10/17/06 My thoughts on the brain
This semester, I am fortunate enough to be taking Lyle Davidson’s class about the brain, and how we as individuals (and musicians) learn. In class, we are able to carry on great class discussions about individual interests in the brain. I have found that in my day to day life, I’ve been able to apply almost everything I learn to my music. For example, a few weeks ago we discussed the value of rewards in daily life. I find that as a musician, not to mention a perfectionist, I tend to cut myself short of rewards. This is because I never think I’ve met my goals. Of course this is far from true. I simply move my goals further away (many times subconsciously), so I feel that I always have more to do. Now that I’ve realized this, I feel that I can properly reward myself after accomplishing a daily goal. In fact, I really enjoyed a comment that a student made in class. She said that when she was practicing a difficult passage, she would line up a row of M&M’s. Whenever she would correctly play the section, she would allow herself to eat one M&M. I think I will have to try that next time.
-Brynn
October 19th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
One of the things that I’ve learned about making goals is how important it can be to prioritize them. Sometimes I find that I make goals that are easily attainable, but also easy to put off. Other times, the goals I make are pretty lofty, but with the right motivation, I can accrue work/experience towards them and get to them quicker than the goals I thought were easier to reach. Has anyone else mentioned this in your classes? What other responses have been made? Nice post, Brynn!
December 11th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
I think rewards are a definite must, especially for those musicians who lock themselves in a practice room for hours on end and won’t come out until they have learned that certain excerpt or piece perfectly. I remember my first clarinet teacher who I studied with from age 9-18…even up until our last lesson together I got to pick out a sticker for every etude or excercise I played note-perfect. It may sound silly now, but it was incentive and made me work a lot harder during my own practice time and concentrate a lot more during my lessons. I also have another idea to go along with the M&M’s since I’m a clarinetist and don’t eat while I play. My teacher used to line up 4 quarters if I was stumbling on a difficult passage. All I had to do was play it correctly four times in a row; however, if I made a mistake even on the last time through, I would have to put all of them back and try again. During your own practice time you’re obviously re-using the same 4 quarters, but money is a psychological thing.