"Do Learn Music" studio - Teaching Philosophy

Growth Mindset, not Fixed Mindset
Students with a growth mindset believe there is no such thing as a fixed level of intelligence and creativity. All mistakes are opportunities for learning and brain research show the brain can always learn, even after a certain age.
Fixed mindset students will tend to take feedback very personally, avoid failures and challenges because they want to perform well, so they stick to what they know. Students with a growth mindset will take more risks and “go out on a limb because that’s where the fruit is”. They embrace challenges; they take constructive feedback as an assessment of their current state, not their permanent characteristic, and they believe that they can learn to do better with effort and persistence.
In order to build self-efficacy and life long learners, teachers and parents should encourage  growth mindsets and give students opportunities that are low stake to make mistakes, to reflect on how they learn, to understand how mistakes occur.

Don’t just do what the teacher says without questioning.

A good teacher aims to develop independence and critical thinking in students so that they may be able to solve musical problems on their own during their own practice time. These include what fingering to choose, how to memorize, how to play faster, how to fix a stump at a particular bar, where to add a swelling and why, which articulation and phrasing to use and why ...  

                                          "After reading the
                                                the sentence, you are 
                                                    now aware that the
                                               the human brain often
                                                   does not inform you that the
                                               the word the has been repeated
                                                  twice many times "
 
When students repeat without engaging their whole brain, there will be approximations and mistakes. Don’t waste time practicing if you are not going to engage your whole person, brain included, because you will be repeating the wrong sound and physical habits.

Create something, don’t just play what is written

To be out of your daily self and try something unexpected, to be playful and open yourself up to new musical ideas will bring you more than the skill to play an instrument.

Playing without the fear of making a mistake now and then will bring you more joy and help performance anxiety.

Deep listening is required in order to know how to collaborate with others or how to choose the next note, or rhythm.  A guide and framework is all you need to be freer to express yourself each day.