I had the crappest lesson ever today. I was told I dont practice enough even though I do 4-7 hours a day. The crowning touch was a girl in my uni class who went to 3 lessons out of 20 and brags about not practicing at all got a higher mark for the term than me even though my playing level is above hers. tTis isn`t about her getting a better mark than me I just feel like there is no point practicing anymore cos it gets you no-where as recognition for hard work is not given. Im really tempted to leave and go to a different place to study at least wheer I`ll be marked fairly. I spoke to my tutor and she told me marks are non negotiable and everyone got what they deserved but if so why do i feel that ive wasted so much time on apparent pointless practice when the outcome is the same. Do you think im just being petty?

So what? if some ppl need a lot or little practice. Even though you practice a lot and think you`re not getting anywhere..you will. Keep practicing and you`ll gain something. I gained perserverance(sry can`t spell), and I learned to become a better musician. Now i`m the top musician in my section. Don`t worry about it..you`ll be SO good sooner or later. Hey, i might be young but i had that same experince too.^^

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Oh and i hate ppl who brags about their playing. I try REALLY hard not to brag because it's not right. I know this person who brags so much and thinks she's so good. But i showed her,..by practicing.and competitions and all that.^^

So what is your motivation for practicing? Making your teacher happy? Or improving your playing and making yourself happy?

Just a thought. Might not make you feel better about everything, but you shouldn`t feel the practice was wasted if you practiced well and improved your playing as a result.

Did you ask your teacher for where the mark came from? For example, what areas could be improved for a better mark next time?

I don`t think you`re being petty. But I do think you`re not focusing on what`s really important.

I feel compelled to also add that the number of hours you practice is far less important than the quality of that practice, so be honest with yourself in evaluating the quality of the practice. For example, are you aware at all times of your tone, pitch, fingering, embouchure, etc, while practicing? Do you isolate problem spots and formulate specific exercises to remedy them?

Hope that helps a little, anyways. Good luck!

Mike Dusseault

Ahhh..that`s really good advice. Very detailed. nice job.^_^

I agree with some of the previous advice, practicing is about how you use your time, perhaps you can post how you go about practicing to get some concrete advice

So I don`t really agree totally with the post talking about motivation. I`ve been learning all about motivation this quarter so I guess now I am going to give a mini-lecture.

I personally define motivation as perseverance in the face of difficulty. If a person is working on something that he/she personally finds to be really easy then I would not call that person a motivated person. A person who continues working on a task that is difficult for them is motivated.


As far feelings of success go there are two ways to view success in terms of accomplisment/achievements, where a person only feels successful when they achieve something and success in terms of progress/learning in this view people feeling successful everytime they improve.

People who view success in terms of progress/learning tend to be more motivated high achieving people. They are more willing to try new things (like a new subject)

People who view success in terms of achievement tend to only do things that they are already good at and just get better at those things. They only feel successful when they are number 1.

My point is that you need to change your thinking a bit.
What did you learn this quarter, has your overall flute playing improved? If you know that you learned a lot and that you improved then you should feel successful.

Erin, good points. I totally agree about not only practicing what you`re already good at, but what you aren`t. I know I used to fall into that trap, in part because I didn`t want others to hear me playing poorly.

I don`t see where you disagreed though. I pretty much agree with everything you just wrote.

Mike Dusseault.

I understand your discouragement, Graham, because the judgment of music is quite subjective. It`s not like a math exam where the professor gives you credit if you correctly follow a formula. Art grades are almost completely opinion-based, much to the dismay and/or delight of those being graded. This almost gives the professor more control over a grade than a student.

However, I wouldn`t say decreasing practice time or switching schools is the answer. Others have already provided very good advice about how to more efficiently use your practice time. I, personally, have leared to stop practicing and repeating technical passages immediately after I get them down precisely. If I repeat them too much, I revert and start jumbling them up again. Instead, I practice a lot of embouchure exercises and work on tone and vibrato. This might just be something specific to me though.

well it`s not so much that I disagreed with any particular points. I just didn`t like how the word motivation was used to me it just seemed more like you were asking about rationale. Plus I viewed some of the examples, well mostly the teacher example, more as positive reinforcement(something added to the environment after a behavior occurs, in this case the behavior would be practicing, that increases the likelihood of that behavior occuring in the future). But I figured that you were saying that people should practice to improve and not to make people happy.

But like I said I have been studying motivation for the past two weeks (learning about non-adaptive motivational strategies in students with learning problems). I heard the word motivated and thought "gee I know a lot about motivation I think I`ll enlighten people with my new knowledge."

Hi Graham-,

I feel that this issue is a tough one to respond to for a few reasons.

1)Do you feel that you played better that this other person?

2)The results of practicing can sometimes be only seen after a longer time. This coordination advancement and knowledge gain may take time to sink in and then to be utilized.

3) Prior experience can be a real issue in music school. Since the amount and quality of musical training before music school can have a considerable impact on what is actually happening during college years, a person may be spending the colege years playing catch-up to the "Better Players" and at the same time the teachers admire the better players for their talent and work with them more. I can say from my expereince in that situation that there are some good and bad points to either student situation. The good point for the under-privledged player (If they survive) is that they can learn the work ethic of practicing daily that strengthens them for their entire career while the person who gets it`easy doesen`t ever learn to practice efficiently and will hit a plateau in their skill that stops them cold.

3)The unfortunate thing about music performance or any academic endeavor is that we aren`t actually rewarded on our desire to be good or the actual amount of work that we do unless it shows in the performances or tests.

If you feel that the grading situation is fair, I would suggest learning the material better. Maybe actually memorizing the material. Practice smart, not necessarily longer but try more carefully to achieve goals on a day to day basis. If you feel that this grading situation was unfair, then attempt to somehow put yourself into a more fair situation.
Real top musicians are driven to perfection. Play each piece as if it is the last time you will be able to ever play your instrument and strive to play it perfectly in your own concept. If you made mistakes, don`t dwell on them. Use them to fix your next performance and focus entirely on doing the next performance with excellence.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Erin,
"I personally define motivation as perseverance in the face of difficulty. If a person is working on something that he/she personally finds to be really easy then I would not call that person a motivated person. A person who continues working on a task that is difficult for them is motivated."

I think that you are trying to define degrees of motivation. Some people are more or less motivated towards a goal or concept than others.
From my Webster`s, I would have to say that a motivated person is merely one who has been prompted or moved to action. I don`t think that a motivated person needs to "persevere in the face of difficulty" because if a person may be motivated to turn the light on when it gets dark it is not particularly a difficult accomplishment. Perserverance is more like tenacity or persistance.

That being said, I totally suport the concept that a musician should be one of these "People who view success in terms of progress/learning."

If a capeable student can eliminate the goal of getting a good grade from the learning process and focus on learning the material in depth, then the actual grades (or for that matter any competetive peer situation) become irrellevant and getting bad grades will most likely never be a concern.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Bilbo, like I previously said I've been learning about motivation in class that is about interventions for student's with learning problems. I got my pages and pages of notes out so hopefully I will make sense. The definition I gave of motivation is the operational defintion and refers to academic motivation, and an exact quote from my professor. I gave the definition of motivation that I did because in terms of education you want your students to keep on working on a task.

"Academic motivation, as opposed to the motivation skills required for all activities, can be functionally defined as perseverance on classroom learning tasks---even in the face of difficulty (Dweck, 1986)."

More information about motivation:

Motivation is not a character issue---it is a skill.

No one lacks motivation, but they may employ it inappropriately.

Motivation is not the same thing as "self-esteem". It is not built through exercises designed to get students to feel good about themselves (or about school).

Motivation is not a generalized construct---a person may seem motivated to do one thing but not motivated to do another.

Inappropriate motivational behaviors may be exhibited by higher performing, as well as low performing, students

Sorry I have more stuff to say.

Bilbo you said
"if a person may be motivated to turn the light on when it gets dark it is not particularly a difficult accomplishment."

Task difficutly is rather subjective. One may be easy for person may be difficult for another person. The percieved difficulty of the task depends on the person. So you can't really say that doing ______ is easy and doing _______ is hard.

a light when it is dark is not problem at all. However, I am reminded of a student I worked with who has cerebral palsy. This person was wheel chair bound, and did not have control over her limbs, so she needed assistance on a lot of tasks, such as writing and eating. I can imagine that for this student turning on a light when it is dark would be much more difficult for her than for me. So for this person if it is dark and she wants the light on, and she is the one that is going to be turning on the light, then she has to be much more motivated than me.

Erin,
I believe that you may think that I'm debating the degree of motivation when I am trying to define the word motivation. My point is that for any individual, doing a simple task may be motivated or doing a difficult task may be motivated. The level of difficulty of the task is determined by the situation of the individual.

I would still contend that a motivated person is one who has been prompted or moved to action. No more.

Now if you are studying motivation under spectifc circumstances such as a classroom or applying motivation in specific psychological situations then I can see how that may be important to your class in school and more specifically non-adaptive motivational strategies in students with learning problems but, I will contend that any organism that can be motivated does not need have a particular difficulty to be motivated to action. NOr do they need to persevere. Perhaps the only the necessary ingredient for one to be motivated is a motive, -an induction towards an action.

~Bilbo

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Graham. A lot of things seem to be unfair in life and we just can't explain them. I suppose that is one of the reasons why I didn't go and major in music, I wasn't tough enough to put up with the stress of it all. Hope things get better for you.

How is your flute coming along? Did you get it back yet? Also, can I ask you what headjoint that you use on your Miyazawa? I am sure you posted it here before, but I can't seem to find it. When I was trying out Miyazawa flutes last year I only had the option of the MZ4 and MZ5 which I didn't care for too much.