Motivational strategies: hearing three sides of the story - Pedagogy Saturday VII

American Music Teacher, Oct-Nov, 2003 by Bruce Berr, Rebecca Shockley, Patricia J. Flowers

The tape was the only one presented with professional cinematography: several different camera positions, meaningful framings of subjects and pedagogically insightful choices of subject in view at any given time. (By a stroke of good luck, Daniels's son is a professional filmmaker, and he happened to be back from Africa during the week this tape was to be made.) With the excellent teaching and camera work, it felt like we were viewing a PBS documentary.

This part of the program opened with an audio clip of an interview with the student. He had been asked when he noticed that his voice started to improve after starting lessons with Daniels. The student promptly replied, "After the very first lesson!"

Pat Flowers's Notes:

She seems to know what and when to fix, and what and when to leave alone.

Effective technique: Look in mirror and amuse yourself (self-evaluation). Reinforcement for being a good sport, very encouraging in what could have been a self-conscious moment. After experimenting with facial expressions, vocal tone quality is noticeably improved. Teacher hypothesizes an explanation for the student's consideration: Expression in face redirects sound. Good to offer explanations for how things work, i.e., principles, not just to go for the sound.

Both this and previous segment (the piano lesson with Lydia McVay) demonstrate how students can learn from observing their own behavior--mirror, video monitor--rather than following verbal directions or relying on just aural cues from their own performance.

Teacher praises improvement from last week. Lets him sing through the entire piece.

Teacher uses the word "cognizant," and when he openly admits he doesn't know the word, she tells him it will be on his SATs. Good rapport between them. They seem to trust each other.

Nice to see a voice teacher with such fluent keyboard skills.

Good summative praise when he put it all together, not the task-analytical stuff, but genuine acknowledgment of his accomplishment, which was obvious to both of them.

Bruce Berr's Notes:

Natural use of humor permeates the Studio--upbeat environment, backed up with rock-solid teaching. Great knowledge of subject matter; worldly.

Always follows teacher-talk with the student doing something, usually singing--very little teacher-talk, only that which is necessary. And when there is teacher-talk, it is compelling and relevant. The focus is almost always on the student and the music, and bringing them closer together.

Empathetic, very age-sensitive teaching.

Student was always fully involved, despite the presence of numerous cameras and even a camera person. Great teaching is more engaging than any distractions!

One characteristic that ran throughout Daniels's teaching was she reinforced each and every success, no matter how small. One of her comments on her questionnaire says it all: "Success is a self-perpetuating entity."

I also found it pertinent that she conducts all the lesson from the piano, where her playing is much more than just competent--it is used in an integral way to communicate musicality to the student, along with other means such as singing and gesture. When responding to a question about her piano background, Daniels wrote, "I think I motivate my students to be musical by accompanying them in a very musically sensitive manner. Often we do not even talk about interpretation--I simply play along with them and they hear what is needed." These are important words, especially considering that quite a few university programs in the United States apparently do not require or encourage voice majors to develop their piano proficiencies to a high level.