How to Make Performance Anxiety an Asset Instead of a Liability

We are typically led to believe that being “nervous” is a bad thing. Indeed, most of the advice I’ve ever heard has been aimed at reducing anxiety.

Anxiety itself is not the problem. The problem is that most of us have never learned how to use adrenaline to our advantage. By telling ourselves and our students to “just relax,” we are actually doing each other a disservice by implicitly confirming that the anxiety we feel is bad and to be feared. I soon learned to welcome the rush of adrenaline and to use that energy to power my performances, and to perform with more freedom, conviction, and confidence than I ever imagined possible.

The big question, of course, is how do you transform anxiety from a liability to an advantage? Before we talk about this, we first need to understand some basics about what happens to our mind under stress.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain

Our brains can be thought of as being comprised of two basic regions – the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. Admittedly, it is an oversimplification of the immense complexity of our brain to imply that the left and right hemispheres are completely independent of one another, but this is a very helpful model when it comes to understanding optimal mental states for performance.

Left brain thinking is associated with words, numbers, logic, analysis, criticism, rules, details, planning, and judgment. Conversely, right brain thinking is associated with sounds, images, patterns, kinesthetic or sensory input, emotions, the “big picture,” free association, and creativity.

Based on this information, which mode of thinking seems most conducive to effective practicing? Yep, left brain! Now, which seems most conducive to dynamic, inspired, and artistic performances? Right brain, exactly! Unfortunately, we often do the opposite. In the practice room, we have a tendency to practice somewhat mindlessly, merely repeating passages over and over until they sound better, making corrections, but doing so almost unconsciously. However, as soon as we walk on stage, we tend to get flooded by left brain over-analytical thinking, criticism, excessive planning, and so on, which only serves to lead to a pre-occupation with technical details and an inability to play as freely and automatically as we are capable. Are you familiar with the phrase “paralysis by analysis?” This is exactly what happens when we know that our every move and sound is under close scrutiny by others. The opposite of this paralyzed state is often referred to as “flow” or “the zone,” where everything just seems to “click” into place and our playing is easy, free, and effortless.

How do we make the shift from left brain thinking to right brain thinking and get into “the zone?” One very effective tool is called Centering.

Centering

Centering is what sport psychologists call a pre-performance routine. It was designed in the 1970’s by the renowned sport psychologist Dr. Robert Nideffer, and adapted for performing artists by Olympic sport psychologist Dr. Don Greene. Centering is a highly effective means of (a) channeling your nerves productively and (b) directing your focus even in extreme situations. Once mastered, it is very quick and highly effective, and will ensure that you begin each performance with a bang (in a good way)!
There are seven steps, each specifically designed to move you progressively closer to right brain quiet, focus, and poise, and take you further away from left brain fears, doubts, and self-criticism.

Step 1: Pick Your Focal Point
Select a fixed point in the distance, somewhere that feels comfortable. This point could be on your stand, the ground in front of you, or on the back row of the hall, but wherever it is, ensure that your focal point is below eye level. A focal point helps to minimize distractions and avoid the temptation to engage in left-brain thinking.

Step 2: Form Your Clear Intention
A clear intention is in essence, a specific goal statement. What do you intend to do when you step out on stage? How exactly do you intend to sound? What, precisely, do you intend to communicate to the audience?
Use assertive, declarative language, such as “I am going to perform brilliantly, with passion and clear dynamic contrast,” as opposed to “I hope to play well.”
Do not use the word “don’t”. Doing so will only put the negative picture in your head and generate fears and doubt. For instance, when you say to yourself “Don’t miss the high note”, what’s the first image that pops into your mind? Missing the high note, right? What image pops into your mind when you tell yourself “Nail the high note?” Learn to focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want.

Step 3: Breathe Mindfully
One of the most powerful techniques for reversing the stress response involves learning how to breathe diaphragmatically. When stressed, our bodies have a tendency to revert to shallow, rapid, chest breathing. Doing so keeps us in fight or flight mode. Diaphragmatic breathing is the most biomechanically efficient way to breathe, and furthermore, is conducive to activating what’s called the parasympathetic nervous system response which is our body’s antidote for the fight-or-flight state.

Step 4: Scan and Release Excess Tension
One of the most detrimental consequences of performance stress is muscle tension. As our thinking becomes more negative, our muscles tend to get tighter and less facile. And not just any muscles, but often the ones that we most need control over!

Scan your muscles from head to toe as you continue to breathe slowly and deeply, one muscle group at a time, releasing tension on the exhale. There is a short video clip on YouTube which illustrates an exercise that tests your ability to truly relax your muscles on command.

If you develop a more acute awareness of muscle tension even in the practice room, and are able to control the degree of tension you experience in your playing, you will be able to retain much of this ability during a performance and will feel much more in control.

Step 5: Find Your Center
Are you familiar with the martial arts concept of ki or chi? In Eastern philosophy, chi is described as being one’s “life force” or energy. There is a specific location in our body where the energy tends to congregate, which is essentially our center of gravity. If you have ever observed the movements of a great martial arts master or even some athletes or dancers, you will notice a presence, grace, and balance about them regardless of their size or physical dimensions. Not only is the feeling of being centered a very calming and reassuring one, but the mere act of searching for you center will quiet your left brain activity.

Step 6: Repeat Your Process Cue
There is a tendency when stressed to hyperfocus on minute details. This may be highly desirable in the practice room, but can be paralyzing on-stage. The solution is to focus on a right-brain process cue, in essence, a reminder of what it sounds, feels, or looks like to produce the exact sounds you want.
There are two possible ways to do this. One, you could brainstorm and experiment with words that cue up the sound/feeling/images of producing the beautiful sound, clean articulation, or solid intonation that you wish to produce. Examples of such words are smooth bowing, light fingers, even shifts, fluid, powerful, calm, or easy. It’s not the word that is important, but the resultant mental sound/feeling/image of performing exactly the way you want to that is key.

Thus, a second way to do Step 6 is to avoid using words altogether and merely hear, feel, or see yourself performing exactly as you wish.

Step 7: Direct Your Energy
By the time you have gotten to this step, you will have made the shift into a more quiet and focused mental state conducive to performing your best. You will have taken the edge off of your nerves, and in this last step you will channel the remaining energy that remains into a dynamic and inspired performance. This is how you use the energy instead of trying to get rid of it.

Do a quick internal search for all of the energy that you feel in your body, and feel it gathering at your center. I often imagined my center and energy being somewhat like those plasma lamps that are sold at stores like The Sharper Image (Google “plasma lamp” if you don’t know what I’m referring to). Now, direct that energy upwards, through your torso and neck, into your head, and blast it out through your eyes or forehead like a laser beam at the focal point you identified in Step 1. Think of this beam as a conduit for your music and the energy that will convey your clear intention to the audience.

This may sound a little hokey to some, but this energy is real. Have you ever met someone incredibly intense, who perhaps invades your personal space a bit, and looks at you so intensely that you feel uncomfortable and almost feel that they can see into your head and read your thoughts?

Instead of trying to get rid of the energy adrenaline provides by relaxing or taking beta blockers, you can learn to use it, channel it into your performance, and take your playing to a whole new level!

Practicing Centering

When you first try to Center, it may take several minutes to go through all of the steps. If you practice this for 10-15 minutes per day, however, and stick with it, you will begin to notice a difference within a week or two and find that you can center in 5-10 seconds. Some notice a difference within days. The key, like anything else, is consistency and persistence.

Many, if not all, of these elements can be shared with even the very youngest students, whether they get nervous before performances or not. Not as a means to reduce anxiety, but as a way to improve focus and clarity of musical intentions. Many of Centering’s aspects can even be tremendously helpful in practice sessions, to ensure that one remains focused on the task at hand (instead of reinforcing bad habits via mindless repetition).

As the saying goes, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”



by Noa Kageyama, Ph.D. 

Get Your Grit On!

Grit and the art of practicing an instrument

Peak skill is reached after years of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice spells success. The expert performance framework distinguishes between deliberate practice and less effective practice activities. Alas, deliberate practice is rated as the most effortful and least enjoyable type of preparation activity. Deliberate practice mediated the prediction of final performance by the personality trait of grit, suggesting that perseverance and passion for long-term goals enable musicians to persist with practice activities that are less intrinsically rewarding—but more effective—than other types of preparation.

Are the most effective preparation activities enjoyable and effortless? Nope.

Let’s face it – sometimes practicing just ain’t fun.

There is no magic in the number 10 but it is important in achieving excellence:

- 10 years of deliberate practice and experience

- 10 thousand hours of work to achieve excellence

For example, the accumulated time that musicians have spent practicing alone during development is the best predictor of expert performance. (Ericsson et al., 1993). Individuals who accumulate more hours of deliberate practice likely do so because they are committed to improving their performance, not because they find these hours of practice innately rewarding.

In many other domains, world-class performers have been shown to acquire their skills through thousands of hours of solitary deliberate practice, effortful activities designed to improve performance. Deliberate practice entails engaging in a focused, typically planned training activity designed to improve some aspect of performance. During deliberate practice, individuals receive immediate informative feedback on their performance and can then repeat the same or similar tasks with full attention toward changing inferior or incorrect responses, thus improving the identified area of weakness.

Will Smith, the well-known actor says “ Where I excel is with a ridiculous sickening work ethic. While the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working.”

Grit

Grit is a combination of passion and persistence. Having grit means pursuing your goal with vigor and focus over an extended period of time. Less gritty individuals are easily discouraged or frequently led off track by new interests. Grittier people are more likely to engage in deliberate practice, and their cumulative time devoted to this activity explains their superior performance.

Being gritty means:

·       Finishing what you begin

·       Staying committed to your goals

·       Working hard even after experiencing failure or when you feel like quitting

·       Sticking with a project or activity for more than a few weeks

So, let’s get more grit in our practice. GO FOR IT!!

Linda Langeheine, Some Gritty Teacher!

More Exciting Suggestions for Designing Your Child's Practice Dynamics

Choose a place outside where children can sing with full-size voices, without upsetting anyone. Let them sing songs they know, as loudly as they want. Then invite them to clap hands, stamp feet or play rhythm instruments loudly. Ask, "What did you do to make those loud sounds?"

Ask the children to use their voices, hands, feet or instruments to make the softest sounds they can. Invite them to talk about what they did to produce the quiet sounds. Call-and-response activities are fun. Children can stand in two lines facing each other a few yards apart, using songs or chants such as "Did You Feed My Cow?", One side will be the callers, and the other side will respond. The caller varies the loudness and the children have to respond immediately; or the responders do just the opposite of the caller: "This time, the caller whisper, and the other side can shout." It gets more exciting if the responding side has to react without ‘warning’!

Posture Play
Have your youngster take on his or her most beautiful posture. If this perfect posture changes, ask the child to stand up (careful, the instrument!) and run/hop/crawl to the other side of the room and back. Then try, try again.

Variation: Help your child find the correct position then turn your back. With your back still turned say things like, "I wonder if he has his fingers round and wrist flat (left foot on the footstool-guitar; left arm up-violin, etc.)? I wonder if his or her back is straight. I wonder if he or she is covering the finger mark." When you turn around to see what they have done, be lavish with your praise for every small thing done correctly.

Sing it for Me Again, Sam!
Here's a game you can play to help your child develop a good 'ear' for sounds. Sing one long note and have your child imitate you. Then he or she should try and match that same sound with the same note on the instrument. The middle C section--three to four notes below and about six to eight notes above—is where the human voice is most comfortable singing. When he or she gets good at finding one note, have him or her try two notes in a row, then three, then a complete phrase you (or your child) make/-s up yourself. In time, the child will be able to play melodies just by hearing them! (This is called 'Ear Training'.)

Delightful Thumb Award
Lots of instrumentalists have difficulty keeping their thumbs in the right place. On the piano, the thumb is often unfortunately far away from the keyboard, flying around in space or propping itself up on the front part of the instrument; or on the cello, the thumb leaves the neck. This is really a no-no in both cases.

Reminding doesn't seem to help much, so I make little signs for the kids to place on their music stands. Sometimes I paste on a crazy sticker with moving eyes. This makes quite an impression!
I've even been known to mark a thumb spot on the cello with felt, or on the piano with a sticker. The thumb must stay above the sticker so it (the sticker) can't be seen.

I rave and praise when the child keeps the thumb in the right place ("Catch them doing something right!"). Once the thumb remains dependably where it should be, I present the child with a ‘Delightful Thumb Award’ which can be a tiny prize or a certificate, or both.

Thumb Monsters
Education trade fairs (didacta) are my favourites. I always come across toys and gimmicks to use for lessons!  I stumbled on some little thumbs puppets in monster form. They are quite silly and the kids love them.
I put the monster crew on top of the piano and have the little fellows watch out for the crazy thumbs. Each monster gets its own piece to watch out for. The child is quite intent on keeping his or her thumbs over the keys.
At the end of the piece, the ‘monster-in-charge’ marches off, looking for another child with 'dreadful thumbs'. This child doesn't need them at all!

String Push-Ups: When playing string instruments, many small children don't have enough muscle strength in their left hand fingers to make a clear note. Have your child press his or her finger until the nail goes white, while you gently pluck the string. Mostly, you just hear a ‘plup’ and no clear sound. The goal is to produce a tone that is clear and sounds about two seconds.

Some children grumble that this is uncomfortable. When this happens, have them shake their hands out, and then only practice putting the finger down for the length of time it takes to count to three fairly quickly. Gradually increase the time the finger is down until the child can hold it down for 10 counts comfortably during the practice at home. Marvel at the increased ‘push’ time and the lovely clear sounds your child is progressively making. This is really tough, folks!

Tap the weak finger with your Magic Wand (pencil/ ruler) while saying something like: 'ABRACADABRA Ms X becomes very STRONG!'. Your child's fantasy does the rest. This kind of activity helps take the ‘blame’ off the kid. It is not the child having a challenge; it is Ms. X who is not feeling strong today.

I give my students 'clickers' (for lack of a better name). Those are the small plastic toys with a thin metal sheet to press down. Pressing produces a clicking sound. Have your child keep his or her finger round and strong while pressing. Soon each finger gets stronger.

You can also use a small bean bag or therapeutic sand bag for the hands. Make sure the fingers stay stabile and rounded.

Try to stop an activity before a child shows signs of fatigue. Change to a musical game of some sort.

Polishing Pieces and Improving Performance Confidence

Grr! Back to the Beginning!
Often, unsupervised practicers prefer practicing the passages that are already excellent! It gives them a sizable self esteem kick. Students need to learn that practicing is also important for stamping out the weak parts. This isn't always pleasant for the child or the rest of the family.

Game: The child has to stop playing and go back to the beginning (of the piece or passage) if a mistake is made. Mostly, mistakes are only obvious if the fingers get jumbled. Advanced players can decide on which aspects make up a ‘mistake’-- dynamics, intonation, rhythm, etc. Don't play this too often if the child's tolerance level is low.

Result List: With this weekly-changing list, the students are more aware of the problems that need to be corrected:

Eat that Frog
Make a list of sections that are troublesome and rank them from worst to best. The rule (for that week?) is, ‘eat that frog!’ Attack the worst section the first thing every practice session. (If you ‘eat the frog’ first, the rest tastes wonderful!) After a while, that section is too good to be the ‘worst’ and a new section takes its place!

(For students chronically guilty of the only-playing-already-perfect-parts-syndrome, I often copy new pieces, paste them on cardboard and cut out the hardest passages. These pieces are the ones the students get to take home and attack. After all of the difficult passages are complete, ‘paste’ them back into the piece or give the student a new copy.)

Stopwatch Action
If your child is neglecting certain parts because they are difficult, take a stopwatch and record the time it takes for him to play the passage. Ask if he can 'better' his time by two/five/ten seconds. Generally, the concentration is so high, that the passage gets better almost immediately. Boys especially love this game.

If the child gets slightly frustrated because his or her time is still slow, pretend that he or she is taking part in a competition or race and will be called out soon. In the meantime, you can secretly train (practice) very slowly, or the hands separately until the 'big moment'. Then, call out his or her name loud and clear (like an announcer) and have the child try another run-through with the stopwatch. Generally, the kids almost halve their old time!

Practicing Games

Playing has always been a part of learning and growing, apart from providing enjoyment and fun. Just as lion cubs learn by romping and pretend fights, human children learn about their world through playing.

From Cognitive Fitness, published in the Harvard Business Review: "Play engages the prefrontal cortex, feeding our highest cognitive functions...Play improves our ability to reason and to understand the world...Play can be a powerful tool for allowing people to develop creative capacity and cognitive health."

An important part of playing for young children is playing with parents, and there should be some time for this every day. A toy company some years ago asked a large number of five-year olds what they would like for Christmas, and their survey found that, rather than the new X-Box or Bratz doll, many children wanted more time with parents!

Practice Games
Why not? Even we adults enjoy learning in a joyful and amusing setting. The more you laugh, the more you retain!

Here are some fun techniques that will enrich the music learning process for all:

Story Time
Listen to different classical pieces and tell stories letting the mood of the music feed your fantasy. Numerous recordings explaining composer's lives and music to children are on the market. Yes, those composers were kids once, too!

Feel the beat
Feeling rhythm in music is very important.
First, find some music you like and find the steady beats within the music. Once you can find the steady beat, clap on beat 1, then 2, then 3, and then 4; or stomp with your foot on beat 1 and clap the others. Students will notice that the beats that are not clapped (stomped) will be felt inside.
Beat 1 may be hard at times for some to feel. A tip is to listen to the beginning of lyric phrases or maybe find the cymbal, tambourine, drum or some sort of musical accent that would indicate beat 1.
Try this on all types of music and enjoy feeling those beats.

New Beginning
Almost all young students will go back to the beginning of the piece if they make a mistake. This even happens if the mistake is in the last measure! What a waste of time.
1) Take a strip of paper or a Post-It-Note and adhere it to the music, covering the first line of the music.
2)    Now the second line is the new beginning! Begin there. 3)    The next time, stick the paper strip to the second line, making the third line the
new beginning.
You might even want to make another strip for the end, stick another strip over the last line. Practice what is left visible. What is missing? How does it sound that way? (Brain research has shown that we learn the most at the beginning and end of practice material. This way, we have strong learning at different points. Tricky!)

Stop/Prepare
This method helps you practice without getting too tense when confronted with tricky passages. You put in stops at certain points in the passage. For instance, if your piece has a section with running sixteenth notes, you could stop on the first sixteenth note of every beat. If you have a position change, you put in a stop before the shift--shift in a relaxed manner--then play on in tempo.
Inserting the stops makes you think in groups instead of single notes. The important thing is, your brain grapples from group to group instead of note to note, which makes things smoother and faster.
Sometimes I like to accent the first note after a stop for awhile.

Repeating Games
We all know that repetition is the mother of skill. But ‘blind’ mindless repeating will just be boring. Try the following games to spice up the chore.

Fishing
I found a cute toy that, when wound up, turned 'round and round' and the little fishes on it opened their mouths. I painted numbers on the fishes and the child went fishing using a little plastic rod with a magnet at the end of the line. The little fishes had magnets in their mouths and so the child caught one and read the number on the fish. That number was the amount of times the child was to repeat a certain section.
If I say, "Play this section five times”, the kids are never as enthusiastic as when they've ‘fished’ their number of repeats!

Dice it up!
Roll the dice to determine how many times a passage, a technical principal or a short piece should be played.
Kids love this game as there is always the chance of a ‘one’ to pop up. Don't tell - it rarely does! If so, just go right along with it. Tomorrow is another day.

Variation (Risk): This game is similar to the preceding one.
First, the child rolls the dice. Then he decides if he wants me to roll the dice. If I roll the dice, though, he must take the number I roll. That is his risk. (Most kids are so curious, they pick me!)

Fill in the Faces
Draw five circles on a piece of paper. Each time your child plays a passage, ask him or her how he or she felt while playing. Then have the child draw a face in the circle to express his or her feelings. In other words, how comfortable did he or she feel while playing?

At first, the faces are pretty desolate (if the passage is difficult). After about four times though, the faces start going from neutral to happy.

I never can resist mentioning how difficult the first time was: "Look at your first face. Pretty gloomy! If you had stopped after one time, you would never had gotten as good as you are now after only four-five repeats!

Abacus repeats
I have several abacus models in different sizes. They all have colourful beads.
Have your child pick out his or her favourite colour and have him or her repeat a passage as per beads of one colour (I have five beads of one colour per line). Let him move the beads to the other side after each repeat.
Variation - Abacus memorising: Use the abacus as above. After each repeat, ask him if he wants to try the passage from memory. Sometimes, the children have the passage memorised in no time as they want to have very few beads moved over before playing the passage from memory. Studies have shown the memory improves if the subject knows he'll be playing from memory in the next go-through.

Tremendous Tower
Build a tower with Duplos/Legos. Add a Duplo to the tower every time your child plays his ‘portion’ correctly, and when he reaches the top, put something nice on the top one. This can be a raisin, an M&M, a pretty sticker or a piece of fruit (like strawberry).
Or
Ask your child to build a model of something this week. You or your child might want a castle, or a truck, or something even more incredible! When do they build this impressing project? Every time they play through their piece (or practice a hard part), they get to add one piece to their model.

Variation 1- Christmas Rings: Around Christmas time, you can have the kids pick out pre-cut strips of coloured paper for each (correct or mistake-free) repeat.
They can paste the ends together to form a garland for the Xmas tree!
Variation 2 - Paperclip chain: Make a paperclip chain. For every repeat of a piece or part of a piece, give your child a paperclip. There are such colourful paperclips in the market today!
Take coloured ones (green means a perfect play through, red means less-than- perfect, etc) or giant ones. Odd-shaped ones will also do great.

You can also have a paperclip-chain-contest a week! The kids have to make one that is:

- as long as the piano stool
- as long as the piano
- half as long as the practice room
- as long as the practice room

If in the course of working with their props, they have several play-throughs in a row that go badly, please call ‘time out!’ and spend a few minutes targeting the difficult section.
Repeating imperfect playing could actually reinforce the problems.
 
Firing Squad
Now, don't get upset! I didn't necessarily mean violence here!
Have your child pick out five tiny toys or figurines and place them close. Each time he or she plays the passage correctly, keeps the thumbs over the keys, plays with the correct rhythm (pick out a difficulty)--he or she ‘saves’ one of the figures from being sent off to bed. (fooled you!); or put another way, the ‘Super Hero’ helps one figurine jump to another more delightful place.
In my lessons, this is on top of the treat container. These figurines get to stay and listen to the child play.

Sweet Repeat Treats
What if the teacher says to your child, "You have to practice more"? Hmm, you already play all your scales, arpeggios and assigned pieces once through every day, what more could she possibly want? How about five times through each day? It's worth a try.

Here's how to do it so that you don't lose count. First, you need some Gummy Bears, M&Ms or Jelly Beans. Five, to be exact. It's more interesting if they're in different colours. Of course, you can use coloured plastic buttons but they don't taste as good! Define them from least favourite colour to the most favourite colour.

Place these goodies on top of the piano or on a nearby table (on a small plate). Each time you play the piece or a difficult passage correctly, you move one of your Gummy Bears to the opposite side of the table or piano. Keep doing this until each Gummy Bear is on the opposite side. Then, do the same with your next piece. You can do this for scales too! When your practice time is up, you can gulp down the goodies! (If this game is a bit too sweet, use little Playmobil figures. Move them from one side of the table or piano to the other. After playing the allotted times, give one goody for the work.)

Variation: You can also give each colour a special purpose. Have you got your five different colours ready? Let's use the colours orange, yellow, green, red and blue.
Orange: The first time, the piece is played at a slug's pace and completely even. The concentration is directed to thinking about what note is on the page, where it is on the instrument and what the exact rhythm is. Mistakes should be avoided, even if this takes quite a while.
Yellow: The second time, either the rhythm or the note names should be spoken (while playing or just before).
Green: The child plays slowly and attentively. This time, he or she includes expression marks, like soft and loud, and is careful to bring these in the playing. Exaggerate a bit.
Red: Be especially attentive to the touch (articulation) and phrasing. Is the section legato, or staccato? Concentrate only on this aspect.
Blue: is the last one. (Use your child's favourite colour last because it represents his best performance.) This time, the child will be concentrating on all of the above at the same time! Tomorrow, he or she does the same thing. Using different colours, or different objects help to keep things interesting.

Blind Man's Bluff
Often students think that non-critical repetition automatically leads to improvement. They repeat and repeat without really knowing what is causing the difficulty in the first place. Repeating only cements the existing weak quality. Repeating passages that are relatively easy can lead to a more thorough knowledge. Repeating difficult parts doesn't necessarily make the passage easier and better.

Before each repeat, have your child say what he or she is aiming for by playing improved intonation (..."gotta get that third finger higher"), noticeable dynamic changes ("I want the listener to hear that crescendo in the fourth bar."), etc.

Remember: If you repeat mistakes a lot, you'll have a terrible time ‘repairing’ them! Teachers and trainers are quite aware of the power of repetition in the skill- building process. It simply reinforces what the student is already doing.

Please be constantly aware of what and why is being repeated.

Tricks of the Trade

This year, I tried a new idea with the students: The Karate Challenge. For each "belt" color there were several pieces that needed to be covered plus technique work like scales and chord work. Several of the kids earned their colors, even one blue belt which is quite advanced. Instead of real belts, I gave the children certificates and silicon bracelets, which the kids seem to be wearing these days.

The Note Mastery Challenge motivated some kids to win either bronze, silver or gold badges. I had these badges specially designed and made for me. Designated notes had to be learned so well that they could be recognized, the tone played and the note names spoken within 60 seconds. The ones who won also got to sign a special list on the door. It's fun to see who has "done the work" over the years!

Repetition and rehearsal of information enhance a process called consolidation, the process by which memories are moved from temporary storage in the hippocampus (a small structure within the brain) to more permanent storage in the cortex (the outer layer of the brain) (Richards, 2003, p. 24).

Multiple repetitions of the information provide rehearsal, but doing so may bore students. When bored, the brain can go into a pattern similar to the "screen saver" mode on your computer monitor. The student may not pay attention to what he is repeating. Therefore, using strategies with humor, movement, songs, and other forms of novelty are critical in enhancing the value of the repetition.

In the lessons, I used every motivation game I could think of to make repeats more fun. Many students believe that just playing something once is enough. Often, that is not sufficient. We remember something best when it is organized and rehearsed. Repetition is the mother of skill. I used the penguin game, dice, The Memory Game, Sweet Repeat Treats...

Imagine if we as teachers, and parents reinforced kids  for their use of concrete strategies in organizing their information. Pediatrician, Dr. Mel Levine suggests: "I thought that before a test, kids ought to be asked to hand in a memory plan. The same way a pilot would hand in a flight plan. In other words, how are you going to go about getting stuff into and out of your memory? And students ought to be graded on the plan as much as they are on their test" (Levine and Meltzer, 1998). I'll be thinking about this during the summer break. Maybe I can develop some concrete tips!

The students enjoyed THE AMAZING PRACTICE GAME this spring. Each child received a poster with squares (or circles!) on them. The object was to check off one square after 15 minutes of practice. It was also possible to cross off two squares after 30 minutes, which some children did. Along the way, the kids got to pick activity cards (scales, arpeggios, favorite piece, last memorized song, etc.) in the lesson, open the Tinker Bell Music Box, receive an extra goody or two, and finally, open the GOLDEN BOX!

At the beginning of the year, I gave  most of the kids a “practice log”. The idea is to write down what was practiced, how it was practiced and how long. Then they showed the log to me at the next lesson. I hoped it encouraged the kids to think about what they are doing a bit more. I could also see what kind of practicing techniques the kids know (or don’t yet know). I just asked the "newbies" to cross off a square.

I worked on intermediate and advanced practice techniques with some students. I pasted "difficult passages" onto a sheet of paper and the students (with my help) were asked to develop ways to practice them. These were listed below the passage. These "hard parts" had to be played perfectly before I allowed the students to begin the piece in earnest.

I felt like a preacher, exhorting the value of daily practice albeit short at times. I begged students to develop fingerings and really learn them. I cajoled the kids who knew no notes to learn them as a way to independent learning. But it was worth it. Yet some (very few) hardly practiced and some still don't know their notes. But I tried!

This last month was tough: lots of athletic events, final events at school, last exams, etc. Yet the children played a lovely recital - The Piano Party. The Family Picnic afterwards was fun.

I’ve asked the parents to please take advantage of my offer to listen to digital recordings during the summer. They record the piece their child is working on at the beginning (just starting the piece), and perhaps each week afterwards. They send me the recording and I gladly listen to it as well as send back a critique and some practice suggestions. It's a free service I offer. It just takes me a few minutes anyway.

To ponder

Neurons that fire together, wire together.

To understand a motor image, think about struggling to remember a phone number. You may move your fingers in the pattern of the phone number as if dialing it and find that this helps you recall the number.

Repetition and practice trigger neurons (brain cells). When a set of neurons fire together, they develop a "habit" of firing together again. Habits as well as academic learning occur this way. Use multisensory strategies so your child simultaneously sees, hears, and touches or moves with the information.

Did you ride a bicycle when younger? Did you learn to ride your bicycle by reading a book about it? No, you needed to actually practice riding. With enough repetition, you retained a motor image of the procedure. Would you be able to now get on a bicycle and ride with relative ease? Most people will answer yes to this question. Why is that? Our muscles remember information or procedures that were practiced many times. Muscle memory is a powerful learning tool!

Challenge vs. guaranteed success

I just got back from teaching and the whole way home I contemplated the dilemma „how much can you challenge students?“.

I have some girls from Mexico and they knew/know no notes! They can’t read music. I have tried to encourage them with my Note Mastery Challenge and the button they could get as a reward/prize. I gave them flash cards, we did our 60 second challenge. But they are going back to Mexico not one bit better than they came over.

Do I need to say they didn’t practice, either?

I love to teach my students how to practice and how to solve problems that pop up in the pieces they are learning. I don’t give them all the answers but I do help if I notice they are getting really confused. Yet I’ve had some kids give up the instrument because it was „too hard“.

Should I have pampered them by showing every note and letting them copy? Essentially playing by rote. Those kids can’t help themselves at all when they are stumped at home because they can’t read what the music wants to tell them.

How much challenge can kids take? When is the point where I softly give them a hand until they can stand on their on two feet.

Some kids act like they don’t know what’s going on and the teachers help them very quickly. These kids never learn to learn independently.

I have some students who enjoy a good old „wild challenge“ and it’s fun to see them grow as young musicians.

After so many years of teaching, I still ask myself the question: How much success must/should I „guarantee“? Should I make their learning so easy that they hardly have to think themselves?

There are no shortcuts!

Yesterday, I gave a 3-hour workshop for young musicians in Cologne. We covered time management, mental practice and general practice methods.

The kids practice about one hour a day and some might want to study music after graduating. 

They were quite shocked when I told them that "messing around" with their instruments doesn't count as practice. Playing old pieces, always starting at the beginning of pieces and playing through doesn't constitute work for me. It is nice and should be enjoyed but do your work first.

Then I introduced them to priorities and planning, two very important time management principles.
We talked about long-range goals (the competition next year; the audition in two years...), mid-term goals (pick out the pieces for the audition/competition), and short-term goals (learn and memorize the exposition of the first movement). 

We also need micro-goals for polishing up our pieces (speed up the trills using a metronome; work each finger to be able to play even trills with every finger...)

Knowing exactly what you are going to work on BEFORE you start is imperative. Don't just start at the beginning, play through until you make a mistake, doctor the difficult part until it "works" and then play on until the next mistake. Dat crazy-man practice!!

It generally helps motivation if you know exactly what you want to work on and how. If it doesn't, work on it anyway! Work on the hard parts first, when you are fresh. Attack the difficulties with gusto, analyze the problems, find solutions. Self-discipline must take over where motivation is lacking.

Don't waste precious practice time! Don't wait until you are inspired! Don't procrastinate!

There are no shortcuts.

Practice Mastery

Before you start practicing, ask yourself:

What do I want to accomplish during this practice. Take five minutes to decide what result you want to attain.

I, ____________________, promise myself that I will practice at least ___ minutes a day. I will be patient with myself and will keep in mind that my instrument is a long term project.

Use reminders on any device you usually carry with you to remind you of your sessions. There are good apps for recording your practice time and techniques.

The one thing that holds back students, by far, is not having consistent practice. SO, set a specific time in your schedule now (ex. 6:00-6:30 PM) and leave it free every day!

• Start by playing the piece really slowly. What matters at first is that you get the progression of notes and chords. (Don’t always begin a piece at the beginning. Start by learning the last page first, for instance. Or the very end. Or perhaps the middle.)
• After you've mastered the progressions and development of the piece, start perfecting your rhythm.
• Use sectioning while learning. Learn sections of the song, master them and then move to the next section. A section can be a melody, a chord progression, a chorus or refrain, etc.
• When practicing more complex pieces, start by practicing the right hand part of the piece, then the left hand (or vice versa) then try to play them together. Take your time, don't rush it. Once you've mastered one part, move to the next, and not before that.

Practice Plan

1. Start by limbering up to a few exercises. If you are more advanced you may like to practice some Hanon finger exercises or Czerny Studies. 1-2 Minutes.

2. Then focus on some technical work or scales and arpeggios for 5 minutes.

3. Spend 10 minutes practicing your assigned pieces for the week; work at them purposefully and slowly, separate hands at first. Use a metronome or try to develop a feel for keeping the pulse or beat – count out loud if necessary.

4. Now spend maybe 5-10 minutes reviewing past pieces. It’s always a good idea to go over old pieces reminding yourself of what you have already learned and to build up a little repertoire of pieces.

5. If you can spare a little more time then try to do a couple of sight- reading exercises. You just need to look at two short passages; look through them noting all their features then play them slowly forcing yourself to keep going in time until the end. Your sight-reading will improve no end if you do this regularly. (5 Minutes)

Practice alternating one hand with the other, having established an absolute and unerring sense of pulse. With this process, using the metronome is not a bad idea. Leave a bar’s rest between each repetition or new variant, being strict about keeping the beat going during this measured silence.

You might have success by practicing the very last bar first.  Then a few bars leading into the ending, and then a few more bars to the end until you can establish an ending section. Then a few bars leading into the ending section, and a few more until there is an obvious middle section. Then a few bars leading into the middle section, and then a few more until there is a definite beginning section. Many pieces will have more sections but the basic idea is to work each section an equal number of times over the long run.

Pick out a difficult section of your piece. Try to play it three times in a row without a single mistake. When you can do this, try playing five times in a row without a mistake. When you can do this, try it ten times in a row perfect. When you can do this, you know you've mastered the passage.

Once you can do all the small sections perfectly, you can combine them and try to play the larger sections perfectly. Keep combining sections until you can play the whole piece flawlessly.

Practice Merry-Go-Round

At first, you might just try to get all the notes. Now is the time to memorize the fingerings. (If you change the fingerings, write them in the music and erase the old ones.)

Later you'll want perfect rhythm, tone, phrasing, dynamics, pedal, balance, evenness, etc. Work on just one small section and one thing at a time, repeating several times until perfect!

You can keep a record of how many mistakes you make each time you play a passage. First, record the passage. If you play it perfectly, put a "P", otherwise put the number of mistakes. You'll be amazed at how many mistakes you make and never even noticed before.

Add-a-note at a time. Practice this tiny bit almost in tempo and only add the next note if the others are „easy“.

For advanced practicers:

Visualize.

Start with a piece you have memorized. Close your eyes and try to imagine yourself playing it at the piano. Imagine the piano keys, and your hands playing them. Try to make it just as vivid in your mind as it is when you actually do it.

Visualising is one of the best practice methods, but it takes a lot of thinking! Here are some ways to make it a little easier:

·      Visualize just one hand at a time. This is much easier than doing both hands.

·      Visualize only a short passage at a time. Play it, then try to visualize, then play it again. Keep doing this until you can visualize it very clearly.

·      Look at the music while you visualize. This builds up your visual image, but you don't have to have it memorized first. In fact, it will help you memorize it more easily.

·      Try table-top practice, that is, play your piece away from the piano. You simply imagine the sound and feel of a real piano as your fingers play on the tabletop. If you can play a piece or a passage this way, you really know it!

Exercising your brain is just like exercising a muscle: with visualization, you have start out with just a little bit, and then gradually work your way up.

Begin playing your piece.  Have a friend say “Stop.” Keep thinking (playing) the music in your head.  When your friend says “Start” again, pick up where you are in the piece. This technique is easier with a metronome.

Think the first beat and begin playing on the next.  Think the first two beats and begin playing on the next. Then three beats, etc. Can be done with metronome.

Practicing in a variety of ways, with a variety of touches, builds and strengthens your memory. If you have practiced your piece soft, loud, staccato, legato, with and without pedal, with five different kinds of stops, hands separate, visualized it, counted it, recorded it, played it with metronome at a variety of tempos, and practiced in small and large sections until they were flawless—you really know it.

Draw a "Board Game" that includes several of the items on this list.  Roll the dice and do the thing on which you land. 

Make practice flashcards, with each one listing an item from this list that need attention in your piece.  Select one at a time and practice that way.

For example, the cards for one piece might say

a.      “Play 3 times at quarter note equals 88

b.      “Play right hand three times”

c.      “Play left hand three times”

d.      “Count or verbalize and clap rhythm in measure 8”

e.      “Imagine an angry dragon (happy clown/ dancing girl) and play the middle section” 

Play one hand while singing the other, in solfège syllables, note names, or counting numbers, a good exercise in coordination and musicianship.

Metronome:  Start very slowly with metronome.  Play the piece or passage again, and increase the metronome number by a click or two.  Continue, gradually increase the tempo again, until the goal tempo is reached.  Write down the top metronome marking achieved each day, and try to surpass it the next day. 

Micro-metronome:  Assign the metronome to the smallest unit of the beat in the piece and subdivide each longer note in relation to it.

Double Bubble:  In 4/4, with 16 sixteenth notes per bar, do this at tempo, but with pauses after doubled notes: 

a.  double first note of each group of 4

b.  double second note of each group of 4

c.  double third note of each group of 4

d.  double fourth note of each group of 4

Play a certain finger number, say 1, with an accent. Every time that you play the first finger, say “one” out loud and accent the note. Do this 3-5 times.

a)   do the same with the second (third; fourth; fifth) finger. Always say the finger number out loud.

b)   Now say the names of the notes that a particular finger number are playing. Accent the note, too.

In each group of four equal notes (eighths, sixteenths), play the first note a bit longer and the others fast. Lengthen the second note. Then the third. Then the fourth. The others are played fast.