Chapter 1
This chapter is titled, "The Sweet Spot," which Thomas (in class) described as the ideal measure of goal gap between current ability and a goal. We discussed this a little in class, but I think what I found most interesting about this concept was the idea that the goal gap and the ultimate goal should be measurable. I think many young students make goals for themselves that may take a lifetime to achieve, like, "sing a lead role on Broadway," or "perform at the Met." These are great lifetime goals, but they overlook smaller, important goals that could lead to these bigger goals. Goals like, "sing for one hour everyday," or "practice for half an hour without feeling tension or fatigue," help the young singer build the tools necessary for larger success. I also liked the book's discussion of the experiment where you try to remember words from column A and column B. The book claims that most people remember the words from column B because they had to think about the words in that column that were missing a letter. Correcting the errors in these words help the people in this experiment remember what was wrong and remember the words as a result. This idea of error correction is what I think dictates the best kind of practice. We should encourage and celebrate our students' errors, because if we can teach them to notice them for themselves, they will become unstoppable singers.
Chapter 2
The second chapter of this book is titled, "The Deep Practice Cell," and it discusses the discovery and details of a microscopic substance called myelin. This substances wraps around circuits nerve fibers that fire in different directions in the brain and wrapping around them optimizes their signal speed, strength, and accuracy. I think one of the most important concepts I learned from this chapter's discussion of myelin was that it can be used to solidify good and bad habits. If we practice the wrong way for extended periods of time, it becomes increasingly difficult to reoptimize the circuits of nerve fibers that are used to singing with poor technique. This is why we need to teach our students to practice often, but more importantly, to practice intentionally. This is a concept I was kind of familiar with before this chapter, and it makes my practice sessions anxiety producing. I do not want to implement bad singing habits into my mind, but sometimes I am not aware enough to understand the errors in my technique. Any ideas to help young students who may also have this fear of accidentally implementing bad singing habits into their mind?
Hey, Tanner. I love the way and the context in which you pose this question. I think you aptly describe the struggle necessary to become a great artist. As we learn to master our craft, examining and fixing our mistakes, I feel it's important to focus on the things we can control. Of course, that includes things like breath, vowel, etc. It might also include our emotional state, or the quality of our energy.
ReplyDeleteWith young students, I feel like they need to supply a lot of "clay" before we attempt to "mold" it. Does that make sense? That there must be a manifest level of trust from us; that everything they do is alright. Sing, sing, sing, sing. At the outset, they might not perceive their mistakes as mistakes, and we would do well NOT to label them as such. We are lovingly putting "bumpers on their bowling lane."
There's no pat answer. I feel that it requires balance. Understanding and appreciating the individual, and guiding them in a way that increases their awareness without losing confidence.
I believe that STUDENTS NEED TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO PRACTICE. It needs to be spelled-out, encouraged and rewarded. For example, "I'd like you to do this___ exercise for this____ (amount of time daily), and when you do it, I want you to concentrate on this___ feeling..." That kind of specificity makes their effort measurable, unambiguous, and increases executive function, and eventually, allows them to teach themselves, which is what we want!
'Cheers,
TG