Here are some excerpts from the chapter, Woodshedding: Break it Down; Build it Up! from Igniting Response (to our Conducting), Publication: 2019
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Drill challenging passages into students’ muscle memory slowly to guarantee accurate execution (Just like we do when we practice!)
DRILLING & REPETITION
Lasting improvement happens only when music is drilled into muscle memory:
DRILLING & REPETITION
Lasting improvement happens only when music is drilled into muscle memory:
- Improvement lasts only if music is drilled and drilled and repeated and repeated over a series of rehearsals.
- We professionals go over and over certain passages on our instruments to make sure they’re in our muscle memory; how much more true is this for our young musicians?
Drilling is also vital because:
Put learning where it belongs
Move as much into the muscle memory and the unconscious mind) as soon as possible.
- Students will hear improvement and learn to trust your methods, will cooperate, respect and trust you more
- They learn that they can meet any challenge and how it’s done – they’ll know that getting great results is do-able.
Put learning where it belongs
Move as much into the muscle memory and the unconscious mind) as soon as possible.
- If execution is not in the muscles, the conscious mind must focus on getting the right notes, and is not free to watch, listen, adjust, or express.
- The result is that we imprison our music-making faculty.
- Know what belongs where; don’t ask the conscious mind to do what the muscle memory should do.
- Singing/playing it right is the job of the unconscious/muscle memory.
- Making music is the job of the conscious mind.
Convince ourselves that slow drilling and repetition are vital
We know this is the only way to create improvement – in ourselves and our ensembles; look squarely at why we don’t drill slowly in rehearsal - why we go for speed – all answers are in this book.
Share Your Thinking
Explain the Concept and why you’re focusing on it and spending so much time on it.
Drilling will not bore your students
Kids love repetition (Mommy! Daddy! Tell it again!). Don’t worry about going over and over it; when they hear the improvement that comes, they’ll realize it’s all worth it and will go with you more and more because they have experienced that you know what you’re doing. They’ll trust you to help them improve when they see you know how to create improvement – even if it’s by slow repetition.
Discuss the fundamental role of repetition in their lives
Relate slow drilling to their life experience, and assume they’re (at least) as smart and capable as we
We know this is the only way to create improvement – in ourselves and our ensembles; look squarely at why we don’t drill slowly in rehearsal - why we go for speed – all answers are in this book.
- We weren’t taught how to drill slowly
- We’re afraid the students will be bored and resentful
- We think we “don’t have time to drill slowly because there’s so much music to learn in so little time…and the concert is coming up.
- We focus on the upcoming performance and think that getting it up to speed quickly is the way to get there (it’s really the opposite).
Share Your Thinking
Explain the Concept and why you’re focusing on it and spending so much time on it.
- Tell them you know this is tough, not fun rehearsing (although you can make it fun).
- Ask for other examples of tough, not fun work they have to do in other areas of life/school – almost anything will serve to make the point.
- This is letting them in on your teaching method – they are interested in it because:
- It has to do with them, personally.
- It challenges their thinking.
- It is unexpected and unusual.
- The teacher is speaking to them on an equal level, the teacher is treating them like very intelligent colleagues and expecting that, of course, they will understand.
Drilling will not bore your students
Kids love repetition (Mommy! Daddy! Tell it again!). Don’t worry about going over and over it; when they hear the improvement that comes, they’ll realize it’s all worth it and will go with you more and more because they have experienced that you know what you’re doing. They’ll trust you to help them improve when they see you know how to create improvement – even if it’s by slow repetition.
- They’ll trust you more when they understand you’re doing it because you want them to experience nothing less than their best.
- That’s not the message they get when you take it too fast, they don’t get it, and you say that you’ll get to it the next time. Both you and they know you won’t.
- Teachers can be worried about kids getting bored, and feel that, to keep their attention and affection, they need to be entertained, which often takes the form of leaving drilling before it’s finished to give them the satisfaction of playing it through…or playing it faster that they’re ready to play it. Neither of which are necessary – the kids will absolutely go with what works.
- Teachers and students will both need to move out of their comfort zones during this process. For instance, it can take 10 – even 15 – requests, pleas, threats, etc. from a director to get a band to play a truly stunning fortissimo.
- It will be uncomfortable for the teacher to ask for more and more and more and still more and more, enduring all the while the kids’ eye rolling, looking at each other, etc. etc. until it happens. Teacher’s patience will be tested.
- Even if they moan and groan at first, persist until they hear some improvement and Just a little bit of improvement will get them wanting more (they won’t say so, natch).
- The issue here is our ability to see past the eye-rolling – not taking it as rejection and the pain that comes with – but knowing deeply the importance and effectiveness of pushing through initial resistance to what lies just under.
- Keep building attention and active involvement by asking them if it’s getting better—not telling them how it sounds – and asking in what ways it’s getting better…and what still needs improvement.
- It’s amazing how they will persist – doing it 5-10 times, even, to get it right.
- Young people love repetition - what is familiar (so do we) - and will not be bored.
Discuss the fundamental role of repetition in their lives
Relate slow drilling to their life experience, and assume they’re (at least) as smart and capable as we
- Ask students for examples from their own lives – both now and when they were younger – of how most learning is repetition that starts slowly.
- Younger: they tried - and kept trying and trying until they succeeded – standing up, walking, using a spoon, buttoning their buttons, tying their shoelaces, writing numbers and letters….ask them what they can come up with.
- Now: dribbling when going in for a lay-up; putting your hair up in a bun while giving an interview; remembering the lyrics to the latest popular song ….ask them what they can come up with.
- After rehearsing a few phrases, let the ensemble play or sing it without you - let them experience their ability to do it wonderfully on their own!
Drill problem spots every day
Make a list of spots that need to be drilled. It's very effective to ask students to identify trouble spots, then drill their correct execution every day.
Persevere
Working until students have achieved their very best sends the message that you care deeply about them. Over time, your reward will be their personal devotion and increased attention and participation, and vastly improved music making.
SLOWLY
Rehearsing at a slow tempo is vital: not metronome slow, but as slow as is needed for them to get it right...and that might be slower than you've ever rehearsed before. Rehearse ever slower, asking all the time if "this is slow enough to control and do it perfectly? No? Do we need to do it slower? OK." This will focus their attention on their music making, rather than following your slow beat. After rehearsing a few phrases, let the ensemble play or sing it without you - let them experience their ability to do it wonderfully on their own!
Drill no faster than they can sing/play it easily and accurately
Drill so slowly that correct execution is easy - no matter how slow that is: out of tempo, out of rhythm, even note by note.
Make a list of spots that need to be drilled. It's very effective to ask students to identify trouble spots, then drill their correct execution every day.
- Before beginning a piece, drill trouble spots in that piece several times – and slowly enough that they will be played/sung correctly.
- Instead of giving information (telling) drill it and drill it.
- Then make it one of the spots to drill every day so it gets into their muscle memory and they don’t have to remember to do it – their muscle will remember automatically.
Persevere
Working until students have achieved their very best sends the message that you care deeply about them. Over time, your reward will be their personal devotion and increased attention and participation, and vastly improved music making.
- Knowing that the music will, for sure, get better at each rehearsal because you know how to make it get better – and because you’re not going to stop until it is better! - fuels their desire to reach higher and work harder.
SLOWLY
Rehearsing at a slow tempo is vital: not metronome slow, but as slow as is needed for them to get it right...and that might be slower than you've ever rehearsed before. Rehearse ever slower, asking all the time if "this is slow enough to control and do it perfectly? No? Do we need to do it slower? OK." This will focus their attention on their music making, rather than following your slow beat. After rehearsing a few phrases, let the ensemble play or sing it without you - let them experience their ability to do it wonderfully on their own!
Drill no faster than they can sing/play it easily and accurately
Drill so slowly that correct execution is easy - no matter how slow that is: out of tempo, out of rhythm, even note by note.
- Resist the temptation to take it too fast for them to get it right “because you have so much music to cover.” If you do, you’ll be ensuring that the passage will never be right.
- Instead: drill it at a tempo slow enough so their muscles can memorize the right way…slow enough to control it so it’s right; remember Dr. Suzuki’s warning: “Practice makes permanent.”
- Note by note can be super effective, especially if you find the problem in a longer passage is going from one note to another; isolate those notes and drill going from one to the other – just like you do in your own practice.
- You didn’t do it when you practiced (I hope) because you would learn it wrong – real good. So don’t do it with your groups.
Don’t rush to get it “up to tempo”
Don’t rush to get the spot “up to tempo” for fear of boring the students. This is a common but deadly mistake. It’s the opposite – they like repetition and the improvement it brings. This is something I see all the time: teachers will rehearse a spot once or twice slowly then go through it up to tempo right away. This is asking students and their muscles to do what is absolutely impossible.
Don’t rush to get the spot “up to tempo” for fear of boring the students. This is a common but deadly mistake. It’s the opposite – they like repetition and the improvement it brings. This is something I see all the time: teachers will rehearse a spot once or twice slowly then go through it up to tempo right away. This is asking students and their muscles to do what is absolutely impossible.
- You took it slowly in practice – and you’re taking it slowly in rehearsal – so it gets into their muscles.
- When the muscles have mastered the spot, the tempo will get faster all by itself.
- Then, the conscious mind can watch you, listen to the other sections, and be expressive – it won’t have to worry about the notes.
- It’s physically impossible to solve a problem if you rehearse it very slowly once or twice, then, “OK, let’s play it at tempo…” That’s too fast for pathways to be formed in the muscles and brain; it is impossible.
- Playing it just a little too fast for them to get it right “because you have so much music to cover” is the worst thing you can do.
- You didn’t do it when you practiced (I hope) because you would learn it wrong – real good. So don’t do it with your groups. Sure, there was always the temptation to “take it up to tempo” so we could get some satisfaction – but we were looking for the kind of progress that only came with slow practice over time (darn it!)
- Tell them, "We’ll play it at a tempo so no one has to worry about whether s/he can get the notes – we’re here for fun and growth…not terror.
- Syncopation rap – they know every word of a bunch of rap songs – why? Because of the repetition.
Why repetition works.
The brain does not store memories in the form of note cards, each filed in its own place. Nor do memories exist in the form of collections of ‘special objects’ in ‘special places’ that can be located and used whenever needed. In fact, memories are both created and stored as PATHS between different neurons (brain cells) in the brain.
"Repetition of any activity brings familiarity and with it habitual muscle patterns to perform the task. Muscle memory allows us to perform tasks without the same conscious thought that was required the first time we did it. When we do something for the first time, we need to think clearly about every aspect of our actions, but with repetition, we get the hang of it.....Muscles memorize patterns of tension in relation to one another when an activity is rehearsed or practised....what we "'do'" becomes more ingrained with everytime we do it-no exceptions." Kingsley, Noel. "Perfect Poise, Perfect Life" Muscle Memory. Hodder & Stoughton, 2006. London.
"Repetition helps fix a new exercise in you head, so that the next time you perform it, you remember it more easily and perform it with less effort. Slow repetitions of a new exercise enable you to feel every nuance of the movement. Rushing through a movement before you've completely mastered it skips over the important process of sensing every nuance of the movement. Going slow helps your muscles recognize precisely what the movement should feel like when performed correctly." Klein, Ramona. "Dynamic Belly Dance." American Bellydance Innovations. 2006.
The brain does not store memories in the form of note cards, each filed in its own place. Nor do memories exist in the form of collections of ‘special objects’ in ‘special places’ that can be located and used whenever needed. In fact, memories are both created and stored as PATHS between different neurons (brain cells) in the brain.
- Imagine a green meadow with fresh grass; if you walk across it, you may leave a trace of your footsteps, but the grass will wave this way and that way in the morning breeze, and the mark of your footsteps will soon disappear.
- If however, you walk across that same meadow, retracing your footsteps several times, the grass will lie flat and a new trail will have been laid in the meadow; a trail that others can follow at a later time. It is much the same with memory.
- So many things impinge on our consciousness in the course of any one day, that unless the paths among the neurons that are created by each event are reinforced in some way, they soon fade and disappear.
- However, if a neural path is created under special circumstances, or if the experience is repeated over and over, then a lasting path, which is a lasting memory, is created. The special circumstances include the presence of emotion.
- So, if either strong emotions or several repetitions of an event are involved in the creation of a memory, then recall will be easy. A single event, experienced (or heard) under conditions of fatigue or boredom, will not create a memory that can be recalled later. This is an important lesson for teachers.
- Strong emotions (of which laughter is an excellent example) and repetition help create effective learning.
"Repetition of any activity brings familiarity and with it habitual muscle patterns to perform the task. Muscle memory allows us to perform tasks without the same conscious thought that was required the first time we did it. When we do something for the first time, we need to think clearly about every aspect of our actions, but with repetition, we get the hang of it.....Muscles memorize patterns of tension in relation to one another when an activity is rehearsed or practised....what we "'do'" becomes more ingrained with everytime we do it-no exceptions." Kingsley, Noel. "Perfect Poise, Perfect Life" Muscle Memory. Hodder & Stoughton, 2006. London.
"Repetition helps fix a new exercise in you head, so that the next time you perform it, you remember it more easily and perform it with less effort. Slow repetitions of a new exercise enable you to feel every nuance of the movement. Rushing through a movement before you've completely mastered it skips over the important process of sensing every nuance of the movement. Going slow helps your muscles recognize precisely what the movement should feel like when performed correctly." Klein, Ramona. "Dynamic Belly Dance." American Bellydance Innovations. 2006.
