Getting In Sync With The Steady Beat

  The internet is a buzz with the You Tube Video from Japan showing the science of the transfer of sound and thermal conductivity using metronomes.

 
 
  One of my most common challenges in teaching piano is helping students feel the beat and become synchronized with it. I wonder if 32 students playing the piano on a moving stage, playing the same song, will eventually yield to one ready beat.
  Hmm… probably not. There will always be a rebel in the group.

Deep Practice

  One of my piano parents suggested I read "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle. He is a kid's soccer coach and required all of the volunteer parents to read it to help their understanding of how skill is developed.

   I find the book fascinating because it answers the question about why some of my students come with music in their heads which they have been diligently working on at home. They show me pieces they have figured out by ear, pieces they have added variations to, and pieces they have composed. The task requires "deep practice" and I am learning to recognize the look on their faces when they enter that zone.
  They don't always "deep practice" the pieces I assign and so I am exploring how to ignite that interest.
  What is "deep practice"? These are the elements Daniel Coyle outlines in his book.

Rules of Deep Practice-

1- Chunk it up

   A. Look at the whole piece

   B. Divide it into the smallest chunks posssible

   C.. Play with time- slow it way down, then speed it up to find the inner architecture

2- Repeat it

    A. Time spent is not as important as time with deep practice

3- Learn to feel it

    A. It is tiring

    B. Get used to the feeling of failing

    C. It feels beyond your abilities

When I watch my students practice this way I see them  going over an over a part and often going back to the beginning countless times. As a teacher I have in the past halted that behavior as I feel it makes them unable to understand the whole piece. But, this intentness should not be discouraged. Perhaps these ideas are not so new to pianists but his research on how the brain reacts to "deep practice" is very new and important. More later......

How Do Our Brains Learn Best?

   I have been very curious about how our brains work when we learn to play the piano and read music.

   Of note in the blogging world is Tara Gaertner's blog about how the brain learns music. In my opinion, the world is learning much about how our brain works but our habits do not reflect what we know. Take for instance the truth we know about the brain's need to recall new information within a short timespan. In my teaching experience I have proven to myself that if a student practices a short time on the day of the piano lesson the recall of the lesson improves dramatically all week long. If this truth were to be implemented then the parent would have to make a consistent effort to make time that evening to allow the lesson learning to be reviewed and processed. Even talking with your child about the lesson and asking questions would expedite recall.
  I look forward to reading Tara's posts and finding ways to use my own brain better and encourage anyone I might influence.
  "Welcome to “Training the Musical Brain”, a blog combining my interests in neuroscience and music pedagogy.  I believe that neuroscience, psychology and related areas of research have a lot to tell us about the affects of music on the brain, and about the best ways to optimize our musical training."

http://trainingthemusicalbrain.blogspot.com/

Hands Together, Hands Apart

     Tara Gaertner, at "Teaching the Musical Brain", posted a most thought provoking question. Why do we practice hands apart? 

This is certainly standard procedure in my studio. Although, when we do sight reading exercises I expect the hands to play together very slowly. I did not understand why I knew this to be the best method until I read Tara's blog post.
"What this means for pianists is that playing the right hand by itself is not really the same as playing the right at the same time as the left hand.  So why do we practice hands-separately?  "

   Tara's understanding of how the brain works helped me see why hands apart does not make it easier to play hands together.

   "In other words, if we are playing the piano with only one hand, our motor cortex is inhibiting the motor cortex of the opposite side.  So, if we’re practicing only the right hand part of a piano piece, we’re probably learning to inhibit the left hand.  And when we learn the left hand part by itself, we’re probably learning to inhibit the right hand.  Is it any wonder then, that when we go to play the song hands-together, it’s still really difficult?"

    But here is the thing, if a student starts a piece with no aural model playing hands together can end up being just a cacophony of sound. I think finding the melody line with the right notes and rhythm helps to set off the harmony. I remember going to piano lessons myself and having the teacher comment that I certainly played with conviction but I had lost a whole harmonic line. The notes were there but because I couldn't hear the  part I was not able to articulate it enough to bring it out amongst the other parts. Separating melody from harmony seems to speed up the understanding process. But does it speed up the process of playing together?

"I think the bottom line is that, although there’s certainly value in hands-separate practicing to focus on details, we don’t really improve at playing hands-together by practicing hands-separately.  This is definitely a different approach than the one I was taught with, and it’s not really what I’ve been doing with my own students.  But I’ve also noticed that my own children are always eager to play their pieces hands-together before they know them well hands-separately, because it’s more satisfying to hear both parts at once.  And we could argue that satisfaction in playing is really what it’s all about."

   I think I am going to stop letting a week go by with assigning hands apart. Learning a smaller portion with hands together may be the more desirable outcome.