Case Study Jessica #4

What is my strategy for approaching today’s lesson?

I would like to experiment with Dawna Markova’s theories. Markova says, “it is the match between how the learner learns and how the method teaches that determines who learns what – and how much” (p. 43). Based upon her book, “How Your Child is Smart?,” I have assessed that Jessica is most likely a Visual, Kinesthetic, Auditory learner. If this is true, Jessica’s greatest tendency is to retain information when it is administered visually.

Jessica was ready for her lesson today. She was happy to show me that she remembered to bring the CD that accompanies her Celebration Series. Her actions and attitude demonstrate that she cares about her progress more than she did even a month ago.

She will be performing for all the students in my studio next week. In preparation for that, we started the lesson with the two pieces she will play from memory. First, she played “Arabesque” beautifully except for one issue with controlling the left hand at the beginning of the second section. She decided that she will start with this section before she plays through the entire piece this week. Second, she played “Medieval Sand Castle.” She tried to play it from memory, but was not completely successful. The second section of the piece is not yet in her mind, or under her fingers. I asked her if she could play the piece ‘hands alone’ from memory. She replied in the negative. I zeroed in on the section she had difficulty with, and asked her to take three measures at a time to commit them to memory, hands alone. She was able to memorize them quickly and put hands together. I then asked her to teach me the steps to the dance she made up and then play the piece for me while I danced to it. Her playing was not flawless, but she is moving in the right direction.

“Snoopy” is coming along. She indeed followed my practice suggestions. All but one measure in the first section was under control. We fixed the fingering issue for that particular measure, and moved on to the third section. She quickly realized that this song is within her grasp over the next week.

We then listened to the recording for “Clowns” and threw the ball back and forth on the strong beats. I told her to keep her eye on the ball. She watched it carefully as it flew through the aire. She said that the tempo is too fast on the CD, but said she will try to increase her tempo this week. We worked with the metronome to find her comfort zone. Then, I had her choose a metronome tempo goal for the week.

I introduced Pachelbel’s Canon in D. I performed it for her, then had her look at the music to find the prominent patterns. We talked about and worked on the pattern in the bass line. She is going to learn the first twenty bars this week.

Scales – she is almost comfortable with E flat major. We worked on fingering issues and I asked her to keep her eyes on her left hand. Then, I started her into the C minor scale.

In the realm of doing written theory work, Jessica has been one of my most difficult students. I have her working through the workbook that complements the Celebration Series Repertoire. For three weeks, I have assigned the same pages, and all three weeks they have not been completed. This week, I asked her to complete the pages before she left my studio and feel free to ask me any questions along the way.

Repertoire Drop: At the beginning of the school year, Jessica begged me to let her play “Fur Elise.” She proved that she could play the first section within two weeks, so I let her continue with it. My decision was not a good one. She became extremely disappointed with herself when she could not grasp the second section as quickly. We worked on it over the course of many lessons, but it was only producing in Jessica a sense of failure rather than accomplishment. She is simply not technically ready for this piece. Jane Magrath’s “Pianist Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature” lists “Fur Elise” at level 7. Jessica’s other repertoire is around level 3-4. Clearly, I should have been more careful instead of giving in to Jessica’s desire to play it this year. We will have to come back to this piece when she is ready.

Sensory-Kinesthetic/Visual Strategies: For the second week in a row, we threw the ball back and forth to demonstrate the strong beats in “Clowns.” Not only does this teaching strategy appeal to her sensory, kinesthetic tendencies, it also caters to her visual learning style. In addition to feeling the beat as the ball landed in her hands, she can visualizing the length of each beat as the ball flies through the air.

Idealist Strategies: By teaching me her choreography for Medieval Sand Castle, Jessica feels like she is able to use what she knows about dance for the benefit of someone else. Idealists love to help people, and if she has an outlet for helping me learn the dance she created, perhaps she will be more open to receiving the help I give her.

Interdisciplinary Learning: Jessica loves Music and Dance. By asking her to create her own dance, she is contributing to the lesson in a way that connects two disciplines in a relevant way.

Reflecting on this lesson, it seems like she and I have reached a new level of communication. The improvements I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks have been encouraging to me. Jessica is no longer demonstrating an attitude of resistance, but as a blooming adolescent, she is definitely showing her true need for encouragement at every turn.