The Talent Education Code - Part 3-

This is the third in a series of blogs which are an in depth analysis of Daniel Coyle’s book The Talent Code as it relates to the "Talent Education method" developed by Dr. Suzuki.

The Three Rules of Deep Practice:
Chunking, Repetition, and Integral learning

Myelin is what physically increases in the brain when ability is developed, and "deep practice" is how to optimize this process.  Part 1 of this blog-series discussed how myelin wraps around the neural circuits in the process of developing accuracy and speed in neural pathways.

In part 2 "deep practice" was discussed as the most efficient and effective way to build the myelin around the neural pathways for developing talent. Deep/deliberate practice involves full concentration on accomplishing a defined goal that is within reach, and getting constant feedback through the process.   In deep practice on the piano using Suzuki principles of learning, the student will practice a small spot(s) that contain the core feeling/technique of a piece many times.  There is a clear goal which has been practiced and learned at the lesson, and at practice the student gets feedback in the form of the quality of the sound produced as well as the outside perspective from a coach/parent. 
By practicing these small parts, the student is learning to "chunk" together patterns and understand their relationships to each other.  This is pattern recognition, a critical component of Ability Development. (1) Daniel Coyle defines this as the first of three rules on deep practice:  "Chunk It Up"   (2)

The second rule for deep practice is repetition.  Daniel Coyle differenciates deep practice from mere repetition because it involves the learner in the "Sweet spot edge of your capabilities, attentively building and honing circuits."  (3)  Rote repetition without engagement is not beneficial and potentially harmful. It is repetition done with the engagement of the learner in the process to fine tune each repetition, and to provide self-correction each time so that the thoughts/ movements become increasingly precise.The repetitions need to  keep the interest of the students and yet not be too hard to make them tired quickly.  Here is where a master teacher comes in to understand the sequencing of learning in relationship to building foundation skills and directs the learning in a way that challenges the student and also enables them to succeed. It is then the parents job to understand the subtleties and priorities of an assignment, and follow through.

Deep practice then means doing targeted specific repetitions that engage the learner in an integral learning experience  The important point is to let the student experience what they are trying to learn rather than tell them about it or about how to do it.  In music study, this will allow them to hear the sound as it's own language without words in the way.  This is possible because the sound has already been internalized through listening.  Next, help them be able to make that sound by using their body in the most natural way through demonstrations by the teacher, and key words that are associated with the movement at home. Connect the sound quality with the specific movements you observe and help the child to develop this awareness. This ability to play with a beautiful sound using a natural balanced position will be reinforcing to the child.  Dr. Kataoka says:

"If a child starts piano lesson at age 3 or 4, he or she should always learn what a good sound is, along with how to enjoy it. The teacher's primary task is to instruct how to make good sound because music starts with sound, and sound exists in the world of sensibility." (4)

Honor the child's feelings about the number of repetitions, and affirm the process rather than the result. In this way the goal is the practice experience itself.  Allow the mental/reading concepts to come at the child's own pace, preferably later. 

Deep practice is the center point of integral learning where the mental(aural), physical, emotional, and inspired aspects are in harmony, and the myelin wraps around the circuits to provide a clear path for the message connections between the mind and body, and a good feeling becomes associated with this as well.  When we can find this center point of learning, ability develops deeply, and at a much more rapid pace.
These concepts of core education and Integral learning will take us in the next blog to Daniel Coyle's third rule of deep practice: "Learn to Feel It"

1. Blog on pattern recognition written in April 2010:
   Ability Development and pattern recognition
2.  The Talent Code by Daniele Coyle, p.79
3. The Talent Code by Daniele Coyle, p. 88
4.  Sensibility and Education by Dr. Kataoka, p.54

Blog on Integral Learning written November 2008:
Spot Practice to Enable Integral Learning 

Other Blogs in this series: 

The Talent Education Code Part 1
The Talent Education Code Part 2
The Talent Education Code Part 4

The Talent Education Code -Deep Practice -Part 2

This is the second in a series of blogs which are an in depth analysis of Daniel Coyle’s book The Talent Code as it relates to the "Talent Education method" developed by Dr. Suzuki.

 Myelin wrapping around the neural circuitry is the "what" of developing skill/talent.  Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code,  uses the analogy of a broadband internet connection versus a dial-up modem to compare heavily myelinated neural connections versus neural connections with little myelin.  So, the myelinated connections allow much more information at a much higher rate to be transmitted. Deep/deliberate Practice is the "how" to develop skill and myelinate the neural circuits.

Daniel Coyle traveled around the world to study "hotbeds' or places where many people develop a high ability in the same location.    In an article from the New York Times published in 2007, (The Talent Code was published in 2009),  Daniel Coyle talks about his visit to the Spartak Center for tennis in Moscow where a large number of super "talents" have come out of Russia.  Coyle says: 
"To put Spartak's success in talent-map terms: this club, which has one indoor court, has achieved eight year-end top-20 women's rankings over the last three years. During that same period, the entire United States has achieved seven."(1)

The Suzuki movement was ignited in the United States when Dr. Suzuki* held the American tours and brought his young students to America to perform.  A poster from a concert held in downtown Atlanta in 1988 is on the side of this blog.  Dr. Suzuki created a "hotbed" for developing talent in the small town of Matsumoto, in Japan.   About environment Dr. Suzuki said:
"What does not exist in the environment will not develop in the child. By no means only words or music, but everything, good or bad, is absorbed by the child." (2)

What Daniel Coyle observed in the environment at the Spartak Center in Moscow and other sports and music talent hotbeds he traveled to is what he defines as "deep practice".

According to K. Anders Ericsson, the author of The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, every talent is the result of a single process: deliberate practice. He defines this as individuals engaged in a practice activity with full concentration on some point to improve their skill. Thus, deliberate practice means working on technique using constant critical feedback from observations as well as those of a coach/teacher. K. Anders Eriksson  defined this kind of deliberate/deep practice as distinctly different and more effective than simple repetition or spending time doing an activity.
"Deliberate practice differs from the mere experience of doing the task in many different ways. Perhaps the most striking way concerns the mental attitude of the individual. During deliberate practice the individual has the goal of improving some measurable aspect of their performance. For example, a recreational golfer aims their putt toward the hole on the green and either misses or drops the ball in the hole. Every time the golfer putts the ball, it is a different situation and the golfer would not know whether the mistake was caused by their putting technique, the slope of the green, the resistance of the grass, or whatever. During deliberate practice on a practice green, the golfer has the opportunity to make the same putt many times (Ericsson 2001)."*(3)

This idea of practicing the same putt many times is part of what Daniel Coyle defines as the first component of "deep practice"  and calls it  "chunking it up".  Basically this means that the practice is one definable part of the whole process of playing golf and that this allows the golfer to focus and build the myelin around the cirucits in that particular movement. He includes in this idea absorbing the whole concept/piece/"chunk" and then dividing it into it's  smallest possible parts.  "People in hotbeds deep-practice the same way a good movie director approaches a scene -one instant panning back to show the landscape, the next zooming in to examine a bug crawling on a leaf in slo-mo." (4)

In the Talent Education method, students listen to performances of the music they are studying as well as to performances by the best artists and the highest level compositions, such as Mozart concertos.  A unique benefit music has for developing this "sense of the whole" is that the music can be going on continuously and absorbed subconsciously without any effort or time consumption. Coyle cites examples of various successful sports players and teams that watch videos of the best teams and players. K. Anders Ericsson says:
"When you put yourself in the same situation as an outstanding person and attack a task that they took on, it has a big effect on your skill."  (5)

As an example of breaking skills into "chunks",  Daniel Coyle discusses the students at the Meadowmount School of Music playing sections of their piece in rhythms or with stops on certain notes on the beat, and how this practice distinctively develops the myelination of those notes together as a smaller chunk. This is an important way of practicing scale type passages. It is important for students to practice with stops on the beat, in phrases, in sections, hands separate, etc.  This breaking down is the crucial balancing component to absorbing the whole. Suzuki students practice spots that are patterns such as the alberti pattern.  ( Left hand: Do-So -Mi-So). Also, the "Twinkles"*** are themselves a whole study in the"chunking"  of rhythmic and melodic patterns for the child to absorb.

 About the Spartak tennis team Coyle says:
 "At Spartak it's called imitatsiya-rallying in slow motion with an imaginary ball.  All Spartak's players do it, from the five-year-olds to the pros."(6) 
Slowing down enables students to increase precision and develop a perception of the interlocking skill circuits. Dr. Kataoka called this "slow-motion" practice.  So, from the beginners to the advanced pros, everyone is practicing and observing others practicing  (no private lessons at Spartak) the simple movements very precisely over and over again. In studying Piano Basics with Dr. Kataoka**, teachers would play the Twinkles for their lessons as other teachers observed, and worked on the most basic skills of posture, ready and tone. Teachers in Piano Basics still study in this same way.
In describing chunking Daniel Coyle says:

"The goal is always the same:  to break a skill into its component pieces (circuits), memorize those pieces individually, then link them together in progressively larger groupings (new, interconnected circuits)"(7)

Dr. Kataoka  when instructing students and parents on how to practice used the term "part by part".  It makes sense in terms of building myelin for students to build these parts as overarching waves or "nesting" with the bigger ones encompassing the smaller ones starting from a single tone, down-up feeling, or slur and adding the bigger wave to a measure or pattern, to a phrase, section,  whole movement,   to the whole piece. Each part is in turn practiced to build the correct technique to produce the best sound.

In short, technique is established through deep practice, and this is what Dr. Suzuki meant by "Ability Development", what Dr. Kataoka instructed teachers and parents how to do at every lesson, and a critical component of core education.

Daniel Coyle relays his encounter with  77 year old coach Larisa Preobrazhenskaya of the Spartak team: 
"Technique is everything,"  she told me later, smacking a table with Khrushchev-like emphasis, causing me to jump and reconsider my twinkly-grandma impression of her. "If you begin playing without technique, it is big mistake. Big, big mistake!"(8)

References:
1. "How to grow a Super Athlete" by Daniel Coyles, New York Times Magazine, March 4, 2007
2.  Nurtured by Love, Dr. Suzuki, 1983; Page 12
3."Discovering deliberate practice activities that overcome plateaus and limits on improvement of performance" - K. Anders Ericsson-from International Symposium on Performance Science 2009- Keynote Paper
4 The Talent Code by Daniel Coyles, 2009; Page 80.
5. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyles, 2009; Page 80
6. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyles, 2009 ; Page 82
7. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyles, 2009;  Page 84
8. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyles, 2009;  Page 83

 *         For information on the Suzuki method Click here
**    For information on Dr. Kataoka and Piano Basics Click here
*** The "Twinkles" are the beginning pieces for all instruments in the Suzuki method.  They involve the twinkle melody with rhythms on each note.  They are used to teach how to produce tone with good technique on each note/finger.

Interesting Links:
"The Brains Behind Talent"  -a short New York Times Video on Doug Fields head neuro-scientist at the The National Institute of Health explaining myelination with an example of himself and his daughters.
"How the Brain Works": Great Video series from UCLA Neurobiology department

"White Matter Helps Brains Learn, Erik Vance- Interesting article in The Scientist on research done on myelin.

Other Blogs in this Series:
The Talent Education Code Part 1
The Talent Education Code Part 3
The Talent Education Code Part 4

The Talent Education Code-Part 1-Myelin

This is the first in a series of blogs which will be an in depth analysis of Daniel Coyle’s book The Talent Code as it relates to the "Talent Education method" developed by Dr. Suzuki.

When Dr. Suzuki named his school the "Talent Education Institute" in 1946, using the words "talent" and "education"  together was basically considered a contradiction of terms. Talent was considered inborn and you either had it or you didn't.  Education was for learning - reading, math and other subjects. Even as late as the early 1990's when I was traveling to Japan I read in a guidebook about the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto as "education for the talented". Dr. Suzuki  used the term "ability development" to help with this misunderstanding.  When he was asked in an interview with Isako Itano in the book Where Love is Deep about the word talent he says:

"I used the word in the sense that talent is something to be nurtured, but since it's inconvenient if we are misunderstood, in the future I would like to eliminate the word talent and simply call it education, when common sense changes enough to allow me to do so." (1)

Recent research about learning continues to support Dr. Suzuki's belief in "ability development" through the right environment.  In particular Daniel Coyle's book The Talent Code:  Greatness isn't born. It's grown. Here's how.  details how the brain develops, and how to maximize the learning process.  The book is based on neurological research about how myelin forms in the brain, and what it's function is to learning.  "Revolutionary", Dr. George Bartoklis, professor of neurology at UCLA  told Daniel Coyle: "Myelin is 'the key to talking, reading, learn skills, being human."(2)
About that Daniel Coyle says:

"The revolution is built on three simple facts.  (1) Every human movement, thought, or feeling is a precisely timed electric signal traveling through a chain of neurons - a circuit of nerve fibers.  (2) Myelin is the insulation that wraps these nerve fibers and increases signal strength, speed, and accuracy.  (3) The more we fire a particular circuit, the more myelin optimizes that circuit, and the stronger, faster, and more fluent our movements and thoughts become."(3)

Dr. Suzuki says:  "Ability equals knowledge plus 10,000 times." (4)  Knowledge is the mental aspect of acquiring talent.  Talent is the ability to do  in the present moment that which one knows. Through "10,000 times",  the myelin wraps around the neural circuits and creates ability. Again Daniel Coyle says:

"Skill is myelin insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows according to certain signals."(5)

When myelin wraps around the neurons with each repetition to develop pathways, or skills is exactly what Dr. Suzuki parallels in his statement: "Ability develops ability"(6)  and gives the example of lanquage aquisition in babies. Once the pathway is developed, through intended repetition the skills become easy and fast.

Actions are electrical impulses sent along chains of nerve fibers  that are connected together by synapsis. When you intend a movement the brain sends a signal through the chains of nerve fibers to your muscles.  Different skills have specific pathways -"sort of like a string of Christmas lights".(7)

The next important concept about skills is that the more we develop a skill circuit, the more "automatic" or without conscious thought it becomes. The more we can process in our subconscious minds automatically the more complex skills we can do.

Myelin or "white matter" is the phospolipid membrane or dense fat that wraps around the nerve fibers preventing the electriacal impulses from leaking out.  Since around the year 2000 many studies have come out with research regarding the role of myelin in the brain, and the increases in myelin linked with increases in various skills.

"Myelin quietly transforms narrow alleys into broad lightning-fast super-highways...Tennis players, singers, and painters don't seem to have much in common but they all get better by gradually improving timing and speed and accuracy, by honing neural circuitry, by obeying the rules of the talent code- in short by growing more myelin."(8)

Myelin grows.  It can be nurtured and directed to develop talent. This is Dr. Suzuki's "law of ability".
Next, is to figure out how to optimize this process.

1. Where Love is Deep-The writings of Shin'ichi Suzuki, p. 111
2. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle p.32
3. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle p. 32
4. Every Child Can produced by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, p. 9
5. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle p. 33
6.  Ability Development from Age Zero by Shinichi Suzuki p.6
7.  The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle p. 36
8. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle p. 41...p.7

Other Blogs in this series:

The Talent Education Code Part 2
The Talent Education Code Part 3
The Talent Education Code Part 4

Masterclass Workshop with Cathy Hargrave

Date:  April 9 and 10
Location:  Core Suzuki Studio

I am very pleased to announce that Cathy Hargrave will teach master class lessons for the studio and also for students from around the Bay Area in the Core Suzuki Piano Studio on April 9 and 10.  
Parents can sign-up in the studio for their time.  Teachers who are interested in observing and/or having students for lessons can contact Leah Brammer.
  
About Cathy Hargrave:
Cathy Hargrave is one of 24 pianists world-wide who was granted a teaching certificate by Dr. Shinichi and Dr. Haruko Kataoka, the co-founder of the Suzuki Piano Method. She lived in Matsumoto, Japan four years for the purpose of studying the pedagogy of Suzuki Piano first-hand with Dr. Suzuki and Dr. Haruko Kataoka. For over 30 years, Cathy has taught Suzuki Piano to children and teachers. She has been a frequent guest lecturer/clinician/SAA teacher trainer at workshops, national, and international conferences throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, Japan, and Russia. She is author of the book
Reading Music by Ear.   She maintains a private studio in Rowlett, Texas.

Every Child Can

Suzuki Philosophy is based on this important fact: Virtually all children learn to speak their native language.

It is by being immersed with language that children begin to imitate sounds, repeat sounds, understand sounds, and begin to communicate. Children can learn the language of music the same way that they learn to speak, which is first and foremost through listening.

Dr. Suzuki called this method the “mother-tongue approach”. He named his school “Talent Education” because of his realization that all children with the right environment can learn music and develop “talent”, or ability.

“Every Child can be educated, but children are not born with education. Knowing this fact will become the basis for insights regarding the nature of mankind.” (1)

There are enabling factors that must be considered when researching how every child can be successful in achieving high ability. There is a sensitive period for language acquisition. It is also true that infants are absorbing musical sound from birth, and even before birth. Beginning early is one of the principals Dr. Suzuki purports in all of his writings:

“The earlier talent development is begun, the better” (2)

Therefore creating an environment of listening to music is important from the very beginning of life in the same way that it is important for babies to hear language. After the child has internalized the sounds of the pieces they are ready to begin to speak music. When the young child learns to play their instrument, it becomes a natural integral part of their learning, their life, and their abilities. Dr. Suzuki said:

“If a three year old child starts practicing the violin, his little finger will be as strong and agile as his other fingers. He will be able to do splendid fourth finger trills. Such a small child may only need to train a thousand times while an adult will not be able to achieve such a skill after training even one hundred fifty thousand times. “(3)

Older beginning students greatly benefit from studying through the Suzuki Method as they have the freedom to focus on the aural/physical connection in playing their instrument. However, the visual connection may be at an earlier stage with older students. The Suzuki method is a flexible natural learning method that can be uniquely suited so that every child can be successful.

Children learn naturally from everything in their environment without any specific instruction. Absorption of the pieces the child is learning to play is a daily diet of listening. In the same way that children internalize the accent and tone of their parent’s voice, they will absorb the sound on the recording. The listening environment is the most fundamental concept derived from the mother tongue approach and a critical factor in success for the student.

All of the factors that affect the child’s learning and development physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually are important to consider when providing an optimum environment. Thus the parent’s involvement is integral to enabling the child to be successful.

“The destiny of the child lies in the hands of his parents.”(4)

Dr. Suzuki often talks about the importance of the parent’s role in the child’s emotional development:

“As the saying goes: ’The knack of fostering is the parents skill. ‘ In fact, ‘the parents smile is the child’s smile.’ Education while scolding and clashing is the least skillful way. I would like you to think as a parent about ‘how one can be skillful or clumsy at inspiring the desire to learn.”(5)

It is the responsibility of the teacher to nurture and educate the parents to understand the philosophy of “Every Child Can”, and help them develop the skills to work with their child.

An important aspect of success in language acquisition is repetition. Consider the amount of time a baby hears familiar words like “mama” before speaking, and how many times the child repeats that word after learning it to develop ability. Therefore in the mother-tongue approach, the child continues to play pieces after they are learned, while refining skills.

“Raise your ability on a piece you can play”(6)

Recognition of what is correct guides the repetition/practice to develop ability. This feedback to the student comes first through internalized sound so that the child is seeking to reproduce. Next,the teacher’s affirmations connect the physical aspect of what the child is doing with the aural sound that is produced, as well as with the feeling the sound makes: “When you move your fingers that way the sound is a beautiful legato.” The parent continues nurturing the child in the same way with the repetitions at home. The child is encouraged by the affirmations and the parent is empowered to help with the knowledge that this practice will lead to improvement and the development of ability.

“I hope that you can now understand that great talent and a deep, beautiful feeling in the heart are closely tied together. “ (7)

The Suzuki repertoire is the language spoken by the students in the Suzuki piano studio. Discs, observation, recitals, and groups create motivation to play those pieces. The teacher also creates an individual studio repertoire in addition to the core curriculum that may include Christmas pieces, improvisation ideas, and post book 7 repertoire. Overall, the core curriculum along with the evolving repertoire creates the aural environment, which enables students to learn pieces naturally.

Children who begin lessons early have the language of musical sound as part of their primary language. After children can play songs with fluency the “picture” of that sound is introduced. This is developmentally appropriate reading. The musical score represents a picture of the sound the child has already internalized. Group classes focus on the application of concepts so that the aural, visual, and kinesthetic concepts are directly linked.

Advancing students become aural readers. This ability to read can be developed by linking the sounds with visual symbols in the same way students learn to read words. The visual picture of the sound enables the student to retain detailed information about making changes to what they are playing. Ultimately students memorize the aural sound/visual picture as a whole. This way they can play by heart.

All of the enabling factors for learning the language of music are derived from the mother-tongue philosophy. Every child can benefit from the abilities that are developed through learning the language of music. Learning how to communicate through music with beautiful tone is a wonderful life ability. It is a way that we can feel that which is beyond words. By researching how children learn naturally we can learn now to provide the best environment for optimum learning. We are empowered with the responsibility of enabling every child to be successful.

Bibliography

1. Ability Development from Age Zero, Page 6

2. Ability Development from Age Zero, page 55

3. Ability Development from Age Zero, page 55

4. Nurtured by Love, page 12

5. Where Love is Deep, page. 44

6. Where Love is Deep, page 51

7. Ability Development from Age Zero, page 61

Sensibility and the Holidays

Sensibility is the ability developed through learning by the senses. In Dr. Karen Hagberg's explanation of the term "Sensibility" as translator of Dr. Kataoka's book "Sensibility and Education" she says:

"To Dr. Kataoka "Kansei" (translated as sensibility) is the sum of the five senses, plus the intangible heart and soul, through which children absorb their environment."(1)

When we remember holidays past as adults, it may be the aroma of certain foods or the scent of the Christmas tree that remind us of our feeling/experiences as children. It could be the Christmas lights or the sound of carols. Ultimately it is the "intangible heart and soul" that remembers the feelings of Christmas/the holidays.

Holistic learning is a process of ingesting the environment/concept all at once in an intuitive/senses way rather than only the intellect. Children learn through touch, sound, intuition. Babies and children learn through absorption of the total environment rather than part by part.In holistic learning, the child has a grasp of a concept without necessarily knowing the details or even being able to produce anything. It is this type of learning that enables a person to perceive what is going on without necessarily being able to actually say in words what is happening. In learning language, babies are absorbing the environment and understand long before they are able to articulate. Children in general understand feelings even when they do not know exactly what is being said.

So, "knowledge" in this way is not really measurable. Students who learn primarily this way may not always do well on a test. However, given a practical situation they may be able to cope with the problem solving issues that another student going by the textbook answers would be unable to solve. This is how a person can be in a completely foreign country where they do not speak the language,yet be able to communicate and act appropriately without ever learning the customs or being told the protocol. Contrast this with how a person can grow up to be completely unaware of how other people are thinking/feeling/perceiving, or unable to make good judgments. We see this in real life all the time and wonder how to educate children to make wise judgments in the complexities of day to day reality.

Core education is the development of life ability-or talent at life. The definition of the word core is: " the central, innermost, or most essential part of anything." It is core learning that develops the ability to learn which is the essential part of education. Developing life ability involves preserving and nurturing the natural way children learn from birth through their senses.

How can we preserve and nurture sensibility? Essentially, by having awareness of the child's senses and giving credence to them. Dr. Suzuki said:

"Skillfulness in rearing a child comes from knowing and feeling as he (the child) does in his heart."(2)

So this means taking the time and the presence to experience life directly with our children. This includes not thinking of other things when the children are talking and giving the space for the child to enjoy the moment without rushing to the next thing, In this way the child has the time to discover without extra instruction or thinking. We also preserve sensibility by recognizing that the holidays are full of stimulating activities and therefore balancing these activities with quiet feelings and enough sleep.

Find the place of a calm peaceful happy heart inside yourself and notice how your child responds to you. As Dr. Suzuki said:

"The mother's smile is the child's smile."(3)

In music study, the child who learns holistically can play freely without the burden of too much thinking or worrying in the way. Music then becomes a form of direct communication. There are two important things you can do over the holidays:

1. Continue to play the Suzuki recordings. In this way even if the child practices less, they will not forget their pieces, and will be internally memorizing the new pieces to be learned in the coming months. Additionally this provides a consistent environment and motivates them to go to the piano and play their review pieces.

2. Let your child share their music with friends and family. When children can give their music as a gift to others they can learn the joy of giving. You can do this informally, or organize a concert. Also, you can use the video recordings and send to relatives and friends far away with a personal holiday message.

Have a wonderful holiday!
Leah Brammer

Bibliography
1. Sensibility and Education, Dr. Haruko Kataoka, p. xii
2. Ability Development from Age Zero, Dr. Suzuki, p. 23
3. Words for the Day, #2-A collection of 31 sayings by Dr. Suzuki written on shikishi. (See right side of the blog for picture)

The 16th Fryderyk Chopin Competition

The 16th Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw finished this week. Many of the most famous pianist in the world including Martha Argerich, Garrick Olson, Maurizio Pollini, Yundi Li,and Krystian Zimmerman have won this competition at the beginning of their career. The admissions committee began it's process in February and the live preliminary auditions were in April. The first stage auditions began on October 3, with the finals finishing on October 20. There were 78 performers to enter the first stage, forty participants went on to stage two, 20 participants were chosen for stage three and 10 performers were selected for the finals. Each stage had specific requirements. The final stage included the concerto with orchestra,

There were so many wonderful pianists from all over the world, and many incredible performances. I feel it is inspirational for piano students to be able to watch these young performers as they begin their careers.
Therefore I would like to share with you excerpt performances of the finalists.
The links to watch their complete performances at the Chopin Competition on the competition website are at the bottom of the post. The audio quality is better on those links, but it is more difficult to get to specific pieces as you cannot fast forward, and there is no embed code for a blog/website. So, I have taken the best clips I could find off You-tube. When you are watching the excepts below, you can click on the full screen button in the far right corner of the video to enlarge the video, and then press the escape key to get back to this blog.

Evgeny Bozhanov, age 26 from Bulgaria is my personal favorite of all the performers. He finished in 4th place. Below are two excepts from his performances:






Next Daniel Trifonov age 20 from Russia came in third place. Interestingly he misses the repeated notes in the very beginning, but goes on to play a wonderful performance.



Next is Lukas Geniusas(spelled wrong on the You-tube link) from Russia/Lituania who at 19 years old tied for second place:


The other second place was Ingolf Wunder, age 26 from Austria:



Next is the first place winner Yulianna Avdeeva age 25 from Russia performing the famous Polanaise op. 53 from the second round of the competition, and then the third movement of the Concerto in e minor in the final round of the competition:






First Place -Juliana Andeeva -Link to third stage performance:
http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/video/3_Yulianna_Avdeeva/stage/3

Second Place -Lukas Geniusas -Link to third stage performance:
http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/video/14_Lukas_Geniusas/stage/3

Third Place -Danill Trifonov -Link to the third stage performance:
http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/video/72_Daniil_Trifonov/stage/3

Fourth Place -Evgeny Bozhaov -Link to third stage performance:
http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/video/5_Evgeni_Bozhanov/stage/3

Enjoy!
Leah Brammer

Learning Technologies

Dr. Suzuki was a big proponent of using technology to provide the best environment for students. He formally began his Talent Education School after World War II in the small farming community of Matsumoto. Students listened to recordings of great artists. As early as the graduation concert in 1953, Dr. Suzuki was listening to tapes of students playing as a part of their graduation process. There are many accounts of how he would awake at 4:00 AM and listen to all of the tapes submitted to him from around Japan. Just from listening to the tapes he would be able to tell specifically how the student was playing, such as holding the bow, bowing, posture, etc. He would give specific advice on how to improve their tone through technique, as well as encouragement, a graduation certificate, and the opportunity to perform in the Graduation concert.
Dr. Kataoka was very interested in the Blu-Ray technology with it's superior sound and video capabilities. She had a collection of famous pianists that had recorded on Blu-Ray. Additionally, all of the 10 Piano Concerts in Matsumoto are professionally recorded, as well as many of the concerts. So, there is a history of openness in the Suzuki Method for using technology as a tool for learning.
Let's research how to use technology to help us create an optimum environment for learning:

1. Recordings: Please use a collection of recordings and make play-lists. These play-lists can be put in various places from the car to the MP3 player, as well as on the iPhone, or burned onto a CD.
It is good to make sure that your child hears pieces they are working on now as well as next month, next year, and even years from now. For example students in Book 1 can listen to pieces in Books 2 and 3, or the graduation level pieces including piano concertos. These pieces can be mixed in to their working pieces, or listened to at special times. Often times in the lesson I will make a specific listening assignment for that week.

2. Video blog: The studio video blog on this website has postings of Suzuki students playing the repertoire beginning as far back as 1996. I am regularly adding to this library. This is a wonderful place for your child to spend time watching and listening to piano students perform:

http://coresuzukipianovideos.blogspot.com

3. You Tube: On my You-tube homepage I have a section devoted to Suzuki repertoire. Some of them are professional pianists, and others are students. I also have piano music sorted by performer, and am beginning to save according to individual pieces. When I am writing blogs, I am researching You Tube and playing it at the same time. This is inspirational to me.


http://www.youtube.com/user/LeahBrammer

4. Recorded lessons: Having a record of the lesson is a very useful tool. The camera is in the best position to be able to see the body balance of the student. When you view the video you can really see the posture, how we are working on it, and how it affects the sound and the playing.
This is more valuable than written notes. For students whose lessons are getting longer it is a good idea to "track" the different sections of the lesson. This way there will be different sections on the video recording that you can view separately. To do this turn the camera to pause and then back to record. For example, the scale, reading, each piece, or a special practice section. This will make it much easier to get directly to the section that is the most useful.

5. Books and Blogs: There are many good books on ability development that have come out in the last couple years. I will be writing some blogs on the book "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle. You may be able to get it at your local library.

all the best,
Leah Brammer

Create Ready

All of us are working on the process of lessons, such as how to arrive with calmness. When I say all of us, I mean myself, the parents that are new to the studio, and the returning parents as well. So, we are really always working on the most important points. To help your child in this endeavor, please make as much quiet listening space as possible for your child before the lesson.

We're focusing attention on the ready - the place of non-action - the place of stillness. Students continue to need this time, and practicing the ready every day creates a habit of becoming still before beginning to play the piano. Ultimately after many years of practice, it develops the ability to become still/focused inside as a conscious choice. Please continue.

When the process of learning is rooted in stillness/calmness, children feel nurtured in the doing rather than rushed, or pushed. This can be difficult to achieve in the middle of a busy schedule! It takes a strong intention to make the time and the place for a child to become still and focused.

This focus is the ready and is the potential for a high level of learning. Teaching this kind of focused attention is teaching how to learn.

At the beginning of this school year -Create Ready

*Please play the recording many hours every day. Internalized sound is a key component of "ready" to speak music.

The New Year

In August, I usually ask parents to prepare for the new school year by getting organized: ordering books, playing discs, setting routines in place, and establishing good habits. These processes are both important and necessary to provide a good environment for the child. However, with all of these extra things to do, along with taking care of other children, a job to attend to, and various responsibilities, it is easy to be thinking about everything except the child in front of us. Teenagers are often finally able to verbalize this feeling when they exclaim: "You don't listen to me!"

Attention develops Awareness

When we give children our full attention, they feel acknowledged, empowered, important, and nurtured. Attention is totally different from judgment. With total attention we bring awareness to the child. Ultimately it is this awareness that develops through our attention that enables the child to change and grow.
As Dr. Kataoka said:

We must, with effort and perseverance, patiently nurture the ability to concentrate, listen and differentiate.(1)

So, if a parent is texting, e-mailing or other forms of non-attention to the lesson, the child has less awareness for learning. Part of the room is focused on something else. When it is the parent or the teacher that is thinking about other things, it becomes especially difficult for the child to remain focused. If another child is playing with a toy during the lessons it is distracting, however if the adults are focused on the lesson, the child can still concentrate. If another child is reading a book, they are engaging in a similar kind of focus, so it is much easier for the child having the lesson. However, when everyone is watching the student have a lesson, the child can really concentrate well. The child loves this experience and learns to communicate to the other people in the room through the sound of the piano.

The same is true at home. In the book Journey Down the Kreisler Highway (2) violinist and Suzuki teacher Craig Timmerman writes:

Your children will always carry the memory of your working with them each day of their childhood. Can you imagine the warm memory that will be theirs to carry around in later years when they leave home? That memory and knowledge will provide a security and appreciation that will be deeply rooted...It seems that there is always a special bond within families who give this kind of gift to their children. Undoubtedly it will take years for your children to fully appreciate the gift you have given them, but when that realization does come, what strength it will have.

Keiko Ogiwara, former student of Dr. Kataoka and Suzuki teacher says:

"The memories and abilities that the children gain through their music study will be their treasure when they are older, more valuable than anything you can buy."(3)

This "special bond" is nurtured by the attention and focus of the parents without judgment on both their child's home practice and lesson times. With this attention, children can develop a better awareness of their own sound and enter into a "flow" state.

This is a positive psychology concept developed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. From Wikipedia: (5)

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation.

Csíkszentmihályi describes some specific parts of the flow experience. These include the following:
1. Clear reasonably reachable goals.
2. A high level of focus or concentration in a limited area.
3. A disappearance of self-consciousness. That is, a person’s ‘awareness’ joins with the action and that common experience of having a separate sense of observing the self disappears.
4. The subjective sense of time is distorted.
5. Immediate feedback is available to adjust behavior as needed.
6. There is an optimal balance between a person’s ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult). So, a person is not overly frustrated nor bored.
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding. The activity is worth doing for its own sake.

This 'flow' state leads to the best performances when the child can fully express their self and communicate with their audience.

It is important to distinguish between attention that develops awareness, which fosters intrinsic motivation; and attention that accompanies judgment (be it positive or negative) which is a type of extrinsic motivation. In one of my earlier posts, "Affirm, Motivate, and Inspire" (4) I discuss how extrinsic rewards diminish motivation:

"I believe this is partially because the child looses their sense of autonomy and feels controlled rather than nurtured and supported. The question then is not whether to use a "carrot or a stick" to influence a child's behavior, but how can we preserve and nurture intrinsic motivation? Think about a baby learning to walk. It's great when parents are happy that the child is trying to walk, but it is also obvious that the child is trying to walk because they are driven to do so. I have never known a parent to give candy to a child if they took an extra step!"

Although it may seem contrary in terms, I would define this process of a baby learning to walk as a "flow" experience. Likewise, it is important that students are motivated intrinsically to develop their awareness and ability to communicate through music.

Providing the best environment means holding the space for concentration by looking and listening and noticing and acknowledging. This awareness enables you to give the child an affirmation or acknowledgment of what you are observing. This increases their their ability to learn and improve without the emotional roller coaster of good and bad. The intrinsic motivation to play the piano is strengthened through this experience. This is Positive Affirmation.

We can develop children's music ability by fostering their inner awareness. In doing so, we will surely help them develop their Life Ability.
The resolution for the New Year is concentration.
The intention is the development of awareness.
"It is the readiness of the mind that is wisdom." Shinryu Suzuki (6)

Bibliography/links
1. From Piano Basics Newsletter Volume 2.6 November/December 1997
in the article "Prince Shotoku and Pianists"
2. "Journey Down the Kreisler Highway-Reflections on the teachings of Shinichi Suzuki" by Craig Timmerman published 1987.
3. From a speech given at the Sacramento Suzuki Piano Friendship Concert-August 15, 2010
4. From this blog "Core Suzuki Piano", the article "Affirm, Motivate, and Inspire" published January 2010
5. Flow Theory:
Wikipedia
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow from Ted Talks on You-Tube
6. "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Shunnru Suzuki, page 113

*Thanks to my daughter Bria Long for editing this post.

28_Twinkle Lessons: Learn by Heart, Play by heart

At this time it is important to review, absorb, and finish. It is the end of the school year physically, mentally, and emotionally. The goal to the end is to be doing the most important learning in the present moment.

In the last blog I discussed the importance of Transfer in Learning. The students are in the process of transferring the ability they have developed in their Twinkles to the Right Hand pieces. Additionally, they are acquiring the left hand skills with very little instruction because they are transferring the learning from the Right Hand.

Also important in the development of ability is the contextual variety or differences in the pieces. For example, Clair de Lune and Long Ago both start with the first note repeated and then go up from the Do to the Re. Another example which is coming up for the students is Little Playmates and Allegretto II which begin with the same notes and same basic rhythm.
This challenges the student to differentiate between the two songs. Through repeated listening and practice they will be able to do this easily without confusion. This is the natural outcome of pattern recognition development that is discussed in the blog Ability Development and Pattern Recognition. This is done first aurally, then physically, and they also may be using some mental discriminators such as Clair de Lune has 3 repeated notes and Long Long ago has 2 repeated notes. By memorizing the aural patterns and connecting them physically and mentally they are internalizing patterns in a very different way from students who learn to read symbols and depend on the visual cue to "know" which notes to play. So, in addition to developing the ability to recognize patterns, we are developing the ability to understand the relationships between those patterns much like putting together words and sentences. They are able to "speak" and thus have a fluency and security in their playing. This is a much deeper knowledge/ability than having a piece "memorized."

Through playing the disc many hours each day we provide the most important part of the process for the child to be able to learn all of these skills.
It's amazing really how complex it is what they have to learn, contrasted with how simple it is to provide the right environment for natural learning.

After the student can play the correct notes with accuracy and tone it is important to help them keep the steady beat. The easiest way to do this is to continue to sing the solfege - not to help them find the notes or fingering -but to help them keep from slowing down or speeding up. At lessons I do this by playing with the student. Also we are working on deep and light sounds. This is the same as natural inflection in speech. It is good to mark the places where I am demonstrating deep and light sounds in your score and then you can sing in that same way at the home practice. This will help them to feel the beat and rhythm, and thus will help their music have "feeling". This is discussed in more detail in the blog "On the rhythm"

At the beginning of year I wrote "Fertilizing the roots" which refers to the idea of reinforcing the most basic concepts upon which the framework of learning is developed.
The roots have been fertilized well. The students have good posture, and good ready position.The students can produce a good tone and move their fingers. They understand how to listen to singing/playing and copying the sound. They can play many pieces, and are learning the left hand. They have their unique preferences and abilities too. This is also natural and part of individual sensibility that teachers and parents must always be aware of. Dr. Kataoka's book Sensibility and Education is a wonderful book to have and to read.

Now is a good time to affirm everything that they can do when they play piano. The concept of affirmation is presented in the blog "Affirm, Motivate, and Inspire" and is one of the Seven Principles of Core Education. This affirmation will help them understand on the emotional level (without the need for external rewards) how much they have really learned this year. As they practice, point out all of the skills they can do. It is not necessary to say that they are "good" or even "did a good job", but only to affirm what they can do. Also, please affirm the process such as "you are able to do that spot 10x now" . That is the most important point to bring to their awareness now. Intrinsically, they will grow from this understanding. Emotional growth is part of Integral Learning which is written about in this blog: Twinkle Lessons: Integral Learning.

In January 2009 I wrote an article on integral learning to the teachers in Philadelphia before traveling there to teach. Here is an excerpt from that blog which is relevant to the point we are at now:

Dr. Suzuki's famous quote "Character then ability" points to the recognition of developing the emotional and spiritual quadrants. In fact, the whole true way of "Talent Education" is to enable the student to develop physically, emotionally and spiritually as well as mentally.

"Playing by heart" is not just memorization. It is not just physically being able to play the notes without looking at the music. It has to do with what is going on inside when a person is playing. This is mysterious isn't it? For example, if we teach physical with mostly verbal/mental directions, students are probably thinking "move your fingers, drop your shoulder, don't drop your head, etc. etc." If we teach how to "interpret" the musical score with directions instead of teaching through sound, students are possibly thinking "Get louder here, slow down here, ...etc"
If we do not help the students achieve enough ability before a performance, we can feel/hear them get nervous when the hard part comes.

When you see a great performer, do you think they are thinking/feeling this way? Can we teach "playing by heart" through teaching students many things to think?
Dr. Suzuki called this way "playing with heart tone", which is in essence the place where the sound and the awareness are one without interfering thought.

With our best intentions and effort the children can play by heart at every practice, every lesson, and every performance. This is optimum learning.
Piano Ability is Life Ability

*Please enjoy the performances on the right side of this blog. The two performances are an excellent example of ability development, the concept of transfer, and playing by heart. Katie performed the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement for her level 9 Graduation performance, and the Beethoven Concerto #3, 1st mvt. for her level 10 Graduation performance.
**All the best to the Atlanta teachers and students on the upcoming Graduation Concerts. A Special Congratulations to Marjorie Saviano and her wonderful teacher Robin Blankenship. Marjorie will be performing the Beethoven Concerto #3 for her level 10 graduation. performance.

27_Twinkle Lessons: Ability Development and the Concept of Transfer

Recitals and concerts are very important points in the learning process. They solidify and accelerate the learning because their importance makes them memorable, and the connection between the preparation and the performance becomes internalized.

What is important after a recital is to utilize the learning from the recital by transferring the ability into the new pieces. In the Book Intelligent Music Teaching Robert Duke explains the concept of transfer:

"The Application of acquired knowledge and skills in situations other than those in which the knowledge and skills were originally learned is called transfer of learning."

He discusses the importance of educators always asking themselves the question "Why is it important for students to learn this now?" By teaching and emphasizing only the most important point at a given point in time in the learning process, students are able to learn the fundamental skill that will transfer into the new pieces. This of course involves repetition of the specific skill.

Just now the students can play Twinkles with good ready, good posture, good technique, and good tone. As you can see from the lessons this week I will continue to ask them to improve their Twinkle technique. It is also time to transfer their ability to the pieces in Book 1. The repertoire is uniquely suited to developing ability because the pieces contain multiple opportunities to transfer the knowledge and gain fluency through this process. You may notice when your child is learning a new piece that their sound is now legato even when they are just learning the notes, and that their hand position is naturally above the keyboard. We can facilitate this transfer by helping them discover similarities and pointing out times when you observe them using skills from a previous piece on the newer pieces.

The transfer of ability into the next piece, the next book, the next level of complexity, is through the process of fostering, nurturing, natural learning, and critical to ability development.

This last week I worked on keeping the "thumb up" with some of the students. This is only one small point but allows the whole hand to stay over the keys and the fingers to be able to move. The new pieces coming up -Clair de Lune, Long Ago and Little Playmates all start on the thumb so this is the appropriate time to solidify this ability and spot the beginnings of the pieces.

How the students are learning the left hand is another good example of the use of transfer. They "know" how they are supposed to hold the arm and move their fingers, but the physical skill has to be developed. So, in this case the contextual similarity of the right hand and left hand will enable them to acquire the ability much more quickly than when they learned the right hand. That said, since the students are right handed the left hand may require more development to become fluid. Repetition is the important key here.
Dr. Duke says about repetition:

"Through consistent, productive repetition over time, the physical and intellectual habits of musicianship become learned to the point that they are somewhat automatic and require less and less conscious though on the part of the learner. All competent musicians have skills in their repertoire that have been rehearsed to a level of automaticity that requires little effort or thought. For example, when it's time to play, the body and the instrument "go to playing position" without a great deal of thought on the part of the performer."

Contextural variety or differences are important too. Pieces that have the same rhythmic feeling at the beginning such as Go Tell Aunt Rody and French Children's Song, but have different pitches develop learning off similarities and differences. Long Long Ago and Clair de Lune together teach this same concept of similarities and differences because they both start on the same note and both go up at the beginning of the melody, but have different rhythms.
The optimum environment for human beings to learn and to transfer that learning into ability arises out these abilities which have become internalized. Eckart Tolle,author of A new Earth and The Power of Now says:

"Do you think that when Rembrandt was painting, he stood there with a brush in his hand thinking, "Okay, I wonder what my next brushstroke is going to be. If I put it there then it may clash with that. I'm not quite sure, but maybe two more centimeters to the right, let's measure it. It might look better over . . ." Creativity arises out of the state of thoughtless presence in which you are much more awake than when you are engrossed in thinking."

This kind of awareness/ability is taught through helping students transfer knowledge/ability from one situation or piece to the next. Again Dr. Duke says:

"If the goal of education is that students learn to use knowlege and skills effectively in the future, even in unfamiliar circumstances, then transfer must be defined as the goal of instruction."

As we continue to learn piece by piece we are focusing on core ability development that is transferable immediately in the new piece. accessible as a habit/ability that we use spontaneously.

Links:
Google Scholar search on Transfer in Learning Transfer in Learning The first article listed from International Encyclopedia of Education is a good general description.

Intelligent Music Teaching by Dr. Robert Duke, director of the Center for Music Learning at The University of Texas at Austin:



Other articles I have written on Ability Development:

Ability Development and Pattern Recognition
Ability Development and the Growth Mindset

Link to the final Twinkle Lessons Blog in this 2009-2010 Series

26 - Ability Development and pattern recognition

There are many resources to validate that music lessons of varying types increase intelligence. If you Google "music and cognitive development", there are no less than 4,000,000 articles.
Websites I found ranged from sites which want you to buy a listening CD, to research papers at various Universities including the MIT research site where I found 1,830 articles on music and cognitive development.

The question then is: How can we optimize music learning so that core ability is developed?
What is the link between learning music and cognition? After thinking upon this for a long time I have come to the conclusion that the most basic link between music and cognition as well as the link to physical and emotional learning is pattern recognition.
A very good explanation of pattern recognition is from the Intelligencetest website:

"Out of all mental abilities this type of intelligence is said to have the highest correlation with the general intelligence factor, g. This is primarily because pattern recognition is the ability to see order in a chaotic environment; the primary condition for life. Patterns can be found in ideas, words, symbols and images and pattern recognition is a key determinant of your potential in logical, verbal, numerical and spatial abilities. It is essential for reasoning because your capacity to think logically is based on your perception of the logic around you. Your pattern recognition skills are expressed verbally through your long term exposure to language and your mathematical and spatial abilities are based on your perception of numerical data and 3D objects."

Learning piano through the Suzuki method uniquely develops pattern recognition. This is done first aurally, then physically, and then through making the visual connections to the sound and the tactile sense. Additionally through repeated listening, "understanding" develops of the smallest pattern which is repeated in many variations as well as the a sense of the larger patterns such as whole pieces, movements and larger works. When Suzuki students memorize the aural patterns and connect them physically and mentally they are internalizing patterns in a very different way from students who learn to read symbols and depend on the visual cue to "know" which notes to play. So, in addition to developing the ability to recognize patterns, music study develops the ability to understand the relationships between those patterns, and to be able to create from this level of understanding.

As students are learning the melodies of the pieces in Suzuki Book 1 they are learning the pattern sequences of the notes - going up/going down/repeating the same sound. They are learning the similarities and differences of these patterns for the phrases in a piece, and also the form of the whole piece. They can play many different pieces. As they internalize the patterns, they are working on the quality of the sound and how to use the body to get the best sound. This way, the knowledge from the repetitions becomes ability and the *implicit learning about the patterns becomes actualized. This is important to note, because it is the self-discovery and experience of playing the patterns that develops the ability.

Through this process the framework is developed for the more advanced pieces. It is much better to take time to develop the solid basics and then the children can progress naturally with ease and ability. This is truly what Dr. Suzuki meant when he said these two important phrases:

"Knowledge plus 10,000 times equals ability"
"Raise your ability on a piece you can play."

In Daniel Pink's book "A Whole New Mind", he proposes what he considers to be the necessary qualities to be successful as society changes from "the information age" to "the conceptual age":

"Symphony, as I call this aptitude, is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman in his book "Working with Emotional Intelligence" writes about a study of executives at fifteen large companies:

"Just one cognitive ability distinguished star performers from average: pattern recognition, the 'big picture' thinking that allows leaders to pick out meaningful trends from a welter of information around them and and to think strategically far into the future."

I firmly believe that all students who begin piano at a young age and with the right environment can learn to perform a full piano concerto by memory in collaboration with an orchestra and at the same time have an individual expression before they finish high school. I already have seen many students do this. By setting these aspirations for the children and giving them the steps to achieve these goals over each week, each month, year, and ultimately their childhood, we are creating patterns of work, dedication, enjoyment, and success that will enable them to be adults who envision and create their life.

Piano Ability is Life Ability!
Children are so wonderful,
Leah Brammer


Implicit Learning: This kind of learning has been called various names including ‘learning by osmosis’, ‘thinking without thinking’, ‘the adaptive unconscious’, and also 'natural learning'.

Links to Music Learning and Cognitive Ability information
Here is a short one from Science Direct:
The Effect of Early Music Training on Child Cognitive Development
This article mentions the studies being done on students at a Suzuki School in Canada:
Effects of Music on the Brain
Here is another one:
"Higher Intelligence through Music"
The idea of listening to music to increase spatial reasoning was popularized as the Mozart Effect:
Wikipedia on Mozart Effect

Click Here for a Link to the next Twinkle Lessons Blog 

25_Twinkle Lessons and Core Education

Dear Parents,
The students can play many pieces now. We are balancing learning new repertoire with developing skills and habits. Please keep the focus on the most important points to continue to progress and develop ability:

1. Life Ability-Spend as much time on the ready position as possible in every practice. This will develop awareness and intention.
2. Natural Learning-Listen to the disc as much as possible in every 24 hour period.
3. Whole Learning-Continue to encourage free time at the piano while differentiating the practice time with more discipline.
4. Integral Learning- Focus on the inspirational quadrant by listening to performances from the Core Studio video blog, and disc for books 2 and 3.
5. Ability Development-Help your child connect moving their fingers with the sound they are making. This is possible when the ready position is good so that the hand is relaxed and the mind is focused. Do repetitions on the assigned spots and ask for moving fingers.
6. Core Focus-The most important point to come back to at this time is "ready".
7. Positive Affirmation-Everyone is making progress. Progress is not necessarily in a "straight line". We are learning balance and depth at the same time we are moving forward.

These are the seven principles of core education.
all the best,
Leah Brammer

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24_Twinkle Lessons: On the Rhythm

As the children enjoy finding the notes to the songs, they will sometimes speed up on the sections that they know well. and slow down or skip over other parts of the piece. It is important to help them learn how to keep a steady rhythm after they are fluent in the notes.

Rhythm is a natural part of life, and life ability. The word rhythm comes from the Greek word 'rhythmos" and means "flow". Our heartbeat is a natural pulse. We breathe in a rhythm. The earth has daily, monthly, yearly (etc) rhythms. Our lives evolve around daily rhythms. It is quite natural for children to play music with good rhythm. We do not have to "teach" it.

My good friend and colleague Robin Blankenship sent me an article about research being done on babies concerning rhythm. The article They Got Rhythm: Study of babies finds" supports previous research showing that infants respond to rhythm and keep a beat or pulse with their body. This article has a video of the testing being done on infants which is interesting.

Another article, "Newborn Infants detect the beat in Music" published in the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 goes into more detail with measuring electrical brain responses that even show infants responding to downbeats and omission of downbeats.

Our job then is to preserve this natural ability to feel rhythm and apply it while playing piano. So, we need to be aware that as soon as the mind becomes too busy thinking about what to do, the natural feeling diminishes.

Rhythm has different parts. There is the steady beat which creates the underlying pulse. The meter represented by the time signature at the beginning of the piece makes groups of deep and light sounds out of the steady beat. So, if the meter is 3 beats per measure, beat one is the deep sound and beat 3 is the lighter sound. These groupings are the basic component of meter and provide the base upon which the individual rhythm of the piece is set. For example, Twinkle has 4 beats in each group or measure, and Cuckoo has 3 beats (like a waltz). It is not important for the children to "know" this, but as adults it is good to be aware of it at this point as you are listening. See if you can tell when you are listening if you hear/feel duple (2 or 4 beats) or triple (3 beats) groupings. We will be working on this in the near future. The term "rhythm" then refers to the individual short and long sounds in a piece, but also generally means the beat, the meter and the individual rhythm as one whole.

In group class the children were easily able to clap the beat, and then lightly clap the rhythm of several Book 1 pieces. Please do this at home as well. It is not necessary to make it part of the regular practice, but on occasion as you are listening to the disc. We will continue doing this in the group class.

The best way to develop the child's ability to be able to stay on the rhythm while playing the piano is for the teacher to play with the student in the lessons. Sometimes it may seem that there is not much "teaching" going on during these times. This is the next step for the child after they have learned the notes. It is not really beneficial for the child to play with the disc. The disc cannot adapt to the natural tempo the child is ready to play on. Also there is no "ready-go" so the child cannot come in accurately on the the rhythm. Therefore, the time at the lesson to play together with the teacher is vitally important.

Please continue to have your child get ready before playing when you are practicing with them. Of course they can also have time at the piano which is "free time".
By getting ready on each note of the twinkles, on each spot, phrase and piece, they are developing the ability to start on the rhythm. By getting ready each time, they are developing the habit of finding good body balance and concentration before playing. This is the first essential step to having good rhythm It is much easier to keep a rhythm once it is started. Actually it is impossible to have good rhythm if it is not started at the beginning. The beginning of the piece is crucial for setting the rhythm so please observe the way that you say "go". Practice how you say "go" so that the word "go" sounds like the way a conductor of an orchestra looks when they start the orchestra. If you imagine this it will help.


When you sing solfege as the child plays you are also helping them to keep a natural rhythm. You can say: "let's stay together as you play and I sing". Next you can lightly tap the steady beat. If they have trouble then it is probably a part of the piece they need to spot practice (separate from playing the whole piece), because they are unsure or unable to play the correct notes in rhythm on that part.

It is important to introduce the concept of keeping the steady beat after the child can play the notes well. This includes playing with good body balance, and good tone. The concept of sequencing skills to present the most important point at the appropriate time is the "core focus principle of nurturing", and is one of the seven principles of Core Education

So, please do not try to have them keep the steady beat on the pieces they are just learning. Dr. Suzuki said :

"Raise your ability on a piece you can play."

Helping the children keep a steady beat on the pieces they can already play is a good example of what he meant in that statement.

For Further Reading:
*"How To Teach Beginners" by Dr. Katoaka: Part 4 General Considerations in Book 1

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