Toss the Carrot and Stick: Modern-Day Strategies for Motivating Musicians

Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation is typically divided into two broad categories: intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is something that is external—the grade, the chair assignment, the acceptance of our peers, or winning the competition. Intrinsic motivation is internal—the love of the instrument, the desire to gain more knowledge, the joy in discovering something new. Increasingly, I find that the “carrot and stick” extrinsic motivation methods do not work. In fact, they often have the opposite effect, diminishing motivation as students feel less autonomy over their work. Students may respond initially to the threat of a chair test or the punishment of a lower grade, but ultimately, this will drive them away from their love of music.

Students, and really all of us, get sick of chasing after the proverbial carrot. It seems that the disappearance of autonomy—one’s freedom from external control or influence, basically one’s independence in decision-making—stifles creativity, innovation, and love of the activity. Rather than rewarding number of days in a row practiced or celebrating the All-State players, we as teachers need to look for new ways to recognize hard work and perseverance. Daniel H. Pink’s (2011) book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, though not music-specific, is a worthwhile exploration of conventional wisdom and what we can do as educators to change our tactics.

Calendar Exercises

For years, I have started each semester with versions of the following calendar exercises. My favorite exercise involves passing out four or five blank monthly calendars so that each day of the semester is included. I ask students to list everything they have already committed to throughout the semester—from recitals, juries, and orchestra concerts, to major assignments in other classes, paper due dates, exams, and also big things like birthdays, family commitments, and so on. It is amazing how quickly the days fill. I find it very helpful to have it physically laid out for them to see. Our students are digital natives. They have always had electronics to use, including digital calendars, and at times, this does them a disservice. Swiping from day to day in your phone calendar makes it difficult to zoom out and see the big picture.

Once the calendars are filled out, I ask students to work backward from each major performance—whether it is a recital, a competition, or a big audition—and generate a timeline. The big questions are, “When do you want to have the material memorized?” “When do you want to give your first performance?” and “When are you going to have each movement ready for your lesson?” Negotiating this timeline is complicated, and students quickly realize they have to get to work. The competition in the distance suddenly feels much closer! It is also important to stress that students must not compartmentalize. They need to see that they have a math exam the night before they planned to play their piece from memory in studio class for the first time. That is probably not going to set them up for a calm, successful performance. The real benefit I have seen is that I no longer have to convince students that the “event” is closer than they think—they can see it right in front of them and in their own handwriting!

Another calendar exercise I like, though it is work to keep up, is to track weekly activities of all types. I give students two blank calendars every week. This exercise comes with a twist, because I have them fill out one calendar with what they think they will do during the week. The students take a moment to write down everything they have planned that week, including class schedules, practice time, exams, concert commitments, and anything else that will occupy their time such as volunteer activities or work. I collect these calendars at the beginning of our weekly studio class and save them for a later date. The second calendar travels with the student throughout the week where they track their actual practice time. They turn this one in at the next studio class before starting the process again. About once a month, we compare the weekly plans with the weekly realities. I find it is useful to have several weeks to look at as we start to see patterns emerge on certain days or at certain times. If a teacher did not hold a weekly studio class, this exercise could be done in a lesson. I really like the opportunity to have a group discussion; I feel the students really benefit from hearing one another’s experiences.

It is no surprise that the plan rarely lines up with the reality—I would be surprised if it did. Instead of using this to punish or shame students, I try to emphasize that this is a lens through which we are able to see where we need to adjust our expectations or schedules. My students do not always have the perspective to appreciate that it is okay to fall short of a goal. Sometimes just having a goal is enough, or at least a first step.

I have found this calendar exercise to be one of the single best tools to adjust student behavior. When it is done in a safe, open environment, the students feel comfortable sharing their shortcomings—missed practice sessions, unrealistic expectations regarding time, not allowing enough time for thoughtful work—and we can talk about more realistic options. For example, counting on a practice hour at noon when all the rooms are full is not a reliable option. Instead, coming to the building early in the morning almost always guarantees a room will be open. The other hidden danger this exercise exposes is break time—how much time people take and how often they take them. I have challenged students who think they take a ten-minute break to time themselves. They are often surprised at how quickly that time flies by. It is important to stress that breaks are important and that students should actually take a break. This means, use the restroom, get some water, stretch, and walk around. This does not mean checking social media or even email; this can often lead to distracted practice with emails and posts unanswered.

Strategic Planning

Recently, I have gone through strategic planning exercises for various groups. I find strategic planning to be overwhelming. Whether it is the local school’s Parent Teacher Association, a nonprofit board, or the music department, embarking on a strategic planning exercise seems daunting and more than a little intimidating. It forces us, however, to spell out our priorities in writing and develop a set of strategies we plan to use to meet our goals. We do not always meet every goal, but we are better for simply trying. After going through this a few times, I decided to try it with my studio. It was so successful that I now do it every year. It has helped every one of my students focus their work, and students who have been through it more than once are developing even clearer goals. My students have grown tremendously through this process and gain the added benefit of struggling with and learning how to use a strategic plan before they are required to do it for a job. They most certainly will not meet the mark on a few objectives, but learning to “fail” in such a safe environment sets them up to try again and perhaps be a little more realistic the next time.

Dan McCarthy’s “7 Elements of a Strategic Plan” was a great starting point for me. ¹ This article is available online. It is easy to access, jargon-free, and easy to follow. It is not intended for musicians, but it is easy to imagine using his categories in other fields. I borrowed heavily from McCarthy’s broad categories and gave my students a blank sheet with the following categories to fill out.

The vision statement is aspirational. This is the big picture, a declaration of sorts, and answers questions. Where do you want to be? What are you going to be doing in the next few years? What is next after college or graduate school? Why is music important? When talking vision, we should be talking about what and why, not how. The timeframe is subjective. A graduate student might want to make this a two-year statement, while an undergrad might think about four years instead. This is meant to be broad. Students have included getting into graduate school, winning a seat in an orchestra, getting the middle or high school director job, or getting the marketing job for the local symphony. Each of these categories is quite different and will lead students down different paths.

The mission statement is what you do today and how you behave. The “We/I will do this” statement. Nike’s mission statement is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world (*if you have a body, you are an athlete),” ² whereas Google’s mission statement is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” ³ These statements are still broad in scope, but they are action-oriented. I encourage my students to think about action words here. The mission speaks to what you are going to do to work toward the vision. One of my students said she was going to “inspire others by being engaged in the program and dedicated to her practice,” and another said he would “study and share pedagogical approaches to violin playing and apply them to his practicing.” This student asked for, and received, a few books I recommended for birthday gifts, and we regularly talk about what he is reading. I am not sure if this would have happened otherwise. These are pretty lofty statements for undergraduates, but the words are theirs, and there is power in proclaiming these goals.

Core principles start to shape our pathway toward achieving our mission and vision statements. They are beliefs and behaviors that help guide our actions. These are the stepping stones, highlighted words, or accented notes that begin to put the plan in place. I encourage my students to write out their core principles and post them in their case, on their music, on the bathroom mirror, or anywhere they will see them on a daily basis. Back to Nike, their core principles are performance, authenticity, innovation, and sustainability. Typically, core principles are single words that embody what we believe is important in shaping our behavior and mind-set. Core principles that often come up with musicians include leadership, accountability, quality, collaboration, drive, integrity, artistry, and perseverance.

SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is an analytical tool to help the individual or group identify where they are and what needs attention. When looking at various strategic planning guides, you will typically come across SWOT. One quick article by Ted Jackson on clearpointstrategy.com ⁴ explains the concepts simply and clearly. It even comes with a template students can use. These explanations and templates are all over the Internet, however, so taking a moment to search for the best one for your needs is worth the time.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal while opportunities and threats are external. This area becomes more personalized, as one person’s strength might be another person’s weakness. The quality of an instrument, for example, could be either an opportunity or a threat. High school and college students are really good at identifying weaknesses and threats. This age group tends to be hypersensitive and aware of criticism, especially from peers. Not surprisingly, these students often need help identifying strengths and opportunities, so I usually start here.

Strengths typically include the love of music, perfect pitch, work ethic, curiosity, a well-developed ear, and the ability to read music. Opportunities can range from access to youth orchestra programs, chamber music offerings, private lesson teaching positions, a peer support group within the school, family support, and a safe learning environment in the studio. Opportunities are often seen as extras we can stretch toward or supplementals we can use to enhance the work we are already doing, such as summer festivals and competition offerings.

Weaknesses typically include things like performance anxiety, difficulty managing a schedule, a past playing injury, current tension in playing, struggles with memorization, a deficiency in a technical or musical area, or even that voice in one’s head that questions our abilities. Threats are things that work against us, both mentally and physically, or have the potential to do so. Things like other extracurricular activities that draw away from our practice time, roommates or friends who try to talk us out of skipping important practice sessions or classes, lack of family support, a new girlfriend or boyfriend, or a job. I find that simply naming our weaknesses and threats helps us to be more prepared to handle them when they arise.

When discussing long-term goals, I encourage my students to develop three to five statements to talk about how they will achieve their vision. Using the SWOT analysis and core principles, we can work on goals that consider our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats while leaning on our principles of leadership, accountability, and perseverance. Goals that some of my students have used include recording and archiving every piece performed, memorizing two complete works for solo violin by Bach before graduating, and attending at least two summer festivals while in college. Other goals have included playing in a chamber ensemble every semester, volunteering in local schools, memorizing all scales and arpeggios, or performing a concerto with orchestra.

In the studio, we have seen these goals really pay off. Last year, the student who recorded every piece performed was able to apply for a scholarship at the last minute that he won. Had he not had those recordings available, I do not think he would have even applied. Another student, whose goal was to memorize two complete works by Bach, told me that she was able to play several wedding gigs this past summer using several movements from one of the pieces she has memorized so far. The outcomes do not always have to be lofty; this particular student was so excited to find a practical application for all the work she did last year. Earning money doing it was even better!

At this point, the plan is becoming more concrete, and action steps are emerging. The semester objectives should tie directly into each long-term goal. I encourage my students to create three to five steps to achieving each goal and insist that they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based). This is another strategic planning tool that is helpful to use when working through these steps. It is easy to get too “big picture” here, and we have already done that, so encourage smaller steps. For the student who wanted to play solo Bach from memory, her list included listening to different recordings at least three times per week, doing a harmonic analysis, performing in studio class a certain number of times, playing for the local symphony concertmaster, and setting metronome goals for practice. At this point, I encourage everyone to write these semester objectives into the monthly calendars. This is a great way to make sure they happen and tie the various exercises together!

The strategic plan can continue to become more and more specific, but I take it just one more step. The semester objectives are still too “big picture” for a lot of younger students. How to start a harmonic analysis, for example, or what steps should be taken to prepare a studio class performance need a little more flushing out. This is why we have the action plans. Each semester objective should be broken down into a few specific steps that become actionable items. I may not expect the level of detail in an analysis of a theory professor, but the student should identify all the cadences, identify all of the key areas, look for unexpected harmonies and work to understand them, identify the parts of the fugue, and then fill it with whatever their skill level can handle. For really young students, we do some of this in the lesson. It may not always be perfect, but students can often identify cadences by ear. For the student playing in class, he decided to set up three one-to-one peer performances before playing in class and also played for one other faculty member. He recorded himself twice and shared these with a peer to review. All of these steps were added to his calendar. By the time he played in studio class, he had already given at least four live performances and two recorded performances. An added benefit is that the peers he played for previously were now sitting in the room cheering him on.

The strategic plan exercises are all wonderful tools to help develop greater intrinsic motivation and to give students more autonomy over their time. They also help students take extrinsic factors in stride. The chair test will be over on a certain date, and the history exam and paper will be due long before the performance jury. I have seen so much more confidence in my students’ playing. I regularly see that these exercises encourage students to reflect on their work in a way that allows for success, failure, experimentation, and fulfillment.

A Rewarding Challenge

Any steps we take to integrate greater student engagement in the learning process will help our students. These exercises have come to mean a great deal to me and to my students. Working through calendar exercises or a strategic plan can enhance and augment what we work on in the teaching studio. My students come from very different backgrounds, have diverse interests and career goals and aspirations, and it is a rewarding challenge to find ways to engage with them and embolden them to embrace their own path as they develop their own musicianship and artistry.

The steps outlined earlier will hopefully be beneficial to you in developing a greater sense of intrinsic motivation in your teaching studio. By taking steps to encourage greater autonomy in our students’ work, we help train them to be successful beyond their student years in all facets of their professional development. By nurturing our students’ love of music in an organized and structured way, we help them build life-long pathways to success. When our students can break down a difficult task into manageable steps and trust that they will reach their goals, because they have followed these same steps year after year, we know they are well-positioned for a satisfying and full career in whatever path they choose.