Chapter 3
Summary
-Chapter 3 discusses a phenomena called talent hotbeds and how they happen. It provides three examples in the case of the Brontes sisters, the Z boys, and the Rennaissance. It discusses how the Brontes sisters developed a talent in writing complex novels by practicing story telling when they were children and their collaboration in helping each-other in the story telling process. One might call this kind of work a group deep practice. It goes on to give an example of some excellent skate-boarders in California called the Z-boys who came up with a new technique for skate-boarding that was born by accident after many failed attempts at trying to skate-board in an empty swimming pool and how practicing and failing until they finally succeeded helped them to develop a skill that helped them in other aspects of their skate-boarding career. My favorite discussion in this chapter was that of the Rennaissance in Florence Italy and what actually made it an epicenter for artisitc geniuses such as Michaelangelo. The secret was in the creation of guilds where apprentices could learn from their masters through direct application and groups of artists could critique eachother's work to build a high standard of excellence in their craft. Artist became good because they worked hard at developing the skills over a long period of time to become so.
Application
-The importance of a master class emulates this kind of deep group practice and collaboration to achieve a high standard of excellence in our craft. In a lesson with our students we can be that collaborator to help them to succeed. We want our students to become comfortable with failing at new techniques so that they can then become excellent at new techniques.
Chapter 4
Summary
-Begins by talking about the HSE and how it can be eliminated when we understand the components of deep practice. There are three main components to deep practice. They are: 1. chunking, 2. Repetition, 3. Learning to feel it. We work on chunking by looking at the skill as a whole to understand where it fits together as a whole. Then we break it into chunks and work on it a little at a time until bit by bit we have learned the whole thing. Then we move on to repetion by repeating those chunks a little at a time until they become natural. When we do it correctly there is no need to practice repetion for hours on end because we can trust that our body knows what it feels like to do it correctly. That brings us to the final rule of deep practice in that you have to feel the skill correctly and incorrectly. It gave a great example of a violin teacher at Meadowmount who demonstrated this concept to her students by having her students close their eyes, playing a string in-tune, and then playing the same string again slightly out of tune. The need for the second playing to be fixed showed the students what it feels like to do it wrong and need to fix it to play it correctly. Words to describe productive/deep practice include: attention, connect, whole, focus, mistake, repeat etc. Deep practice isn't easy but just as deep practice increases a skill over time, practicing deep practice makes deep practice more productive and enjoyable over time.
Application
-I actually used this principle when I was working with a student this weekend. I had her sing through an entire song with a recording from beginning to end. Then we took a look at the first page and we worked on it one line at a time starting with rhythm and then slowly incorporating the notes and words. I had her practice lip buzzing the notes until I could hear that she was getting comfortable with the notes. Then we would add the words and when she sang a section particularly well I would stop to acknowledge the good work and we would discuss how that felt in her voice and in her body and how it was different than before. It was one of the most productive voice lessons I have ever taught and it was the first time I had ever worked with that student who isn't even mine.
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