In one of the most entertaining scenes I can remember, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel to look into his eyes with total concentration. He then instructs Daniel to go through the motions he learned while painting the fence, waxing the cars, and sanding the floors. While Daniel begins to perform these movements, now so instinctively programmed into his muscle memory, Miyagi begins to assail him with blows from every angle. As the attempted strikes reign down Daniel blocks every one with grace and dexterity using the very motions he'd learned from doing those chores he thought so meaningless at the time. In that one revelatory moment it becomes clear to Daniel and the audience that he was actually learning the fundamental movements of defense and attack that will ultimately serve so aptly as a student of and competitor in the science of martial arts.
Wow, that's great hollywood stuff right there. But does it work that way in real life learning? Is it the best way to motivate?
Perhaps not. Or at least not for everyone. From my own personal experience I can say with conviction that had I been Daniel and knew why I was being put through those paces I would have certainly, put that much more into my form and concentration. When that fateful day arrived that I'm called on to perform those moves in a dramatic show of self- defense I would have been infinitely
more prepared to execute them flawlessly.
I know that different people process learning new things in different ways and what works for me may not work as well for others. So please understand that this musing is proffered for the sole purpose of getting you to think about what works best for you. In my experience, beginning with the end in mind has always been my quickest path to adopting new concepts. When I know why it is important to practice scale after scale and memorize which scale plays most pleasantly over which chords then those exercises have that much more meaning to me and I tend to approach them with more vigor and musicality. Knowing how and why any rote exercise will be applied down the road adds purpose to the exercise. Intuitively your approach is more attentive knowing that some day you will be called on to execute the skills learned in a musical situation. Practicing them in fun ways by making them sound musical and tonally pure, or faster or slower will make you sound so much better as you develop into an accomplished musician. All because you knew why you were doing it in the first place.
Which gets me back to a previous blog entitled "What Keeps Children and Adults from Staying with Music Education? (May 8, 2013)
If I know why I am doing something, even in the most simplest terms, it keeps me that much more interested in why I need to do it and do it well. If the goal is to some day shred through Eddy Van Halen's guitar solo on "Eruption" then a real good place to start is knowing my scales, my fretboard and developing the speed and dexterity to do so. With that end in mind practicing scales now becomes something I can make fun, musical, and effective. Just the slightest suggestion of why an exercise is important at the outset changes the receptivity of the student, It gives them a point of reference. A goal, a purpose.
Just last week I was giving my nine and seven year old nieces their third guitar lesson. It was time to teach them their second three note chord. A very simple one at that. It didn't even require them to change their fingering on the fretboard. Only that they take the position they were currently in and move it up by two frets. OK...easy enough right? I could have asked them to take that information home and practice it all week long and they probably would have. But my challenge as a teacher who wants to motivate was how do I make them WANT TO practice. At that point I simply showed them where I was headed with this exercise. By doing this drill they were learning the first two chords of one of their favorite Taylor Swift songs. When I demonstrated that for them on my guitar their soulful little eyes lit up with excitement and their hands went right to the playing position. They couldn't wait to start playing. Now when they pick up their little guitars this week to practice they know they are one step closer to playing one of their most beloved tunes. It would have been very easy, and probably much more Miyagi-like and dramatic to have waited to show them this somewhere down the road...but to what end? My goal is to get them to love playing music sooner rather than later so that their passion makes them want to learn all they can above and beyond what they get from me in their weekly lessons. When you've done that then you've truly done your job as a teacher.
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