My internship is wrapping up and it has been a truly amazing experience! I wanted to transform aspects of my private lesson studio so that it utilizes the new resources that I have as a teacher and expand on the ideals that I believe are important for training students to be more aware and complete musicians (regardless of their level of  ability, experience, and commitment.)
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The Practice Technique Toolbox assignment has been going well and the exercise of articulating what passages are obstacles, how to approach those obstacles and what the results are of using different practice strategies has been eye-opening.  I think it is helpful for my students to have a vehicle to really look at how they practice and to collect data for themselves to see what works and doesn’t.  It seems to be leading my students towards developing the ability to better judge what is accurate in their playing and what isn’t.  It seems like it is encouraging a level of awareness in my students that will be a great resource to them as they develop as musicians.

I’ve been using the triple entry journal format for my students to document their practice technique assignment and reflect on their data.  Below is an example of how I modified the existing MIE TEJ Template to make it represent the questions I was asking my students.

I’ve mostly being making handwritten charts for my students which look a little more like this:

Here is a list of practice techniques that one of my student’s has been using.

This process of documentation and reflection has been the catalyst for many of my students to look at what is/isn’t working when they practice and I’m noticing that they are starting to have questions that are now guiding what and how I am teaching them.  I had a student ask me why they noticed improvement in cleaning up their sound during a passage but still couldn’t consistently play it without hitting neighboring strings.  Rather than telling a student to move their bow away from the fingerboard to stop hitting neighboring strings because it is the “correct” thing to do, I had an opportunity to reinforce a challenging technique for this student as a solution to a problem that they articulated.  I think there is real power in teaching that can provide an answer to a question the student discovers.  My next step with this student would be ask them to find the answer  to these kinds of questions when their cello knowledge is a little more substantial.
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One of my goals was to incorporate Multiple Resources for my students.  Rather than just using the same books/exercise I usually use, I wanted to expand my materials in order to address my students’ needs from many different angles.  I focused on using Viva Vibrato! by G. Fischbach and R. Frost as a supplement to the traditional vibrato exercises that I learned from my teachers.

     The two exercises that I focused on from Viva Vibrato were the “Wave Duet” and the “Chicken Wing Vibrato” exercise.  The  ”Wave Duet” allows the student to focus specifically on the motion of the arm and a consistent and even movement without having to also maintain pitch.  This allows the student to concentrate on the elbow and arm motion of vibrato.  ”The Wave Duet” is also a great assessment exercise.  If a student could do the exercise successfully, I knew that they were ready to focus on other approaches to vibrato.  This is the first time I’ve ever used an exercise as an assessment tool rather than just a teaching tool!

Here is a video of my student, Anya, and I practicing a variation on the “Wave Duet”.

   For students who need more work on developing a good relationship to the general motion of vibrato, I used the “Chicken Wing Vibrato” exercise.  This exercise has students place their fingers on the front of their shoulder and make a vibrato-like motion (a combination of flapping and rotating) with their arm.   This exercise has been exceptionally effective for students new to vibrato.  By combining these exercises with exercises I was previously using I have the ability to better assess my students’ physical intuition
provide them with many different ways to approach learning a sometimes challenging physical concept.
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In order to collect Reflections from my students, I created a survey asking them about what they’ve experienced/noticed with the changes in my approach to teaching.  It has been exciting to get so much feedback and to have reflection be a larger part of my experience as a teacher and as a part of my students’ experience.  I look forward to sharing insights from those surveys in my internship portfolio.
Stay tuned for a link to my portfolio as the semester finishes.

As my internship is coming to a close, I am amazed at how my pedagogical ideas have been expanded these last three months. With my end goal of teaching in an informed, well-rounded method, my internship has opened my eyes to teaching with all aspects of life involved, encouraging the student to connect the dots, seeing how knowledge and skills overlap.

In my last entry, I wrote about how I had adjusted the matrix to introduce singing in my private violin lessons with my four-year-old student. I wrote that he couldn’t figure out how to make different notes with his voice, so all notes, no matter how we thought of them (scale-degree numbers, fingering on his instrument, solfege) was only one note…similar to speech. Well, the patience and persistence was worth the wait! In third to last lesson of the semester, he surprised me by suddenly joining in while I was singing fifths! I was teaching him about the strings on the violin and how we can easily play a G major scale, D major scale, and A major scale (with beginner finger patterns). He then asked why we hadn’t played C major scales as his brother has begun lessons on piano and started out with C major everything. I explained that if we played viola or cello, then we could easily play a C major scale since those instruments have a C string. After singing E, A, D, and G, he joined in, singing C with me perfectly – twice! He was caught into my excitement, so I explained that violin is unique and special since we have the E fifth that the cello and viola don’t have. He stood extra tall when he found out that advantage.

I believe all this happened during our lesson because I brought math into our lesson, taking advantage multiple representations as I’ve been learning to do through Larry Scripp’s Teaching Seminar, identifying with something my little four-year-old loves and does well in at school. He is infatuated with numbers – when his concentration isn’t fully in our lesson, I ask him what time it is on his watch and then (without my help) he quickly figures out how many minutes we have left in our 30-minute lesson. I found out that bringing in the idea of “fifths” captured his excitement with numbers in relation to music. Since then, each lesson he brings up some other kind of interval that he has figured out that week. He figured out an “eighth”…with 3 on the A string while playing an open D string which has immensely improved his intonation. He was excited to learn that he could call it an octave!

By pulling in ideas from different arenas that somehow have been compartmentalized into distinctive subjects, I think I’ve begun to tap into the option of making connections with music to other areas of focus, sparking student’s already formed knowledge. By teaching with multiple representations, I’m beginning to see that the student’s imagination has a broader base to run wild, exploring and creating on it’s on. I hope to continue growing this way of integrated teaching.

We are nearing the end of the year at MusicLaunch. There are many things I could mention here and I will give a more all-encompassing report after the final class.

Today I would like to talk about something very positive! In the past few class meetings, I have finally begun to come closer to my original goals of getting students to use their ears and not rely on the page. Although this has come about in some ways that I didn’t expect, I’m so excited that I can finally report this. When I first began at MusicLaunch, my plan to help students develop their ears had to be shelved for a little bit so that I could help them develop more fundamental skills on their instruments and on playing in time.

About half way through the semester, I periodically asked them to do a simple 4/4 call and response with clapping (while stomping out the 4/4 with their feet). This originally served the purpose of helping their time, but I realize that it helps their ears as well! Also around this time, I was given the opportunity to create a melody with Solfege blocks in our large ensemble and I introduced the students to the song “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers. Finally, last week while I was in charge of running the large groups, I gave students some rhythms to clap that were a little more challenging. This lead to me writing some of these rhythms out on the board, but from there, something else happened: I had them create their own 4/4 rhythms on the board. While this is not directly ear-related, it is still a chance for them to create their own little piece of music, which is a huge win in my book!

I wasn’t immediately able to categorize this stuff as creative success or ear-training success right away, but after thinking about it for a little bit, I definitely see it that way now. Besides giving me some encouragement, this definitely gives me some great ideas for the future.

Stay tuned for a complete report about my MusicLaunch experience in the next few days! It will cover tackling music fundamentals, maximizing productivity, dealing with behavior problems, and keeping students engaged, to name a few topics. Thanks for reading!

Tyler

One of the activities that has given me the greatest satisfaction in this busy few months are the weekly classes and sing-alongs at Susan Bailis Assisted Living.  I am working with them as part of my Schweitzer Fellowship, which has spanned the last academic year. I entered the project a bit blind, having had to find a new site and reconfigure my project after the initial site fell through. I had not had experience working with seniors before and I was a little nervous about it. I soon realized that my original project plan– chorus work and individual music lessons– weren’t a good fit for the population. The choral singing was difficult because of the wide disparity in musical ability and training–people who could read music got bored, people who could barely match pitch were frustrated.  Music lessons were difficult to organize because the few interested individuals tended to cancel or forget. I came up with another plan to offer more passive activities including a weekly music appreciation discussion and a weekly “sing along.” Once a week I bring in a CD or music with some kind of theme; for example, we did a month of opera history and each week focused on one or two composers or a certain style. As a group we listen and discuss interesting characteristics of the music including form and style. On another day I bring in old songs ranging from the 20′s to the 60′s and peck away at the piano while participants read from song sheets. Some sing, some just listen, but it usually ends up to be a fun and relaxed hour.

After some setbacks I feel we finally settled into a routine with these two activities around mid-February. The same clients tend to come to each respective activity and I feel I have developed a rapport with several of them. I think one big lesson I have learned so far, and this may seem obvious, is the value of just showing up. I admit I was discouraged at one point when the project wasn’t going as planned, but I’m glad I continued to try new activities until we found something that was good for the residents. I also am constantly reminded of the value of preparation and organization. In discussions that have not gone as well I always feel that I could have prepared more thoroughly beforehand. Finally, I think I’ve realized how much I can learn as a musician in any kind of educational setting. I’ve been able to explore musical works more in depth this semester as a result of offering these classes, and in the discussions themselves clients often have an unexpected question or insight that I can learn from.

In my next post I will share some video and anecdotes about the residents with whom I’ve worked and some thoughts about my experience with the Schweitzer Fellowship.

Hello, all!

Through my last MIE internship, I learned so much about the importance of lesson planning as well as the importance of flexibility throughout teaching private lessons in order to provide an educational context catered to the individual student. I will resume teaching my four-year-old student, continuing to stay aware of the learning process of last semester; however, instead of focusing on documenting lessons through plans and responses, I will be learning different techniques through Larry Scripp’s Teaching Seminar. I will be adapting and implementing what I learn into my teaching to develop my experiences with my student in creative ways. I am also incorporating my solfege tutoring into this process as the Teaching Seminar carries into, and speaks directly to, teaching theory and rhythm. I am so excited to be able to stretch my teaching abilities and will hopefully see a wonderful outcome!

I can’t believe how this semester has flown!  My experience during this internship has really been invaluable as I seek to incorporate multiple representations into my private lessons, whether the conversations stem from violin or solfege!  I feel like I am only scratching the surface in how I can incorporate other school subjects into teaching – not to mention pulling from different musical ways or venues in which to teach.  My little violin student and I have begun singing quite a bit in lessons, incorporating an adaptation on the matrix idea from Larry Scripp’s Teaching Seminar.  Even before we begin learning a new piece, I may play it so he can find the melody, but then we’ll sing together.  He doesn’t quite understand how to sing different notes with his voice yet, but just singing the rhythms of the piece or exercise has been a way for him to understand the different aspects to learning music.  I am waiting for this part of making music to click for him…I believe it’s worth the wait and persistence!

Onward and forward we go!

Since last I wrote, I held a recital for my students on March 11th and many of them got the opportunity to perform at the MIE Concert at Pierce Hall on March 7th. Both concerts were successful and I was very excited to get a chance to provide a connection between my studio and the Music-In-Education Department. In addition to performing “The Rainstorm” for the MIE Dept. a few of my students played on the final piece which was a reinterpretation of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, complete with parts notated on a matrix.

My students and I preparing for “The Rainstorm” for the Music-in-Education Concert.

For my studio recital, each performer played a piece or two and then we did an encore performance of “The Rainstorm” for friends and family.

Recital insights from my student Lise:
“Well, I’ve been to the recital probably 3 times and I’ve seen these students grow and improve on their music which is really interesting. And they’re becoming very serious about their music, very talented, very good. Lots of interesting music too…”

On performing works in progress and mistakes in performance:
“We’re not all perfect and that’s good that we’re able to play in front of our friends and family and doing what we’ve been trying to get ourselves to do… It made me feel like ‘you know what? I’m doing ok.’ I’m doing ok because people are still earning and this is a learning process and we’re not professionals playing, we’re learning and I think we’re learning from each other.”

At this phase of my internship, I’ve turned to “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle as a source of enrichment and direction for my teaching. In an attempt to incorporate the idea of “deep practicing” and “hot beds of talent” as discussed in the book in my studio and to assist my students in more effectively in learning music, I’ve begun the exploration of practice techniques with all of my students. I begin the discussion by retelling the story of the Brazilian soccer players who train in futsal first as a way of making an activity more challenging at first in order to eventually make it easier and more comprehensively learned.
We identify as many techniques as we can, casually, from the very simple (clapping rhythms, identifying the notes) to the more complex (varying speeds, varying rhythms.) Then as we dig into our pieces we stop and take note of additional techniques as we use them to attack the obstacles presented. Each student then has a list of their tools/techniques.

So far, I’ve noticed that my students who are more likely to want to rely on me to demonstrate a piece seem more empowered to struggle with their challenges on their own and have even started to express how they think that this list might help them with practicing and more accurately learning their pieces.
I’ve given them their own form of a TEJ for their tools. The first column is “What is the obstacle?” The second column is “What practice technique(s) did you use and how?” The third column is “Was it effective? Was it fun? Did the technique help you with the challenging passage? Did you see results?” Some of the responses have been eye-opening.  One student’s third column had the answer “I don’t know” in regards to the question “Did the technique work?”  This statement of “I don’t know” brings up an interesting point. How do we know if something worked if it isn’t immediately obvious?  I know when a student plays for the me that it worked or didn’t, but how can I help the student to better gauge that so they can better learn what techniques are appropriate for a given challenge?  I think emphasizing the importance of knowing what the outcome of the passage is is really key.  For students who are unsure of the outcome, the simplest tools of identifying notes and rhythms, as elementary as it can seem to an intermediate student, is the strongest first step. I look forward to continuing this discussion with my students as we track their progress as they more deliberately practice.

I am still incorporating the use of the human voice as a resource for my students both as a musical model of tone and expression and as a way to improve musicianship. I have continued to have my students sing more in lessons both to understand/internalize their musical phrases and to help them connect with better intonation. All of my students sing quite well in tune and it is really delightful to see them guide their fingers that often aren’t as in tune by their in tune voices. It seems that singing makes them listen to their intonation more and helps them hear how their fingers may not be in tune. Some students have even including singing on their list of techniques, demonstrating that they are starting to connect to the technique and see how singing can be helpful.

I have begun teaching one of my cello students a fiddle tune by ear. While I have done that with students in the past, this the first time that I am insisting that the student learns to sing the tune first before learning to play it on her instrument. This is another great way for me to show a student how the voice can guide the instrument and allows the student to really internalize the tune rather than relying exclusively on visuals, finger memory in order to play the piece. I intend to interview her on that experience at our next lesson.

Noah, the student that was working on “Habanera” from Carmen has moved on to work on “Vesti La Guibba” from Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci. This piece was his choice! His interest in vocal modeling and willingness to explore this approach to playing the cello is very encouraging. I plan on discussing this exploration with him after we’ve settled into the process in order to see how I might make this approach more accessible to and valuable for my other students.

Just a quick review, I had Noah model his phrasing after the phrasing of Maria Callas singing “Habanera.” He imitated her rhythms and glissandi and tone to the best of his ability. After the March recital, I asked him for his reflections on the work we did on “Habanera.” In response to the question, “Do you think your performance would have sounded different in doing the vocal modeling vs. just playing the music off of the page?” he said,

“Of course, it wouldn’t have sounded the same (had he played it strictly from notation.) It would’ve sound dry because it’s supposed to be a vocal piece and it definitely did lose a lot of things from translating over into sheet music.”

I haven’t yet devised another improvisation exploration for my students yet, but I’m starting to see the importance that personal creation can have on my students. One student had this to say about the rainstorm project:

“…I was making my own music. I wasn’t reading somebody else’s music and trying to figure out how it’s supposed to sound. I was creating my own music and knowing this is what it’s supposed to sound like. This is how my raindrops sound. This is how my thunder sounds. This is how I have created it, so there’s no wrong. There’s no mistakes. I’m the one that’s creating it.”

I have given small composition assignments to a few of my students. In one case a student is in the preparatory stages of writing short pieces to go with each of the different minor scales as a way of becoming more familiar with new melodic content. For two of my students that are having a hard time with staying in tune while in first position as they explore second position, I’ve given the assignment to create personalized intonation exercise using open string drones and a limited set of notes as their tone palette. I plan on getting their feedback once they’ve had time to settle into the creative process a bit more. I also have some my students creating variations on their scales based on patterns they choose from the repertoire they are working on. Variation is a form of composition, but I think it would be interesting to take that one step further and have students compose small pieces based on the scale that they are studying, but we will see what we can get to.

In the next month, I plan on collecting more of the feedback data for all of the new concepts I’ve added into my studio. For the students who haven’t yet been introduced to the idea of their toolbox of practice techniques, I will set up that exploration with them. I would like to introduce the idea of composition to the students that haven’t been giving given assignments in that area. I have delved into the world of using additional books and exercises from the standard methodologies I have been using, especially for vibrato construction and I plan on sharing some of that in my next blog post. Until then!