The importance of the learning strategies
Found in: Playing-Based Methodology
Joy O., Alabama
After learning Ode to Joy, mom said her son wasn’t able to “get it” with the counting, so she tapped his hand when he was supposed to change the LH chord so he was able to learn the hands together. This week he only practiced Ode to Joy and Night Storm, no other songs. We had done the variation on Night Storm. Mom said Ode to Joy was really hard.
I encouraged mom to have him practice the other songs at least once a week. I feel they’ve missed a learning tool by leaving out the counting. This is a seven-year-old student in first grade. He’s in a shared lesson with one other students, a nine-year-old girl who picks up the songs faster and plays them better the following week.
The older girl is very concerned that the younger boy isn’t playing as well or learning as fast. I’m wondering about pacing with the two of them. She is able to go one song per week; he is better with two weeks per song.
Cate R., Australia
I think you got it. He missed a learning tool and this is a valuable lesson for all concerned. Let him know your concerns, get him to play while you count, have him play while you and mom count, have him play while he and mom count, then have him play counting on his own. Then grab his playlist and put 4 checks on it because he is a star for being so persistent with something that was a little tricky for him. I always tell kids “Neil doesn’t do anything by accident. If he wants you to count, then there will be a reason somewhere down the line”.
Maureen K., California
I have a different perspective: I wouldn’t be bothered that he didn’t learn HT using the counting tool, as long as he learns the song correctly. Neil has another way of learning Ode to Joy on the public website as a demonstration. I’m not suggesting you send them there, I’m just saying that the way it is presented in Foundation 1 is not the only way to learn. When a particular diagram or tool does not work for a student, and they find another way to figure it out, I celebrate that. It is being self-generative.
Jennifer Y., Canada
Is it possible to do it slightly differently for your student, but not have mom do it for the student? Instead of counting with one student, I let him use a four-beat sentence to know when to switch chords. We used “I like candy” but anything would do. He was having trouble with the numbers too. He picked up Ode to Joy pretty quickly with the sentence, and by the time we got to Alma Mater Blues, I could use counting for that and he was fine. I’m not sure how I feel about mom tapping his hand. If we change the concept just slightly, so mom isn’t doing the thinking process for him, he is just processing in a different way for himself.
And I agree that it might not be too big of a deal. He will encounter counting again very soon and you could take a bit of extra time to help him in the next song.