Every Super Hero is unique. Of course they are. We all know that. But what does that really mean?
Simply by knowing more about yourself and how you learn you can’t help but start to race ahead of the crowd. Not that we are competing.
Superheroes don’t need to prove themselves.
They simply are who they are, and perform with their advanced ‘honed’ skills.
The qualities of every super hero:
1- Has a goal, a story, the big ‘Why’.
2- Determined
3- Has a Weakness
4- Secret Identity (alter ego)
5- Uses Gadgets
6- Is a Role Model
7- Is Intelligent
8- Has Special Powers
9- Wears a Costume
10- Earns respect
11- He Has a lair or “hideout”
How can you become a super hero? Over the next few weeks, I’ll be explaining the unique styles of learning and the special tools I have developed to help you learn surprisingly easily through the backdoor of your mind. This way we go around the ‘road blocks’ to learning that your mind has set up. It is almost like magic.
“The true test of intelligence
isn’t knowledge…it’s imagination”
A. Einstein
Let’s work at
‘Igniting Sleeping Brains’ through music.
Carol Anderson
Sight-reading made easy –
The stems are the color of the string on which the note is played (great when shifting)
The circle is the color of the note the sharp or flat is moving toward.
Really amazing right?
What I’ve Got!!
I’ve developed a unique ‘back-door’ method of teaching, re-patterning, and igniting sleeping brains
What It Will Do for You!
It will help develop your brain…
Allow you to see how it feels to have fluid thinking.
Increase the speed of your mental processes.
Provide familiarity with notes and how they relate to one another.
Learning becomes a pleasure. No more complaints about practicing.
What You Need to Do
To Benefit Mentally and Musically buy the cards or digital cards and books (digital and hard copy) .
Download the freebies.
Walk through this series with me and start to understand just how unique you are.
Use all the materials (in order).
Raise the bar on music education.
Have you ever wondered why some things work with some students and with other students they are total failures?
With yourself…..have you noticed how you give more time to developing what you aren’t gifted at, then with your gifts?
Begin to understand how others process information ( usually a ‘light bulb’ moment)
This newsletter video is about ‘Selfie Facts’ – creating a personal profile of your unique wiring.
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What’s New 2020 is going to be a great year for those who want to commit to learning more about themselves, how they process information and how others are completely different in their learning style yet, just as effective
Join the Igniting Sleeping Brains Newsletter Some of the short vignette topics this year will be: “Who are the Super Heroes?” “Super Heroes are Happy” “Super Hero Test and answers” “Facial Dominance” “Eye Dominance” “Hand foot and ear dominance” “A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish” “A Study in Happiness and Commitment” “Comparing Stress vs Burnout” “Don’t think about Fish” “I Played the Truck” “The Parking Lot and the Why Behind our Choices ” “Desirable qualities and Undesirable flaws and why does that matter when studying music?” “Compliant or Cooperative – Which is better?” “How We are Wired and Why it Matters When Learning Music — or anything for that matter” “What Others Think and Why it shouldn’t Matter” “Organized Clutter” “Wait for it!” “The Perfect Storm” “Winter Doldrums” “Creatively Strengthening Mini Minds” “The dimmer switch on progress” “The Pattern Interrupt” “Moments are the ‘bytes’ of our life” “Practice with sticking power” “3 Steps: Make a dream a vision and then a reality” “Healthy Model vs Diseased Model” “Smorgasbord Feast for the Brain” “Chatting with the birds” “What if you knew the end of the game at the beginning?” “Planting Seeds” “Don’t fight the Loss – Define and Fight the battle” “Take Back Your Life and Make it Happen” “5 points for making memories” “Igniting Sleeping Brains Strategy” “The 8’s week one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight” “Crutches to Creativity” “See – Hear – or Move to Process Information and life around you” “Mind Control – I feel Happy, I feel Healthy, I feel Terrific!” “Playing Music at the Grandparents’ house” “Memorial Day” “The Flow” “Enriching the Brain” “You deserve a break today ….if…. ” “Character First ” ” Four D’s We can Influence and One we Can’t” “Are you in the cycle of the revolving door?” “Anchors in Life” “Capture the Moment” “Mommy Manifesto” “It’s Easier to Start Something than Finishing it” “The Psychology of Choice” “What is Scales Aren’t Just a Fish Thing?” “When children’s or our eyes are distracted – focus” “The value of speed and games in learning” “Three kinds of Music Readers” “Creatively strengthen music students” “Life is better when in balance” “A cup of tea” “Perfection vs Excellence” “Greenhouse Mentoring” “Today I identified with a gas station” “What is the Gas that Runs the Motor that Feeds the Meter?” “Practice – A little thought on a little change” “Drift – Driven – Design your Practice”
Let’s take a quick look at how differently we are all wired.
In the 8O’s, it was a big thing to discuss the right brain and the left brain.
It still has validity and is a big part of the puzzle but isn’t the end all.
I have a theory that explains why the right or left brain seem to be more active in our daily lives.
It has to do with the speed at which our brain functions.
Beta, Alpha and Theta speeds.
Left, Right (half asleep)
There are more but these are the basic speeds but those we can control most easily are:
Beta waves – strongly engaged mind (left brain)
Alpha state – resting, drawing, enjoying a garden (right side of brain).
Theta waves – daydream
Could it be as simple as that?
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Disclaimer,
I am nobody and know nothing. This is informed opinion.
May not work for everyone.
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This process will take 7 weeks.
I must say,
that despite the research I’ve done
and the knowledge that I’ve acquired,
I still,
at times,
find myself in a room waiting for the ‘tape to go around’
so that I will remember why I’m standing there with something in my hand.
That’s normal – not early onset anything.
Thinking it is some sort of red flag will only exacerbate the anxiety or exhaustion
or the reason why you are on autopilot.
This 7-week program will be multi-week: adding one little activity at a time to what you are already doing.
It will only and must only take 10 minutes a day.
Your brain will continue to exercise even after you are done.
Here is your first activity.
In an area that is large enough, create an 8. This will be your ‘trail’ for the entire 7 weeks of the ‘Igniting Sleeping Brains Project’.
Spray paint it on the grass or just wing it.
Make sure the area is at least 10′ x 6′ or something large. Now for the first session you will simply walk the 8. I wish I were there to watch because where you cut the 8 off is where you have a problem in your brain. I know it sounds to simple. But so what if it works. Since I am not there to watch, somehow force yourself to make a nicely rounded eight by painting it on the lawn or using colorful tape on a rug or floor.
Walk this 8 for 10 minutes….no more!!!
You can’t use a treadmill.
It isn’t about walking.
It is about the switching of our direction with the 8
Arms quietly by your side. Don’t swing them.
We just want your legs directing the paths in your brain.
Don’t talk (no auditory stimuli) no music, no radio, no tv, no friends talking to you!!
Don’t watch anything (no visual stimuli)
Just concentrate on walking the 8.
You can do this two times a day if you want quicker results.
But be sure that you are walking the 8 without cutting off any portion of it.
If you continually cut off a corner, you won’t fix the problem causing you to cut off the corner in the first place.
At least once have someone tell you if you are doing it correctly.
Next, we will layer this activity with another very simple action but don’t go on until you can walk this 8 well.
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As much as all of us want to be ‘Super Heroes’, we have to contend with the fact that we are human.
Being human brings with it a bit of fragility.
Knowing the ‘face’ of our body’s enemy gives us a clearer path to running the race as a Super Hero.
Sometimes we get confused as to the definition of ‘STRESS’ vs ‘BURNOUT‘.
Here’s how they compare.
Stress is characterized by a response of ‘over-activity’
Burnout prompts backing off…’disengagement’
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Stress shows in an overactive emotional response.
(Others think….’Where did that come from?’)
Burnout is where you can’t seem to feel anything….
your emotions are blunted.
******
Stress makes your body shutdown
you have a loss of energy but a mental state of anxiety.
Burnout creates a shutdown of your dreams, hopes and motivation.
*******
Stress creates anxiety
Burnout leads to depression
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Stress and Burnout are two paths that seem to run parallel
but actually are quite different.
It is like thecommon cold vs cancer.
One can just put you in bed for a while.
The other can kill you.
********
When stressed, the primary damage shows itself in your physical health.
When experiencing burnout, the damage is evident in your emotions.
*****
Stress can kill you
Burnout makes you lose your desire to live.
*******
So.….What to do?
It takes work to be a Super Hero
1) Unrealistic goals are a major player in creating both stress and burnout.
2) Create boundaries.- Just say no sometimes
3) We all have 24 hours a day and some of that time needs to be refreshing your spirit so even though you have an amazing work ethic, develop a ‘relax’ ethic too.
3) Don’t try to control what is out of your control.
ie: people.
Don’t manipulate or coerce.
4) Don’t violate your personal moral hierarchy –
but be sure to establish a moral hierarchy or
you will be tossed around with every suggestion.
Regret is a big player in causing stress or burnout.
If you regret something — down the road shame takes hold.
And shame is a major destroyer of the quality of one’s life.
Shame is a feeling that is worse than almost anything.
It attacks even those who are contented with who they are.
Shame creeps in because you haven’t lived up to your own standards – not someone elses.
You might be someone who has achieved great things, you have few enemies…you are liked by everyone
but in some private area of your mind,
you aren’t fulfilling your beliefs about yourself – your activities – your plan – and
Whammmmooooo!!!!…shame creeps in.
Did you ever wonder why some people seem to be running a great race and then stop to
(what I call ‘cut themselves off at the knees’)
They just seem to loose the race on purpose.
They do something that destroys their chances of reaching their goal or being successful.
They have it all.
Why give it up for……..?
Actually, sometimes it is because what is required of them is something outside their ‘ideal- self’.
As easy as regret is to set aside, shame seems to permeate.
I know that I will never remember the circumstances that surrounded a choice I might have made twenty years ago but even after all that time it could be a source of ‘shame’.
I made a pack with myself long ago not to second guess the ‘why’ for my choices. I would never remember that one kid had a fever and the other couldn’t find their shoe so I didn’t go visit a sick relative and they died. Ok, maybe a little dramatic but that’s the way life often is. If you let it, it is constant drama.
I had decided to set aside self-condemnation for what was or wasn’t done but offered myself the respect I would give to anyone else if they were willing and pro-active in making choices and following through with establishing ‘goals’.
Since I teach music, I’ll use that as an example. If you stop taking or teaching music lessons or never start, weigh that against the level of importance that music holds in your life. True, it will create more activity in your home for sure – more accountability – yet, if you never do it and you always wanted to, it may introduce regret and eventually shame ergo an underlying cause of stress and burnout.
Life choices hold far more power than a simple passing thought. They build a nest and raise a brood. (family) Why do you think we call it brooding when we mull over issues? Ha …. I made that up. But it is true to a point. A passing thought doesn’t affect us but ‘self-image’ (the private, sometimes secret nest of self-image we have in our heads) does. And if we aren’t feeding that self-image with what it takes to get us there, then we can develop regret, shame, burnout and stress.
Stress is something you need to address with a professional. Don’t sit on it. It won’t just go away and it will begin to affect your health.
For those who are identifying with burnout or regret,
see where you are on this path and undo what took you there.
If you are feeling sorry for yourself
self-pity leads to an unforgiving spirit
An unforgiving spirit leads to resentment
Resentment leads to anger
Anger leads to bitterness
Bitterness leads to depression.
And depression can make you feel like life is not worth living.
Busyness hides depression
Don’t fake it,
challenge yourself
and don’t allow boredom to open the door to the ugly mental path that got you in the ‘muddy road toward depression’ or disappointment in the first place.
Back off and have fun.
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Scales Aren’t Just a Fish Thing is a back door method of teaching just about anything
(I am using music and music theory as an example)
We can avoid short circuits and mental roadblocks by working with the unique wiring and learning styles of each individual.
Let’s Talk
Here’s what I think.
All learning comes
based on previous growth,
The mind does not grow
like an onion with layers.
It grows by weaving unimaginably complex patterns
that correspond to the multiplicities of the world
and people who make up the world of the individual.
A quiet easy student or child isn’t always better.
Once the child reaches 13 years old, they choose one of two paths.
Compliant or
Cooperative ….maybe. (sometimes misunderstood as resistant)
One is easier but once they reach maturity they say….
“Who am I- I’ve pleased everyone else but what would I have liked?’
Mom and Dad think they have done a great job and launch the compliant new adult into a world where life requires more than compliance if they don’t want to be eaten by the ‘sharks’.
Resistance and sorting out what they accept as their worldview,
while in the protection of the home,
is actually a bit of a good thing if done with respect for everyone.
Compliant Obedient Child
The Responsible, Cooperative Child
Externally motivated. Needs to please and win approval
Is obedient – follows orders
Feels helplessness without support person
Self esteem is on the ‘reputation’
Waits for orders, lacks initiative
“I am my actions”
Lets others make choices for them leading to consequences
Has difficulty projecting what the result of their behavior may be
External value system
Blindly obeys, possible he may think
Has no internal red flags
Self-defeating tendency to ignore personal needs, ‘walk-on-me’ mentality
Win-lose mentality
No personal achievement goals
Avoids punishment
Self exonerating behavior due to guilt over their desires
Internally motivated by choices and consequences
Makes decisions
Confident, empowered since choices have been confirmed
Self esteem is on the private self
Assertive
“I am responsible for my actions
Makes own choices and takes responsibility for consequences
Confident to make choices, aware of possible results
Internal value system
Thinks, may possibly obey
Has an established internal siren to establish boundaries
Aware of personal needs has a healthy acceptance of needs
Win-Win mentality
Focused, centered, with a mission
Seeks results
Balance between internal and external needs and desires versus others requests.
Scales Aren’t Just a Fish Thing
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Be sure to get your email on it so you can follow the ‘Scales Aren’t Just a Fish thing’ concept from start to finish.
Teaching Tools including
color-coded notes
for all the Suzuki literature
through Book 4 plus lots
gypsy, fiddle and canons.
Play-along music
and music theory card games
to maintain interest.
Gum Drop Note Sheet Music
Circles are the color the note is moving toward. Subtly the student is learning complex music theory without knowing it. When they play the music theory games, it stamps the ideas and embeds them into their thinking. Try them.
Remember: a note that is sharp or flat is notated with a circle the color of the note it is moving toward. Just a little help while we are learning.
The ’10 Minute Music Theory Card Games’ ™ is a year long series of card games intended to be played at the end of each lesson. This slowly builds understanding from the simplest concept until it is intrinsically understood. Students want to come to lessons because they are motivated and excited about learning. Their progress is solid and steady. They understand intervals and otherwise difficult music theory concepts by playing games until they are at lightning speed. All games include ‘clue cards‘ with all the answers ‘nurture don’t test’.
‘The Magnificent Fingerboard ™’ is the basis for reference. Students become familiar with the notes and the patterns. Combined with listening to the music, the understanding of the notes and their relationship to the notes around them, is a great musical foundation.
We were pulling into our quiet, quaint little lane on our way home when two girls, just out of single digits, were selling lemonade on the sidewalk. As we turned and continued down our lane, I could hear one of the girls loudly berating us for not stopping. We parked at our house and got out of the car. I could still hear her going on about us not stopping.
I grabbed a hand-full of quarters and walked down the lane back to their stand. One girl saw me and warned the other who was still going on and didn’t appear to have any intention of stopping.
We talked about the purpose for their sale. I told them I didn’t want any lemonade but wanted to contribute to their cause.
I don’t think I got back to the house before the ‘mouthy’ girl started on another neighbor. I was shocked that she wouldn’t stop even when she was told, by the adult I might add, that they didn’t want any. This girl was now in control. She even had adults scrambling to accommodate her whims. She was an aggressive bully. I felt like marching back down the lane and telling her that bullies have their day but that it is a short day, when I remembered one of their fathers loudly yelling at, and following, a number of my students’ cars to my house and letting them know ‘what for’ because they came down the lane past his house a little too fast.
Here’s the deal
Almost everything in life has a fake.
Did you ever notice that?
We could make a list that is unending of ‘fakes’.
You’ve got non-poisonous snakes that mimic the coloring of the poisonous – or are the poisonous mimicking the non?
(You remember the saying, ” Red and Yellow kill a fellow, Red and Black friend of Jack”)
*********
440 hz vs 432 hz
I won’t even go there.
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If we simply sit in the tepid water of letting ‘whatever happens happen’, the bully’s will be the voice that is heard.
According to some of the ‘fakes’, we all need to ‘drink the lemonade’.
But lets talk about something we actually have control over.
Fake character qualities are tough to define in words, but the resultant character, or lack there of, is evident down the road when the individual is confronted with difficult
uncharted paths.
The uncharted path should be feared if we don’t have an internal GPS that puts up red flags.
How do we rescue the young from the fake?
When I went to the library and warned the librarian about a video I took home that was actually boring until ‘hello’….they said this is the way the parents want the kids to learn.
I don’t think so. I wasn’t warned.
I didn’t even want to put that into my mental storage.
I don’t think parents are so absent that they want a sleazy video to teach what is beautiful.
I like the concept of not letting the young see the counterfeit so that when it shows up they know something is off.
Character does not come with a lightning strike at the appropriate age
it needs to be nurtured.
Here is just a thought.
Desirable
Undesirable and fake
1- Assertiveness
2- Alert
3- Obliging
4- Analytical
5-Visionary
6-Tender-hearted
7-Poised
8-Cooperators
9-Spirit of a hero
10-Innovator
11-Single-minded
12-Diligent
13-Discriminating
14-Disciplined
15-Earnest
16-Efficient
17-Enthusiastic
18-Fair-minded
19-Flexible
20-Forgiving
21-Frank
22-Frugal
23-Generous
24-Grateful
25-Hospitable
26-Humble
27-Full of fidelity
28-Neat + orderly
1-Aggressiveness
2-Distractible
3-Lacking conviction
4-Petty
5–Scheming
6–Gushy, fake
7-Conceited
8-Conspiring
9-Reckless
10-Day dreamer
11-Domineering
12-Overly concerned with detail
13-Critical
14-Rigid
15-Overly serious
16-Impatient
17-Frenzied
18-Judgmental
19-Wishy-washy
20-Condoning
21-Tactless
22-Scrooge
23-Wasteful
24-Indulgent
25-Social-climber
26-Self-abasing
27-Unhealthy attachments
28-Compulsively clean
The list could go on but you get the picture.
Try a Master Class
Teaching Tools including
color-coded notes
for all the Suzuki literature
through Book 4 plus lots
gypsy, fiddle and canons.
Play-along music
and music theory card games
to maintain interest.
Gum Drop Note Sheet Music
Circles are the color the note is moving toward. Subtly the student is learning complex music theory without knowing it. When they play the music theory games, it stamps the ideas and embeds them into their thinking. Try them.
Remember: a note that is sharp or flat is notated with a circle the color of the note it is moving toward. Just a little help while we are learning.
The ’10 Minute Music Theory Card Games’ ™ is a year long series of card games intended to be played at the end of each lesson. This slowly builds understanding from the simplest concept until it is intrinsically understood. Students want to come to lessons because they are motivated and excited about learning. Their progress is solid and steady. They understand intervals and otherwise difficult music theory concepts by playing games until they are at lightning speed. All games include ‘clue cards‘ with all the answers ‘nurture don’t test’.
‘The Magnificent Fingerboard ™’ is the basis for reference. Students become familiar with the notes and the patterns. Combined with listening to the music, the understanding of the notes and their relationship to the notes around them, is a great musical foundation.
and our how our brains process information with the study of music,
The complex wiring of the brain
One of the first things I do when I am asked to work with someone is to give them a piece of paper.
I ask – “how would you tell me to get to your house”?
They have to use the pen and paper.. no additional instructions – no questions.
In one minute the tale is told.
I have all I need to know.
If they begin to write the directions ….
go to the end of the street and turn right,
I know this person needs to only know what they need for the moment and no more.
If they draw a map,
then they need to know where the lessons are headed.
What’s the point?
How they get there isn’t the problem,
they’ll figure that out along the way.
They simply want to know the intended destination.
These are the students with whom you need to play
‘the truck’ when teaching..
(if you don’t know what I mean…click the picture)
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(Those who wrote the instructions)
The ….’go to the end of the lane’….students
need you to play the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ investigator.
With flashlight in hand, walk them down the gravel road to show them that it is safe out there beyond the end of the lane.
Walk with them…model what is expected.
Simplify the instructions.
They need a safety net.
They aren’t more or less intelligent….just wired differently.
And good for them….
they basically run the world
(and the classrooms and libraries)
The map people, change the world.
I would teach the map (big picture) student
totally differently than the
sequential – ‘go to the end of the lane’ – student
The global learner likes to learn fast.
They get chunks of a picture and put it together automatically once the chunks are completed.
They probably couldn’t tell you how they came to their conclusions, but they usually are accurate and connected to the complete picture.
They get it!
I’d even go out on a limb here and say that these students will be very passionate with everything.
They will be the one who improvises with ease and appears to have the greater talent.
Unfortunately, they will also be the student who ‘gets bored’ and gives their parents a very difficult time about practicing, or anything structured.
If they are good at it, they will throw manipulative tantrums that label each grey hair on their parent’s head with their name.
They will try to quit at each challenge point
or say, let’s play cello today, or can we play games?
They are fast. They don’t want to slow down.
Somehow they can play it, ………..almost magically
but….wait one second…
not so fast ‘Sparky’.
This manic brain action is only short lived.
Along with this amazing gift of seeing the big picture
comes a fatal flaw that if not addressed early will steal all the joy of learning quickly.
Patience to take care of the little things – the details – is nearly totally missing.
To complete a project from start to finish requires structure and that is something the global thinker lacks,,….at least in the traditional way.
They are often sloppy – lacking detail and technique. Their goal is to get through the job and finish it and go onto the next new adventure.
They are fun to teach because they really teach themselves. They want to play. They want to gather and learn. Their natural laziness is transformed into a manic state of ‘becoming’.
This is why it is so critical that the connection between the teacher, parent and student is developed and cherished. The wrong teacher/student match can create a student who looks for the ‘reward’ in a rush somewhere else. I could list a few world leaders with this type of learning personality. And, unfortunately, we would probably find a majority of this type of thinker in jail. If there isn’t a strong leader to help guide this student, they will find their ‘rush’ in the wrong places.
Not to scare you, but this one is a challenge and a pleasure at the same time.
This is directed to teaching musical instruments
but the concepts can be used to teach just about anything.
How to teach the student
or parent who drew the map
Draws Maps – Big Picture
When preparing to teach a new song, play the entire piece for them with no explanation.
Break the piece into large chunks with a beginning and end to each section.
Give workbook pages of the entire ‘chunk’ to color in order to slow them down a bit.
Have them play-along with the music, slowing it down so they can keep up.
These students need closure. They need completion – often.
They multi-task.
I doubt they care about praise.
They like to see something completed – fast
If you are one step ahead of them in the way you inform yet deprive the information and present it in chunks, they will overcome their innate weakness of not being polished simply for the ‘reward’ of accomplishment.
When preparing to teach a new song, talk about the background of the song, the composer, the structure.
Break the piece into an outline form with the student. Let them listen to the repeated parts.
Give workbook and assign only what they can do in a week – too much information drowns them.
Be sure to have explicit written instructions for what they are to do. Assign a certain number of times for them to listen to the song. (sometimes I tell them to just listen to the part of the song they are learning 10 times.)
These students sometimes have the competitive edge to them.
They don’t like to multi-task. Mono-focused is the word of the day here.
They like praise. Lots of encouragement – certainly not in a proud way. It is just part of the motivation they need.
This learning personality is slow and steady. And yes, they usually win the race. Why? because they don’t overdo it…..Ever……The global student is the ‘mouthful and can’t chew it all’ kid. The sequential student is the ‘one coin in the offering plate at a time’ kid.
To ensure acceptance when doing what is required in life – the sequential or ‘go to the end of the lane’ student will ‘learn’ to do things both ways and cover our bases.
The sequential student needs direction. Certainly not to say that they become dependent people. This is all just part of the beauty of who these learners are.
If you send them to the store with a shopping list and although they need milk it isn’t on the list, they will add ‘milk’ to the list so they can cross it off.
They like order. Today’s minimalistic mentality is their ‘cup of tea’.
In the end, the sequential learner won’t have the whole idea of the ‘big picture’ as clearly as the global student, but they are the teachers among us. They are the musicians who make it to the seats in large orchestras.
They are perfectly wired to learn in our educational system.
The sequential kids are often overlooked because they appear to have it all together.
They get good grades, hardly study, only try one thing at a time and aren’t in need of a rush.
Then it hits. Mr. Roger’s way of ‘one thing at a time’ no longer is tolerated by society. They are required to do more.
Slow and steady means late nights.
These students will practice. They might not have passion in their style without you as a mentor and role model, but they practice. They would easily fall into the adult idea of ‘status quo’ if not taught early enough how to establish long term goals.
These students are often technically accurate. Meticulous about the notes and phrasing. It is your job to bring them further and help them to
‘sing in the rain’
‘dance in the sun’
‘take it easy’
‘fill life’s plate and allow the food to become a little mixed.’
Of course, not everyone who wants to be told what to do next only after they have reached the initial destination will identify with every quality written here. But, I have to tell you, they would if it weren’t for the people who have been in their lives. Good mentors… parents who gave them more attention – teachers who didn’t settle for what appeared to be good.
Let’s take a quick look at how differently we are all wired.
I have written music books that are color coded and music theory card games to help make complex concepts understandable.
Please check them out.
Teaching Tools including color-coded notes for all the Suzuki literature through Book 4 plus lots gypsy, fiddle and canons. Play-along music and music theory card games to maintain interest.
Gum Drop Note Sheet Music
Circles are the color the note is moving toward. Subtly the student is learning complex music theory without knowing it. When they play the music theory games, it stamps the ideas and embeds them into their thinking. Try them.
Remember: a note that is sharp or flat is notated with a circle the color of the note it is moving toward. Just a little help while we are learning.
The ’10 Minute Music Theory Card Games’ ™ is a year long series of card games intended to be played at the end of each lesson. This slowly builds understanding from the simplest concept until it is intrinsically understood. Students want to come to lessons because they are motivated and excited about learning. Their progress is solid and steady. They understand intervals and otherwise difficult music theory concepts by playing games until they are at lightning speed. All games include ‘clue cards‘ with all the answers ‘nurture don’t test’.
‘The Magnificent Fingerboard ™’ is the basis for reference. Students become familiar with the notes and the patterns. Combined with listening to the music, the understanding of the notes and their relationship to the notes around them, is a great musical foundation.
I’m glad I’m relatively strong. I used to move our furniture around ….often: maybe once a month, sometimes more often. I would interrupt any patterns of lethargy in myself or my family. That was a challenge with four kids and six dogs. Don’t judge you hardly knew they were around,….the dogs I mean. Each of us had our own red (or close) poodle for unconditional love. It worked. Here is a picture of our new little puppy ‘Pippin’. Oh my heart, does he get attention. For my life now, even Pippin is playing the part of a ‘pattern interrupt’.
If we started to get too comfortable with sitting around a TV I’d move it………… I guess I have to admit that was my way of cleaning the house as well. Maybe moving the furniture was extreme. But it worked for me.
A Pattern interrupt; Why bother?
Why force the discomfort just to make change?
Life isn’t easy and it is full of turns and twists and unexpected struggles. I always wanted our home to be a Shangri-La away from the world. Anyone using its refuge was to feel safe and unexamined. Their business hats could come off and they could be totally kids again, safe and growing. But laziness wasn’t part of the deal. So, if I sensed, mostly in myself, a bit of ‘ennuyé, I’d simply make a change – A ‘Pattern Interrupt’
Make a plan and work the plan.
The comfort of the ‘same old same old’ is often a rut that prevents progress. Ruts or habits do give comfort but they grove an actual rut in the upper part of your brain. That’s why they are so hard to get rid of. They start in a pleasure area in the frontal cortex and move back to where obsessions hide out. No wonder it is so difficult to stop them. I always say, start another ‘good’ habit that resembles the poor habit and you can kick it.
And now, the application for musicians.
Practice partners need to be aware of the tendency of just practicing to get it done rather than improve. They will need to be involved enough to plan a way to interrupt the pattern. A students’ practice time can diminish into a time of frustration, sometimes snowballing into a time of crying – ‘I can’t’. Be sure it isn’t manipulation and work on the frustration.
Interrupt the pattern by making the impossible thing important enough to conquer. Pay attention to the little ‘I can’t’. What is it you ‘can’t. Single it out. Make it the center of focus for a bit. Improve your skills through repetition. Then have fun with it. Laugh. Create a ‘mission’ to reach a goal and make it stick. Be aware that any repetition of the wrong thing will create a habit, and as we discussed, habits are tough to break. Once established, a helping hand is often needed to pull you out.
Before the habit takes hold, make it a success by drawing a picture of a road and moving something down the road with each repetition of the ‘I can’t’ – specific challenging part. Make the successful try their favorite color and the unsuccessful gray. Even a failure is a success because success and failure are on the same road and you are moving toward your goal with every attempt to reach it whether successful or not. Hopefully, there will be more successful attempts as you move down the road. Always offer a positive ‘alternative-way-of-thinking’ about something to create the pattern interrupt and soon, you will be flowing in a positive course toward your goals.
If we don’t interrupt our automatic reactions, we won’t be in control of them. We want our thoughts to be positive, confident, encouraging, decisive thoughts. Without the ‘Pattern interrupt’, our automatic thoughts take over and literally protect us from change.
I realize that this is somewhat simplistic. We could have adrenal glands that are exhausted causing negative attitudes. Do you know what one of the number one remedies for that is…..change…get out into wide open spaces. Take the kids to a park and play your music. Go onto a boardwalk and face the ocean and play…be sure to leave out your case for anyone showing their appreciation. We can’t blame-shift and hope it isn’t our fault.
Maturity gives power over even our ailing bodies. It is partly developed through taking our thoughts and actions and forming them into what we would want to become. Encourage your ten years olds to imagine what traits in adults they highly respect then give them a path to becoming that person.
Help them to become self-directed by first recognizing the fact that they might be sinking into an undesirable pattern, possibly laziness, distraction or discouragement. Then interrupt the pattern. Show them how to redirect their actions and mental thoughts. Not only will this prevent the adolescent loss of direction but it will help them to be actively responsible for who they become when they walk through the door of adulthood and independence and find themselves accountable for everything. So much more, but that can be for later.
The ’10 Minute Music Theory Card Games’ ™ is a year long series of card games intended to be played at the end of each lesson. This slowly builds understanding from the simplest concept until it is intrinsically understood. Students want to come to lessons because they are motivated and excited about learning. Their progress is solid and steady. They understand intervals and otherwise difficult music theory concepts by playing games until they are at lightning speed. All games include ‘clue cards‘ with all the answers ‘nurture don’t test’.
‘The Magnificent Fingerboard ™’ is the basis for reference. Students become familiar with the notes and the patterns. Combined with listening to the music, the understanding of the notes and their relationship to the notes around them, is a great musical foundation.
I used to sing ‘Over in Kilarney’ to my little people
My imagined ‘Ireland’ has now blurred into the ‘Real’ Ireland
I have to admit that Ireland is a storybook in real life
I am having a difficult time remembering what I pictured when I sang little people to sleep. My new ‘visual’ is almost as unreal but has slipped in and become the mental picture. Patchwork fields covering mountain sides. Sheep everywhere!!
And this is my point today.
You can never unlearn what you learn.
It becomes a part of you.
It is not only difficult to remember what wasn’t there just days before,
it is impossible.
It has become a structural part of your thinking.
That’s called ‘assimilation’ .
Before really learning something, you’ve simply ‘accommodated’ the information
(you stuck it in here and there where there was room)
But then….
once the info is in there,
and extraneous information like duplicates or what doesn’t fit with a personal world view is discarded, we need to
Make it ‘ ours’…ergo assimilation.
We are an information society but at some point:
STOP, DIG AND RUN
Most adults have so much on their plates that even to stop is too much to ask.
But there is something called ‘flow’ that is worth stopping, digging and running to create.
Sometimes life gets in the way.
Other times we don’t think we can achieve it
Most of us have our finger in an emotional dyke holding back
unresolved issues
that continually validate
‘limiting beliefs’ .
(chew on that for a while..its powerful)
Denial that there is even something holding us back is, in itself,
guzzling your ‘will-power gas’ and stopping
flow before it happens.
Make a plan. (no one wants to do this simple thing)
They always point to their head and say: ‘its up here’.
That’s not good enough.
Put it down there!
on the paper, in your phone, on your computer.
2. Chip away with one positive action at a time.
3. Set a goal.
I have to say that if someone wants to start violin lessons with me, they are usually down the path toward the goal already. It’s when the reality of what it takes to reach the goal meshes with the ‘fires of life’ already in place…..that the task seems insurmountable. So we have to clear a path to achieve the desired goal of learning an instrument.
Having a clear path…uncluttered…is essential for ‘flow’.
I had a little guy who was learning “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” stand around practicing the tune long after I had the endurance or desire to keep going. He was saying, “I could do this all night!”as he moved from room to room. That was a ‘kid rendition’ of ‘flow’.
To establish ‘flow’ you don’t have to have ‘arrived’ already.
You simply need to surrender to the moment.
I’m sorry….did you read that?
You were probably listening to a podcast while you were reading.
Stop and think about this for a second.
You need to surrender to the moment.
Just do one thing at a time and be there. That’s so important in many ways. Did you know that parents who are at their kid’s baseball games cheering them on or at their concerts taking pictures but who won’t sit down at home and play a game of ‘UNO’ or listen to their never-ending description of a story they are writing actually can be at fault for creating ‘narcissistic’ kids who become narcissistic adults? OK too much. That can be for later.
Remember:
What is flow?
-sustained concentration on the task at hand.
(oh you mean no multitasking?….)
-accepting the results and working with them…
-simply enjoying the process of improvement.
-forgetting about your needs or even time, and focusing on the activity or project or trip you are taking, or something you are creating.
-clarity of almost being one with the moment without extra clutter in our thinking.
************
Our lives are made up of moments linked together.
Moments are the ‘bytes’ of our entire lives
Life doesn’t start once the tasks are completed.
Make this year one when you
Make the most of your moments.
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