Personal Bests and Mini Outcomes: Some thoughts on your pupils’ practice in these unprecedented times

Naturally the first necessity for all of us in these in these exceptional times is a combination of looking after ourselves and those close to us, with an eye on moving forwards towards a better future.

For many younger folk, especially those who would normally be living a highly structured life based around the routine that school or college provide, it is all very strange and different.

But, looking from a more positive perspective, for those who love their music and are learning to play or sing this time can serve as an opportunity to help them progress on an unprecedented scale. 

So, let’s get our pupils practising! Give them some routine, normality and the potential for deep and meaningful engagement, in a world where the usual expectations have, for a while, been removed.

Practice… it’s a heavily loaded word! I’ve never quite known why (for some, anyway) it’s associated with negative thoughts. Let’s set about changing that.

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First there are some background principles we need to take into account:

• Young people are interested in NOW

• The process needs to be enjoyable

• The practical and immediate relevance needs to be clear

• No one particularly wants to do ‘chores’

And also some clear guidelines in how to create the perfect psychological environment.  The practice needs to be:

• Understandable and engaging

• Appropriately challenging

• Fun

• Rewarding

• Imaginative

Whether you’re a computer gamer or not, there are certain lessons we can learn from the world of video games. 

• The process itself is diverting, engaging, focussing and fun

• There is a clear sense of direction: I know what I’m supposed to be doing and why

• The progress is clear: Today I went up 20 (or maybe 200 or 2000) levels

So, how can we apply all this to help our pupils practise?

Put simply, they need to:

• Plan for progress, and

• See that progress when it happens

Practice is often too vague and so pupils simply play/sing through pieces and songs, maybe correcting a few obvious errors along the way.  There’s not much fun in this.  We need to help pupils make a mental shift to more dedicated and goal-orientated practice, rather than filling up time with the brain only just in gear.

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We therefore want to encourage pupils to organise their practice with two particular types of activity in mind:

Personal Bests

(which are generally more directed towards technique)

and

Mini Outcomes

(which are generally more musically based)

Personal Bests are either how…

• …evenly

• …loudly

• …softly

• …cleanly

• …confidently

• …beautifully

• …speedily

• …slowly 

• …expressively

…can I do this thing, or play this note / phrase / passage?

It best applies to a specific technical aspect: the control of a new note; the control of the bow on a string crossing; the crispness of a staccato note or the control of an ornament… the list is endless. 

Or PBs are concerned with How many…

• …times can I tongue this note in 10 seconds?

• …times can I play G major remembering the F sharp?

• …times can I repeat this bar with perfect control?

• …connections can I make within this piece?

• …pieces/songs can I perform confidently at the moment?

Mini Outcomes are little challenges. They are concerned with Can I…? and How can I…?

• …improve the control of that staccato note?

• …play the first bar/last bar/any bar really beautifully?

• …keep my bow really straight in this bar?

• …play/sing this section with really vivid dynamic contrasts?

• …play this scale with really crisp staccato?

• …memorise the first 5 notes/octave of this scale?

In other words, they are asking the pupil to think: Can I do this thing like this…? 

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As our pupils are making their lists of PBs or MOs, we also want to encourage them to think:

• Why am I doing this?

• How am I going to do it?

• What is the result?

Given that there is probably more time available now for practice, you could suggest that pupils practise a number of times a day but each session is quite short and is aimed towards some very specific outcomes. Practice then become a series of Personal Bests and Mini Outcome activities.  Maybe two or three of each. This ticks all the boxes as set out above – it’s understandable and engaging, appropriately challenging, fun, rewarding and imaginative!

In time, pupils will become much better at creating a more positive practice mindset and a more practical way of using the time.

In tandem with this we need to teach pupils how to set up and react constructively and productively to what they do. They will need to look at the music to be practised, think, analyse and ask themselves lots of questions.

That could go a little like this:

In this practice session I’m going to work at this section of this piece, which has some staccato. I want to improve the staccato control and improve my staccato speed.

Mini Outcomes:  Work at staccato. Can I play them more crisply? How can I play them more crisply?  Can I play this bar of staccatos evenly?

Personal Bests: Can I play a really crisp staccato note? How many crisp staccato notes can I play in 10 seconds?  Last PB on staccato was four beats of semiquavers at crotchet = 60.  Today I’ll try crotchet = 61… or five beats at crotchet = 60.  

By the end of that session a lot of very focussed work will have been done.  If something hasn’t been understood, instead of getting frustrated, encourage the pupil to note it down as a question for the next lesson.

Measuring progress

The realisation of a Personal Best is a clear indication of progress.

The successful completion and accomplishment of a Mini Outcome is also an indication of progress.

Pupils have made progress and are aware of the progress they’ve made in each practice session.

It’s very motivating.

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Do let me know how you get on if you are able to encourage your pupils to try these ideas.

I’ll be in touch over the next few days and weeks with some more practical ideas to help you inspire your pupils with their music practice and learning at home…

Have you 'got' it?

It’s great when students get things. That happy moment when the penny drops, the eyes light up and we become enveloped in that warm glow of satisfaction knowing that our teaching has been successful.

But then, oh dear.

Our students return the following week and that new fingering or rhythm seems to have departed from their minds. What they had (and please forgive the usage) gotten, they seem now to have for-gotten. Interestingly, to forget tends to imply that the information isn’t entirely irrecoverable. In saying we’ve forgotten, we generally mean “I can’t remember it at the moment, but it will probably come back.” And that may indeed be the case. 

But it’s often not the case.

I love a particular word that disappeared from common usage many centuries ago. And that word is un-get. This is often what happens after we teach our students something new for the first time. The fact is, it hasn’t been temporarily forgotten. Whatever that thing was that they had got, they have now un-got.  It is irretrievable. It has completely gone! 

But that’s okay, let’s not worry about it. Instead, and with good humour, we simply need to teach it again, to encourage them to re-get it! And how do we do this?

The secret is to teach it again from other angles.

One great way to achieve this is by using the Simultaneous Learning Musical Map of the World (available to download free here) which will give you lots of ideas for teaching the matter in question in different ways and contexts that are linked to the piece you are working on. The key is to alter the order of steps that led up to that teaching/learning moment.  Simply make the appropriate connections in a different order.

This will help us discover what hasn’t quite been understood and is therefore preventing our student from properly getting it. Maybe they are not playing a phrase staccato – although they did last week. The reason they haven’t entirely got it yet might be aural – they are not hearing the staccato in their musical ear – or it could be a technical issue, or maybe it’s to do with dynamic levels or some aspect of their technique.  Let’s explore all these possibilities, vary the order in which we do so and, all being well, our student will eventually get with less likelihood of subsequently for-getting or indeed un-getting.

And so here is my ‘re-’ declining of the verb to get:

I get – which happens sometimes. But often… 

I for-get – which is possible. But more probably…

I un-get – which is more likely!  But that’s okay, because with a good teacher to reinforce the idea…

I re-get! – and it stays!

And that can’t help but make us all feel so much happier…

Paul will be presenting “Are your students really learning?” at the Music & Drama Education Expo, London on 6 March 2019.

Improve your sight-reading! Teachers book

Very pleased to see the Improve your sight-reading! Teacher’s book now available in Chinese.

Here’s a short video I did a couple of months ago with some useful sight-reading tips…

Now you're learning!

Considering the optimum environment for effective learning.

Successful learning is something we would like all our pupils to experience. Let’s consider three factors that are central to bringing this about.

As teachers we like to be in control. We know what’s best. We know what works. We have all the answers (or most of them anyway).

But for really effective teaching and learning we also have to go with the flow. Everyone we teach is different. Recognising each individual’s needs, harmonising with their learning speed, acknowledging each response and then responding back appropriately are all key aspects of truly successful teaching and learning. So, be in control… but do also go with the flow. We can balance these two life forces, and applying this balance when you are teaching is crucial. In practice, and in general terms, we do need to know where we’re going with each pupil and have a clear idea of a lesson’s path. But we also need to be constantly adapting. We may well have an agenda, but it must be very flexible. Teach the pupil through the music and the instrument.

We also need to be patient. And so do our pupils and their parents! Appropriate patience in teaching and learning has a lot to do with expectation: learning to manage expectation and being as realistic as possible is so important. Pupils and parents are often impatient, usually because their expectations are unrealistic. If we can bring realistic targets to all teaching and learning situations we will really begin to instil happy and contented learning.

Finally, empathy. In my opinion, the most important quality of the Virtuoso Teacher is an ability to communicate. For really effective communication to take place we have to do our best to understand deeply the person or persons with whom we are communicating.

“When our pupils feel they are understood then they can begin to relax into really productive and secure learning.”

Here, we must do our best to determine their interests, their learning speed, their level of motivation, their natural energy levels and what makes them tick musically – all without them actually realising! When our pupils feel they are understood then they can begin to relax into really productive and secure learning.

So, be in control but go with the flow; set realistic and understandable targets to create a patient approach and empathise with your pupils. You will be delighted to see your pupils becoming truly happy and effective learners.

The Double O Mindset

Simultaneous Learning is rooted in a ‘can-do’ world where activities are always pro-actively set up to flow sequentially and so provide the greatest chance of success and therefore persistent progress and direction.  This continually allows both teachers and pupils to live in in an environment of positivity.  And if we explain carefully how the process is working as we are teaching it during lessons, then pupils learn to use the same process in their practice. 

This doesn’t mean that things don’t go wrong from time to time, however careful we (or our pupils) are in setting up the next thing to do.  Maybe a pupil struggles (in a lesson or practice) to get something technical to work or can’t quite figure out a musical point.  

I’d like to suggest a way to deal with this, and I call it the Double O Mindset.

So often, musicians and others who find they can’t do things, get annoyed and frustrated: “I CAN’T do this” or maybe “Why CAN’T I do this?” they inwardly scream. This often leads to the follow-up thought: “I’m no good,” or worse, “I’m useless.” 

Of course, it’s entirely the wrong reaction; the wrong response. Rather than this aggressive, subjective, and angry riposte, teach pupils (and ourselves if we need to) to go for the Double O Mindset:

Observe and be Objective. 

In other words, we quietly observe what exactly is going on, and then analyse the situation in an agreeably and peacefully objective manner.

Instead of ranting “Why CAN’T I do this?”

We say, gently and thoughtfully,

Why can’t I do this?

We observe carefully what we are actually doing and we objectively search for a slightly different way that may well simply solve the problem. 

The word carefully is important.  When we analyse what we are doing we often don’t delve nearly deep enough.  If it’s technical, try to look, for example, exactly at hand position, use of all muscles involved in the task, exactly at what is being done in relation to the intended outcome.   If it’s musical, is there something not quite understood in the sequence of thought required to be at that particular point.  If our pupil takes this view, they may well solve the problem or realise what it is they don’t get, and bring that with them to the next lesson when, together, we can solve it.

So, do consider the Double O Mindset:  Observe and be Objective. It may well save a lot of time and emotional and misdirected negative energy.

Lots of New Sight-Reading!

I've just finished a big project re-writing all the wind sight-reading books to support the new syllabus.  Often people ask me whether I enjoy this kind of work and my answer is absolutely yes! 

There really is no excuse for pupils to find sight-reading 'difficult', unpalatable, or, in any way, a less enjoyable part of their learning. 

It's really a question of making no assumptions about what our pupils really know or understand and simply ensuring that they get the sequence of thought that will enable them to sight read accurately, fluently and confidently.  Here's what to do:

1.  Pulse MUST be understood.  Can they simply clap a sustained and even pulse?   In two, three, or four time (which will do nicely for the first few grades).  Do they understand what this means? 

2. Can they then subdivide this pulse? Clapping crotchets and thinking, speaking or maybe singing quavers for example.  Or tapping crotchets with one hand and quavers with the other.  But not just doing it - it's doing it, and really understanding what they are doing.

3. Can they then look at an appropriate sight reading exercise (rhythm ones always first!) - tap the pulse with one hand and the rhythm with the other, or play the rhythm on one note, or sing the rhythm (always whilst tapping the pulse, with a foot maybe or with a metronome).  Do they really understand how the rhythm fits the pulse?  They MUST!  By the way - if it's 'difficult' it's the wrong one to be doing!

4. Do they really know the key? They MUST!  Play the scale lots of times.  Not a few times but LOTS of times!  They must know the scale.

5. That's it really.  Then they will know what to do - they will understand (properly understand I mean) the rhythm and the pitches.  And that will mean there will be sufficient brain space for them to put the expression in as well!

Be scrupulous about this.  Don't cut corners.  And your pupils will thank you for it more than you can know!

Here's a useful (and short) video that explores these points:

The new series covers Flute (Grade 1 - 8), Clarinet (Grade 1 - 8), and Oboe, Bassoon and Saxophone (Grade 1 - 5).  Hope you enjoy using them and find them helpful. 

A fine time in Finland

Just back from an amazing trip to Finland.  I was there to take part in a three day clarinet festival that was centred around my music.  Quite a humbling situation in which to find myself!  I gave lots of lessons, a short recital, some masterclasses, a talk and some general coaching. I also wanted to learn as much as I could about their education system - internationally regarded as one of (maybe the) best in the world.   What I found was really fascinating. 

The school system is virtually the polar opposite to what we find in the UK (and many other countries).   Children attend school from 7 - 15.. then they choose either to go to high school, which prepares them for university or music conservatoire, or go to a vocational college which teaches them virtually anything else.  The school day runs from 8 - midday - then they are free to go to music school (one in every town), develop their interests, do sport or hang out with friends... There are few 'national' exams to have to worry about,  just three in fact - Finnish, English and Maths, which they take at age 15.  There is no (or very little) homework set, there is no school uniform. Parents can visit whenever they like - to sit in on lessons or talk to teachers. You can enter a school without having to sign forms, wear a badge or have your picture taken. There are no hierarchical systems in place - there is a head and a deputy head in each school, but no heads of year group or heads of anything else.  There are just teachers - who are very well trained (typically 7 years)  - who teach and enjoy teaching, and there are pupils who enjoy learning.  They speak 3 or 4 languages fluently by the age of 15 for example, and are much more than adequately educated in a host of other subjects.  There are no good or bad schools - they are all the same.  If you move to a new area the question,''Which is the best school around here?" would never enter anyone's mind. 

The wonderful thing about all this is that there is virtually no stress.  Teachers like teaching and pupils like learning.  Extraordinary!

All the young clarinettists I met (and I met about 70!) were enthusiastic, well taught and deeply engaged.  I met many music teachers too - they were equally so.   The prevailing teaching approach is probably rooted in more traditional ways - I gave an introductory talk on Simultaneous Learning and (as in China) it generated a considerable amount of interest. I think they were particularly interested by the positive nature of always setting up sequential do-able tasks and making pertinent connections that the students could immediately understand and process. 

Here's a performance by the clarinet orchestra from the Tampere Music school (where I and the Festival were based) playing the first movement of my 'Colours' for clarinet ensemble: 

How to Improve your sight-reading!

I've recently added some exciting new additions to the Improve your sight-reading! series. A special book in the piano series for teachers...

and completely new editions for flute and clarinet....

with new editions for oboe, bassoon and saxophone to follow soon.

It's always been my contention that everyone can learn to sight-read. It just takes some methodical teaching and learning. I hope the Improve your sight-reading series presents enjoyable and systematic material which, if worked through carefully, will ensure sight-reading success.

In this short video, I've outlined how best to improve your sight-reading and use the method.  Hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Do post any questions or thoughts below...

Making a study of studies

Mention Baermann, Blatt, Muller, Cavallini, or Stark to any self-respecting clarinetist and the response ought to be one of great reverence and gratitude. Why? Because they’ve all contributed to the huge depository of clarinet studies. That hoard of wonderful unaccompanied pieces that help us to improve our playing. Studies are an essential part of a clarinet player’s (and indeed any instrumentalist’s) development. The fact that we don’t generally perform them allows us to approach them in a rather different way, in comparison with the way we approach our pieces. Of course it’s not that we shouldn’t play or teach studies with the same degree of musicality and artistry that we bring to pieces. It’s knowing that they won’t be performed, knowing that they are just being studied for our own benefit, that puts them in a rather different psychological place in our minds. Studies are there for us to concentrate purely on our playing and on developing our technique. We can focus all our preparation into the nuts and bolts of making the piece work technically without worrying about how other ears (apart from our teachers’, perhaps, and possibly an examiner!) might perceive it. 

How to get the most out of studies

When approaching a study piece with a student, I start by first identifying the fundamental technical areas – for clarinetists, for example, these are tone, articulation and finger work. I then break these topics down into their myriad of constituent parts. For example, within the area of tone, there are studies to explore the taking and extent of breath; evenness, gradation, colour and beauty of tone; the whole range of dynamics and changing dynamics; controlling tone in different lengths of note and in different registers, and much more besides. Obviously each study has a number of other ‘active’ ingredients moving alongside the central objective and it is this amalgam that makes them really interesting to explore. Once you’ve identified the key ingredients, including the key of the study, I always encourage students to then examine that key (the importance of which can never be underestimated!) through its scale, arpeggio and any other related patterns, and then by making connections with the other ingredients. And we’ve explored all of this before actually playing from bar 1! 

Studies in practice

Take an example study from More Graded Studies for Clarinet Book 2. The study, called Zazz, in F major, features key ingredients such as articulation colour, crossing registers, syncopation and wide leaps. So, with a 4-time pulse in mind, initial lesson or practice activities might include work on the scale and arpeggio over a two-and-a-half or three-octave range, using different kinds of articulation (accented, non-accented, staccato) and thinking about clean and neat finger movement across the registers. Next you could try playing the scale or arpeggio with each note off the beat (or a combination of notes on and off the beat). Then how about playing F major in octaves – maybe also in tenths. Then more mixing and matching ingredient work could follow, combining any of the ingredients. The rhythm of the first two bars would fit a one octave scale perfectly – having got this under control, extend the pattern over three octaves, add the various articulation patterns. Next you might improvise some slightly more extended phrases using these ingredients and trying to give them a jazzy-like character…the possibilities are endless!

This is all imaginative preparation very much in the spirit of Simultaneous Learning – making connections, working with the ingredients in a logical, positive and musical way. And all this before we’ve tried playing from bar 1!  Once into this kind of work you might look deeper still and notice there are also some C, B flat and D flat major, D and E minor triadic patterns – more ingredients to explore and combine. Finally, when the decision to begin at bar 1 is finally made, so much of the piece is already understood. Ingredients have been explored and can be instantly brought to life in a musical and vivid fashion, and the technical objective of the study can be fulfilled, and some! Let’s take studies seriously - they can have an extremely beneficial role to play in our, and in all our pupils’ development.

A trip to the epicentre of culture… and some thoughts on exams…

It was with a strong sense of anticipation and exhilaration that I touched down at Vienna airport for my first ever visit to this wonderful city – in many ways the cultural centre of the world.

I was only scheduled to be there for two days but was determined to pack in as much as possible. The main part of those two days was speaking to teachers at the Vienna Musik Schule (six hours each day!) on Simultaneous Learning, The Virtuoso Teacher and other topics. 

On the first evening, the excellent Susanne (my host), took me straight to Mozart’s house.  There was a real a frisson of excitement as we walked along the very street that Mozart must have done so many times in the 1780s…

Mozart's street

The second evening we visited Beethoven’s apartment. Ludwig lived on the fourth floor – up many many steps.  We arrived only ten minutes before closing and I had the impression that the custodian was not best pleased to see us!   Nonetheless we had time for a good look round.  Though I really wanted to play a few notes on B’s piano another custodian’s rather severe and protectionist glance at me as I approached the keyboard suggested maybe looking rather than touching!  Again, the excitement of being in Beethoven’s rooms was tangible.

Beethoven's piano

We also visited Haydn’s house (closed unfortunately) and by the time we did (and had consumed a wonderful piece of Sacher Torte) we had to leave Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, Schoenberg and the rest for my next visit. 

Haydn's House

The fact is that Vienna exudes culture – the air is heavy with it and the Viennese and Austrians in general delight in it. And they are keen for the young to be immersed in it too.  Thus, all children have access to free music tuition by a large team of very committed teachers. But there was one serious issue: all children have to do a ‘one-size-fits-all’ exam after a certain amount of learning time, in order to access these free lessons. 

The Government, who pay for the lessons, understandably want to see that their money is being well spent.  But is an exam the answer?  It turns out that this exam causes both students and teachers quite a lot of stress.  And this caused me to offer some rather provocative thoughts.

My deep dislike of our public exam system in the UK stems from the fact that all children are different and, most significantly, learn at different speeds.  We all have (quite substantially) different brain processing rates – that’s how it is and that’s fine.  So we need to create an education system that acknowledges that. The graded music exam system does this, if used at its best, in that pupils are never required to enter. They choose to when they are ready. The one-size-fits-all approach of public exams only suits a small number – and the rest end up thinking: I’m not good enough… I can’t do it… I’m a failure.   And the number of learners with mental health problems in this country, which result from our public exam system should ring far more alarm bells than it seems to do.

I suggested that the Austrian teachers write letters to their government expressing their concern that the exam idea is not a good one. To replace it we simply need to define what happy and well-developing young musicians look like - at any time. In my opinion they look something like this: smiling, enjoying their music, thinking always how well they are doing in comparison to their own previous work. They shouldn’t be trying to fit in with someone else’s set of one-size-fits-all demands and requirements that may indeed suit some, but almost certianly won’t suit the majority.

The teachers seemed to agree with this.

So, if I haven’t stirred things up too much, I’m looking forward to my next visit!