PRACTICAL MOTIVATION IDEAS FOR MUSIC STUDENTS Wendy

PRACTICAL MOTIVATION IDEAS FOR MUSIC STUDENTS
Wendy Brown
A lecture/workshop looking at practical ways of motivating students. Ideas and
strategies to inspire students of all ages, with particular focus on non-tertiary level
students, young students and teens. Tried and tested methods used to encourage the
best from students will be demonstrated. Teaching excellence and systematic practice
techniques will also be discussed. Knowing when a student is ready to enter for an exam
will be showcased. Exploration of other teachers’ motivation techniques will be
encouraged. I want teachers to walk away with a plethora of ideas, strategies and new
ideas to start using in their studio immediately.
Practical Motivation Ideas for Music Students
Most teachers are bowerbirds. As I meander through the everyday world, I collect ‘bits
and bobs’ from all over the place to add to my dilly bag or tool kit; some are jewels and
some are mere bottle-tops but all are added to my nest—I hope to create a joyful and
creative place. A ‘bit’ here for that little boy, a ‘bit’ there for that emotional teenager, a
game or piece or a fluffy toy that hopefully will ignite the imagination of a little one. My
hope for you today, is for you to fly back to your own teaching studio nest with some
new ‘bits and bobs’ to use in your creative space this week.
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Human Nature: What motivates human nature?
Music seems to touch human beings and they respond intrinsically to music: they WANT
to be involved, they WANT to move, dance, react, hum, sing and make music in some
way.
[Ed:link from presentation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgXPl3XM_NA]
As humans, we are the same species but each of us is unique, therefore, we all have
different reasons for playing, learning or teaching music. Some love music because of
the sounds, feelings evoked or the artistic and emotional expression of music. We can all
probably think of at least one pivotal musical moment in our lives, whether a piece, a
concert, a teaching moment that profoundly affected our musical journey.
For me, this pivotal moment was sitting in an Olivier Cazal concert in Brisbane being
blown away by the beauty of his playing and the music and thinking ‘this is what I am
meant to do!’ Olivier Cazal came second in the Sydney International Piano Competition
in 1992. Cazal’s presence and playing was attractive and clearly he was the audience
favourite.
At the final concert after the award ceremony, the prize winners played for the final
time. Cazal walked to the piano but instead of playing the piece from the set program,
sat down and played the Chopin Funeral March: the audience erupted with agreement
and hilarity!
[Ed: Slide – playing Chopin Funeral March]
I think this is the same for most students. For many young students they will be learning
because they or their family want them to experience a musical instrument and we all
know piano is the best! Some students will learn music for the love of the instrument,
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the music itself, or will enjoy the concerts. Some will learn out of obligation to you or a
loved one. Some will do it for stickers, prizes, competitions, exams, a chance to be with
friends, play games and many other reasons. (My husband says it’s to get out of school
[I only went to one PE class in Grade 11] and to get the girls!) Our role is to harness as
many of these motivating factors as we can, work out which ones work best for each
student and be creative.
As piano teachers we have the luxury of having one-on-one time with our students. We
have the opportunity to really know them and to find out about their individual needs
and motivations: we need to harness this so that we can play to their strengths.
Motivation can be defined as a reason for acting or behaving in a particular way. There
are two different types of motivation:
•
Intrinsic motivation is when the motivation to make music comes from within –
because you enjoy it. The reward is internal.
•
Extrinsic motivation is when the motivation comes from earning an external
reward or avoiding a punishment.
One of the most important motivating tools is the music itself. Can you think of a piece
that changed your life? Can you remember the first time you heard that piece? Where it
was? Who played it? I remember the first time my teacher played Für Elise for me when
I was in primary school and I decided on the spot that I was going to learn that piece—
and I did, even the hard bit! We all know live music has an incredibly powerful effect on
people, use this and play for your students as they will love it. You’ve probably all heard
the story of little Johnny running out to his mum’s car after a piano lesson where his
teacher played for him and yelled ‘Mummy! Ms Brown can PLAY the piano!’
Miss Childe, a prominent Toowoomba Piano Teacher spoke about Magic Moments, when
a teacher creates a special ‘magic’ moment in their lesson by playing some beautiful
music for them. Create ‘Magic Moments’ for your students: play for them, let them hear
beautiful sounds, let them experience the different emotions in music. Listen to music
together, go to concerts, create your own concerts, tell the story of the music as this is
innately rewarding and extremely powerful.
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TEACHER AS GATEKEEPERS
We are the gatekeepers for our students, introducing them to a world of music:
•
Are the pieces worthy of my students? Will they inspire them?
•
Are we using great music for them?
•
Are we appealing to their peer group? If their peers like the music then they
probably will too.
We all have had experience when a student LOVES a piece and they come back next
week playing it fantastically.
STUDENT AS GATEKEEPER
They can also be a gatekeeper, researcher and seeker: they too, can listen to music on
the internet. Can they find pieces they love? Can they find great music on the internet;
for instance, videoclips?
[Ed: included in presentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SobrVBFwJo
Viva la vida –
Coldplay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skVo8AYWRYk Batman Evolution]
The internet has revolutionised the way my students and I choose music. It used to be
that my teacher would play some pieces for me from the books she had and I would
choose one or two and she would choose the rest, whereas now I can send home the
syllabus list and ask them to listen to particular ones or all of them. Sometimes I compile
a list of about ten songs that I think a particular student will like and ask them to listen
to them or I will play them for them, but we aren’t restricted by what books I have at
hand. Sometimes it’s fun to listen to music together online and we discuss what was and
wasn’t played well. It’s good for students to start to discriminate.
Let’s get started on some practical motivation ideas: you probably have many yourselves
and hopefully at the end you may be able to share some of yours. I hope some of these
will work for you and you can store them away in your dilly bag or tool kit for future use.
The first idea I use every day in every lesson:
Learning music is very complicated. There is much to learn—notes, rhythms, symbols,
terminology, tempo and musical message—phew! We all know success breeds success. I
devised a star system that helps to motivate students in the learning process. I call them
STAR–UPS. There are 5 levels: red, green, blue, silver and gold.
•
Red - notes and rhythm of that section are correct (or mostly correct)
•
Green – improving
•
Blue – improving
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•
Silver – played beautifully
•
Gold – beautiful and from memory!
Sometimes I use them by the page, at other times by the phrase, and if necessary,
every two bars.
Each level is fluid, but each star means there has been improvement and growth.
Realistically, students don’t know what they are aiming for and that there is more than
just playing the right notes. Often I will write at the top of the music ‘for next level star
you need to “play fluently with correct articulation”’. Students really need to know they
are improving and what to focus on each week. This sense of success in earning a
certain number of star-ups builds success and confidence.
When learning music it is easy to feel like we aren’t getting anywhere, but this system
helps show the student how each small section can be improved. It also makes it very
clear which sections need the most focus. Which one has the lowest level? (I make it
very obvious which one I will hear next week.) I want my students to do well in their
lessons and I try to make it very easy for that to happen.
After showing students what to practice, it is important to teach them how to practise.
This brings me to practice skills. Improvement can only occur if practice is done and
even more improvement if it is good practice.
Have clear and consistent expectations. Letting the student and parents know exactly
what I will hear allows the student to be successful. I never underestimate this as we all
love the feeling that ‘we got it’.
I write Ex 1 times 3, Ex 2 times 4, etc., and then at the lesson ask them to play the
exercise for me before we play the piece. As we all know, if we have played Ex 1 18
times over the week, it will be better! I often write in a specific order of how they should
practise a section, once again being very clear in what I want them to achieve.
Repetitions, coupled with an actively engaged ear and mind to reach a clear goal, mean
improvement is likely to occur. The appeal of getting star–ups never fades: I have adult
students who live to get a gold star and they talk about it in group lessons.
STUDENTS RESPOND TO EXTRINSIC REWARDS AND PRIZES
Within the Star-up system, students earn a certain number of stars or star-ups per
lesson. Once they reach a certain goal they receive a lolly (of course, I check with the
parents before lessons begin and I’ve never had a parent decline. I use very small lollies
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and students have to work very hard to earn one and they don’t get them every week.
Two is the maximum they can receive.)
I also use lollies because it works.
•
Beginner students – 5 gold stars & 1 lolly.
[Slide – Lolly jar - I have to show the cutest lolly-jar a student found for me!]
[Slide – Prize box]
•
More than 10 gold stars = prizes from prize box (or Mums and Dads will get
cranky!)
•
When students arrive each week they are eager to see who got a ‘Student of the
Week’ certificate on the noticeboard —this counts for one lolly. It’s very important
that the award is relevant and specific and that any number of students can
achieve this each week, dependent on merit. All students know when it’s real or
not. I’ve heard of teachers at school who simply go through the alphabet to give
out their awards but this devalues the award and makes it meaningless.
•
If a student can earn three ‘Students of the Week’ in a Term they get to choose a
prize from the prize box.
•
As students get more advanced and therefore it becomes harder to attain five
gold stars, they
then move to STAR-UPS, which is any colour star that has
improved.
Here are some other ideas for your dilly bag!
Scale Schedules:
This was an idea I learnt from Lyn Carr. I’ve devised a table for each grade where if you
follow it, the student will cover all the scales for the exam over the week. When first
using the table, we learn each day, up to the blue level, over a period of time. To give
the student some guidance as to how to practise the scales, I circle the ones which need
work:
Circle – play 4 times
Half circle – play 3 times
Quarter circle – play 2 times
With the Scale Schedule, the student knows what scales to focus on the most (and which
ones I am going to hear next week [the circled ones!] I try to make it really obvious
what I want from the student because I want them to be successful, to feel proud and
that they are growing. Happy teacher, happy student, happy parent!
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When Monday is at the blue level, we move to Tuesday and so on. Each time we move
onto the next day, this creates a great sense of achievement, and these star ups also
count towards the total in the lesson.
By about a month before an exam, they should be playing the whole scale schedule all
the way through. This system of scale schedule and star-ups, works really well for those
preparing for an exam, as they can only enter when all of the pieces and scale schedule
are up to the blue level. This helps to ensure the student has the most challenging areas
of the exam ready before they enter. I’m very strict about this (for the sake of my own
stress level) and it’s amazing to see what can happen the week before an exam entry
date.
•
Set the bar high and most students will reach it!
•
Clear goals enhance the opportunity of success.
Tetrachord Certificates
For the Beginner Student, those not quite ready for the a scale schedule, I use a
Tetrachord Certificate System. Little ones especially love receiving certificates and
feeling as if they are moving up to the next level.
1) Introduce tones
2) Introduce semitones
3) Play games with both tones and semitones
4) Teach what a tetrachord is – tone tone semitone
5) Teach the tetrachords using the cycle of 5ths, in both hands, sep, using the
Addams Family Theme
6) Level 1 – 100% on all of the tetrachords C G D A E B F# C# in both hands, sep
7) Level 2 – join 2 tetrachords together to make a major scale – Learn all of the
scales using these tetrachords – using LH for one tetrachord and RH for other
tetrachord
8) Level 3 – playing the scales with one hand with normal scale fingering, one
octave – C G D A E B
9) Level 4 – playing together 2 octaves
10) Can continue with the flat scales
Here is another practical Motivational Tool - Quick Study Pieces
It’s important to be continually learning new music. It is fun and great for sight reading
and keeps life interesting! But not always learning music which is harder than your level.
I think we all need to be playing pieces which are easy for us, at our level and some to
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help us grow. As a musician, it’s easy to feel like you are always on Mount Kosciusko. I
remember learning throughout my whole childhood and young adulthood and completely
frustrating my parents because unless you asked me to play something just before my
exam – I literally couldn’t play anything!
I have Quick Study Pieces which I give my students each week.
They can be from my library, or from:
-­‐
old books I’ve cut-up and put in plastic folders
-­‐
old books they have
-­‐
songs to match the season – Easter, Anzac day, Valentines Day etc
-­‐
National Anthem
-­‐
duet books
-­‐
playing with siblings on different instruments.
It is really important that students play at a level easier than that which they are
studying: for example, for a Grade 5 student have them playing Grade 1-2 pieces.
Students love feeling they have accomplished a piece in a week. And they are developing
a lovely repertoire of performance pieces. Once again, success breeds success!
Each week, with their quick study piece, I give the student a mark out of 10 which
counts towards their 50 Point Challenge, which is a page in their homework book. Once
they reach their 50 points they get to choose a prize, from the prize box. You would all
have heard of the 40 Piece Challenge, which is another great idea for learning pieces
throughout the year. There’s nothing more motivational than being applauded and
congratulated by one’s peers, so I encourage all of my students to have a piece they can
always play.
I call it a Party Piece and every aspiring musician needs one. Being able to play music
that family and friends know and can tap along with, motivates and encourages them to
keep playing. One such party piece is Happy Birthday. There is nothing more
embarrassing than being asked to play that at a party and not being able to; therefore,
all of my students have to play it for their birthday and my birthday—I call it making
music ‘real’.
Special Day Pieces
Little musicians love being able to play music for big musicians: create special ways they
can connect with their family and friends. Find out birthdays and have the students play
Happy Birthday for their parents. Have students learn the Australian National Anthem for
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Australia Day—even post it to them in the holidays or email it—and see who can learn it
before their first lesson.
What about Endless Love for Valentines Day,
Waltzing Matilda for Anzac Day or,
Little Peter Rabbit for Easter.
I make up words for Body and Soul for Mother’s Day,
My Father’s Eyes for Father’s Day – or make up words to Chop Sticks. The kids will love
it!
Make music relevant and necessary to their lives and the lives of their family. Recording
beautiful duets in the lesson and sending them to Mum or Dad on the phone is another
lovely surprise they can share with family and friends.
Ideas for Motivating little ones
Finger Improvement chart: positive reinforcement for beginner pianist fingers
•
early in lessons we focus on hand shape;
•
each day the student starts with 20 points;
•
when the teacher/parent (or Mr Frog) sees a finger collapse or squish they lose
one point (don’t ‘see’ everyone at the beginning!)
•
they will probably get below 16/20 on the first day – record the date and mark on
the chart, give them a star to match their achievement level;
•
next practice session/lesson, the student needs to get a better mark (so less
fingers collapsing);
•
you can the mark and the star levels on the chart;
•
continue as such at each practice session/lesson.
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1 Second Club – Flashcards for learning note names
•
Choose a set of notes based on primer teaching material, C position,
middle C Position, or the notes they are learning or have learnt recently
•
Aim to be able to say the names of the notes one per second
•
Sometimes it’s good to do this at the beginning of the year when the
holiday brain has turned to mush
•
Show them how fast you can do it (C pos in 4 sec!) they love trying to
beat you
•
Record the time until the goal is reached. Then they get to wear the 1
‘Second Badge’ home and get a certificate on the board the next time they
arrive
•
Show badge and certificate
•
These are the charts I use to record their results
•
Next level – is play and say – explain.
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Apps: Here are a collection of APPS which I’ve found to be really useful teaching tools
and rewards.
•
Blob Chorus – pitch game – hilarious!
•
Music games – note identification game
•
Singing Fingers – create musical sounds with drawings – you can
record a sound to go with an image and replay it
•
Music reading essentials
•
Notes! – learn to read music
•
SightReadingPlus – presents a note of the staff for the student to find,
it’s timed
•
Music for Little Mozarts – good for little ones, high/low/, going up or
down, loud/soft, naming notes on the keyboard, on the staff, simple
rhythms
•
Rhythm Cat by LMuse Limited – practices rhythm progressively
through levels, fun, with a backing track good for little children
•
Music Tutor - another timed game with notes appearing on the staff or
you can change it to the keyboard – a good game
•
Relative Pitch Lite – Chris Sutton – ear training
•
Note Works by Azati Corporation - $6.49 – Note Learning Game - notes
appear on the screen and if the student names them correctly they get
munched by a monster; if they are wrong the notes burst into flames.
•
Aural book for AMEB 1-8.
Prac awards
•
In my homework book
•
At the back we set a goal each term and if they achieve their goal,
they will receive a prize.
Commonwealth Bank token idea
•
Students receive a token for each deposit and then can “purchase”
a prize with 10 tokens
•
Music students could receive a music token for a certain amount of
practice and then purchase a prize too.
Fluffy toy sleep-over
•
Especially for very little ones
•
If they play well or receive a certain number of star-ups, they
can take home a fluffy toy for a sleep over
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•
They [the toys] can help with practice!
•
Some studios have a studio animal that goes home every week
with a different friend and they create photos with their friends
and write a song
•
Half of the fun is picking the name – Ludwig Von Beartoven is
one of my favourites!
Music games
•
Games - Sue Thompson – music games –
•
Many other music games from the web –
•
Note nabber –
•
Music Spoons
•
Pounce -
•
Scale scramble -
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Red dot – for students who forget things!
•
From a teacher in Brisbane
•
If a student forgets to bring books, flashcards, theory etc they get a
red dot on the front right hand corner of their homework book. If they
get three red dots in a term they can’t have any rewards in that
lesson. It’s amazing what a red dot will do.
Music Passport Idea – from Di Burt
•
Each student has a map of the world and a music passport
•
Each time they learn a piece it earns them a ticket to somewhere in
the world
•
They keep a record of what piece got them there
•
Can be used in conjunction with the 40 piece challenge
Practice graph competition –
•
•
A practice graph can be used in your studio.
Each child decides how much practice is a goal for that week and that is
marked on the graph (so the particular amount may be different for each
student but the size of the graph section will be the same.
•
Those sections are cut-up each week and made into a visual graph around
the room. (When I did this some students did 2 or 3 times their practice
for each day!)
Scaleathon
•
All students can be involved with their particular scale schedule
•
We rotate around each person, each student gets 3 chances and then they
are out
•
If they miss a note, fingering, uneven tone, they are out
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•
A preliminary person may actually win
•
Have ribbons and a trophy.
Final Lesson of the Year – create a memento
•
Add up how many pieces they have learnt over the year, review what they
have learnt – celebrate the effort they have put in.
•
Laminate a list of the pieces and /or stickers as a memento for the year.
PEERS
Peers are a vital group for every person – use this power. I have two group classes per
term, and in them we play scales, talk about technique introduce our pieces, perform,
listen and give comments, and play music games. In doing this students are listening to
music, developing good listening skills, interacting with other music friends and having
fun. I see immediate improvement in their scales when they are asked to play in front of
their peers. Concentration becomes very intense!
We all know the joy of playing in ensembles, so playing duets and trios are so important
and great motivator. Having students accompany each other with different instruments
is also lots of fun! So is playing with Mum or Dads or family members.
PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES
Concerts are an integral part of any musician’s life – especially young musicians! I really
like to make the focus of our year, the soirees and concerts we have had and the exams
as a secondary part because concerts are more of a real life experience. I’ve been
inspired by many themed piano concerts I’ve seen on the internet – last year we had a
Piano Pyjama Party Photo.
[Slide of Pyjama Party]
– (you can also buy the cutest piano pyjamas online!)
[Slide of pyjama online]
and next week we are having a Movie Theme Concert. There will be lots of Princesses,
Batmans and Star Wars characters. Concerts create focus, affirmation, an opportunity to
perform, listen to others and have chocolate cake afterwards. I once had a musician
friend who said that all concerts were about the chocolate cake afterwards. The party
atmosphere afterwards and comraderie is very important especially for little pianists.
Here’s an example of one of the duets I’ll be playing next week with a Mum [Slide – Frozen Youtube]
My adult students also LOVE their soirees – we have two each year, usually rotating
around someone’s home. Although a couple of times we have found a beautiful
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restaurant with a grand piano and have booked out the restaurant for the evening,
invited friends and family and had a wonderful time.
Summary
Human nature is motivated to be involved in music. There are two types of motivation –
intrinsic and extrinsic. We teachers must act as gatekeepers of music for our students,
but students can also be gatekeepers, especially in the internet-age.
We talked about many practical motivational ideas. We’ve observed how important peers
and performance opportunities are and also how it is essential for us to play for students
– we are musicians - sounds speak louder words, we must inspire with sound – create
magic moments!
We need to remember, some will do it for the love of the music, some will do it for a
person, for the performance or for the prize. What’s wonderful is that they do it!
In an ideal world, we would all do everything because it is the best thing to do, but in
reality we need many motivators and sometimes a different motivator at a different
time. One of our roles as a teacher is to pull out of our dilly bag at just the right time, a
new motivating idea. We teachers are leaders, motivators, coaches,counsellors, bower
birds of life – finding the right jewel for the right student – just at the right time to make
them fly or simply get them over a hump.
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About the Author:
There is a photo of Wendy sitting as a toy grand piano at the age of 3 – the love
was always there! She studied with Wendy Lorenz gaining her AMusA, a Bachelor
of Creative Arts (Music), Post Graduate Degrees in Piano Pedagogy and Primary
Music and the love that went into that toy piano grew to grand proportions. She
was awarded the Queen’s Trust Award for her musical production “Songs of Social
Justice.” Wendy really enjoys working with children and has been an accompanist
in the “Out of the Box” Festival and the Conservatorium Junior Choir. Her Music
for Munchkins classes are fulfilling her desire to see music come alive in our
culture and touch the hearts of littlies!
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