Student-Centered Learning

Cultivating Curiosity 

By Ann Rodiger, sponsored by NAfME Corporate Member Balance Arts Center

Balancing student’s technical improvement with their joy of making music can be tricky. When things get too technical, students sometimes lose their spark for playing. And sometimes when there isn’t enough technical instruction they don’t improve. Balancing these two goals requires flexibility and perseverance on the part of the educator.

Cultivating curiosity in the student can be the answer to finding this balance. It is something music educators can cultivate and develop as a skill. It requires a pedagogical approach that requires actively involving the student in the learning process and giving them a voice in the lesson. At first it may seem like wasted time to dialogue with the student during a lesson, however, even in the short run this will empower and give agency to the student. They can then participate more fully in both their lesson and in their practicing.

Curiosity comes from exploring and then discovering what works best even when we as teachers have a good idea of what the student ought to do to change for improvement. We think we know what will help the most and the best way to explain it. And yet, when we invite the student to participate and give input into the thinking and report on their experience, they often offer ideas, images, and ways of putting concepts together we have never thought of before. Plus, once they discover something it is theirs and they then have agency over that thinking and action. They have agency and participation in their own learning. This can spread to other subjects and situations in their life.

Curious boy looking up and smiling

Photo: Klaus Vedfelt / DigitalVision Collection via Getty Images

This time of exploration can be a messy, uncertain moment, and for everyone it may seem like a confusing process. If we remember the following analogy, it makes sense. The idea and potential uncertainty in the moment of moving from holding the half full glass to holding the full glass. Even though we know the full glass is better (we can even see it waiting for us!) and it is definitely what we want, we still have to pass through that uncertain moment of not having anything at all in hand. That brief gap in time can be frightening, disorienting, and at times scary.

As educators, our job is to support students through this moment and give guidance for the exploration and discovery needed to reach the full glass. We can point out what to notice when, what to emphasize, when the student is jumping ahead, and what to stop and repeat for example. And we can mark what is better than it was before cheering on and pointing to the next step.

As a teacher of the Alexander Technique (AT), I teach many performing arts and particularly singers and instrumentalists. I am excited with students who walk in the door saying their teacher has told them they:

  • “need to let their tongue go” and don’t have a clue how to do it
  • “how do I put less pressure with the bow?”
  • “why am I always running out of air?”

This is exciting because they know why they are there, and they have a focus. They bring curiosity and a desire to learn.

And it is most interesting when the student says:

  • “I have no idea why I’m here, but I was told to come see you”
  • “All I know is that it is all wrong”
  • “How do I start over?”

This gives an opening for me to make suggestions and guide the lesson with what I notice.

Portrait of a boy with a guitar and expression of curiosity

Photo: Ekaterina savyolova / Moment Collection via Getty Images

It is fun to work with everyone and explore how what they are doing affects the outcome of their music, AND I recognize a difference between the students who are already directed toward learning through exploring and discovering—in contrast to those who are following along without participating or nearly any understanding of how they learn and what that process is about for them. They are desperately trying to “do” what they are being “told to do.”

When we don’t get the response from the student we hope to receive, we have to figure out how to communicate what we want to have happen and how to help the student achieve that. When the student is actively engaged in trying to figure out this communication, it goes so much more quickly.

Using leading questions like the ones below can really help.

  • What are they working on both with technique?
  • What repertory they are working on, and why were they given that piece?
  • What have they been told by their teachers and coaches to focus on?
  • Why do they think they have been given that instruction?
  • How are they working on what they were told?
  • When their next performance is and how they are working toward that.

With this type of inquiry so many things have been discovered, and that exciting “ah ha” moment occurs.

Group of young students from diverse backgrounds playing recorders in music class

Photo: Powell Media Concepts

One specific example of this idea is with singers and wind players who have been told to breathe from the diaphragm which is a very useful instruction. It turns out, however, many of those students have a misconception of where the diaphragm is located in their body so when they are sending their air toward the diaphragm, it is not actually going into the lungs. If they think the diaphragm is only in the front of the body, then many students push their belly forward, distending the abdomen which shortens and narrows the back, thus restricting the airflow into the true lungs.

Once the knowledge and theoretical understanding of how the breathing apparatus functions, the student then has to grapple with their neuromuscular habitual response to their previous concept of breathing. That is where the Alexander Technique comes in. We deal with habits, thinking, and supporting change in both large postural balance and small minute fine motor skills. When students are able to change a habit, often with verbal and teaching-hands on guidance at first, they start to understand why they are being given that instruction. The musical outcome in the case above about the diaphragm can be significant in terms of tone quality, intonation, and volume.

Then we are in a whole new ballpark of technique and performance.

All this comes from including and engaging the student in the process of discovery. It opens the door for more discovery and creates curiosity about what else can be uncovered. Some students even say out loud, “What else am I not understanding?”

Curiosity is alive!!!

Further reading:

Awareness Games that Lead to Wellness through Mind-Body Integration

About the author:

Ann Rodiger headshotAnn Rodiger is the Founder and Director of the Balance Arts Center (BAC) in New York City. She has over 40 years of experience teaching the Alexander Technique (AT). Her teaching draws from her knowledge and experience from Alexander Technique Training in Urbana Illinois with Joan and Alex Murray, as well as her knowledge of Labanotation, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Yoga, meditation, and various dance techniques.

She has developed the BAC Alexander Technique Teacher Training Program and substantial programming for performing artists. She has also adapted the Alexander principles to work for those with hypermobility and Ehlers Danlos Syndromes. Rodiger teaches internationally in Germany, Belgium, Greece, and Turkey. The Balance Arts Center is a NEW YORK CITY Women and Minority Owned Business and a thriving place for the community to teach, share knowledge, and perform.

Ann’s interest in the Alexander work began when she was studying dance at The Ohio State University. As a person with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, the AT work allowed her to find a sense of balance and stability.

After teaching dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Ann moved to New York City to continue her dancing and performing. She taught at the City College of New York and Labanotation at the Juilliard School. She also began a private practice in the Alexander Technique which focused on performing artists, particularly dancers and singers.

The BAC has grown from Fulton Street, through 28th St. to 30th Street in New York City to a 15-room studio space that includes small and large teaching rooms and a performance space. The BAC serves as home base to the BAC AT Teacher training program, Ann’s private practice, and as a New York City community base for the AT.

Ann has a thriving private practice in New York City and also travels to teach abroad in Germany, Belgium, Greece, and Turkey.

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The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) provides a number of forums for the sharing of information and opinion, including blogs and postings on our website, articles and columns in our magazines and journals, and postings to our Amplify member portal. Unless specifically noted, the views expressed in these media do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Association, its officers, or its employees.

January 2025 Teaching Music

Published Date

January 23, 2025

Category

  • Innovation
  • Lifelong Learning

Copyright

January 23, 2025. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)

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