Chapter 8
Summary
-This chapter opens with a story about how bank robbery changed when one gang member named Baron Lamm created a new technique and trained his team to complete the elaborate and detailed schemes to rob the banks. The chapter goes on to discuss great teachers and what makes them great. Coyle uses the example of a cello teacher at Meadowmount who would completely change the way he taught based on what that specific student needed. For one student he asked them to feel the music more, with a different student he asked them to think the music more. He also adjusted his body language to suit what the student would best respond to. Goes on to give an example of a basketball coach at UCLA who led his team to 10 championships by offering direct and succinct instructions as they played. He would give praise to players that needed praise, and criticism to players that need criticism. He used a model of instructing where he would model the correct way, followed by the incorrect way, and then finish by reenforcing the correct way again. This chapter concludes with an example of a seemingly average music teacher named Miss Mary who lived in a rickety old shack of a home. She would use positive reenforcement and teach her students with love by making sure that they knew at the beginning of each lesson that they were respected and valued. Each of these teachers use different aspects like ignition, deep practice, and other techniques to teach successful students.
Application
- I think that there is a time and a place for each technique or method of teaching. I think that in the beginning of a teaching career it is important to be more like Miss Mary in igniting a love of singing and learning to sing better by teaching my students that I respect and value them and that I am their partner on their journey to becoming a better singer. I think that as I gain more experience teaching and grow my persona toolbox of voice teaching knowledge and skills, I can be more like Wooden and Jensen in being able to directly and concisely communicate information on warm-ups and personalized and specific techniques to help my students to improve. I can better adapt my teaching style to the learning style of each student. I think that the more I practice teaching with each of my students the more my natural knack of adjusting to students will create myelin to become a real skill. I'm excited for that point and the journey I will take to get to that point at a voice teacher.
Chapter 9
Summary
-This chapter discusses the virtues of good teaching. The first virtue is creating a matrix of knowledge about the subject you are teaching and skills in how to share that vast knowledge. As an example it discusses a voice teacher in Dallas, Texas who has coached singers like Kelly Clarkson, and Beyonce. Discusses how when her opera career fell through she tried to go into popular music and was told she just didn't have "it". So she spent many years studying popular music and taking notes on what audiences respond to, techniques the singers were using etc. After a while she created a matrix of knoweledge that she used to teach. As she gained more experience teaching she developed a matrix of skill in how to assess, listen, and respond to her students with speed and connection. Perceptiveness is the second virtue in being able to percieve your students, what they are doing, and what form of instruction they will respond best to. The third virtue is the GPS reflex or the ability to guide students in their learning by giving them one step at a time and congragulating them when they "reach their destination" or their goals. The fourth virtue is theatrical honesty or the ability to create a space where your student can feel comfortable and this will vary with the student. This chapter concludes with the brief discussion of how different circuits build differently for different skills. It uses the examples of soccer and violin. Soccer uses responsive and varying reflexes in its skill circuits. So, to get better at soccer one would need to build many connecting circuits that are responsive and by practicing playing scenarios in a small space allowing for myelin to grow in many different responses to the movement of the ball in any given scenario. The violin is different in that it requires an exact circuit that does not vary to stay the same. So, the best way to practice and build myelin for the violin is to practice doing the same small thing repetetively.
Application
- In order to become a good voice teacher, I need to develop a matrix of knowledge and skill about teaching voice including warm-ups, techniques, knoweledge about the voice on a physiological level etc. And, I need to practice teaching. As I build my matrix my perceptiveness of the student will grow. I need to be a listener to my student to make sure that they feel comfortable putting their voice in my care, to know when and how to instruct them, and to build solid connections with my students. Then as my knoweledge, skill, and experience grows I can develop a GPS reflex where I can instruct my student a little at a time in order to get the result we want. I think that the voice is a combination of exact and spontaneous circuits that need to be built to increase in skill.
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