Image via Wikipedia
OK, Mr. Why’s Guy!
“Why do I need to do it THAT way… hell, why do I need to do it AT ALL?”
That’s the kind of student I was growing up. I questioned everything – EVERYTHING. I’m sure I wore out a teacher or two. In fact, when I was 15, one of my teachers glared down at me and said these eerily prophetic words, “Someday you’re gonna have kids JUST LIKE YOU!”
It wasn’t that I was being belligerent, although I’m sure my parents and teachers may have an argument with me there. I’ve never been a sheep, content to follow the herd. I just wanted – needed – a good reason to do anything. Is that too much to ask?
Well, ‘someday’ showed up and the curse came true. Over the years, I’ve had MANY students – and now I have a diminutive six-year-old step-daughter – all who are, you guessed it – JUST LIKE ME! Sometimes I get exasperated when I’m challenged with seemingly never-ending Why’s. Then I realize, “Dude, it’s a fair question. They have the same right-to-know that you have.”
One of my gifts is the ability to explain things simply using common every day stories and examples to make my point. I was a natural teacher ever since I can remember. As a young kid at the playground, I helped my friends swing a baseball bat properly. I showed my little brother how to throw a whiffle ball with various effects. I saw everything as a ‘teaching’ opportunity.
Later on whenever I took a class or course, I would be the first to help my classmates by explaining what the teacher just said. Seeing how quickly these people understood and caught on, the teacher often would thank me for the clarification. It didn’t matter the subject; simplifying things came easy to me. I even explained a difficult Tae Kwon Do move to a sweaty and frustrated student who just wasn’t getting it, no matter how many times the Master demonstrated. Because I broke the move down into 5-6 steps, the student got it within a minute with no further disruption to the workout. I was only an Orange Belt myself at the time. The Master was impressed.
I Only Teach One Lesson, Over and Over Again!
As a private music teacher for the past 38 years, I’ve had more than my share of Johnny and Suzie R. Mediocre’s. In fact, 99.9% of my students are your average, garden-type variety kids who took music lessons as an extra-curricular activity. Some were even forced by their parents to attend music class, either because the parents themselves were deprived the opportunity when they were children or because they couldn’t stand seeing their child ‘waste their lives’ bouncing a ball or doodling on a piece of paper! That’s a different topic altogether which I cover in my article, “Do What You Love“.
I really do only teach one lesson. The rest of the time, I apply my same 5-step process to increasingly difficult songs and skills, becoming more of a coach as I push and prod my students along the course. From the very first day, I tell my students, “This is everything you need to know in order to play even the hardest song in the world. Master these basics and you’ll be able to play anything.”
It sounds like a wild, fantastic claim to some. And for many – if not most – of my students, the novelty of taking music lessons wears off as early as week three when they discover they will need to put in some – oh, forgive me for using this four-letter word – W.O.R.K.
I realized early on that I needed some great metaphors to motivate these otherwise middle-of-the-road and I-could-care-less kids, even if just to preserve my own sanity. Thankfully, very few of my students are bold and brazen enough to come right out and ask like I did, “Why do I need to do it THAT way… hell, why do I need to do it AT ALL?” Nope, I find kids today are a lot more passive. They won’t argue or fight; they just won’t practice, PERIOD!
So even though these kids don’t question, I feel they still deserve a good reason. I try to deliver my rationale in such a way that they can apply the same thinking to other situations which will surely pop up in their lives.
Everybody Loves Pizza
Parables, analogies and metaphors have been around since the beginning of time. They are seemingly unrelated stories that help to explain an otherwise difficult to grasp concept; like, “Why should I do this? What’s in it for me?”
When I notice a new student’s interest and enthusiasm flagging, say around week three, I launch into my now-famous ‘Pizza’ story. I’m so proud when former students come up to me years after they’ve finished their studies and tell me that it’s stories like this that helped them, even today in their daily lives. Every one of my students, at some point, gets my repertoire of stories.
“Do you like pizza Johnny?” I ask completely out of the blue. Little Johnny gives me that classic, stunned what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look. Like, what does THIS have to do with music classes?
Everything, my little friend. Everything!
Johnny takes the bait and plays along, shaking his head affirmatively.
“What do you like on YOUR pizza?”
Side Bar:
I’ve been accused of wasting class time with my stories. Some parents aren’t happy unless they hear noise coming from the piano for 29 1/2 out of the 30 minute class. Graciously, they allow me and their kid the other 30 seconds to unpack and re-pack before and after class. So for you parents who need a good reason for, “Why all the talking?”, here’s a little Psychology 101 for you.
Unless you took the time to find the right activity for your child (unfortunately most parents DON’T, arbitrarily signing their kid up for something THEY themselves missed out on as a kid), your child probably isn’t a good fit for this activity. They simply don’t have the necessary talent and/or desire. They are more than likely just ‘tolerating the torture’ in order to please their parents. Sooner or later, they’ll end up quitting; usually sooner.
Students with talent but no desire will feign boredom and disinterest. They, too quickly fall by the wayside. Consistently the teacher gets blamed for not ‘lighting the fire’.
The only students who have a fighting chance of succeeding are the ones who have little-to-no talent but a lot of desire, and of course those who have an abundance of both talent and desire.
The last group of students – very rare gems indeed – don’t need stories. They go on auto-pilot, forcing the teacher to keep up with THEM!
All other students – fully 99.9% need stories to keep them going, or they’ll quit far too soon before they receive ANY benefits. Having said all this, I’m happy to report that my student retention rate averages 5 years. I tell great stories!
End of Side Bar
So as you can see, step one is to break the pre-occupation with boredom and dull routine. I’ve got to get the student on my side if we’re going to be a team. Since we all eat every single day, the pizza (or any other favorite food) makes a great example for the point I’m trying to make.
Now I’ve got the kid swiveled around on the piano bench facing me. Body language suggests that the child is fully engaged. I continue to entertain and enthrall my enraptured audience with ridiculous questions. In my room, I have a table 4′ X 2.5′
“Can you eat a whole pizza THIS BIG all in one bite?”
Clearly, they are amused, “NNNNOOOO….”
“Of course not; that’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“YYYYEEEESSSS….”
Side Bar:
Psychology 101 continued – ‘Music lessons’ sure are FUN! I’m making an impact! If I sell them fun here, I can sell them anything, even hard work, later on!
End of Side Bar
“Well, can you eat this whole pizza ALL BY YOURSELF?”
A few students will say yes; the majority will say no. To the latter group I say, “Oh YES you can!” Then I pause to gauge their reaction. I want everyone thinking ‘YES’ so I get them all on the same page for my next question.
“How would you eat this pizza if you had to do it ALL BY YOURSELF?”
Oh, the questions are getting harder, boys and girls. Even some older students, including adults, are stumped by this one. It’s a sad commentary on the lack of thinking strategies people have today.
Eventually I steer them into the answer I’m looking for, “You cut it up into little pieces and eat a little bit at a time… maybe only one piece today.”
Lights are starting to go on upstairs. Some still are giving me the, ‘I-didn’t-know-you-could-do-that’ empty expression.
“That’s right, you eat one piece today. Now what are you going to do with the REST of this pizza?” I go over to the 4′ X 2.5′ table and demonstrate how much they have left. It’s HUGE!
Again, I get a LOT of blank stares here… too many, in fact. Doesn’t anybody else ever teach these people how to THINK?
I persist in pushing and prodding to provoke the proper response. (applause for the alliteration, please)
“Do you have a refrigerator?” I ask. I can hear the faint sound of squeaky wheels as the thinking gears are slowly becoming unjammed.
“Yup, tomorrow’s another day. If you eat one piece a day, eventually you’ll finish the whole thing, even if it takes a week or two.”
Heads are nodding in compliance.
But I’m not through yet. I want to really drive my point home. I get graphic.
“What would happen if you tried to eat this whole pizza all in ONE MEAL?”
Everyone agrees, “You’d be too FULL!”
“OK, so you’re really full up to here (I point to the top of my head)… what would happen if you had just one more delicious piece?”
“You couldn’t DO it!” everyone clamors, getting more into the story.
“Oh, but what if you DID it ANYWAY!” I insist.
Some of the more adventurous souls guess where I’m going and offer, “You’d get a tummy ache!”
“Good, good!” I say. “Take ANOTHER bite!”
At this point, just about everyone is shrieking, “NNNNOOOO!!!!”
“WHY NOT?”, I’m so determined to make my proposition!
“Because you would BARF!”
BINGO!!!
I then do a mock barf all over the piano keys, to the gross delight of my students.
Time to Wrap Up
In real time, I can do this story in about three minutes. That’s right, THREE MINUTES. Three minutes to share a story that will impact this person for a LIFE TIME!
I go back to the music book, saying while I pick it up, “THIS is that WHOLE PIZZA! Are you gonna eat this all in one bite?”
“NNNNOOOO!!!!”
“Are you gonna eat it all in one DAY?”
“NNNNOOOO!!!!”
I go on to explain that ‘Practice is BRAIN FOOD’. Even if they could play through the whole book all in one day, more than likely the brain would be tired and over-full from ‘eating’, resulting in what I call musical barf.
I get graphic again, mock-barfing all over the piano and sometimes the student, just for further emphasis. I want my students to really GET this, and to remember it for a long, long time!
I open the book to a single song saying, “This is ONE PIECE of pizza! That’s enough for one meal… for now. Later on, the piece of pizza will get larger.” (I show them books and songs from more advanced grades, proving they DO get longer and more complex).
Then I go back to the 5-step process I taught them on day one. “This is how you eat your piece; you take one bite (step) at a time and chew it thoroughly! We’re gonna wrap up the rest of the songs and save them for another day. Does THAT make sense to you.”
Then we go through the piece, employing the five-step process. Beginner songs can be done in 5-10 minutes TOPS! When the students see how easy this is, they’re relieved. “You mean, that’s ALL I have to do?”
“That’s it, Bud! Any other questions?”
Do You Eat Every Day?
As we’re packing up, I ask my students if they eat every day. They look at me as if I’ve got rocks in my head. I checked one time… I do NOT.
I ask them, “How many times do you eat food every day, including snacks?” The typical answer is 3-4 times.
“What would happen if you DIDN’T eat every day? What would happen if you only got to eat once a week?”
“I’d be really hungry.”
“Of course. What else? What if you only ate once a week all the time? How would you feel?”
“I’d get real sick.”
Even LITTLE kids KNOW this intrinsically!
“Then what? What if you KEPT doing this.”
“I’d die!”
Powerful!
“Did you know that you only have to feed your brain once a day to keep it from dying? And how do you feed your brain?”
“By practicing.”
“And how much do you need to practice?”
“Once a day.”
“HOW are you going to practice?” I prod them, “Five ways, READ OUT …”, they have to finish the sentence.
Once I get them to do this, they not only OWN the process… they also understand WHY!
I may need to ‘rinse and repeat’ over the next few weeks. Remember, I only TEACH one class; the rest of the time I coach my students through what they already know they need to do.
Five year average student retention rate; lessons that last a lifetime! Oh, you gotta Love That Feeling!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f22c164b-5c89-4e78-a8da-54049e395290)
