A Workshop for Music Teachers in Brooklyn - May 29th

Nurturing Motivation to Love and Create Music - A New Method

Michael Stegner has created a new teaching method that focuses on motivating students over the long term so that they can become self-sufficient and self-aware music makers. Michael slowly developed this method based on common threads shared by many great musicians he performed with, students he taught and advancements in brain science and learning research. This workshop will introduce the culmination of this work so you can immediately see the benefits and apply them in your teaching studio.

Details

Who: Michael Stegner (Presenter)
What: Nurturing Motivation to Love and Create Music - A New Method
Where: iBeam Studios located at 168 7th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 - click here for directions.
When: Friday, May 29th from 9:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Cost: $45 per person - pay/register below through the "Add to Cart" buttons.

Register By Filling in the Fields Below and click "Add to Cart"...

Name (First and Last)

Email Address

 

The Story Behind the Session (in Michael’s words)

After years of bouncing from method to method (or piece to piece) in both group and private lessons, I tried a little experiment one summer several years ago at my school - we combined all of our students into piano ensembles. I wrote several 4-part ensembles with different points of emphasis and for various playing abilities. After a few weeks it became obvious that the energy level of nearly every student had grown exponentially and I needed to make some serious changes in how I taught music.

By leveraging the new-found motivation the students displayed, we spent the next five years working together refining a program where they developed the ability to CREATE music they imagined, read or heard - instead of RECREATE music they read from a method book or were instructed to play by a teacher. I wanted a quarter note (or do,re, mi) to be something they felt and internalized rather than something they just identified on a sheet of paper.

After several years of tracking students in our school who are in this new method, it has become clear that they are consistently far beyond students who use more traditional approaches. I believe this is simply because they are more motivated from within to play music and play it well.

We use a series of games and activities to introduce nearly every concept they will need to practice correctly at home. This makes the lessons have a very lively feel and positively challenges the students to go home and continue the momentum established in the lessons.

Logistics and space restrictions eventually left us with a few students each semester who couldn't continue in the group lesson format. They switched to private lessons with the new method as an “experiment” and we found that it worked great with very little adjustment for teachers or students. There are even some area band directors using the method for their beginning band classes on several different instruments.

Over the next few months, I will be releasing all of the music I have written in this method along with the games, activities and support materials. This workshop will be an overview of the four- to five-year method, it’s benefits, it’s challenges, economic advantages and turnkey ways to transition your approach from traditional approaches.

Michael Stegner Teaching & Speaking Bio

Michael Stegner is the owner of Creative Music Adventures in Seattle - a music school in the Wallingford neighborhood. Several of his students have been awarded full scholarships at the preeminent music colleges in the US. In the last five years, four different students have won Downbeat magazine student awards for composition, audio engineering and performances (in piano and voice). Students and alumni have performed with or opened for Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Julian Lage, Larry Grenadier, Sheryl Crow, Wynton Marsalis, Ingrid Jensen, Geoffrey Keezer and many more.

As a speaker, Michael has presented at four MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) national conventions. He has presented at the Washington State Music Teachers Association and the Texas Music Teachers Association state conventions as well as several local and regional conferences in Washington state. He was a clinician for Roland US - helping teachers use Roland technology between 2003 and 2007.

Register and Pay By Filling in the Fields Below and click "Add to Cart"... Name (First and Last)

Email Address

Email michael@creativemusicadventures.com if you have questions.

Practicing the Unknown

Once students establish an effective routine in practice, it is always fascinating to see what they do when they practicing.  Often we practice something for a long time only to feel that our progress doesn't match our efforts.  In my opinion, this is a choice to feel this way.  It is a choice in how we practice.  I only say that because I often fell into the pitfall of associating the amount of time to the success of my practice.

I used to be so impressed by the stories of people who practiced eight hours a day.  I did this for many years thinking this was the trick to improving a lot.  Then I realized that I wasn’t improving as much as I would like during the eight hours, so I became convinced by teachers and mentors that correct repetition during the practice sessions was the key.  This did help me considerably.  Lately through teaching and my own practice, I have found the element that was missing from the first two approaches was the “unknown.”

When I practiced something that I was already comfortable with for any amount of time, my focus dipped.  I could go on autopilot and waste valuable time.  Then my eight hours really turned into a diversion - not a practice.  

As a young student, it was stressed to me that I repeat something three times, five times or seven times in a row before speeding up the tempo or moving on to something else.  Neuroplasticians have proven that our brain does not benefit from this static repetition.  Mastery grows and our brains benefit from incremental practice.  Every time we do something, the stakes should get higher (or change).  The tempo should get a little faster.  We add another hand or part to the mix.  We change the key.  We force the issue into the unknown.

I can’t begin to count the times when I would dutifully put the metronome at the tempo recommended by my teacher and have it pound away all week as I repeated the assignment.  Not only was it boring, it wasn’t helping me very much because I could zone out.

The flaw with this type of practice is that it doesn’t encourage our connection and engagement with what we create.  This is very sad and frustrating.  I would even go one step further and say that we can’t possibly create when this is the method.

If we as music teachers get frustrated about sports, video games, dance and all the other activities competing with our time; we really only need to look in the mirror.  The thing that those activities have in common is that they emphasize incremental improvement.  Whereas we were often taught that the way to play music is to do the same thing over and over again.  When we play video games, we are excited for the next unknown challenge.  When we play sports we want to rise to new challenges and improve.  We get hooked on the unknown and the next adventure.

The culture of teaching music has become so repertoire driven, that teachers may confuse harder and/or “more fun” pieces as incremental progress.  Sadly, this only encourages students to perform moderately more difficult pieces in the same way they have played their previous pieces...  Good...  Average...  Poor...  All detached from the creative process of performing.  In sports they call it “going through the motions.”  It's not fun to do no matter what activity we apply it.

Since I use the motto in my teaching studio of “four or more,” let’s start with that.  We play each assignment four or more times each day.  Here are ways you could use the metronome (or MIDI/play-along tracks) to practice the same piece for a week.  Let’s say the piece has a suggested tempo or end-of-week goal of 105.

Day 1 (Traditional):

First Repetition - Metronome at 60

Second Repetition - Metronome at 67

Third Repetition - Metronome at 74   

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 81

Day 2 (Traditional - Increase Tempo):

First Repetition - Metronome at 60

Second Repetition - Metronome at 70

Third Repetition - Metronome at 80   

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 90

Day 3 (Traditional - Build Tempo Threshold):

First Repetition - Metronome at 75

Second Repetition - Metronome at 85

Third Repetition - Metronome at 95   

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 105

Day 4 (Reverse Metronome):

First Repetition - Metronome at 60

Second Repetition - Metronome at 50

Third Repetition - Metronome at 40  

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 30

Day 5 (Slow, Slower, Fast, Faster):

First Repetition - Metronome at 50

Second Repetition - Metronome at 40

Third Repetition - Metronome at 90   

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 100

Day 6 (Extreme Tempos):

First Repetition - Metronome at 40

Second Repetition - Metronome at 30

Third Repetition - Metronome at 110  

Fourth Repetition - Metronome at 120

Try this out and let me know how it goes.  Be slightly uncomfortable and engaged the whole time.  Embrace the unknown and see if it doesn’t help your connection to the music.

Michael Stegner

Follow me on Twitter - @mstegner

“Like” me on Facebook - Michael Stegner Music Page