Comments on: What Would You Do? – Janina (#9)

By: Music Teacher's Helper: Blog: What Would You Do? – Follow-up on Janina (#10)

Music Teacher's Helper: Blog: What Would You Do? – Follow-up on Janina (#10) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:13:36 +0000

[...] follow this story, you should first read Janina’s story (#9), if you haven’t already. Below are a few scenarios that might result from what [...]

By: Suzanne Lichtenstein

Suzanne Lichtenstein — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:53:19 +0000

I agree with the other commentators: Social recognition is this student’s motivator. Have her play in the recital–no matter how well she does, commend her, and tell her more practice would have made her performance even better. Then, book her for monthly performances at some easy venue, whether nursing homes, church, monthly Progress Recitals (I like to call them Progredis, Latin for “progress”), etc. This girl appears to need social contact to want to play. She would also benefit from being taught to play by ear using chord theory, so she can play spontaneously at parties.

By: Alanna Kurt

Alanna Kurt — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:11:59 +0000

As the recital has clearly provided sudden motivation to her, I wouldn’t dream of telling her she couldn’t do it – it would probably eliminate any motivation completely.

By: Chris Wolf

Chris Wolf — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:42:42 +0000

Congratulations! You found Janina’s motivation! Keep carrots like recitals in front of her and keep her busy. Perhaps prior to this, she didn’t see the point?

By: Gretchen Saathoff

Gretchen Saathoff — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:29:33 +0000

I would have her play in the recital. If she needs help during the recital, I would be available to provide it. She can have a good experience w/o being perfect. After the recital, take it from there!

Since she has shown a spark of interest, keeping her out of the recital is unnecessarily disappointing.

By: Elissa Milne

Elissa Milne — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:28:50 +0000

You encourage her and tell her that this is the first of many recitals she will perform in. The recital is the only thing that has motivated her to practice, and it sounds as if she will enjoy herself no matter how good or bad she is. I wouldn’t be letting anyone prepare for a recital in a single week in the first place, but if that’s the set-up you have to honour her hard work over the past few days.

This student sounds as if she is motivated strongly by social pressure and has little internal motivation to learn new things, and as a result I would think it unlikely that she would continue lessons for more than about three years: these are the girls who get to 10 or 11 and care more about the length of their fingernails than they do about playing the piano. But in the meantime, she should be encouraged to have as many positive experiences as she can!