Snippets

There are all sorts of people who research how our brains learn.  Daniel Coyle talks about brain research in his book, The Talent Code.   If I had a smarter brain I would probably understand how the brain works a little better.  That was my very tired attempt at a joke.  

I do know this much beyond a doubt: we don't improve a piece of piano music by playing through it once at tempo.  Yet, if left to their own devices most students I know, even the really good ones, when asked to practice a piece, would probably just play through it once at tempo and move on.  

We do improve and learn when we take a small portion of music, a snippet, and repeat it several times with intention. The snippet could be just a few notes, or a phrase, it could be one hand alone, or even one note.   It can also be called a practice spot. It is my non-rocket scientist understanding that every time we repeat a task, we build a synapse.  I tell my students, if they repeat a snippet once, they have built a weak synapse.  I visualize this by pointing my pointer fingers together.   If we play it twice it makes a stronger connection, like two fingers together.  If we play the snippet four or five times, the connection becomes very strong.  In other words, we might have some hope of actually remembering the task we were doing today, when we come back tomorrow.  

Every experienced music teacher will tell you that true progress can only be gained when a student learns how to do quality repetitions of the same task.  How to get those repetitions is the trickier part.  I use a lot of counting toys, dice, playing cards and m&m's.  A little chocolate goes a long way.  

Doris Harrel calls this "doing sets."  She recommends the student do only four repetitions in a set, but then requests the student do many sets throughout the day.  You will probably notice at some point in the repetitions the quality actually gets worse.  Then you know you have gone too far and the kid is tired.  Doing only four repetitions ensures that each rep will be high quality.  

I make charts for my kids.  At some point I realized that the chart was encouraging the "play through it once" mentality.  So I added snippets to the chart.  Now each song gets a play through, and then I get to pick a snippet to work on.  One of the cornerstones of the Suzuki Method is review, but the review is only worthwhile if something is actually getting done.  Picking a snippet gets something done.  

I noticed at choir practice tonight that Kris Henry, the music director also uses snippets, but she doesn't know that is what they are called.  The choir only has so much time to rehearse and so many pieces.  So she picks a snippet from each piece, that she has planned ahead of time.  Same.  

When the kids are little we have to pick their snippets.  As they mature they should start to be able to pick their own snippets.  

Snippets. Enjoy your snippets.  Fun to say.  Fun to play. Fun to type. . . 

That is all I have to say about snippets.  Off to bed. . .