Music and Education

The Nature of Music Education

“The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born.” (Philip E. Ross The Expert Mind Scientific American August, 2006)

The true nature of music education lies in the mentoring process. The spark which flies from the teacher to the student can ignite the student’s mind and inflame it to master the field and surpass his/her mentor. My teachers, students and I form a network of minds which encompass a vast body of knowledge and wisdom. My teachers also include the masters from the past whose works and recordings I study, as well as those I come into personal contact with. My students, many of whom have become professionals, continue the work of my mentors and go on to mentor others.

The example of mentoring is especially instructive in the study of Indian classical music. In a similar way that language is learned, the student is introduced to the teacher and studies begin (often as early as age three or four if the teacher is a family member) with rote learning of a graduated series of lessons which, if continued, inevitably lead to mastery. The lessons are taught in a context of mutual respect and with a love of learning which encourages the young mind to blossom in a nurturing, non-punitive environment.

I consider myself a student for life and continue to study new topics and work on the development of new skills. Cognitive scientists have found that motivation is a stronger factor in mastery than native ability. “It is no accident in music, chess and sports…(that) professionalism has been emerging at ever younger ages, under the ministrations of increasingly dedicated parents and even extended families.” (Ross, p.71) Because of this attitude toward learning new topics and skills, my mental flexibility has continued and increased into my 60’s with new interests and skills being added all the time.

There is a ten year rule in psychology which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. (Ross p. 69) When mastery is attained, there is a graceful, effortless quality to the work and listeners are left with the impression that making music it is easy. Indeed, once mastery is attained, it is easy to practice the art which has been mastered. Most of us are masters of walking and speaking our native languages, among other skills. We do these tasks so well that we seldom think about the technique involved. Yet, when we watch a baby take the first few steps or learn to talk, we can appreciate what complex tasks they really are, and how much effort goes into the mastery of these skills. How many millions of words have we spoken in our lives or steps have we taken? There is a very good reason why we do it so well: we practice all the time. Bird Parker once said that, as a boy, he used to practice eleven hours a day; and he continued to practice incessantly all his life. Is it any wonder that he reached such a high degree of technical and musical excellence? “The expert relies … on a store of structured knowledge.” Ross Op. Cit.

A favorite technique I use in the mastery of music is effortful repetition. If something is impossible, I practice it one hundred times and it then becomes possible. If it is difficult I will practice it one thousand times. It then becomes easy. After ten thousand repetitions (literally) it becomes permanent, not unlike walking, speaking, driving or swimming. If performing is a problem, I do it repeatedly, and phych myself up for each performance, with autosuggestion.

Once mastery of music has been attained, learning should not stop, but should continue and grow into new areas and more advanced levels. The sad state of many masters of baroque, classical and romantic music is that they never go on to master the music of their own time and place. If they had lived in the baroque, classical or romantic eras with their present attitudes, they would have ignored the great music all around them, even as they do today. Unfortunately, as teachers the often pass on this past-oriented approach to learning. Fortunately there is a body of performers, including many of the generation in their 20’s and 30’s, who are intensely curious about the newest and most innovative music. They are helping to revolutionize vocal and instrumental technique and inspire composers to expand the language of music.