[Note: This was written as my final project for "Learning How to Learn". We were given a very open ended project in which we were supposed to assimilate everything we learned in the course into our own lives. I chose to write a document for my students. Projects are anonymously peer reviewed. I've kept the cover letter that I included with the project as it gives some background into why I chose to do it this way. I cannot say enough good things about this class and the associated book (see the references at the end of the document).]
Dear
Coursera Reviewer:
I
undertook the Learning How to Learn Course for two reasons.
First, I will be returning to grad school in the coming months.
After not having taken any formal classes for 20 years, I thought
this course would be a great way to jump start my learning (and it
has been!). Second, I am a music teacher and as an educator, I am
always looking for ways to help my own students learn most
efficiently. I have decided to focus on this second reason as a
basis for my final project.
All of
my students come to me excited about music. Many of them have no
idea where to start when I hand them their first songs to start
working on. While we regularly discuss ways to approach practice, I
have never prepared a handout for their reference. Please bear in
mind that this document is written for middle school and high school
aged kids (approximately ages 12 – 18). I did include a few
references that I thought might be particularly interesting to them,
but they won't get anything from an overly academic paper.
Everything
taught in Learning How to Learn is applicable to learning
music. Like math and science, music is a challenging field of study
that some people seem to have a “head for” while others do not.
I chose to focus this document on what I consider to be the basic
habits you need to efficiently learn music, especially when you are
busy with many other activities:
- Scheduling – taking advantage of diffuse mode learning; learning the material in small steps; interleaving.
- Approach – getting to know the “big picture” of the musical piece while picking apart individual sections; learning it through a variety of ways (inputs).
- Memorization – creating a game plan.
- Goal Setting – put a plan in place and work toward it; focusing on the process and not perfection; dealing with procrastination.
My
academic year starts the week of September 8th. I plan to
hand this document out to each student. As an assignment, they will
be required to create their own practice journal where, in the very
least, they are to track their weekly and daily goals. I expect that
this will not only help them focus better on their learning, but it
will also help me to understand how they spent their week when they
are struggling.
Thanks
for reading!
Learn Your Music!
I
get it. You're busy. You have homework, sports, dance class, speech
team, and rehearsals for your musical. You barely have time to sleep
let alone spend any time on your lesson music. While I cannot help
you find an extra hour or two in your day, I can help you use what
little time you have to practice and learn your music.
Timing
You
should practice a minimum
of 15 minutes most days
plus a few days with longer practice sessions sprinkled in. Why a
little bit every day? Your brain needs time and repetition to put
information into its long term memory. Spending an hour or two
practicing your music the night before your lesson will not prepare
you as much as a little bit of practice every day.
Your
brain has two levels of learning: a focused mode and a diffuse mode.
The focused mode happens when you are actively working on something
like a math problem, your history reading, or your latest song. The
diffuse mode is the background processing that occurs when your
attention is focused elsewhere. This is when your brain is making
connections with stuff you already know. The great thing about our
brains is that it can work on learning your music while you do your
math homework if you give it a gentle nudge in the right direction.
To
take advantage of your focused and diffuse modes, try a practice
schedule like this:
- Vocal Warm-ups for 5 – 10 minutes
- Do some homework for 15 – 30 minutes (or more)
- Practice your music for 15 – 30 minutes
- Do some more homework for 15 – 30 minutes
- Sing a little more for 10 – 15 minutes
Adapt
the times to meet your needs and your schedule. Weaving your music
practice with your homework allows your brain to process one thing
while you work on something else.
Do
you have a few measures of a song that you just cannot seem to get?
Instead of repeating it over and over again, put down your music and
do something else1
– practice another song, do your homework, or go check Facebook.
Your brain will still work on that part of the song. When you return
to it, you may find that spot easier to sing.
Why
are warm-ups important to do every day, even when you had choir
earlier in the day? The warm-ups and vocalises that we do during
lessons are meant to help you focus on specific issues. Do these at
home to strengthen what we learned during your lesson. Just like
your songs, your brain and body need regular practice to get the hang
of stuff like proper breathing and vowel placement.
How to Practice
Just like anything else, learning
music has a multi-step approach.
Big
Picture: Obviously, you need to
know how the entire song goes together. Listen to your recorded
vocal line, find audio recordings and/or videos on YouTube, and read
through the text. If it's in a foreign language, look up the literal
translation of it (or do it yourself with Google Translate). Also,
practice speaking the words.
Nitty
Gritty: When you sing through
the line, pay attention to the places where you are having issues.
Instead of starting at the beginning each time you sing the song,
focus on only those few measures. (If you have multiple trouble
spots, work on each section individually). Drill the section until
you either you're feeling comfortable or until you feel like you've
reached your limit with it and then move on to something else.
Other
Options:
- If you are having trouble learning the rhythm, clap the rhythm. You can do this independently of your rehearsal recordings or with them. Also, say the lyrics in rhythm.
- If you are working on a character piece (show tune or art song), practice the lyrics as if delivering a monologue. This will help you with the emotion and delivery of the lines.
- If you find yourself in a place where you cannot sing, listen to your rehearsal recordings in a focused way. Sing along in your head or listen to trouble spots, paying attention to what's happening in the accompaniment, the rhythm, and/or the notes.
When
practicing, remember that the only way to eat an entire elephant is
one bite at a time. Breaking a song down into smaller sections will
make it easier for you to learn. Also, working on your music from a
variety of angles will help you learn faster. Your brain loves
getting inputs from all different directions!
Memorization:
As a performing artist, you will need
to memorize music. Here are a few tricks to help you:
- Keeping the verses straight. This is always my biggest challenge – keeping the verses in the right order! Pick out key points in the verses and associate them with something else, like the floor map of your house. Put each piece of the verse in a different room of your house and mentally walk through your house to find it. Put the first verse on the first floor; second verse on the second floor; third verse in the basement; and so on. An example (from “Art is Calling For Me” by Victor Herbert):
Momma
is a queen -
My mom dressed as Queen Elizabeth (mudroom)
Papa
is a king
- My dad dressed as Henry VIII (kitchen)
So
I am a princess, I know it
- I'm dressed all in pink with a big tiara (back hallway)
But
court etiquette is dull, boring thing
- My cat in my big tiara, asleep (office)
I
just hate it all, and I show it!
- I'm having a royal temper tantrum (family room)
- Write out the lyrics. Studies show that writing something out by hand helps us remember2. Take a few minutes and jot down the lyrics – don't look at your music until you're done!
- Find other hooks – Remember how I said your brain likes multiple inputs? Listen to your song frequently. Sing your song as often as you can. Work on the song without the music and focus on the emotion and storyline. If you have movements that go along with the song, practice those as well. All of these combine build stronger neural hooks which makes it easier for you to memorize.
Goals:
Finally, it's important to have goals
when you practice – especially when you're short on time! After
your lesson, set weekly goals for yourself. These could be as simple
as learning that new piece or memorizing verse one of your show tune.
They could also be more focused like working on your deep breath
support, or practicing a vowel sound that needs better placement.
Before you go to bed each night, look
at this list and set smaller goals for the next day. If you're
working on breath support, you might set the goal of doing three sets
of breathing exercises throughout the day. If you're learning a new
song, you could decide to focus on the section that's the most
challenging. When you set your mini goal, also set how much time you
plan to devote to it. If you know it's going to be a busy day, you
might only set two mini goals at 10 minutes apiece.
It doesn't matter if you don't have
an hour to spend. You won't accomplish your weekly goal in one
sitting. What is important is that you devote a little time to your
goals each day. If you have a hard time getting started, set a timer
for the amount of time you had planned for your goal, put away all
other distractions, and give it your best try for that amount of
time. Don't focus on perfection; instead, focus on the process of
practicing. Perfection will come on its own with time if you put
your best effort into your process.
Lifetime
Skill
It doesn't matter what you're
learning, applying the general ideas above will help you learn more
efficiently. If you are planning a career in music, it's especially
important to develop these habits now – music school truly tests
your ability to learn music quickly and efficiently. Talented music
students sometimes fail because they lack a learning system.
Resources:
A
Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You
Flunked Algebra),
Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin (2014) – This is a
fantastic book for learners – it doesn't matter what topic you want
to learn. Unless otherwise indicated above, the science behind the
ideas in this paper comes from this reference.
Other resources:
- Anne Trafton. (July 21, 2014), "Try, try again? Study says no: Trying harder makes it more difficult to learn some aspects of language, neuroscientists find." Science Daily.
- Maria Konnikova, "What's Lost as Handwriting Fades," June 2, 2014, The New York Times
No comments:
Post a Comment