Do you ever wonder why your student Brittany doesn’t practise the things you ask her to, things that will make her a better flute player? Or why you end up spending Peter’s lesson time on the same issues over and over? When this happens in my studio, I find it rather wearing – it’s pretty clear my students aren’t exactly thrilled about it either. An advantage of Suzuki method is that a parent attends the lessons and knows what the current work is all about. With younger students, the parent is expected to be actively involved in the practice, and we provide all kinds of activities and games to make practising effective. Still, many families find that their child will accept a lot more direction from the teacher than from Mum or Dad

Seeking the ideal world of musical bliss?

Although my ideal is to make every lesson interesting and productive, it’s a fact that I don’t always manage to send every child out the door feeling electrified with musical inspiration and ready to put in a super-human effort during practice. I keep trying, though, because it’s effort that counts. Study after study has shown that children praised for their effort are much more successful and resilient than children praised for their talent or intellect. It’s a weird paradox that hard effort feels really good, but until you’ve felt that kind of deep concentration and ‘flow’ it’s hard to describe how fantastic it is to push your limits. (Read “Flow” by Csikszentmihalyi for more on this topic).

The education literature is quite clear in its support of the value of being intrinsically motivated – for students to do the work because they are interested, because they see value in it, because they have found their own reasons to make music. Less effective teaching demands compliance and punishes weak results. But it is unrealistic to expect that everyone will be deeply motivated about everything all of the time, especially when many of the tasks of musical mastery are somewhat repetitive and our brains are wired to seek novelty. (See “The Power of Mindful Learning” by Ellen Langer). To keep interest high, the challenge becomes one of providing opportunities that are motivating and that feel new, whether it’s new approaches during lessons, or additional events such as recitals, chamber concerts, master classes, or orchestral playing.

It’s too hard/ I don’t want to do it/ It’s boring

I have had a number of students who’ve found Baroque ornaments to be a major roadblock. No matter how many times we review the trill fingerings in isolation, the students come back the next week and can’t play the ornaments. It’s a glaring example of avoidance – they just don’t want to deal with it, so they don’t. From talking with other teachers, I’m fairly sure that it’s not that unusual for students to avoid the things they don’t like.

To understand what is going on, it might help for you to put yourself in their shoes. Think of something you know you should do, but don’t, e.g., eat more veggies, exercise four times a week, balance the chequebook, write thank-you notes promptly. What happens in your mind when you think about a task you dislike? Are you at all aware of your avoidance in the moment when you are avoiding something, or do you simply delete it? There’s an interesting difference between “I forgot” and “I’m not going to think about it unless it becomes screamingly urgent.” Your role as the teacher may be to name your student’s avoidance, and insist on spending lesson time on what you know to be essential, even if it isn’t the student’s preference.

When you are met with avoidance, it’s not that your student is a bad person, it’s that she’d rather spend time on things that are enjoyable. So, how do you manage that as a teacher? There’s a strong body of psychology research that suggests that a great strategy is to make the un-loved task more enjoyable. Find out what the student does find enjoyable, and develop practice strategies that have similar characteristics. For example, with a student who likes video games, make the practice task more game-like. Map out measurable levels (e.g.metronome tempo goals, number of bars memorized, etc) and offer rewards – points, recognition, privileges – for levels completed.

To give another example, with a student who loves to play fast and doesn’t want to work on slow, sustained pieces, find ways to develop awareness of the motion and momentum of the slow piece, even if this means playing it faster at first. Or offer a fast, fun étude as a reward for achieving a musical result in the slow piece.When a student is avoiding a critical area of practice, you may not be able to control what gets done at home, but in the lesson you can underscore a task’s importance and present it in creative ways.

“Re-framing”

Re-framing is looking at an existing situation but approaching it from a different perspective. My teaching got completely re-framed when I took a class about learning styles, the information completely transforming how I saw students who were struggling. I had a whole new toolkit for teaching in different ways, using a wider variety of approaches geared to the various learning styles. And, of course, the result was that my ‘slower’ students learned better and faster. I changed myself and my approach, and my students did better.

Here is another example of a wonderful reframe. When I was a new mom, a friend came to visit. She had five young children, so when she offered parenting suggestions, I listened. One of the best things she told me was this. “When your child is about to make a huge developmental leap, there’s often a period of chaos. You will be beside yourself because your daughter is irritable, fussy, fickle, physically uncoordinated and out of control in every way. After a few days you’ll be ready to run screaming out of the house. But hold on, be steady, because it means that something wonderful is about to happen. She doesn’t know it, but she’s doing the tough job of getting prepared to leap to a whole new level.” As my daughter passed the early milestones – rolling over, getting mobile, starting to talk – I found that my friend’s advice rang true. And even if her theory isn’t 100% scientifically valid, I think it’s a valuable way to re-frame the chaos into something positive. It’s liberating to interpret fussiness as a marker for upcoming leaps in ability.

Effort is transformational

When a student is finding it tough to keep going and is avoiding the very things that will lead to greater musicianship, it can be hard to know when to support and when to prod. As teachers, we may not get it right every time.

Adding some new lesson activities can be helpful, especially if they give the repetitive, hard work some enjoyable characteristics. Reframing is another great tool, as is looking for ways to address the brain’s need for novelty. When these things happen, the effect on a person’s music-making can be transformational. Here’s a true story of a flutist whose new flute became the catalyst for a whole new level of musicianship.

One year, many years ago, a friend of mine decided to order the flute of her dreams. We were young professionals on the master class and audition circuit, and she decided that her college-level instrument was holding her back. When the new flute arrived, I heard about it but since we lived in different cities, I did not hear her play it until the next summer. When she got up to perform at master class, it was astonishing. She played like a soul on fire. It was fantastic, passionate, polished, interesting playing. It was as if her ‘real voice’ as a musician was finally set free. It was obviousthat she had practised like crazy that year, but it was more than that; she had become a different kind of musician, one who did not see any limitations on what she could express. It’s hard to describe the pleasure of this kind of work, but as teachers we can be role models and guides in the hope that our students will discover it for themselves. As teachers, our biggest opportunity is to provide an environment where we encourage students to step up to the tough work, because it’s worth the effort.

Pandora Bryce teaches flute methods at the University of Toronto and is a researcher in the fields of music education and adult education. She has taught Suzuki flute for over 25 years, and is a Registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the European Suzuki Association.