Simpedia

Rosalie C., Australia

I have been teaching for almost two years now, and until recently have never felt really satisfied with how I have ‘wound up’ Level 1 for students -meaning how I have given them a real sense of accomplishment, ushering them into Level 2 without losing momentum, as well as consolidating their work.  I have recently tried out the same lesson plan with teens, children and adults and it has been really successful.  So thought I would share it…

At the lesson after Alma Mater Blues, I set up a table away from the piano with blank pieces of big paper, some marker pens and chairs.  I tell them it is mainly going to be a ‘talking’ lesson.

Firstly, we get the Level 1 notes book, and page by page, song by song, we write down all the skills and knowledge we have learnt for that song – e.g. in Dreams we talk about melody diagrams, and for Jackson Blues we talk about the 12 bar blues cycle or chord progressions, for Ode to Joy we speak about saying instructions out loud and playing the LH on the ‘1’ count.  We note Tailpieces, Rhythm, Melody and Harmony Diagrams, Controlling The Events etc etc.  We write these down on the paper – if possible getting students to write them themselves.

It generates lots of talk, lots of consolidation, and a good time for me to clarify learning strategies if I need to. Students can then take the paper home with them as further demonstration of their learning.

I usually end this part by saying – again!!!- that it is OK for them to know all this and the songs, but what makes the difference between one pianist/musician and the next, is how beautifully they play the songs. We then go to the piano and for a bit of fun we play a few songs ‘exaggerated awfully’ and then the same songs as beautifully as we can. I speak about how the instrument is a an extension of their arm and themselves and their job is to get the most beautiful and ‘song-specific’ sound out of it as possible.

Finally, we go back to the table and I reiterate about how music is a long-term relationship to learning and it is up and down – the Relationship Conversation. I get them to plot themselves on the curves and usually they are all up at this point. I don’t spend long on this, but tell them I shall refer them back to it at a later stage – I suppose I am just setting up a framework for helping them to understand their ‘up and down’ experiences later.

I then ask them to tape the level at home – as beautifully as they can play it – and after I have listened to the tape I give them the Level 1 Certificate.  So far this lesson plan has worked really well for me. I thought I would share it and wonder if any one has any comments or anything to add.

Samali D., Western AU

Congratulations on a wonderful idea!

I think encouraging students to look back retrospectively and reflect on their learning has enormous benefit for the present as well as their future learning (not only in terms of SM). After all, SM is about ‘learning a way of learning’. And as I remind all my students consistently, “the learning will end when all your fingers grow to the same length!”

Specific skills and tools that we use as teachers of SM appear over and over again in the pieces we present. As you are all well aware of some of these include Vocalizing, Controlling The Events, Rhythm Diagrams etc. As a result, I am confident that you could have a very deep conversation with students in more advanced levels, that have been exposed to these learning tools for longer and have had more experience with using them.

In addition to this as a practice in my studio, when I use a Learning Tool for the first time e.g. CTE in Dreams, or Vocalizing in Storm, I have a short set-up conversation about what the learning tool is, its purpose, what the student can expect of me and what I expect of them in order to make the tool work as effectively as possible. Then when the tool appears in future pieces, I take the opportunity to remind them (by naming the tool) that it is being utilized yet again in this new context. It is another opportunity for me, and the specific student, to again practice using the tool together. I am so interested in seeing how a student’s relationship with each tool develops, managing any resistance they may have, helping them understand deeply why it is being used, and eventually getting to the point where they ask, suggest or automatically turn to use a specific tool for themselves.

Coaching this aspect of a student’s learning is critical for a successful SM experience. I talk about and discuss the Learning Tools from the beginning, and continue such a dialogue throughout the students’ experience with me.