Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!
Written and Published by Nicholas Ambrosino
http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
e-mail: director@musicsimplymusic.com

November 5, 2000

Table of Contents:

1. MTIPS Theme: Motivation from Within
2. Welcome Notes - (Shameless Marketing!)
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Birthdays
5. Q and A !

1. MTIPS Theme

There are 2 motivating forces for human beings. The first is the avoidance of fear and the second is the pull to pleasure. Many teachers choose to motivate their students to musical success through fear…. To me, this type of motivation might yield advanced musical results, but at the sacrifice of the human being. I choose not to motivate this way.

2. Welcome Notes

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!

I am very excited to welcome 38 new subscribers to MTIPS! Thanks so much for spreading the word about MTIPS to your friends and colleagues. I consider it an honor to be welcomed into you INBOX.

Shameless Marketing Plug: If you know someone who would benefit by subscribing to MTIPS, please forward them this copy and if they choose, they can click on the link below to become a monthly subscriber.

http://www.musicsimplymusic.com/newsletters.htm.

MTIPS is a FREE monthly newsletter that’s goal is to provide piano teachers (hopefully you!) with insightful practices that will make the career of sharing music with soon-to-be-musicians a more rewarding and successful one. Please let me know how I can be of further service to you. You may contact me at: :nickambrosino@musicsimplymusic.com.

Be sure to check our web site at: http://www.musicsimplymusic.com.
We have lots of information, and resources you can use. We’re constantly adding and up-dating, so check it often!

3. MTIPS Development

Recently, I had a student come to me from another teacher. She was playing at an intermediate level, a bit advanced for the time she had been studying. After our first lesson we chose what seemed like appropriate goals for next week’s meeting. The following week, the student hadn’t completed all of the goals we had set and arrived feeling extremely uncomfortable. Upon further notice, I realized the feeling was actually one of fear.

“I didn’t complete all of my assignment.”, she said timidly. “I really tried but I had 3 big tests in school and I had to complete a paper for English.”, she continued. I responded, “OK, it sounds like you had other priorities that were more important than music this week.” She replied, “Well it wasn’t that music wasn’t important, it’s just that I had all that school work.” All in all, she seemed a bit frightened about my reaction to her not having achieved her weekly goals.

After briefly exploring her time management skills, it was apparent that she had used her time wisely and I congratulated her. Do you know what she said? She astoundingly asked, “So you’re not angry with me?” I said, “No, of course not. As long as you know you gave it your best try, why would I be angry?” “Well my last teacher would be very upset and give me lecture and I would feel horrible.”, she replied. I simply told her that that was not how I chose to motivate my students.

There are 2 motivating forces for human beings. The first is the avoidance of fear and the second is the pull to pleasure. Many teachers choose to motivate their students to musical success through fear. As in the example above, the student is so frightened by the teacher’s negative response to an incomplete assignment, that the student wouldn’t dare show up at the lesson unprepared. To me, this type of motivation might yield advanced musical results, but at the sacrifice of the human being. I choose not to motivate this way. The person making the music will always be more important to me then the music itself.

Instead I use one simple question at the beginning of each lesson to teach my students how to motivate themselves. It allows them to accurately evaluate if they are working up to their potential. “Are you proud of how you prepare for our time together this week?” If they can honestly answer “Yes” then whatever they accomplished was enough. If they answer “No”, then we get to explore what they need to do to feel proud. I want them to be the force behind their achievement, not me. I want them to know that they are the captains of their own ships, not just mates following the captain’s (the teacher’s) orders.

I know I have said it before, and you will continue hearing it in MTIPS, feelings are the fuel behind our behaviors. Teach a student how to control her feelings and you will have provided them a gift well beyond that of having mastered another Sonatina. Have fun and enjoy your students this week. You are a gift to them.

4. Notable Quotables

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. Notable Birthdays

Benjamin Britten 11/22
Pal Hindemith 11/16
Jean Baptiste Lully 11/29

6. Q and A

Q: My student feels very frustrated when using a metronome, what can I do?

A: In my experience, many teachers start their students with a metronome much too soon in their studies. A metronome is an extremely accurate and unforgiving measurement of time. If a student does not yet play with a relatively consistent beat (i.e. the teacher tapping the beat while making minor adjustments for the student, to account for difficult technical or rhythmic passages), then he is not yet ready to use a metronome. Allow the student to play along with a more forgiving measurement (their tapping foot, or a teacher’s flexible clap). Once they become comfortable internalizing this flexible measurement of beat, then try introducing the metronome on simpler pieces.

Copyright © 2000 Nicholas Ambrosino. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute MTIPS so long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author of this article is Nicholas Ambrosino and he may be contacted at:

http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
director@musicsimplymusic.com

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