Failures in lessons

[J P]

Some people use a practice journal, others use more tangible objects that make it fun.

[Trista Hill]

The responses here have been fascinating to read as I encounter this issue quite a bit in my teaching studio.

I also agree that if the lesson is the only place the breakdown is experienced, and she is performing well everywhere else, then perhaps it’s not a problem.

[Mel Sandberg]

Thank you very much all, for your wonderful advice.

[Dwyn .]

Since the possible psychological explanations have already been addressed, I’ll add

[carl-swanson]

One other thought just occurred to me. Does your student, as part of her practice routine, include a run through where she goes through the piece without stopping, no matter how bad it gets? She may be very good at practicing in short increments, but doesn’t take the time to connect the whole thing together, except at her lesson. I call this type of run through a come-hell-or-high-water run through. My teacher, Pierre Jamet, laughed when I told him this. He called it a run through “avec les blesse et le morts”(with the wounded and the dead). It’s a very important part of preparing a piece and is very different from the micro-practicing that we spend most of our time on. Just a thought…

[Mel Sandberg]

Dwyn, your suggestions are very interesting and helpful, although not particularly appliccable to this student.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I think this is a challenge, but a much more simple and basic one. We have to learn to perform in all stressful situations, and the lesson is the first one we have to learn to deal with. The emotions make everything cloudy and intangible, and cutting through them with logic, directness, firmness that is meant kindly is so helpful. It also has an awful lot to do with the student’s ego, and its domination at that age. Many a great teacher has had to induce tears to break through the ego’s resistance to fully learning in order to fully teach the student. Students can have so much pride or self-regard, or so little, that they cannot tolerate disappoinment, frustration or challenges. There are also students who have never run into these stepping stones before.

[Dwyn .]

Just make sure your own assessment that there is plenty of light for your own needs isn’t masking the possibility that it’s too much light for her.

[Mel Sandberg]

Dwyn, I could check this out.

[Janna B.]

Do you ever play with her?

[Mel Sandberg]

Janna, in fact, I have often played along with her.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

That may be the problem, then. While it is an old tradition, the way Hasselmans taught, I would not play along with the student except occasionally. They could become dependent on you and unable to do it on their own. Besides, they need to hear themselves clearly. I think it is a great thing to do sometimes, and I wish I had more instruments to do so. I think I would have been intimidated if my teachers had always played my repertoire.

[Mel Sandberg]

Sorry, again my language – I did not mean that I play along with her 100% of the time.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I suspect that it simply the purpose of at least one student to constantly baffle the teacher, regardless of all reason.

[Julietta Anne Rabens]

This may have been suggested already, but since she specifically said it is the harp, i would examine all possibilities for how the equipment differs. It could even have to do with the bench because that has quite the effect on how the harp actually feels. If the height between your bench and hers is too different, then the entire harp will feel like a different size. She could even measure the distance between the bench and harp, stand and harp, etc. There might also be something about the pedal tension between the harps. Another area to examine are other aspects of the room like the lighting or how the walls behind the strings affects the way they look. As a trouble shooting method, it might make sense to have her bring her harp into your studio and see if the problem emerges.

It might be a sensory based problem. It could also be psychological, but it is important to start with the explanation she offers since she is the one viewing it from the inside.

[Author]

Posts