Look Back to See Ahead

Sometimes we have to take a step back and look at where we've come from in order to appreciate our own measure of growth. 

And it is so with your child.  Do you ever hear them complain that they aren't making enough progress in school or in music?

Why not dig out last year’s music book or school text book.  Sit down with them and reminisce about those by-gone days when life was tough and that musical passage was a challenge. 

And now, look at where they are today. 

An Olympic athlete once said:

“There is something about seeing

myself improve that motivates

and excites me.”

~Jacki Joyner Kersee

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student

Thoughts on Giving and Expecting

Life usually works this way – first we give and then we receive.

It is true in musical skill development, receiving a paycheck, or winning at a sport.  We give the effort, we play the game, we show up and do the work that is requested, and then we expect the reward. 

I rue the innately talented individual.  In too many instances I’ve seen students with an unusual amount of “natural” musical ability who give up when advancing to the next level of skill; the point that requires consistent practice, plenty of stumbles and ultimately brings a very satisfying sense of accomplishment. 

They had plenty of “stuff” to get them out of the starting gate and often they zoomed ahead of the pack.  Then they burned out and lost motivation simply because of operating on a raw talent without making the effort to strengthen their natural skills.

Our principle is this:

If you don’t give anything, don’t expect anything.

Success is not coming to you; you must go to it.

~Marva Collins

A worthy conversation with your child might be this:

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student

The Greatest Gift to Give

The Greatest Gift to Give

October 14, 2013

Ready or not … Christmas is coming, but wait, don’t shoot the messenger yet.  My thoughts are about gifts … just not Christmas gifts.

Practicing parenting skills and instill a love for learning is an incredible gift.  Here is an important insight from our current favorite read by Carol S. Dweck. 

Her quote:

“If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is teach their children this:

~Love challenges

~Be intrigued by mistakes

~Enjoy effort

~Keep learning”

~Carol S. Dweck

As we relate this to the process of learning a musical skill we readily see the correlation.  Now amplify that as a life skill for all areas and you compound the effect.  You turn your student into a “can-do” person who sees challenges as opportunities, not as failure traps.

Michelangelo, sculptor and painter is famous for saying this …

“I’m still learning.”

Challenges and mistakes are not the enemy.  It is our attitude toward them that defeats us from the start.

Keep teaching. 

Keep parenting.

Keep instilling these great character traits into your child.  It will pay off.

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student

Ordinary to Extraordinary

How did Michael Jackson become Michael Jackson? 

Was Michelangelo born with a hammer and chisel in his hand?

Did Leonard Bernstein pop out at his birth and play a few Beethoven pieces before his first burp?

I admit, some of these scenarios are a bit absurd.  And they are done to make a point. 

We love Carol Dweck's book Mindset.  Again this week we focus on one of Carol’s quotes.

“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes that were born different from us.  We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.”

~Carol Dweck

Carol just said two mouthfuls.  Did you catch her last phrase? 

“… who made themselves extraordinary.”

~Did you know Michael Jordan was cut from this high school basketball team?

~Albert Einstein was considered illiterate.

~I recently read about a man who wanted to be an attorney.  He studied for the bar exam, took the test – and failed.

He took it again – and failed.

He took it again – and failed.

This want-to-be attorney took the test forty-eight times and finally passed it. 

Today he is a successful attorney.

~J.K. Rowling showed her first Harry Potter book to twelve publishers.  She is now worth over $15 billion dollars.  She hasn’t always been J.K. ROWLING.

In spite of the fact that overnight success is something most of us will never experience, we can help our children discover how being extraordinary comes by practicing perseverance and diligence in the task at hand. 

I love this thought:

Some winners just take longer to develop.

  

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student