Investigating Student Learning Styles

This study involved two bodies of participants – adult students and parents of young students from one piano studio. These two age groups were determined by the students currently enrolled at the piano studio in question, and both groups comprised of beginner-level students up grade three. It was not possible to justify the inclusion of young people in the research, in accordance with booklet 24, section 3.0 of the Griffith University Research Ethics Manual (2007), due to the students being dispensable. This is because it was possible for parents to answer questions relating to their children. As Golay (as cited in Baker-Jordan, 2004, p. 153) explains, parents have the answers regarding their children’s behaviours, thus the questions should be directed to them. Therefore the answers given by the parents are assumed to be representative of their children.

Learning styles were uncovered in this study through the use of self-inventories and questionnaires. Due to the small scale of this project, the questionnaires were distributed within the framework of one private piano studio only. At the time distribution, the studio had an enrolment of 18 adult students and 10 young students.

The questionnaires were distributed via email to both groups – adult students and parents of young students. For the purpose of maintaining ethical anonymity, completed questionnaires were posted back to the studio. A total of 11 out of 18 responses were received from the adults and a total of 8 out of ten responses were received from parents of the children, resulting in a 68% response rate overall.

Adults

Two separate questionnaires were emailed to adult students. The first of these was the Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) survey, retrieved from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles/vak.html.[2] This website explains how the survey was structured and gives directions on scoring and interpreting the results, thus removing subjectivity. The questions on the website were grouped according to modality so, as recommended, their order was mixed up prior to distribution to prevent participants anticipating their results, and thus removing this bias.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator used was also sourced via the internet, at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp.[3] While there are a great number of tests available online, the reason for using this questionnaire was that results are calculated by the website, removing the chances of human error in the interpretation process.

Young students

Two questionnaires relating to children’s learning styles were sent to parents. They included true/false questions pertaining to VAK preferences, which were downloaded from http://www.learningstyles.net/,[4] and Golay’s Learning Pattern Assessment, taken from his book Learning patterns & temperament styles.[5] Golay’s questionnaire was used as opposed to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, as the questions are relevant for children. Golay’s book also gave instructions on calculating results, once again, eliminating guess-work or human error. The VAK responses were true or false, which after understanding the literature, were easily interpreted.

Analysis of Data

Adult VAK Survey Results

VAK surveys aim to discover a person’s dominant modality. The survey used for this study consisted of a total of 36 questions, with 12 questions for each modality preference. For each question the participant was required to read a statement and answer how relevant the statement was to them using the following guide:

Participants’ modality strengths were calculated by tallying the answers to the questions relating to each modality. As there were 12 questions for each modality, the minimum score possible was 12 and the maximum score possible was 60, in accordance with the above guide. All questions were answered by participants.

The results showed that:

• 46% of participants are visually dominant;
• 27% are auditory dominant;
• 9% are kinaesthetically dominant.
• 18% of participants share two modalities as their top preference, with visual as common between them.

This indicates that the visual modality was certainly the most predominant within this study, while kinaesthetic was least dominant. This trend cannot be identified for adult students in general due to its qualitative nature. Table 9 shows the hierarchy of participants’ preferences:

Table 9

Adult VAK preferences

This indicates that four participants had the same order of preference as V A K, and two participants had the same order of preference A V K. The other five participants’ preferences show no trend.

To portray a more succinct picture of the data gathered through the questionnaires, the following table shows participants’ scores.

Table 10

Adult VAK scores

As Figure 2 and Table 9 depict, there are no extreme ranges within the scores, with all participants’ scores falling between 24 and 48. It is also interesting to note the following:

• There are no specific trends between each participant’s scores. This indicates that each participant is unique in their modality preferences within this study.
• The difference between scores of all three modalities per participant indicates the proximity of dominance between the modalities. Each participant’s rang encompasses five points to 22 points. This indicates that some participants have a higher multi-modal preference than others.
• When comparing Table 9 with Table 10, even when participants have the same hierarchy of preferences, their scores differ, indicating that each participant in this study is unique in the modality strengths.

While participants may have a dominant modality, i.e. one score higher than the

others, the other modalities are also present, albeit to varying degrees. Thus, it can be concluded that within this study results support a multi-modal approach.

MBTI Results for Adult Students

While the above demonstrates the modality preferences of participants, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator aims to discover general personality attributes of an individual in order to determine their personality type. The test used for this study was a self-inventory that consisted of 72 yes-no questions, enabling participants to make definite decisions regarding their behaviours. There are four categories that this self-inventory determines: Extrovert/Introvert; Sensing/Intuition; Thinking/Feeling; and Judging/Perceiving. The results indicate the preferences of participants in each of the four categories, as well as the strength of each preference, given as a percentage. As explained in chapter two, these preferences are part of a continuum rather than an either/or scenario.

Answers to the self-inventory were inputted into the MBTI test website for each participant in order to retrieve accurate interpretations. Table 11 shows participants’ preferences, as well as their strengths and their full personality types. The following table shows the comparative strengths of preferences between each participant.

Table 11

Adult MBTI preferences, strengths and personality types

There is a vast diversity of preference strengths amongst the eleven participants. It is interesting to note the following:

• Each category is evident as a strength. This indicates that even within a small private studio, the teacher needs to cater to all types of personality.
• Seven of the 16 possible personality combinations are evident among these 11 participants.
• Preference strengths range from 51% to 98%.
• 27% of participants have the personality type ENFP
• Another 27% have the type INFJ.
• Even when personality types are the same, strength percentages differ,[6] indicating that no one adult student at this studio is exactly the same as another.

Table 12  summarises the data to show the number of students dominant in each category:

Table 12

Percentage of participants dominant in each type

The above table identifies an even stronger trend between Sensing/Intuition and Thinking/Feeling in the same sample group, with 82% of participants dominant in Intuition and Feeling. As this study is not quantitative, this does not mean that this trend speaks for adult piano students in general. A study of a larger magnitude would be of interest to see if a certain personality type is more drawn to the study of piano than others.

As the literature in chapter two indicated, each person has part of every personality type and modality preference in their make-up. This was evident for 100% of participants.

Young Students VAK Results

The VAK questionnaire relating to children consisted of ten true/false questions, which were downloaded from the website http://www.learningstyles.net/. There were three questions pertaining to each sensory modality, as well as a general question asking if the child likes mixed learning methods. The table and figure below indicate the number of times ‘true’ was answered in each category for each child. The score for each is out of three.

Table 13

Young Students’ VAK preferences

From the above, it can be noted that:

• Kinaesthetic preferences were consistently high for each young student, with scores of two or three true answers for each young child.
• Results in the other modalities were mixed.
• Only two out of the eight young students have one modality with their highest score.
• Six out of the eight young students shared their top score in two categories, indicating a shared dominance.

With regards to the extra question, every answer was affirmative that their children liked to learn in multiple ways. This, as well as the above dot points, supports the multi-modal approach identified in chapter two. There were not enough participants within this study to categorically state whether or not children predominantly have a preferred modality, however, they certainly do within this piano studio.

Golay’s Learning Pattern Assessment

Whilst the VAK questionnaire uncovered young children’s modality preferences, Golay’s Learning Pattern Assessment tool aims to discover students’ dominant temperament types. The questionnaire used in this study comprised of 40 questions. For each question, parents were required to read a statement and answer how relevant the statement was to their child in accordance with the following guide:

In order to interpret results, a score table was supplied indicating which of the questions pertained to which temperament type. It was then possible to total the score for each type. The higher the number scored, the stronger the preference of that temperament. The table and figure below show the results of each young student:

Table 14

Young students’ Learning Pattern Assessment scores

Possible results for each temperament type range from zero to 50, in accordance with the answer guide. With this in mind, the above graph indicates that:

• Within this study, the lowest result for a type was 20 and the highest was 45, indicating that all temperament types were apparent in each child.
• There were only 14 to 20 points separating the temperament scores within each child.
  • The above graph of these results clearly shows the close proximity of the four types within each individual child.
  • Of the 32 individual scores, only six were below the mid-point of 25, showing that each child has a medium to strong predisposition for each type.
  • Each of the scores under 25, except one, was in the Ape category.
  • The highest scores were predominantly in the Bear and Owl categories, except for one in the Dolphin category.

Just as with the adult results, this is only a very small sample group and cannot be considered the standard of all children studying piano.

Due to a lack of strong dominance in any one temperament type for each participant, it could be argued that teachers may not necessarily worry about catering to specific types for the students in this study, as it appears that each student could potentially learn well in any scenario. Conversely, it could be argued that all types of temperament need to be catered to for each child, in order to appeal to all their possible preferences. The latter of these views is supported by the literature in chapter two.

This chapter has demonstrated the use of self-inventories and questionnaires in order to uncover students’ VAK preferences and personality/temperament types, using VAK questionnaires, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and Golay’s Learning Pattern Assessment. Through a qualitative study, it has demonstrated that even within one small private piano studio, the range of student types may be quite diverse. The following chapter will discuss the outcomes and implications of this research project, as well as possible further research that could lead on from this.

Following blogs will look closely at different learning style tests – what they reveal and how that information is useful to music teachers.

Allow students to become active participants of their musical education

The philosophy behind student-centred pedagogy is that students learn through three stages:

• First by hearing
• Then by doing
• Lastly by conceptual understanding – seeing the music, knowing the name, and understanding the theory

Rather than telling a student what you want them to know, allow them to experience it first. This could be through movement, playing on the piano, creative activities or singing. The student’s and your imagination are the only limitations.

Understand that new knowledge is built upon that which already exists within the students

Rather than telling the student a new concept by its name straight away, allow the student time to come up with their own metaphor that is relevant to them. A great example of this is ‘staccato’. The student may call it ‘bouncy’ or ‘short’ or anything else that makes sense to them. This gives them links to their prior knowledge and makes sense of this new concept in their own minds.

Knowing how something is put together is worth a thousand facts about it

Takes scales for example. If we teach each scale as a new sequence of notes, then each scale becomes something to memorise and learn. If we teach the patterns behind the scale though, the student is then able to discover the notes of any scale using its pattern. This leads to independence from the teacher, which is what student-centred pedagogy is all about!

This also allows students to problem-solve to further their own knowledge. For example, if students know and understand Binary form, and you would like to introduce Ternary form, they could work out the structure based on what they already know about form.

Creativity is highly motivating

Let’s face it, if students are not motivated, they are not going to stay for the long haul. If they are not motivated, it doesn’t matter how independent they become, they still won’t use what they know. Being active, as mentioned above, is one way to increase motivation. Another way is creativity.

As well as students enjoying the composition/improvisation/movement tasks, etc, it also gives students the opportunity to apply learned concepts on their own. This gives teachers a great indication of how much the student has grasped.

The teacher as facilitator

Student-centred pedagogy aims to change the role of the teacher to that of facilitator. Their role is to discover and build on students’ experiences and prior knowledge, and to help them develop their own understanding. This quote, taken from Rhodes and Bellamy (1999, p. 21) sums it up nicely:

“A teacher tells, a facilitator asks; a teacher lectures from the front, a facilitator supports fromt he back; a teacher gives answers according to a set curriculum, a facilitator provides guidelines and creates the environment for the learner to arrive at his or her own conclusions; a teacher mostly gives a monologue, a facilitator is in continuous dialogue with the learners.”

Thus, facilitators ask questions

Not just any type of question though. If a teacher asks a question that only has one answer, then the student is being asked to recall a fact. The student could learn answers by rote quite easily without actually understanding what it is that they are saying. Asking questions that require comprehension, application, or analysis to produce an answer promotes critical thinking and helps students to apply concepts learned to answers given.

Getting out of the seat

Another thing to remember is that even though we may teach specific instruments, we are all also responsible for teaching music as a language as well. Don’t feel the student needs to remain glude to their chair, or even their instrument over the cours of the lesson. By moving and changing focus regularly, the student is more likely to stay alert, have fun, and remain active music-makers in the long-run.

I hope there have been some useful tips here for you. Please share any others that spring to mind.

Look out for future blogs on students as individuals, catering to different personality types, and ways to find out who your students actually are!

Comment:
Leah,
You mentioned sound recognition games. I wonder if you could go into detail of exactly what you do for those. I have been teaching for 2 years. I am a young teacher, but I love doing it. this year I have my first extremely young child. my rule has always been that the child’s hands be big enough to reach one finger on each key. I have always used Alfred’s Piano Basics, a curriculum which I love and is full of color and activities to keep children interested. I have had as young as a 6 yr. old. this year I am starting with a 4 year old boy. His hands are small, but his mom had seen an article about starting sound recognition early and just familiarize them with music. he shows an interest in the piano so I want to encourage that. I am excited at this new challenge, but would be appreciative of any help I can get. specifically learning new techniques.

Hi Sarah,

I would look into using Music Tree as the method book – it teaches reading by intervals, and explores the whole piano and has an activities book to go with it that is great for young students. I’ve had a 3 year old on this, and it worked wonders. The pieces are also intuitive – if a song is called “Take Off”, the music goes up. It starts on the black keys, and students move up from one set to the next etc. The same applies for “Landing” but this time going down the keys. The pages also have questions to the students in the margins to get them learning to think critically before they play, and has them find answers for themselves instead of just telling them what they need to know.

For sound recognition I generally do opposites such as high and low (because of the horizontal piano and kids are used to up being high and down being low, I find that using snail and bird works at first), slow fast, bouncy smooth etc. I have kids doing movement exercises to my playing to internalise what these feel like before they play on the piano.

Having students make up their own stuff is also great and tells you if they have understood or not – it doesn’t matter what they come up with, but if they say they want to make up a song about a bird and they play it low on the piano, then they have not yet grasped what high is on the piano. You can be as creative as you like, and guaranteed, young students love it – the last thing they want to do is spend 30 minutes straight sitting down in front of the piano. Mixing it up with a variety of activities, including rhythm and clapping/percussion instruments, music activities from the book, playing the piano, movement activities, singing keeps it fun and interesting. Even better if you can have your lesson plan for the day based around one concept so everything is reinforcing that one idea to be learned.

The biggest thing I have learned from having young students is that flexibility and the ability to be spontaneous is a must! If you have a rigid lesson plan and are not willing to adapt, you will end up frustrated, and the child will end up hating the lessons. Saying that, these lessons can also be the most fun, as students this young are willing to try anything and love to explore!

I hope this helps!

If anybody has any other tips for Sarah, feel free to share below, I’m sure we’ll all benefit from them!

1. That my studio would grow so quickly – I could have been more selective about the type of students I decided to take on.

2. That teaching is my livelihood and that it is vital to have a steadfast policy from the start – this would have saved so much hassle with lack of payment and ridiculous catch-up schedules and missed lessons.

3. If you lower your expectations, so will your students – if you keep saying it is okay when no practice has been done, students will not start to practice efficiently.

4. Importance of educating parents as much as the child students – parental involvement is critical for a young child’s success.

5. Play up to natural motivations rather than trying to bribe students to do just what you think is important.

6. It’s not all about the written music – from the start it is about exploratory games and the essence of music, not just learning the notes on the pages.

7. You can say ‘no’ to students – whether it is taking them on as a student, requests outside of your studio policy, or requests for pieces of music that are obviously outside of their current playing standard – and your reputation will not be brought into question, as long as you are reasonable in your response.

8. A student’s goals do not have to match yours. If you understand their motivations for wanting to learn, your relationship will be a lot more successful.

9. You can’t practice for the student. This is one that I still have trouble with – even though it is such an obvious statement. I guess that only those who have been there know how much you can actually achieve when you put in the effort. All we can do is help to motivate and cultivate the desire to want to play.

10. Have designated ‘work’ hours, or it can totally consume you.

If I had known all these things from the start, I don’t think I would have been as good a teacher as I am now through learning these things along the way, as it is experience that shapes you more than knowledge.

Now it’s your turn – are there any things that you wished you had known before you started teaching that aren’t listed here? Do you agree with the above list?

Clark, F. (1992). Questions and answers: Practical advice for piano teachers. Northfield,Illinois: Instrumentalist Co.

Coats, S. (2006). Thinking as you play: Teaching piano in individual and group lessons. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Darling, E. (Ed.). (2005). A piano teacher’s legacy: Selected writings by Richard Chronister. Kingston, New Jersey: The Francis Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

Guy, S. (2006). If it’s not new and exciting, it’s old and boring. Keyboard Companion, 17(4),30-31.

Hisey, A. (2002). What is “fun?” Keyboard Companion 13(2), 25-26.

Huitt, W. (2001). Motivation to learn: An overview. Retrieved from Educational PsychologyInteractive: Motivation Web site: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivation/motivate.html

Kreader, B. (2000). What do you do with a student who hates to play the piano? Keyboard Companion, 11(1), 5-7.

Lyke, J., & Enoch, Y. (1987). Creative piano teaching. Champaign, Illinois: Stipes.

Tollefson, M. (2000). How do you motivate a student who is not practicing? Keyboard Companion 11(1), 26-28.

Uszler, M, Gordon, S., & McBride Smith, S. (2000). The well-tempered keyboard teacher (2^nd ed.). New York: Schirmer Books.

I recommend that all teachers have a library of resources on which to draw to further their insight into learning styles and teaching practices that can further their own teaching.

Vroom’s expectancy theory states that there are three components to motivation – a feeling of success, connection, and value. All three are needed in order for motivation to take place. This paper will look at the definition of intrinsic motivation, and how teachers can help to foster these three components within their students.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within. As Clark states, it is “subtle and elusive” (Clark, 1992, p. 165), as it is not tangible. It is made up of a student’s internal desire to understand, their enthusiasm, self-esteem, and a student’s own personal sense of achievement. In the case of playing an instrument, the excitement and satisfaction of music-making and a love of music is the motivation of the student. So how can teachers help to foster the three elements of motivation along these lines?

To cultivate feeling of success, practice at home can be used to reinforce what they have learned, rather than to learn something new, because as Chronister explains, “a student cannot practice what he does not know” (Darling, 2005, p. 32). This is especially relevant for younger students. By having practice as reinforcement, students are able to feel confident and successful each time they sit at the piano. They also need to have a way to know what to do at home, and clear guidelines in a home assignment book is an easy way to achieve this.

A feeling of success can be undermined by too many overwhelming challenges, which as Uszler states can instil tension and fear (2000, p. 249). This makes the student feel set up to fail. This isn’t to say that challenges are a bad thing, but it is up to the teacher to monitor how each student copes with different levels of challenges, and to always accompany them with several instances to succeed.

It is also important to make music at every lesson, so the student feels like an accomplished musician, regardless of their level (Tollefson, 2000, p.26). This could be as simple as the student playing a loved nursery-rhyme by rote, while the teacher provides a musical accompaniment.

An easy trap to fall into as a piano teacher is to have lessons turning into mistake-correcting exercises. All this succeeds in doing is highlighting a student’s shortcomings. It is important for a good teacher to “ensure the reward of self-satisfaction for his students” (Lyke & Enoch, 1987, p. 6). Having students repeat beautifully-played sections as well as those that require attention could be one way of doing this, as well as letting a student complete a piece before making any comments – whether positive or negative.

The next part of the expectancy theory equation is connection. Tasks need to be relevant and interesting to the student in order for them to see the connection between their success and the reward – in this case the reward being satisfaction, a boost to their self-esteem, and a feeling of achievement. Chronister’s principles of teaching and learning (Darling, 2005), are relevant here, which say that it is important that students furnish their own motivations (p. 19), and a musical purpose is a good purpose (p. 25). Rather than having a student repeat a passage eigth times, for example, why not ask the student to repeat it while experimenting with dynamics, or trying it at different octaves? In this way, a laborious and tedious task becomes exciting and creative.

Connection ties in with value, in the respect that both relate to students’ perspective towards their musical journey. One way of having students value their lessons and practice time is to give them choice. Within a music lesson examples of this are giving them choices over which piece to learn, or what activity they would like to do first in the lesson. This helps to give students a sense of ownership over their pieces, therefore encouraging them to practice them at home.

Of course, the primary thing that anybody values is fun. According to Hisey (2002, p. 25), fun involves have an engaging environment to actively participate in. It almost always incorporates something new, and gives the students a sense of success. Rather than having the student sit for the entire lesson, why not try activities away from the instrument? A studio could have several stations set up around the room with different activities at each station so that a student is stimulated and kept active and involved.

We also have to remember that we live in a technological age, and by utilising computer programs, such as Musical Ace, or Midisaurus, musical activities automatically become more relevant and fun for the student. Through the use of the internet, technology can used at home, allowing students to continue their theory and aural training online, such as through http://www.musiclearningcommunity.com, without the need to purchase software.

Future blogs will delve deeper into different aspects of a student’s motivation, as without motivation, we are left with very few – and no willing – students.

The book is all about learning to trust yourself, and how to get the most out of the time you spend at your instrument. As the title suggests, it delves into ‘mistakes’ and why they occur, what they can teach us, and why we shouldn’t worry so much about avoiding them throughout the learning process. This book turns some conventional teaching approaches on their heads and explains some damaging effects of old-school mentalities of perfection and self-criticism.

Written in a brilliantly conversational style, The Perfect Wrong Note is extremely hard to put down. Insights are backed up by examples that are both musical, as well as anecdotal, and are presented in a way that any musician can relate to.

Any of us teachers that have adult students would know about the hang-ups a lot of them have regarding getting things ‘right’ and feeling inadequate if this doesn’t happen straight away. I currently have half a dozen of my students reading this book at the moment, and I am hoping that it reveals to them a little more the method in my madness, as well as being an added authority to guide them in their musical journeys. Westney has a way of making practice sound fun and enticing – as it should be – and a little extra inspiration never hurt anyone either!

I’m so excited by this book – it has reinforced my teaching method, altered my outlook on some of my own playing, and has also been an enjoyable and entertaining read. I found myself interrupting my partner on many occassions to read aloud sections – it has wisdom in it that you don’t want to keep to yourself!

A must for any musician’s library.

A private music studio need not just consist of one-on-one lessons. It is my aim for my studio to foster a sense of community where friendships are formed, music is shared, and music becomes a life-long passion. The ideas below are just some ways that this can happen.

Concerts and Workshops

These need not just be music-filled events, but also a time for people to mingle and get to know one-another. At my student concerts and workshops, I ask everyone to bring a plate to share, and to stay for afternoon tea at the end. These are a huge success – the kids play, the adults chat, and bonds are formed. This also helps with performance nerves as students are then playing for people they know and who support them.

Excursions

As musicians, we all know how important attending live concerts are. Why not put out a calendar of events in your local area and encourage attendance from your students? I meet my students at the studio, and we car-pool to the venue and have dinner or a drink afterwards to share thoughts. So far, this has been with my adult students, but I want to extend this to my younger students also and have a couple of parents accompany us as well. These outings add a social element to learning music, and also give added inspiration and motivation to practice. In this way, music can become a life-long passion with many levels of participation, not just lessons and practice.

Repertoire Days

A few of my adult students get together at one of their houses once a month to play for each other. This is more relaxed for them than always playing for a large audience or having their teacher present, and again, fosters friendships and community. This is such great motivation for them and allows them to share their musical journey with others who are experiencing the same trip. I have to admit, whilst I had heard of such repertoire days before, I was unsure of my student’s reactions to them. It was to my great surprise that one of my students actually suggested it!

Your turn…. how does your studio foster a sense of community?

One more thing… I know that there are a lot of articles regarding maintaining professionalism between teachers and students. I feel that getting to know your students in these musical environments does not alter the teacher-student relationships that we have in their private lessons, as we are there to make music. However, the benefit is that you have their loyalty and long-standing commitment to you due to the community that you created.

To understand rhythm, the feel of a steady beat needs to be internalized first, and the rhythm grows from this fundamental feeling. I find the easiest way for students to get this is through walking. Every student can do this task, but it is amazing how differently they walk when they are thinking about the steady beat associated with it. We want to aim for it being as natural as possible before we try superimposing rhythmic clapping on top of this, which may take a few minutes.

The next step would be to clap with each step/beat, and then to change the rhythm so they are clapping ti-ti ta (two quavers, crotchet) while only stepping on the beat. The idea behind this is to give them the feeling of a steady beat so that at the instrument, they have the experience of walking steadily to draw upon, even when the rhythm changes. Getting a student to focus on this while they are walking anywhere through the week makes this feeling of steady beat even more concrete.

I also like to take this a step further, to include aural and visual ideas. Sounds such as dripping taps, alarm clocks, school bells, car indicators, etc all provide a steady beat. Getting students to find some of their own during the week is a great task, and heightens their listening skills. The same can go for visual rhythm – palings in a fence, bricks in houses, lines in a notepad, line markings on a road – the list is endless. Our world is a very structured one, and if our students take time to notice these patterns, it will make a lot of sense to apply the same idea to their music.

Obviously, the above is aimed towards the beginner student, and those who struggle with keeping steady beat, especially when rhythm is applied over the top of the beat. The more internalized these ideas can become, the more musical our students’ playing will become.

Technique is another task that can be overwhelming to students unless the idea is felt, internalized and understood before trying to apply it to the music. For example, piano teachers understand how challenging it is to first learn to play staccato in one hand, while maintaining legato in the other hand. Find out if the student can pat their head and rub their belly. If they are struggling at the piano, chances are, they can’t. This gives a bit of comic relief to a frustrated student as well, and can be a fun challenge for homework. In my experience, gross-motor skills transfer quite easily into fine-motor skills, so if you can come up with ways to get larger body parts moving first, technique comes more smoothly.

I teach music reading in two ways – intervallic, and note-naming. Initially, they read by intervals while playing, and do note-spelling activities in books designed for that purpose (I love the Hal Leonard Note Spellers – Click to Look Inside). Mostly, I find the challenge in reading the notes is that they have always said the alphabet forwards, but not backwards. I encourage them to practice saying A-G forwards and backwards at one speed (and even adults may struggle initially). Once this is comfortable, note reading improves noticeably.

These activities away from the instrument help to overcome obstacles at the instrument by giving students new references to draw upon. This makes the music less about abstract ideas, and more about creating new ways to apply these learned experiences.

I would love to hear any exercises or activities that you employ in your teaching that involves thinking outside the square, or moving away from the instrument! Please share your ideas below.

There are certain tests out there that give us our personality types. One example of this is the Myers Briggs Personality Test (a free example of this test can be found at http://www.kisa.ca/personality/). This test has four categories, each with two different outcomes. They are graded as a percentage, as we all have a bit of everything in us. The categories and their preference of learning are given below:

Extroverted (E) vs Introverted (I)

Extroverted people prefer discussion, bouncing ideas around, and active participation in learning activities. Thus, they thrive in group situations, and may become bored or restless if in an environment where they must stay still and listen for long periods of time. Introverted people prefer lecture-style learning and reflective tasts. They tend to shy away from group tasks and dislike being put on the spot.

Sensory (S) vs Intuition (N)

Sensory people learn by doing, and rely on experience, rather than theory. They enjoy the here-and-now, and thrive on extrinsic rewards. They need to see immediate relevance of information in order to stay interested and take in new material. Intuitive people rely on inspiration and need creativity. They like abstract and theoretical ideas, and instigate new ways of thinking. They typically can become overwhelmed by their active mind, and often need help prioritising tasks.

Thinking (T) vs Feeling (F)

Thinkers are organised and logical, and like order and sequential instructions. They are often impersonal in their approach. Feeling people consider how their decisions affects themselves and others, and need a personal relationship with their teacher.

Judging (J) vs Perceiving (P)

Judging people reach decisions quicking and stick to them. They complete tasks quickly and are focussed on what needs to be done. Perceivers will leave decisions to the last minute, while considering many options. They are often last-minute people.

There are 16 different combinations possible with the Myers Briggs Personality Test. This is best for use with adults due to the style of questions on the test, but by paying attention to our students’ actions and responses during their lessons, we can figure out a lot for ourselves. Just being aware of these differeces is a great start to expanding our approaches and being empathetic to our students, which will result in stronger relationships and less frustrations.

Just out of interest, a book I was reading on this topic said that teachers tend to be ENFJ. Why not test yourself and see if you fit into the mould?

Other different styles of learning includes which senses we prefer to learn through. A student may be a visual, kinesthetic, or aural learner. We all use all these senses when learning, but if we know which is dominant for a student, we can cater to their strengths and increase their speed of progression. If we only point to the music and show how it looks, but a student needs to do and hear the new concept, you can see how communication issues occur.

Research shows that early childhood favour aural and kinesthetic styles, but by Grade 6, visula is the preferrede sense, with kinesthetic secondary. you can give parents questions to help you know their child’s preference, which are based on their choice of words in every-day conversations… For example, if they want to understand how something works, they may say “Can you show me….” (visual) or “Can you tell me…” (aural) or “Can I have a go?” (kinesthetic). They may say “I see!” or “I hear you!”A great website on this for more information http://www.learning-styles-online.com. (on the side, this is useful for understanding friends or spouses too…. why your partner may jump in and try to put something together without looking at the instructions, for example )

At the end of the day, the best way to expand your teaching and reach all of your students is to be flexible in your approach, and to be able to explain the same thing in a multitude of ways. If a student does not appear to understand a new concept, be adaptable enough to cahnge your approach, and you will be surprised how much more fun the lesson becomes for the student, and how their rate of growth increases.