Polyphony: motivated minds.

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Do you have a teaching question you would like to have answered? Perhaps you have a practice tip for students 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 [phone]; or e-mail to [e-mail].

Note: Recently, I came across a book titled Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning by Deborah Stipek, Ph.D. 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 book contains a wealth of information that can be used by music teachers in their associations with students. This column is based on the Stipek/Seal book, which comes as a highly recommended resource for teachers.

Q. Is there a concrete way to encourage students to love learning? We continually strive to motivate them and stimulate their learning situations in music study.

A. One of the significant ways to encourage students' love of learning is to be sure learning and acquiring of a skill or knowledge relates to the child's everyday life. The linking of music lessons in this case to the child's life allows him to gain meaning behind the study. Some children and adolescents will enjoy, for example, playing for family at gatherings or at church meetings or services, accompanying for school music classes or playing at a nursing home. Some children especially are motivated when they can make music with others, either through accompanying a friend on the trumpet or playing a duet or chamber music with fellow music colleagues. A child might accompany a choir at church or in middle school, or play for the school 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 events too far in the future of the child or reverting to general cheerleading, such as "You'll be glad you can play the piano when you are 35 years old." Allowing a student to realize they are capable of going to the music store right now and purchasing a piece of music at the appropriate level and learning it on their own right now empowers him or her.

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

A. The authors of Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning, Deborah Stipek and Kathy Seal, devote a large portion of their book to the issue of competency and to that of feeling competent, which they cite as being as important as competency itself. They cite a story of a young girl who, at age 6, was playing tee ball. After she had struck out twice, the child wanted to go home, thoroughly discouraged. On her third time at bat, she hit the ball and ran to first base. Then the next batter hit her in. Suddenly, the young girl was so enthusiastic about playing tee ball that she didn't want to go home at all. (1) In reality, is it not true that everyone enjoys an activity at which they feel competent? And competence breeds self-motivation.

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

This teaching psychology is central to the teaching success of most really fine teachers. They see to it that their students always perform well, at no matter what level they may be. The students instinctively know they are playing well, are proud and are empowered. These teachers might enter such students sparingly or not at all in competitions, since competitions compare students and the teacher is striving to build the child's own individual esteem and feeling of competency. Or the teacher might choose to enter them in festivals where they can receive positive but appropriate feedback, or may put 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 feel frustrated or inadequate.

Q. Then one would suppose that a student would want to play easier pieces so they sound good and feel competent?

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

As important as actual competency is that students feel they are competent. Those who believe they can do something influence their effort more than whether they actually can? A large part of our reaching roles, as is that of the parent, is to make the student be and then believe he or she is truly competent--help them believe in their capabilities so they are stronger and even more persistent in their efforts.

Q. Do the authors suggest ways to give feedback to children?

A. Feedback can help children believe they can succeed, and adolescents especially are vulnerable. Informational feedback is best. Praise, such as "Good job!" or "Good for you," warms up students. As an extension to that, adults might add points, such as, "You followed through on working out the fingering structure we discussed at your last lesson," or "I noticed how you worked to produce more effective phrase endings the way we practiced last week in this performance" to help the student know what the specific competencies are.

Q. Surely, the authors are not advocating a praise only approach?

A. Much to the contrary, the authors state the constructive criticism and suggestions, always made in a helpful way, actually promoted increased confidence in performance and ability. When we make constructive suggestions, even in depth and detail, the student knows we believe they can do better and they have control over the achievement. Some students who receive nothing but praise may begin to feel they are not able to improve their playing. The researchers cited a study by UCLA psychologists George Barker and Sandra Graham where children watched a videotape of two students doing work equally well. The teacher was critical of one child, and suggestions were made for improvement and growth; with the second student, the instructor gave neutral information. The children watching the videotape concluded the child criticized by the teacher was more intelligent than the child the teacher did not criticize. (4)

One final point. Sympathy actually can undermine confidence. Research shows people feel sympathy when they believe a problem is out of the person's control (and the person cannot change the situation, such as a death), If a child plays poorly in a recital, then, for a teacher or parent to say, "Don't feel so badly, that's okay ..." sends a message that the student may not have been able to do any better. Perhaps a better response would be one of empathy and analysis: "That performance must have been disappointing ... do you have any thoughts about why this happened?" or perhaps "I know that did not sound like you wanted it to. ... Did you make a lot of mistakes because your mind skipped around, or was there another reason you know of for the mistakes?" (5)

Q. What about those who believe students either do or do not have talent, and that is a bottom line?

A. Perhaps most of us have wrestled at some point with the issue of inborn ability as opposed to effects of effort. Although evidence is prevalent in both areas, authors are strong here in their opinion that children who believe talent or intelligence is fixed do not work to get better since they have no reason to persist when the going gets tough. In the case of music study, a child oriented in this way would think, "I'm just not talented, so why try harder to get this?" Stipek and Seal state clearly that students who "had failed several times and had been taught to attribute their failure to their lack of effort, now tried harder and looked for new strategies each time they failed" actually do better. This is something teachers must look at carefully, because it could be easy far a parent or teacher to inappropriately ask a child to simply try harder repeatedly when, in fact, detailed analysis and in-depth teaching are needed. In a research study by UCLA psychologist Jim Stigler comparing American and Japanese elementary school students trying to solve a math problem, he concluded that the American students thought in general, that "Either you get it or you don't"; whereas, Japanese children assumed if they kept working and trying harder, they eventually would get it." The point is that persistence is something that often seems to be lacking in children of this day.

Q. What about the student's goals as related to his or her innate motivation? Some students want to perform well and will do anything they can to get there. Many, many other students work in anticipation (even fear) of a forthcoming recital or festival.

A. Of course, we must set goals for students, but there is a difference between setting progressive goals for an individual student and using performances as the only goals. Performances have the potential of comparing students to one another, not altogether bad in itself, but die question becomes, "Does the performance goal affect the student's love of learning to play an instrument?" As the authors state about a performance goal, "Does it fire up his desire to learn or throw cold water on it?" (7)

A decided difference exists between performance goals (and the potential for looking smart or accomplished) and learning goals (the process of becoming smart or accomplished). If a student cares more about performance-oriented goals, such as performing well in a competition, than enjoying the music he or she is learning, then he has more of a performance goal in the general sense here. The problems arise with performance goals when children overemphasize them and focus more on what they win and where they rank, than on what they are learning.

Students who focus primarily on performance usually have more anxiety. They are heavily concerned with how they will look and worry more about looking good than enjoying what they are learning and experiencing. In a classroom they may be more concerned about what the teacher will ask them than listening to what the teacher is saying. They sometimes will use excuses to be sure that, if they flail, they can blame it on something other than lack of ability, and they may use tactics such as procrastination, unattainable goals, excuses or half-hearted effort.(8) Students who are most concerned with the process of learning will ask questions, take an active part in their learning and enjoy challenges.

Q. How do we get our students to this point?

A. We can show students we value the process of weekly progress and the excitement of the discoveries in learning on the way along with their musical performance goals. Questions and statements, such as "Which piece should you choose--well, which one will teach you more?" or "If you come to this recital with my studio, you'll probably hear some music by Beethoven you have not heard before," help stress the importance of learning as a process. Parents might ask questions about the lesson. Instead of saying, "How was your lesson today?", they might ask, "What did you learn today in your lesson?" We can explain to our students that mistakes are a natural part of learning and model a positive attitude toward mistakes we may make. (9)

Children need help learning from their mistakes and failures, and an important role for any teacher is to work with what happened in one performing situation to help a student change what he or she did not like for the next occurrence, it is important we highlight more than just musical performance goals with a student if we want to reach the point of turning this person into one with a motivated mind and an increased propensity for the process involved in music study or any other learning activity.

Stipek and Seal offer many additional suggestions for helping children learn to love learning in their excellent book.

NOTES

(1.) Stipeck, Deborah and Kathy Seal, Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning. (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2001): 42.

(2.) Ibid., 44.

(3.) Ibid., 62.

(4.) Ibid., 73.

(5.) Ibid., 74-75.

(6.) Ibid., 138-139.

(7.) Ibid., 147.

(8.) Ibid., 154.

(9.) Ibid., 158-159.

Jane Magrath, NCTM, is internationally known as a pianist, author, clinician and teacher. She is professor and director of piano pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.