What Motivates Your Student?

This week has been "Learning Triangle Week" where we Suzuki teachers are bringing an open conversation on the Suzuki pedagogy and the concept of learning together. Not only do we have a triangle among student, parent and teacher, but now we include our "peers" in a Suzuki pyramid which contributes to our learning environment. The relationship with our peers is most obvious in group class or when we come together for events, performances, and community outreach such as the Harvest Fair performance we had last week. 

At the heart of Learning Triangle Week is discovering how do students learn best or most easily. Parents, caregivers, grandparents, etc. often have more contact with the student than the Suzuki teacher. This is why it is so vital to develop strong communication among all who make up the Suzuki pyramid. If learning goes at the pace of the child or adult, then successful learning results and motivation is sustained. Often parents ask, "how do I get my child to practice? Is this merely a rhetorical question or is it really a question on how to motivate the child to practice? How do we motivate ourselves to practice?

I am a procrastinator when it comes to practicing. I know from years attending music conservatories that I need to extrinsically motivate myself to get to the piano regularly. My incentives could be: promising myself a coffee and a cookie after I finished my first hour of practicing, or telling myself that a certain performance was coming up and I need to be ready. These are extrinsic situations that generate the desire to practice. 

Intrinsic motivation can come when one purely enjoys a certain piece of music and wants to play it well. This week I asked some of my older students if there was music that they listened to that may not be classical that they would want to learn to play. Could there be a possibility of attending a live concert of a group they liked to listen to, or was there sheet music that could be purchased so that they could learn the theme song from a movie they watched? The desire to play music that a students enjoys hearing can be a strong intrinsic motivator. 

At different ages, extrinsic and intrinsic motivators can be different. For adults, we should pay attention to our own learning style and to that of our students.This can affect whether an extrinsic or intrinsic motivation will be more effective. For young children, stickers can be a great way to keep track visually of the amount of practice that has been completed. It is hard for the young child to measure their progress abstractly. However, practicing every day or a certain number of minutes or a certain number of repetitions is a concrete way to evaluate what has been accomplished in a week's time. 

Older students recognize the progress through the repertoire and may value most getting from one piece to another. However, a truly advanced  player can recognize the quality of the playing, the quality of one's execution and can utilize that as an important intrinsic motivator. Advanced musicians know when they have played a piece or a section or a phrase with the quality of tone, intonation or technique that is excellent and pleasing. 

A large part of the successful learning triangle and pyramid comes from our ability to communicate among each other. We try to keep this open conversation throughout the school, and we welcome parents to join us for our monthly parent chats or curriculum discussions. We hope to continue this musical journey through a lifetime--which is only possible through our triangular relationship! (More discussion on motivation next week!)

Sachiko