MTNA February 2012 eJournal Available
The February MTNA eJournal is now available and includes these articles:
- “New Music and the American Pianist”
- “Chopin’s Pianism and the Reconstruction of the ineffable:”
Are Extrinsic Rewards Motivating?
The subject of motivation always interests me. Here’s a great post by Tim Topham summarizing the book on motivation called Drive. He mentions a few of the studies conducted on motivation including one on preschoolers and one on adults. The “if-then” approach to motivation (i.e. “if you do this, then I’ll give you this…”) is certainly problematic and Tim’s summary helps us see where those problems lie and how we teachers can tweak our own reward systems to be less problematic.
You can also get Drive in the Kindle edition for $9.99.
Read MoreHL Winter Catalogue – 40% off
Now through March 31st, you can get 40% off books on technique from Hal Leonard. See all of the books included in this special offer here. Here are a few books in which I am especially interested:
Piano Teacher’s Guide to Creative Composition by Carol Klose
Piano Aerobics
Piano Teachers Resource Kit by Karen Harrington (see her interview on the book here.)
Smash Hit Games with the Eggspert
About a month ago, I purchased the Eggspert Quizzing System and began using it in my studio. Since then, I have not stopped raving about how my students and I love it! Many of you have also purchased the inexpensive system and wanted more details on how I use it in my studio, so I thought I’d post about it.
First, a bit about how the quizzing system works. There are 2 settings: one where 1 of 2-6 players can press their “egg” which lights up the corresponding egg color on the master quizzing set. This is the setting I am using most. The other setting flashes the eggs (as many as you have turned on) and then randomly randomly chooses an egg to light up at the end. You can use this setting to make the students who answer more random. The white egg, which the teacher controls, clears the lit eggs before you ask the next question.
Here are some of the things you can do with the Eggspert quizzing system:
Read MoreWhat is a Musician?
As promised, I wanted to link to Stephen Hough’s own answer to his question, “Can you be a musician and not write music?” He clearly thinks you can indeed be a musician and not write music, but I love that he continues the questioning by adding, “Do you have to play or sing in order to call yourself a musician?” and “What is a musician? Is it only those that can play or read?” His questions are definitely ones that need to be processed especially in our culture with all the people who don’t necessarily play or read, but participate in consuming music in a real way. Read his short article here.
What do you think? Do his thoughts change how you teach or approach your students?
I’m definitely enjoying Hough’s posts!
Read MoreStudent Critiques
Over the years, I’ve had my students critique each other a number of times. Mostly its been for their performances of pieces in our group Performance Classes. We’ve used a variety of materials to do this from the Performance Class Worksheet (there are 4 of them on this page) to a simple piece of paper on which students write 1 thing they liked and 1 thing they think could be improved. I think I am like most teachers when I say that sometimes this process makes me a little nervous.
by Oude School
Perhaps this nervousness is why I’ve been more reluctant to use peer critiques of composition and creative projects. But, I know that my use of student critique in regular piano performance is not as extensive as it could be. This quote from the Vermont MIDI Project is making me rethink my cursory use of student critiques:
Students should view and listen to each other’s work frequently. They learn new ideas from each other and use them in their own pieces. As they develop more musical vocabulary, they discuss the music itself, not individuals, and this helps to depersonalize the critique. It takes time to teach critique, and it may seem that the investment is not worthwhile at the beginning, but as the class builds skills in this area, their comments are more insightful, the process runs more smoothly, and the impact on their future work is significant.
“The impact on their future work is significant…” I think that sentence is enough to make any of us rethink how often and how deeply we use student critiques in the studio. I wholeheartedly agree that this sentence is true, but the fact that “it takes time to teach critique, and it may seem that the investment is not worthwhile at the beginning” keeps me from committing wholeheartedly to making this an integral year round part of my studio routine. Students are extremely influenced by their peers, so why not tap into this in our teaching?
I’d love to know your thoughts on the usefulness of critiques. How have you used them in your studio? Have they been beneficial?
Read More
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