BY JESSIE WANG, LEAD WRITER (COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL AWARENESS)
Sydney-based musician and charity worker Jessie Wang is a mental health advocate and studies psychology at the University of Sydney.
Learning new repertoire is an essential part of your musical journey.
You may be learning your very first piece, or a professional musician who can only afford 15 minutes of your time. Maybe you were always told to practice a certain way, or you’ve just figured out for yourself what some of the best learning methods are.
It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at in your career, because we’ve put together a resource that aims to help. Here is a list of five more principles from psychology that could place you a step ahead when learning your next piece. (Catch up on our original list as a warm-up right here.)
1. Active learning (rather than passive learning)
Last time we looked at modelling, where your teacher could demonstrate or ‘model’ a technique for you. But having said this about physical demonstration, simply observing others might not cut it for some particularly complex tasks, which is why it’s also important to actively engage in something yourself, too.
In one study, participants were asked to remember words. They found that those who simply read the words ended up remembering fewer words than when participants were given part of the word – but then had to go out of their way to generate the complete word.
In other words, they remembered better because they had to actively think about the elements of the word.
2. Feedback
Always ask for feedback, both supportive and constructive. This is why we attend masterclasses and lessons. Without them, we simply won’t improve.
Importantly, feedback is most effective when it is truthful (there’s only so much sugar-coating one can do, anyway), timely (straight after the behaviour), and detailed.
3. Whole and part learning
Whole learning means that the entire task has to be done in one hit, while part learning divides a task into subtasks. These subtasks can be practised separately and later combined.
In music, we can use both whole and part learning. You should break the piece into digestible smaller sections, but also practice the elements of the whole piece together.
4. Cognitive load: Intrinsic, extraneous, or Germane
Cognitive load basically means how much stuff your brain has to process.
Let’s go a little deeper. There are three types of cognitive loads:
– Intrinsic load: This is where you ask yourself: How hard is the task itself? In music, it’s the piece – and even if it’s hard, you can’t change this unless you pick a different piece.
– Extraneous load: This is the load on your brain that comes from the instructions, rather than the task itself. In music, it’s what your teacher or peers are asking you to do. For example, if you haven’t learnt the notes for the piece, and your teacher is already asking you to focus on phrasing, the extraneous load is likely to be too large, and you would probably not perform well.
– Germane load: This one is all about how you integrate new information with past experiences and knowledge. The more you do this, the easier it is to learn new information in the future. For example, if the piece is too easy for you, you might want to analyse it and see which parts are similar to another piece you have previously played by the same composer. If either the intrinsic or extrinsic loads is too high, we can’t have this valuable load, which means every time you come across a new piece, it will seem difficult!
By understanding our own cognitive load, we can approach our individual music learning in ways that are more efficient and effective.
5. Fidelity
Fidelity refers to how similar the learning and work environments are. This can be in the physical sense (for instance, where you learnt your piece is where you’ll perform it) or psychological sense (you know you will be wearing concert blacks during the performance, so you learn the piece dressed in your concert blacks as well).
In one study, divers were given a list of words to remember. They either learnt the words in the water or on land. They then had to recall the list of words, either on land or in water. The study found that people remembered the list best if they recalled the words in the same condition in which they’d learnt them.
Applying this to music, say you have to perform a piece of concert music in an outdoor setting. Why not try learning the piece outdoors, too?
Shout the writer a coffee?
If you like, you can say thanks to Jessie for putting together this educational piece. No amount too much or little 🙂
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Disclaimer: CutCommon does not offer formal psychological, medical, or mental health advice. Please contact your GP or a specialist for information tailored to you.
Featured images by Louis Smith, Nate Casey, and Francisco Gomes via Unsplash.
