Looks like an ape to me! (Pedagogy Saturday VI).

Michelle Conda, commentator

I love watching the behaviors of others. I think that is what we find thrilling about teaching--watching our students react and grow. However, I know there are many times I witnessed a student's frustration as well as my own as we didn't seem to "connect." I also see it everyday with my four-year-old son, who is nothing--and I mean nothing--like me.

I frankly found it insightful to be able to explain the behaviors of my students (and child) using Keith Golay's personality types. It served to remind me that intelligence and personality are not related--given the right understanding of a student and teaching to the personality of that student, wonders are beheld.

The analyses of the videotaped sessions with teachers and students were invaluable for helping us pick out their personality types. We discovered a "match" between personality types is ideal, as was shown by the precocious students of Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield and Bruce Berr. Bruce's personality type matched his bubbly student exactly. Personally, I found this puzzling, as I assumed Bruce to be a totally different personality.

This leads me to the three warnings I developed through watching this session.

1. Don't issue a personality type to a student or person unless you do the background work.

I had "diagnosed" Bruce to be a totally different personality than, in fact, he was. This is after knowing Bruce professionally for five years. You need to give the written test or really observe your students to make sure you are not just flippantly assigning them a personality type. A little information is a dangerous thing. If you are going to use personality typing as a way to teach, you should read more about it.

2. Be careful of "personality profiling."

There is a big difference between personality profiling and personality typing. Personality profiling is discriminatory. It gives you "permission" to treat someone with less respect because of a category in which they have been placed. In actuality, personality typing should help you remove discriminatory practices from your studio. It puts the onus on the teacher to react more appropriately toward the student than to place blame on a student for being a certain way.

3. Even though teachers may be of differing personality types than their students, they need to try to find a way to "match" their students' personalities.

We all have strong personality types of our own that affect the way we teach. It's hard to change what has served us well through the years. It's hard to act outgoing when one is more introverted. But being an actor is part of our job. We have to try to teach the way our students learn. This means paying attention to what is working (or not working) for our students. We saw videotaped examples of student/teacher "swimming in synch" as well as students/teachers walking on opposite sides of the street. The teaching was excellent--it just didn't reach the students in all cases.

Ultimately, people are who they are. We need to recognize we are all different in the way we learn. The simple, well-defined personality types that Golay presented and analyzed are one step toward better understanding of the complicated thing called teaching.

Michelle Conda is associate professor of piano and coordinator of secondary piano and piano pedagogy at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She writes and gives workshops on working with adult students, her area of focus.

Tretip Kamolsiri, student commentator

Keith Golay presented this session as a follow-up to his previous session, "Introducing the Animal Kingdom--It's a Jungle Out There!" The second session, "Looks Like an Ape to Me!" was very well received. Golay, who studies human personalities, obviously knew how to relate to his audience; his session was organized, relaxed and fun, and he held the audience's attention at all times.

Golay opened by contrasting different types of media presentations: live, audio-taped and videotaped. He warned that short, videotaped lessons do not always give enough information to identify personality types. However, he did say that the audience should be able to recognize more general characteristics, such as whether the teachers and students were observant, introspective, tough-minded, friendly, schedule-oriented, reserved, and outgoing and/or ready to try new things. He asked the audience to consider these things as they watched the video clips.

He then showed several clips of piano instruction. After each was played, the audience was given a chance to give comments about their observations. Golay would engage the audience in discussion, leading off with questions such as, "What did you see?" Character traits of both students and teachers were discussed, compared and contrasted, and types of personality and interaction were analyzed.

Golay mentioned that it is important for teachers to achieve a balance between explanation and demonstration. This is particularly important in a group situation, which can include students with many different personality types. To avoid having students feel as if they were being "put on the spot," the teacher should consider using subtle encouragement when asking for student response; some very reserved students might even respond better in a private lesson setting. Golay believes the teacher should take cues from students in terms of how much to ask or expect from them.

When the teacher and student have similar personality characteristics, Golay noted, they often get along very well. In the third video clip, the teacher did not focus on pure technique, but more on creating the music. He tried to get his student to have fun and enjoy making music. The student was outgoing, friendly and enthusiastic; he felt very free, cooperative and spontaneous. Golay described both teacher and student as having the "dolphin" (conceptual/global) personality type.

The fourth clip was probably the most interesting and amusing to watch. This clip showed both a teacher and a student with "ape" personalities--what Golay called "an experientialist teacher" and an "artisan student." They were very playful and casual. The seven-year-old boy was eager to play and correct the spots the teacher asked him to correct. He knew what he wanted. The teacher focused on student performance and expression, while offering lots of support and encouragement. Golay mentioned this type of student would get bored if the teacher focused too much on technique. If your student has an ape-like character, you have to know what he or she is up to. These students need lots of pep talk and "cheerleading" from the teacher. While the student in the fifth video clip had a more reserved character, her skill and confidence led Golay to identify her as an "ape" as well.

In conclusion, Golay believes that teachers must learn and develop many different communication strategies and methods of working with different types of students. The teacher cannot change an "ape" to an "owl"; in other words, we cannot change a person's basic character type. Therefore, learning different types of teaching strategies will allow you to communicate most effectively with each student and make each lesson as productive and enjoyable as possible.

Tretip Kamolsiri is originally from Bangkok, Thailand, and is a doctoral student in piano performance and pedagogy at West Virginia University.