drsarahwalker.co.uk
Encouraging Practice
I've approached this topic from three different angles - as a teacher, a
parent, and as a practising musician. The article is structured in five
sections:
1. Trouble-shooting and the Zen of Practice, which is all about finding
2.
3.
4.
5.
effective strategies to deal with technical problems, staying calm
and accepting that it's not supposed to be easy;
The Five-Minute Pianist, which discusses the benefits of doing small
amounts of practice;
Rewards and Bribery, for when all else fails (also, when to give up);
Alone, or with parent? discusses the challenges of both approaches;
Maximising Musical Growth, which discusses a three-pronged
approach I've developed over the years.
TROUBLE-SHOOTING AND THE ZEN OF PRACTICE
Practice had always been a very painful process for me, until I studied
with the flautist, Paul Edmund-Davies, when I was at Royal Holloway
College. This was the first time I had encountered a trouble-shooting
approach: positive, unemotional, strategic. You figured out where your
problem was occuring (eg. the fast semiquaver passage), you analysed it
(fourth finger too weak to lift up and down repeatedly) , and you
attacked it (play slowly with metronome; alter rhythms to create extra
stress on some manoevres and reduced stress on others - this can reveal
weaknesses and fix them at the same time; play with different
articulations, different dynamics…the possibilities were endless). Until I
encountered Paul's approach, I knew of only one practising strategy,
which was basically "Do it again, only with more tension." By the age of
18 I had become the sort of pianist who could play many things at sight,
but could not improve my performance, and was almost afraid to try,
the frustration was so intense.
Everything Paul Edmund-Davies taught me on the flute, I incorporated
into my piano playing, and learned many more techniques along the
way…or maybe "philosophies" is a better word. There's a Zen koan that
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 1
drsarahwalker.co.uk
I've found very helpful. I've read it in many guises, but I'll paraphrase it
here:
A young student of swordsmanship approached his teacher, and asked:
"If I work very hard, how long will it take me to become the finest
swordsman in the kingdom?"
The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years."
The student then said, "but what if I work extremely hard - harder than
your other students…how long then?"
The Master then replied, "Twenty years."
"But, if I work harder than any other student in the world as ever
worked, how long then?" asked the student.
"Thirty years," replied the Master.
"But I do not understand," said the student. "At each time that I say I will
work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?"
The Master replied," When you have one eye on the goal, you only have
one eye left with which to find the path."
From this story comes the idea of having a light attachment to your goal:
for me this means being clear about what I want to achieve, but not being
concerned about when I achieve it. Frustration and anxiety occur for
students when they expect their practice to bear tangible results quickly.
It's important to remind them that often, improvement happens so
slowly that you can't hear it or feel it. If they can put their anxiety to one
side, they can work away at a passage indefinitely, enjoying "troubleshooting" for its own sake, and actually feeling fascinated by the
different challenges presented by the music.
Perhaps that sort of detachment is easier for an adult than for a child. A
young person is more likely to take challenges personally - I can't play
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 2
drsarahwalker.co.uk
this passage because I am no good. It's not supposed to be hard: I'm supposed to
be able to do it. An adult will think along the lines of I can't play this
passage because Bach has incorporated a technical challenge into it. It is
supposed to be hard, and I need to find strategies to get round it. But then, the
younger student is more likely to be undergoing extra pressures such as
exam dates looming, concerts in which performance will be assessed,
and a sense of being in competition with others. In those circumstances,
it's harder to trust in the practising process and harder to let go of the
desperate need to get it right, NOW (or at least, in two weeks' time when
the exam takes place)! Ironically, though, this urgency is unlikely to
encourage practice. It's more likely to inspire despair and avoidance of
practice, with its constant reminders that "it's still not right". If the
student can remain as accepting of the rate of growth as possible interested in the challenges rather than fighting them - then practice will
be less painful, and therefore, more practice will get done. Even the
exam or concert can be treated as a snapshot of how the piece was
coming along on that particular date. This is not the same as accepting
lower standards - it's about optimising musical growth while accepting
that you can't force or predict it.
THE FIVE-MINUTE PIANIST
If students are finding practice particularly difficult and are
experiencing huge levels of resistance to doing it, then they're unlikely
to be able to enter that zone of relaxed concentration where progress
takes place. A useful strategy here is to do five minutes work a day only.
Many adults use this as a trick to get themselves to actually do twenty
minutes, but children can see right through this game-playing and are
unlikely to cooperate. No, really, just do five minutes - make them stop
after five minutes, don't let them carry on. A child who does five
minutes piano a day will have made a lot more progress in a week than
the one who intended to do half an hour but couldn't face it. One
challenge here is that the child will not believe that five minutes can
help, so will revert to the more tried & tested policy of "good intentions."
All I can say is, it works. At some point the child will realise that it's not
actually hurting; resistance will drop and concentration will occur. Then
you can surreptitiously increase the time.
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 3
drsarahwalker.co.uk
I recently prepared for my Grade 8 flute by doing, initially, five minutes
a day. Reasons for using the strategy:
1. I knew that I would be interrupted after five minutes, with
"MUMMY..."
2. I knew that my technique was poor and that I would tire quickly.
3. I felt overwhelmed by the difficulties of the material.
4. I knew that my concentration was poor and that I would be
assailed by nagging thoughts of forgotten birthdays and unpaid
bills...all the loose ends of adult life.
So, every day, I played a few long notes, went up and down a particular
scale a few times, and ran through a piece. Gradually, the four
challenges above were dissolved: my daughter began to accept that I
was playing the flute every day, so she became less likely to interrupt
me; my technique improved; the material felt less difficult, and as I
became encouraged by the results, so my concentration improved. So I
shifted to ten minutes! Still not much, but so much better than good
intentions. Eventually as my stamina increased I was able to continue for
longer periods of time. But had I begun with forty-five minute sessions, I
would have experienced tremendous discouragement: fighting with the
family not to interrupt me, trying to play with a tired lip, overwhelmed
by the challenging pieces and plagued by thoughts of what chores I
hadn't done.
Having the adult experience and intuition to sense the microscopic
increments of improvement helped me a great deal in the process of
practising for that exam. In the case of a young student, it's important to
draw their attention to all the good things that are going on. I don't
mean you need to lie to them and say "Wow, that was brilliant," but you
can always say "It's brilliant that you have done some practice.
Remember, most people don't do any. If you've done some, then you are
special." It's true!
REWARDS AND BRIBERY
Bolstering the student's self-confidence along with minimising the pain
of practicing are two ways to make practice more likely to happen. But
dispensing with impediments isn't the whole story - if only it were. The
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 4
drsarahwalker.co.uk
young ones don't know what we know - that this maybe their last
chance to enter the world of music. If they let go now, they could be
locked out forever, and a whole world of enjoyment, social contact and
even possible employment will be closed to them! Not understanding
the reality of this means that more tangible motivation is needed.
Yes, some highly talented instrumentalists will receive adulation and
praise which will help them get down to work. Most students, though,
will realise that their friends don't care about their playing (in fact they
may even think it's uncool), and their parents love them whether they
succeed or not. They need additional motivation: bribery! I've found that
the trouble with giving rewards is that the modern western child
already lives in a world of rewards - sweets here, a DVD there, odds and
ends that keep them entertained. Non-financial rewards may be more
effective - being allowed to stay up later for instance, but that can be a
punishment for the poor parent. The thing I've found most effective is
"negative bribery" - give the child a glass jar full of money (it doesn't
have to be a lot, as long as it looks like a lot), and say that if they work
hard, they can spend the money at the end of the term. If they refuse to
practice, or behave badly, the parent takes some money out of the jar
and puts it into another container, to be given to a charity of the child's
choice. If your child is the type who hates having things taken away
more than they love being given something, then this technique might
help. And it doesn't feel at all mean - you're not confiscating a beloved
toy, or a gadget that actually helps you, the parent, get a bit of peace!
So...if music is so wonderful, and yet kids find it so hard to practice, at
what stage do we, the parents and teachers, give up the fight? How do
we tell the difference between inevitable frustration - just like when a
baby is learning to walk or a child is learning to tie shoe laces - and a
pointless struggle, where a child doesn't show much of a connection to
music and hates being dragged away from more interesting activities?
Often, you can't tell the difference - the more the child cares about
music, the more he or she will howl when it doesn't go right. So my
general feeling would be to default to carrying on, if you can bear it; if
you really can't get them to practice, then stop fighting, but just keep on
sending them to lessons, if you can afford it. It's enough to keep music
ticking over in their system until they've got over the difficult phase. As
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 5
drsarahwalker.co.uk
a teacher, I've let struggling students relax with easy, old material,
simple duets to sight-read, improvising, and other painless strategies.
Something unexpected might motivate them to start afresh - a new book,
a switch to jazz exams, for instance. I don't know a single adult who is
pleased that they gave up their instrumental lessons.
If I sensed that a child had no future in music, I'd let them go. Even that
is just intuition, but if you feel after a few years that they have no tunes
in their heads, no rhythm in their bones, but on the contrary have other
burning passions, then it's no sacrifice. Children like this usually give up
music with a happy shrug of the shoulders: "it's not for me". The ones
who seem to be giving up unhappily deserve a bit more help to stay in
the game.
ALONE, OR WITH PARENT?
Practising alone requires good levels of concentration, an ability to work
out what’s going wrong in the performance, and an instinct for how to
put it right. These are rare skills in a youngster – though a piano
beginner is probably more likely to cope without help than someone
learning (for example) guitar, where the notes are hard to find, or
trumpet, where the notes are hard to play. Right from the earliest
stages, I try to teach students how to practise – if they turn up without
having done any practice during the week (sound familiar?) one positive
way to start the lesson would be to say, “okay, let’s do your practice
now.” Then the teacher can prompt them with a few questions: “Which
piece needs practising? Which bits were difficult? Do you know why?
Can you think of a way to make that better?” – and then encourage them
to remember this approach for when they’re working alone at home.
Telling them they have to be their own teacher seems to give a bit of an
ego-boost.
You’d think that having a supportive parent to help could only make
things better, and when the music is too complicated for the child to
work out alone, or their concentration is too undeveloped, then it’s
probably the only way forward. But it can be a painful process for both
parties! The parent provides the child with an audience, someone who
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 6
drsarahwalker.co.uk
can witness their frustration, which can then be exaggerated ad
infinitum for theatrical effect. The parent’s inevitable annoyance then
leads to an argument, and hey presto - the practice session ends! Result!
There’s no easy way around this, but using negative bribery as
described above can help, especially if it’s done without the slightest
show of emotion. The thing is, the practice is frustrating and difficult –
just not that frustrating and difficult. The child can handle it, especially if
you’re there to help, so be sympathetic but firm.
MAXIMISING MUSICAL GROWTH
As I mentioned above, I believe that musical growth can be optimised,
but not forced or predicted. It's a bit like growing a plant - you can do
everything to help it to bloom, but you can't control the exact nature of
the blooming. You take action and make observations: it's more a
process of discovery than one of control.
One strategy I've used, to optimise my own musical development and
that of my students, is to work with three levels of material: some that's
too hard, some that's too easy, and some that's just right.
- The "too hard" material sparks off new shoots of growth - new
connections in the brain, new strengths and abilities in the hands, and
positive "trouble-shooting" practising habits. Too-hard material is like a
tempting carrot that's slightly out of reach.
-
The "too easy" material challenges the student in a different way.
Simple tunes can be boring, so they encourage you to focus on finer
details - phrasing, projection, tone. These things are often overlooked
when you're distracted by technical challenges.
-
The "just right" material supplies gratification, without which,
there's not much point learning an instrument. Fun in the fingers and
musically satisfying - it keeps you motivated.
I've found with many adult students, they're too keen to focus on "too
hard" material, thinking that it's healthy to be forced to work really hard.
But this actually limits their progress: living in a world of technical
difficulties means that many elements of musicianship will never be
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 7
drsarahwalker.co.uk
improved, so they'll always sound amateurish. Nor will they experience
fun, without which the experience of music can be very dry. Returning
to easier, "just right" repertoire is essential for both adults and younger
students. It strengthens and consolidates, gives enormous pleasure, and
allows the students to build special, close relationships with certain
favourite pieces. Playing the "too easy" pieces seems less gratifying, but
creates wonderful opportunities for experimentation: trying different
styles of interpretation as well as refining technique. You could try
imagining you're playing on an ancient clavichord with tiny keys; or
imagining that you're a celebrated piano star who's just about lost his
technique but is still capable of moving the audience with his profound
interpretations. These fantasies can lead to some interesting new ideas,
solutions, ways of playing - and encourage students to actually think
about interpretation instead of just waiting for the teacher to tell them
"how it should go".
And finally...
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT... does it?
I think most of us agree that there isn't much truth in this old adage;
even the greatest pianists are always improving so would never consider
themselves perfect. But I'd go further than that and say that you can't
practice happily unless you're really comfortable with your
imperfection. Being a practising musician is a process of constant
development, improvement, discovery, revelation, sometimes struggle
and back-tracking. Finality, completion and perfect results belong in the
world of Sudoku!
Encouraging practice
©Sarah Walker 2010
Page 8