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Why do you want to play the piano and have lessons?

24/1/2019

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At the start of term I handed out a questionnaire (to students who have been with me for a while, new students your turn will come!) from The Curious Piano Teachers' January Curiosity Box which is on the subject of motivation.  It had the following questions:
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  • What's the best / worst thing about learning the piano?
  • What's the best / worst thing bout your piano lessons?
  • Why do you want to learn the piano?
  • Why do you want to have piano lessons? 
I was excited to receive them back; even more so when I analysed the results.  Two themes stood out:

  1. 70% said they want to play for a hobby
  2. 100% mentioned building their skills / improving their playing

Because I didn't enjoy playing piano as a child I always find it hard to believe that children enjoy playing it, although less so as time has gone on. Now I hear they want to have it as a hobby!  The Cambridge Dictionary defines a hobby as 'an activity someone does for pleasure' and yes, I had to look it up because, as I've already mentioned, playing the piano for pleasure is something that I never experienced.  In case you are wondering why I teach piano it's so that children don't have the same experience of piano lessons that I had, but that's a blog post for another day.  ​
So 70% of children I teach want to play piano for a hobby and 100% want to develop their skills and know they are 'doing it right' without referring to YouTube.  The two go together because the more skilled you are the more you will enjoy playing the piano.  So what does this mean for my teaching?
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I need to remember that the goal of nearly all my students is to have a hobby, something they can do to relax in their spare time.  Pressure I put on them to make fast progress will detract from this, hurrying them through their lesson to 'get everything done' will also detract (see last week's blog post, What's the rush?).  
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I need to remember to stay in the moment and help each student achieve their goal, whether that be learning to play for a hobby or, in the case of one student achieve grade 8.  It is notable that only one person had this goal.  While 30% mentioned achievements those did not refer specifically to exams.  Achievement for others meant completing a piece and feeling the rush of satisfaction / happiness.  
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Practise was mentioned in 60% of answers, and not in a positive way.  Children struggle with the amount of time they need to spend playing at home, especially the older ones who have other homework.  Unfortunately it is impossible to become proficient at any instrument without practise.  I teach the children practise strategies and we make it fun in the lessons with 'cute animals' to help practise.  Of course it's different when they are going through the work at home without me to support them. 
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An area for me to look at, given how many children want to have piano as a hobby, is to think about how much work I am expecting them to do at home.  Perhaps those without goals of getting to Grade 8 can have less work to do at home and so feel less burdened at home and have time to enjoy it more....This may be a conversation to have with families.  Perhaps a follow-up parental questionnaire might be helpful, as well as an initial questionnaire to new families about why their child wants to take piano lessons.  
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The next immediate step is to go through 'My Piano Planner' with students who have completed the questionnaire, to set goals for the coming year.  After all, if piano lessons are meeting the child's goals then, as the tagline for this month's Curiosity Box says, motivation comes as standard!  
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What's the rush?

17/1/2019

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This term I got out my bag of very lovely finger puppets which I haven't used for a few years.  Children have been delighted to meet them for the first time, or renew their acquaintance!  
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In a lesson today a five year old child was doing a 'lucky dip' into the bag and really enjoying looking at each puppet that was going to help her with her learning.  I noticed my desire to hurry her along in this process because we needed to get onto the actual learning activity.  Did we really need to get onto it in such a hurry, would a minute taken to look at the puppets and enjoy that moment really have caused a delay to the lesson?  I don't think so. ​​
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I can't remember if I did hurry her but I do know I noticed the desire to rush her and later in the lesson I know I slowed down so she could enjoy and be in the moment she was in. 

As I reflected on my morning's teaching afterwards I realised that children inhabit the present moment naturally.  They are so often absorbed in the present moment.  How often do we, as adults interrupt that?
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I thought to myself that we, as adults, are teaching them that this moment is not good enough.  This is not the moment we should be in, we need to be in the next moment, doing the next activity.  Whether this is playing the piano, hurrying up so we can get out the house or whatever else it is we want to be getting onto.  ​
Many of us are always hurrying children onto the next activity; then we wonder why, at a later date, they always want to be onto the next thing, why they are never satisfied with what they are doing right now.  We often find this at a moment when we have spent a large sum of money on an activity, or arranged something that has cost us much effort.  They want the next thing because that's what we've taught them to want!  In all our rushing to get things done, teach them as much as possible, cram as much as possible into their lives so they don't miss an opportunity, we are teaching them that what they have now or what they are doing now isn't enough.  ​
Many of us are always hurrying children onto the next activity; then we wonder why, at a later date, they always want to be onto the next thing.... because that's what we've taught them! 
So from today I will make a conscious effort to slow down in my teaching.  To allow children to be in the moment; to be absorbed in the activity we are doing now.  I will take that extra couple of minutes which will be a special time where I too can notice the moment, be in it with the child and enjoy watching their experience unfold.  Their learning and their experience and memories of piano will be all the richer for it.  
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Here's poem I wrote about a year ago when I first noticed I am always in a rush for the next thing and began to wonder why.  I'm grateful for the reminder from this student to just slow down.

Rush Rush Hurry Hurry
Always there; never here.
Rush Rush Hurry Hurry
Something different, something better.
Rush Rush, Hurry Hurry
This is never good enough.
Rush Rush Hurry Hurry
Let's slow down and be, just here.
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We all have something to say: Inspiring creativity at the piano through improvisation

8/1/2019

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How do you feel when you create something? Be it a piece of art, a delicious meal, a website, a product, a piece of music, a blog post(!)…. How does it feel to create that thing?

We are all creative beings and being a creative being is not restricted to ‘creating’ in the way so many of us understand it. We don’t have to create masterpieces of art or music to be creative. We create our own lives by the choices we make, the friends we hang out with, the activities we pursue, the businesses or projects we build.
As well as focusing on creating a life and a business I love I also create art.  For me it feels so liberating to create something that came from inside me, not from anyone else, something that I explored, was curious about, thought about, discussed with myself and simply created. I love to look at it, touch it, share it with others and talk about it.  There’s a tiny place inside me where I feel joy and satisfaction.  Making art has also helped me work through some difficult emotions, more than making music.  Perhaps because I chose art whereas music was chosen for me.

Another creative love is to create music, that is to improvise.  Improvising is not playing music that someone else has written, but something I have created myself that has come from nowhere. I can’t share that so easily with others since it’s gone as soon as it arrived. Unlike art I find it harder to get myself to sit at the piano and create music, however when I do it’s such fun and I can get quite carried away, losing all track of time! This is a state of ‘flow’, which ‘is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time.’ (Wikipedia - see reference below)
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It is hard for many of us to shift from ‘doing’, with visible measurable results and fitting into today’s culture of ‘busyness’, towards ‘being’ with no visible, measurable outcome and results. The result however is a vitally important internal one of well being and in music lessons can lead to truly musical experiences where both teacher and student lose themselves in the music, communicating only through it without words. Improvising is an opportunity where students can express feelings that they quite likely cannot verbalise.
we all have something to say, let’s make sure the opportunity to say it is given through the gift of improvisation 
Leading piano pedagogues have written about the importance of improvising in piano lessons for The Curious Piano Teachers and I have taken a few quotes to share with you.  See the full Curious post here.  

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Bradley Sowash
Bradley Sowash says improvisation leads to:
  • Appreciating music as a means of self expression rather than only as a domain for right or wrong notes
  • Utilizing the whole brain by improvising on the one hand and in other parts of the lesson reading – so using left and right brain.
  • Becoming better interpreters of written music. That’s because rather than merely reproducing the notes on the page, creative students can better understand how they came to be there in the first place.
Forrest Kinney says:

  • For so many musicians (including me), creating music spontaneously is the most joyous musical act.
  • Creativity is a natural human desire, and many students will quit if they are not encouraged to create something unscripted. Don’t we all wish to be able to speak words freely without relying on a script? In the same way, I believe all musicians secretly wish to have the same kind of ability at their instrument! To improvise is to be able to “speak” music freely without such a musical script.
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Forrest Kinney
  • It is a wonderful way to introduce musical materials such as scales and chords, and teach music theory in a lively way.
  • Improvisation allows us to play spontaneously from our own feelings, to play in an intuitive and personal way whenever we choose. Improvisation encourages us to listen deeply to tones from the beginning, and RESPOND to them. That is the essence of musical artistry: listening and responding.
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Joy Morin
Joy Morin sums it up for me:

Neglecting music improvisation is a bit like being able to write, read aloud, and recite from memory in a language, but not being able to verbally communicate using that language.
Conclusion
So much of what we hear in the world of piano exams, piano competitions and yes, piano lessons, could be more musical. Could the way thorough this be by encouraging more improvisation in our lessons, to allow students the opportunity to connect to music on their own terms, expressing their own feelings and really developing their understanding of what music means to them. Would this lead to more enjoyable musical experiences for students and their families alike, would students be more motivated to play the piano because it’s ok to just sit down and improvise their own piece?

It is a tragedy if the opportunity to deeply enjoy and connect with music is lost through lessons that require students to simply play what others have written – we all have something to say, let’s make sure the opportunity to say it is given in the gift of improvisation.

Visit the improvisation page, play some tracks and experience it for yourself. 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
https://www.thecuriouspianoteachers.org/why-should-you-include-improvisation-in-piano-lessons
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    Caroline Blount

    Director of Surrey Music School.  

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