Abstract
Helping young musicians learn how to practice effectively is a challenge faced by all music educators. This article presents a system of individual music practice instruction that can be seamlessly integrated within large-ensemble rehearsals. Using a step-by-step approach, large-ensemble conductors can teach students to identify and isolate difficult passages, select appropriate practice strategies, and make improvements to their playing. This model of practice instruction draws on Albert Bandura’s concept of observational learning, as well as music education research.
The examples in this article form a blueprint for using modeling as a means of effective practice instruction for young musicians.
Sarah is a seventh-grade trombonist. She participates in band at school and practices three to five times a week at home. Sarah enjoys band and always completes the weekly practice log that her teacher, Mr. Parker, assigns. Mr. Parker writes practice assignments on the homework board in the front of his classroom, and Sarah carefully copies her practice assignment into her planner each day at the end of band rehearsal.
In spite of her conscientiousness and desire to succeed, Sarah often becomes frustrated or distracted while practicing. She does not have a quiet practice space at home or an established routine when she practices. Sarah’s mother wants to help her daughter and has recently begun to set a timer for thirty minutes each time Sarah practices. This way, her mother hopes Sarah will be less frustrated and able to focus all her attention on practicing until the timer goes off.
Sarah practices between 100 and 120 minutes each week, enough to earn an A on her practice log. Most days, Sarah focuses at least twenty minutes of her practice session on the sections of music that Mr. Parker assigns for home practice. Despite her good practice habits, Mr. Parker has noticed that Sarah continues to make similar mistakes in her band music as well as on her weekly playing tests. Although Sarah regularly practices the sections Mr. Parker assigns, certain passages seem to trip her up each time.
Sarah is not atypical in her practice behaviors and challenges. Many young musicians—even those who practice regularly—have difficulty making improvements on their own, whether in rehearsal or during home practice. Developing the skills needed to become musically independent is one of the most important yet most challenging goals for students in a large-ensemble rehearsal setting. Music educators are responsible for equipping students with the tools and strategies necessary to be effective, independent practicers. One way to approach this challenge is to examine the concept of self-regulated music practice.
Self-Regulated Practice
Much of the research literature about music practice incorporates self-regulated learning theory. 1 Self-regulated learners are those who are “metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process.” 2 Advanced, self-regulated musicians are able to set specific goals for their practice sessions, engage in strategic planning, self-instruct, use effective strategies to accomplish goals, and assess their own performance. 3
Results of music education research suggest that while advanced musicians are able to effectively use strategies such as slowing, adding on, or “whole-part-whole” repetition for the improvement of overall performance, younger musicians are considerably less productive and less self-regulated in their independent practice sessions. 4 It should be noted, however, that young musicians who do exhibit self-regulatory characteristics are more likely to practice harder, achieve greater success, and be more confident in their abilities than are peers who do not possess the tools necessary for self-regulated practice. 5
Practice Strategies
Performance success is correlated not with practice time but, rather, with the number of accurate trials of a given piece or passage during practice. 6 That is, the quality of students’ practice may actually be more important than the amount of time spent practicing. Although music educators may rightly believe that regular or frequent practice is necessary, particularly in the early stages of learning how to play an instrument, they must find ways to help students increase the accuracy of their independent practice through productive use of specific practice strategies. Teaching practice strategies in the context of large-ensemble rehearsals may be one effective way to accomplish this.
Students who organize their practice time through goal setting are likely to achieve higher levels of performance than those who do not. 7 Practice records and logs are often used as tools in guiding students’ independent practice. There are, however, frequent discrepancies between the practice strategies students are able to articulate and the strategies that they actually use during independent practice. 8 This suggests that students may need to be made more aware of the strategies they apply or omit when practicing. Even when students are made aware of various practice strategies, however, they often lack the knowledge or ability to make use of specific strategies for the purpose of error correction during independent practice. Additionally, given the demands associated with strategic practice, motivation may play a role: students who are more motivated to practice tend to articulate and implement more practice strategies than do students who are less motivated. 9
Middle school instrumentalists most often use repetition as a practice strategy. However, results of observational studies of students’ practice sessions have indicated that while students may repeat passages of music, they often fail to correct errors, and as such, practice mistakes repeatedly. 10 Other practice strategies commonly identified, though not necessarily used by young musicians, include slowing, use of a tool (e.g., metronome, method book, CD), simplification through clapping, counting, naming notes, pinpointing difficult sections, analyzing the key or meter, and adding on. 11 These strategies are typically more effective than repetition alone. However, even when students are able to identify a variety of practice strategies, observational studies of practicing have shown that students most often run straight through music, using few strategies and rarely stopping to fix errors. 12
Given the data about typical practice behaviors of young musicians, it is evident that some type of practice instruction is needed. Practice instruction may increase students’ ability to identify and implement appropriate practice strategies, thus improving productivity during individual practice sessions. One way to introduce practice strategies in large-ensemble rehearsals is through modeling.
Modeling
Modeling practice behaviors may be a way to increase students’ practice efficacy (belief in their own ability to achieve successful music practice), practice motivation, and successful use of practice strategies. 13 Psychologist Albert Bandura discussed observational learning as one of the key components of his social cognitive theory of learning. Observational learning is also known as imitation or modeling, and it encompasses four main components: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement. 14
First, students must give their full attention to significant features of the modeled behavior. Second, students must encode modeled behaviors into their long-term memory. This process is known as retention and could occur through students’ verbal description of a particular modeled behavior. Third, motor reproduction must occur. Students need to be able to independently reproduce a modeled behavior. This means that students also possess the physical capability to perform the modeled skill. Finally, students need to receive positive reinforcement for correctly demonstrating a modeled behavior. 15
For a teacher to effectively model a behavior or strategy for a student, the modeled behavior must be relevant to a student’s circumstances. That is, modeling or describing a practice behavior outside the context of a piece of music is considerably less effective than demonstrating an effective practice strategy based on a piece of music that students are currently learning. 16 For example, demonstration of slow practice in a passage of students’ music containing difficult sixteenth-note runs would be helpful, relevant, and ultimately effective.
Although there are several types of models, the most relevant modeling practices in this context are live and cognitive modeling. A live model is an in-person demonstration of a particular skill or behavior (e.g., a teacher modeling a practice strategy as students observe). 17 Live modeling is a commonly used teaching tool in ensemble rehearsals. Teachers often model technical or stylistic elements of music for their students. Cognitive modeling, perhaps a less-frequently-used technique, involves explicitly talking through a thought process about a specific skill or situation. 18 Cognitive modeling, used in combination with live modeling, may be an effective means of helping young musicians increase their application of useful practice strategies and independent practice productivity. The suggestions in the following section are just a few examples of ways in which, using modeling as a tool, practice strategies can be introduced and rehearsed in large-ensemble rehearsals.
Practical Application
Music education researchers have suggested that the way to increase students’ capacity for effective independent practice may be to provide practice instruction. How, though, within an already jam-packed rehearsal schedule, can instrumental music teachers find the time to incorporate practice instruction? The following set of activities is just one possibility. Each practice strategy activity could take place in as little as ten minutes. When working with younger or less experienced groups, however, it may be helpful to spend as much as fifteen to twenty minutes working with these strategies. As each practice strategy can be introduced and rehearsed using concert repertoire, practice instruction doubles as repetition of challenging sections of students’ concert music.
Using Frank Ticheli’s “Portrait of a Clown,” I have devised a one-week practice instruction plan that allows for time spent modeling and reviewing specific practice strategies. 19 First, I created a lead sheet from the “Portrait of a Clown” score. A lead sheet is a collection of melodic and accompaniment figures from a given piece of music, written out, usually using music notation software, so that the full ensemble can practice them in unison. (All figures in this article are published courtesy of Manhattan Beach Music.) This is a helpful teaching tool, particularly when the music educator is working with young or inexperienced groups, as it allows for unison learning and rehearsal of challenging passages. For more experienced ensembles, the use of lead sheets cuts down on wait time for all sections of the ensemble and affords all students the opportunity to practice challenging musical material. (The unidentified quotes in this instruction plan are the teacher’s words.)
Monday: Slow Practice
Slow Practice
Tuesday: Adding On
Adding On
Adding On
If students are more technically proficient, this strategy could also be used with larger segments of music—perhaps beginning with two measures and adding two measures at a time, eventually building up to playing the entire phrase.
Wednesday: Whole-Part-Whole
Whole-Part-Whole
Thursday: Chunking
Chunking
Friday: Self-Recording
Self-Recording
Practice Logs
Modeling and rehearsing practice strategies in the ensemble setting is the first step toward helping students achieve greater success in their independent practice. Practice logs should include details such as excerpt practiced, strategy used, and time spent. In addition, it may be helpful to ask students to evaluate their level of success with each excerpt. This could be accomplished through asking a question as simple as “Does this excerpt need more practice?”
The practice log system is in contrast to the “number-of-minutes” approach to keeping track of practice time. In the beginning, teachers can also choose to provide students with practice targets (i.e., technical or musical challenges and where these challenges occur in ensemble repertoire) as well as appropriate strategies, scaffolding the experience until students have gained enough experience to diagnose and select appropriate strategies on their own.
As students accumulate knowledge of more strategies, “Practice Strategy Potpourri” may be a helpful in-class activity. In pairs, in sections, or as a full ensemble, students can identify challenging sections of music and then select strategies that may be appropriate to use in practicing those sections. This activity can be limited to one piece of music, or it can be opened up to include all pieces in students’ folders. Practice Strategy Potpourri can also serve as a starting point for formulating goals to be included as assignments in students’ practice logs, and rehearsed through home practice. Ultimately, it is crucial for students to begin taking responsibility for the identification of difficult sections, selection of appropriate strategies, execution of strategies contributing to individual improvement, and reflection on effectiveness of execution.
Effective Strategies = More Musicianship
The examples provided in this article are in no way exhaustive, but they are intended to be used as a blueprint for practice instruction. The combination of cognitive and live modeling is a powerful tool, as it provides young musicians with a system for thinking about musical problems as well as executing practice strategies successfully. When weighing the cost versus the benefit of dedicating a portion of rehearsal time to practice instruction, the value seems clear: practice strategies can be taught through concert music. This provides an opportunity for repetition and solidifying challenging elements of the repertoire while also equipping students with the tools necessary to become more constructive in their home practice. As young musicians gain the ability to practice productively, their levels of individual musicianship and accountability increase. By modeling effective practice strategies, music educators can assist young musicians in becoming more thoughtful, deliberate, and ultimately, more effective in their independent music practice.
[On sticking to favorite composers in each era:] “There is a proverb in France that says, ‘Only idiots never change their minds.’ From this point of view, I’m the perfect idiot.”
“There is something marvelous in music. I might almost say it is, in itself, a marvel. Its position is somewhere between the region of thought and that of phenomena; a glimmering medium between mind and matter, relation to both and yet differing from either.”