Polyphony: motivated minds

lance Us Your Questions

Do you have a teaching question you would like to have answered? Perhaps you have a practice tip for learners you would like to share or a studio idea you are trying differently this year. Questions and other items may he sent to: American Music Teacher, Attn: Polyphony; 441 Vine St Ste 505 Cincinnati, OH 45202-2811; fax (513) 421-2503; or e-mail to amt@mtna.org.

Note: lately I came across a work titled Motivated Minds: Raising Children to have affection for Learning by Deborah Stipek, PhD and Kathy Seal (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2001 ISBN 0-8050-6395-1) Written primarily for parents and useful for teachers, this work contains a wealth of information that can be used by means of music teachers in their associations with scholars This column is based upon the Stipek/Seal book, which tend hitherwards as a highly recommended resource for teachers.

Q Is there a harden way to encourage students to regard with affection learning? We continually strive to motivate them and stimulate their learning situations in music study

A. single of the significant ways to encourage students' be fond of of learning is to be certain learning and acquiring of a skill or knowledge relates to the child's everyday life. The linking of music tasks in this case to the child's life allows him to gain meaning behind the inquiry Some children and adolescents will take pleasure in for example, playing for family at gatherings or at house of worship meetings or services, accompanying for seminary music classes or playing at a nursing residence Some children especially are motivated when they can make music with others, either from one side accompanying a friend on the horn or playing a duet or chamber music with companion music colleagues. A child might accompany a choir at house of god or in middle school, or play for the seminary musical or a Christmas or holiday pageant.

All these activities can be powerful for a child. As adults talking with a child, we should avoid relating to facts too far in the time to come of the child or reverting to general cheerleading, of the like kind as "You'll be glad you can play the piano when you are 35 years old" Allowing a learner to realize they are capable of going to the music store right now and purchasing a piece of music at the appropriate horizontal and learning it on their be in possession of right now empowers him or her.

Q What character does competency play in the issue of child motivation?

A. The authors of Motivated Minds: Raising Children to delight in Learning, Deborah Stipek and Kathy Seal, appropriate a large portion of their volume to the issue of and to that of feeling qualified which they cite as being as important as itself. They cite a story of a young girl who, at age 6 was playing tee ball. After she had struck without twice, the child wanted to advance home, thoroughly discouraged. On her third time at bat, she hit the ball and ran to first base. Then the nearest batter hit her in. unexpectedly the young girl was in the way that enthusiastic about playing tee ball that she didn't want to go on home at all. (1) In reality, is it not real that everyone enjoys an activity at which they have feeling competent? And competence breeds self-motivation.

We, as teachers, can imagine a situation similar to that of the tee-ball player occurring above and over in piano and other musical instrument inquiry Students who play well, and especially who believe they play well, practice more and continue to learn novel pieces with enthusiasm and commitment. They know they uninjured good, at whatever level of advancement they are and simply hold playing because they want to do more of what they believe they do well.

This teaching psychology is central to the teaching succes of greatest in quantity really fine teachers. They diocese to it that their pupils always perform well, at no matter what horizontal they may be. The learners instinctively know they are playing well, are self-satisfied and are empowered. These teachers might go into such students sparingly or not at all in competitions, since competitions compare learners and the teacher is striving to build the child's hold individual esteem and feeling of Or the teacher might pick out to enter them in festivals where they can receive positive on the contrary appropriate feedback, or may set them in situations where the child will know she has done well for herself. It is important to remember that humans avoid activities that make us have feeling frustrated or inadequate.

Q Then individual would suppose that a scholar would want to play easier pieces thus they sound good and perceive competent?

A. greatest in quantity would think people prefer easy tasks because they are fully convinced to succeed. Stipek and Seal note, however, that when given independent choice, students choose an optimum challenge, that is "the task that lies single step beyond their current skill level" (2) They state that in a similar way as adults might fix upon a ski run a bit higher than the single we just conquered, children generally will put in motion toward an activity that is neither too hard nor too easy, single to boost their competence to the nearest level.

As important as actual is that students feel they are capable Those who believe they can do something influence their effort more than whether they actually can? A large part of our reaching characters as is that of the parent, is to make the scholar be and then believe he or she is in deed competent--help them believe in their capabilities with equal reason they are stronger and plane more persistent in their efforts.