thompson. Goal setting is the fastest way to destroy creativity there is”. I took his insight as an invitation to get off the goal setting band wagon and said, “Why don’t you see what you can do with your creativity this week.”
#2 Varied Processes
Repetition plays a huge role in learning to sing or play a musical instrument. That’s why music teachers encourage students to use repetitious practice as the secure route for achieving automaticity in their performances. What’s fascinating about repetition is how neuroscience researchers agree that everyone needs a certain amount of isolated repetition to become familiar with any new skill or material. That’s a basic. The problem is that repetition creates a powerful illusion of success as skills improve quickly and then subsequently plateau. As alternative to isolated repetition of a single task, neuroscientists suggest varied processes. It’s all about changing things up.
When students’ practicing involves varied processes, they strengthen their practicing in ways that straight out repetition cannot accomplish. Why is this so? Firstly because on a cognitive level, varied processes make demands on different parts of the brain. Students’ proficiency ends up stronger and more reliable because it’s spread over different areas of the brain. Secondly because on a physical level, varied processes develop a broader understanding of different conditions and the movements required to succeed in them. As a result, students develop more flexible and reliable cognitive and physical competencies that, in the end, provide them with the ability to transfer learning from their home practicing and apply it successfully during lessons and public performances. What do varied processes look like?
The list is endless. I like to refer to varied processes in terms of the many ways students can “challenge” their practicing. Here are a few categories: tone challenges, visual challenges, tempo challenges, accuracy challenges, physical challenges, interpretive challenges, beat/rhythm challenges, creativity/imagination challenges, favorite way (teacher/student/composer) challenges, opposite challenges, exaggeration challenges. What’s key is that challenges need to be age and level appropriate. Challenges can’t be so easy that students will think they’re a waste of time. Challenges can’t be so hard that students have little possibility of successful completion. There’s a goldilocks level of challenges.
And to be sure, students’ reflection is an important element in this process, because students’ awareness of what’s going on is just as important as the exploration itself. Again without reflection, students may ignore when things are getting better and when they’re not.
Wrapping Things Up
Practicing is an area that music teachers want to know a lot about so we can put that knowledge and experience into action with our students. We want our students to have the most valuable practicing strategies possible for their musical journey. At the same time, I’m also aware that an over-focus on practicing can actually achieve the opposite of what we’re looking for. We can be so focused on practicing that we lose sight of why we’re doing this in first place. That’s why I’ll go back to our target audience for a moment – because what I’m hoping to do right now with real life students is to sow the seeds for their future as music makers. My goal is to create spaces for students to explore music as something they value for themselves.
I recognize how there’s something extraordinary about being able to sing or play a musical instrument. Music making can be an expression, distraction, energizer, get away, art form, ritual, and tradition. On certain occasions making music involves coming together with others, a shared expression, a commonality. On other occasions, there’s a formality and grounded quality in music making. Music making reinforces our sense of self, our authenticity. It’s like music is a thread of our DNA. Music is something that gives confirmation of who we are. Music can be like an anchor that holds us in place, that provides stability when we need it. Music can also be fuel for moving us through the highs and lows of our everyday lives. I’d like my teaching to help students explore their own immensely versatile and precious relationship with music over their entire lifetime.
My hope is that this article devoted to practicing will resonate with music teachers in meaningful ways. Whether you teach in person, online, individual lessons or group classes, beginners or advanced, children or adults, I hope the strategies of Cyclical Process and Varied Processes will have an impact on your teaching. As music teachers, we have an amazing job to do – to deepen the connections that our students have with music. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my days and hope you feel the same way.
How do you feel about the cyclical process of Goal setting, Testing things out, and Playing around? Where do you spend the most time? Why? Where do you spend the least time? Why?
How much do you rely on repetition as a practicing strategy? Which of the “challenges” from Varied Processes sound familiar? How could you expand your students’ practicing strategies with Varied Processes?
