I know some of you have started reading our book Nurture Shock and I wanted to share a little bit of it with you. I hope you all can read it. It is great! If you haven’t found a copy of it yet you can order it here or I know the library has several copies of it.

In the first chapter “The Inverse Power of Praise” we read:

“The presumption is that if a child believes he’s smart (having been told so, repeatedly), he won’t be intimidated by new academic challenges. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

“But a growing body of research…strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.”

A bold statement! And one that I did not agree with originally. Bronson goes on to share the findings of a woman named Dr. Carol Dweck from her studies on praise. He talks about different kinds of praise. When praised for innate ability or talent, children react one way and when praised for effort, children react another. I find these studies fascinating. Another article about Dr. Dweck’s work can be found here.

Have any of you read this?

What are your thoughts?

There was an article in the New York Times titled “Is Music the Key to Success?” I encourage each of you to read it, Do you believe there is a connection?

This fits right in with our discussion on the Non-Musical Benefits of music study–providing us with prominent successful examples of playing an instrument. 

I received this email from another mom (who happens to be my mom…) and thought it was particularly appropriate with our recital coming up on Saturday:

I want to share with you two of the parent responses I received to my question about the non-musical benefits of taking music lessons. Thanks for your replies!

Stephanie said:

“I think the non-musical benefits include learning to concentrate, gaining confidence, appreciating incremental success, developing respect for others and their talent.

I also think there are many benefits to parents besides listening to great music.  Along the way, I have gained some really valuable parenting perspective.  The band teacher at the middle school is particularly magical and he stressed how much kids need praise for what they get right.  He has some sort of formula for a praise to criticism ratio that has been good for me to remember along the way.  He is good to remind parents about just how hard it is to learn to play an instrument, not that it’s not worth the effort, but that it is effort.  Music has helped me push my kids in ways that I thought were good, like “just learn the first line today,” rather than letting them abandon a piece.  I often remind them at the end that what once seemed impossible is now totally playable.”

“I think there’s a huge benefit in having to practice something over and over as a means to perfection (see Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers). I also think that the repetition required to get a piece performance-ready is a built-in failure/reward system. One of the things that is less and less available to children is the opportunity to fail at something over and over and the intertwined ability to learn from the failure. Playing a piece beautifully requires a lot of playing it less than beautifully and persisting until it gets better. Extrapolate that out to, say, medical research, and someone who learned persistence in the face of failure or only partial success is going to be better prepared to fine-tune a pump for implantation, or more likely to conduct more rigorous studies of a new medication.

We talk a lot about wanting our children to succeed. I’d rather have mine fail, hard as it is for all of us when that happens. If they learn that failure isn’t final, that picking up and starting over is always an option, that they will most likely fail repeatedly at any skill before getting it right, they’re going to be more resilient and resourceful adults, people who have the confidence that they can do hard things.”

I received some great responses back to my Parent Education question from last week about the non-musical benefits of taking music lessons. I’ll be sharing some of those next week but this week I wanted to give you my list. Read through and see if you agree/ disagree or if you can think of additional things that should be added.

Every parent enrolls his or her child in music lessons for a reason. For many it is simply because that child has expressed an interest in playing or maybe it is because the parent played or plays and wants to pass on that legacy. I started playing at the age of three, the third of four children to begin violin at a young age. We all played because my parents saw value in taking a musical instrument–not just musical value but physical value, developmental value, social value, aural value.

That is what I want you to think about this week: what are some of the non musical benefits of taking a musical instrument. The last time I sat down and wrote them out I came up with over 50 of them.

I’d love to hear what you come up with!

What counts?

Often I tell students to repeat something 3+ times every day–which they faithfully do, but when they return to the next week the “preview spot” is the same or worse off than before. Why is this? Why did all those repetitions not help?

The answer is in knowing what counts.

When repeating a measure, do you know why I have asked you to repeat it? Is it for the rhythm? For the c#s? The circle bow or wrist circle? A bow in the highway?

There is always a reason and if you can’t tell me why you are repeating something how can the repetitions be helpful?

So first, KNOW WHY I’VE ASKED TO YOU TO REPEAT IT.

Second, BE PICKY. You need to pretend that you are me and every time you play the spot in question you should decide if you like it (aka if it was correct) or if is wasn’t right. If it wasn’t right it doesn’t count. I promise that if you are truly picky, each time you repeat it you will improve.

Third, CONCENTRATE. If you find after 3 times you just can’t play it right anymore, are you still thinking about why you are repeating those same three notes? Are you wondering what you are going to have or dinner? Or are you looking out the window?

If you are still thinking about violin, how is your tempo? Often the more we play something the faster we get. Make sure you aren’t going so fast your fingers and your brain can’t keep up.

As many of you know, I love teaching. And, perhaps more than I love teaching, I love the Suzuki Method. As I teach and take Suzuki Training I am continually impressed by the way this method grows with me. The more I study it, the more I believe in it and the more important I believe it is for my students. Dr. Suzuki was a genius–not only in the music he selected but more importantly in the way he taught.

A brief background of the Suzuki Method.

What makes the Suzuki Method different from other methods?

– Every Child Can. Every Child Can learn. All s/he needs is an environment that inspires that ability and the opportunity to do so.

– Listening. The Suzuki Method is often referred to as “the Mother Tongue” method referring to the idea that every child learns to speak his/her native tongue because that is what he/she is exposed to-from birth. Exposure to music leads to interest in music. Listening to good music performed well not only develops the ear but also develops a student’s ability to recognize beauty and a job well done. For my violin students, listening to the pieces they will be playing gives them a vision of what they can do as well as a model for them to follow.

– The importance of a positive environment. In a competitive and critical world, this method focuses on positive-focusing on what you do well to improve what you do not do well.

– Everything is broken into small steps. The smaller the bite the easier it is to digest. If notes/techniques are broken down into small enough “bites” every student can feel a sense of achievement every time they s/he has a lesson or practices at home.

– Repetition. Suzuki said that practice begins when after you can play it correctly. If it takes you 5x to play something right you have practiced it incorrectly 4x. In order to really learn something well you have to play it more times correctly than you do incorrectly and somehow this needs to be interesting and positive!

– Common Repertoire. Having a common repertoire allows for group playing as well as gives students a language they can use all over the world.

– Daily Review

– The Suzuki Triangle. The teacher, parent, and student working together as a team to create the best environment, the best practice, the best effort will produce the best results.

– Delayed reading

– Tone (your sound). If you are never taught to really listen to the sound you are producing, wether on the violin or on the piano, you will never be able to really hear what you are doing. Students need to learn how to listen and how what they are doing is producing that result.