Blue Octopus Blog

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Welcome to another year!

Hello everyone!

I’m looking forward to another year of teaching and I am currently accepting new students.

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I saw this trailer months ago and meant to put it on my blog. I missed it when it came for a couple showings in Victoria this month, but I’m still holding out hope they will publish it. My favorite quote from the trailer is “Everyone is afraid. But make a connection to another human being and you can turn fear into joy. “ I can’t wait to see it!

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I’m pretty sure students would take notice if I broke out playing the violin like this. At first I wasn’t sure if this was a complete fake performance...it takes some pretty serious work to play the violin backwards, never mind two violins. However, I did find a news article to back up this video clip. So I need to get working on this...

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Why violinists are storytellers

I am in a wonderful space with the students in my studio. I’ve had most of my students for a few years now and we are well beyond the Twinkles and basic tunes. As my students mature we talk a lot about storytelling, creating a mood, a feel, or an image that you can imagine as you play. This intent is so important when playing the violin, and is so often forgotten about in the midst of technical practice, memorization and bow exercises.

This short article in the Strad magazine, talks about storytelling for instrumentalists and why it’s so important not to forget about it. Cellist Raphael Wallfisch says, “I use songs, speech and gesture every day in my teaching and practicing, because when you listen to music, you want to be told something.”

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Here’s a great little video from one of my favorite violinists, James Ehnes, on how to play spiccato on the violin. It’s a straight forward explanation that might help those just starting out with spiccato.

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The myth of degenerate youth

There is always a lot of reflecting that happens at the end of a year...people thinking about what they would like to improve and change. And the education system is no different. In the last week I have read five different articles about our degenerate youth...the pampered, molly-coddled, self-entitled youth, that sail through life expecting things to be handed to them. There’s the recent article in the Telegraph, expounding on our self-centred way of teaching and how it creates student emperors, and the Wall Street Journal article about how harsh teaching results in better, high-achieving students. 

But here’s a fact, society has been discrediting youth for centuries. Even the ancient Romans complained about their lazy, degenerate youth. We swing on a pendulum, on the one side is education where children are “pampered,” on the other side is the harsh criticism that supposedly creates the grit we need to “succeed”. Depending on what school of thought is popular parents and teachers feel like we are swinging from side to side, desperately trying to be sure our children grow up to be responsible citizens. I wonder if it’s because we feel pressure that our children will have to fix the mistakes we’ve made (ie. climate change, economy, wars) that make us feel that we are failing them (or that they are failing us). 

We are looking at it all wrong. If we assume from the start that we are broken, that are youth are spiraling downhill, we may as well give up tomorrow. There is a middle ground, where we can get off this crazy ride, stop and realize that, on the whole, youth are doing wonderful things..that there can be a balance between criticism and encouragement. 

Growing up I gravitated toward stern teachers. When I first moved to B.C. with my family, I told my mum to put me in a grade 2 class that had a strict teacher because I felt I was getting lazy over the summer. When I did something wrong, I put myself in time out. I had enough self-criticism and motivation that I definitely didn’t need more teachers telling me what I was doing wrong. Deep down I knew those teachers believed in me, pushed me because they knew I could do better. But it often created a downward trend of intense self-destruction as I tried to discipline myself to be better.

Now, as a teacher, I often feel that I am on a tightrope. On the one side, helping children enjoy music and find fulfillment, while on the other hand requiring them to do things (ie. scales) that they don’t always enjoy doing. But I’ve found that students will rise to the bar we set, whether it is high or low, and no amount of either method of harsh criticism or molly-coddling will get them there any faster. It’s about expectation of good; not assuming from the start they are lacking in some way. I like to think I have a rhythm. We enjoy music, but technique is paramount and the discipline of learning an instrument will last with them through their whole lives.

It’s not one side or the other, light or harsh, it’s the mixture of the two that creates healthy adults. So, for goodness sake, get off the swing! Expect our youth to do great things and they will work hard to reach it.

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Can music affect children’s moods?

Before my daughter was born 7 months ago, another musical parent said to me she played Bach to her daughter when she was born because the orderliness of Bach was calming. I didn’t think much of it until my daughter, Aurora, was born. Prior to Aurora’s birth I had been playing about 3 or more hours a day (plus full-time teaching) in preparation for exams and concerts. She listened to the same pieces for hours in the womb. One night when she was just a few days old she was crying and nothing we did would stop her. So while my husband was with her I pulled out my violin for a much needed break, hoping to gain some peace. As soon as I started playing Bach’s solo Partias and Sonatas for violin, my daughter stopped crying. She quietened to the same pieces I had played to her while she was in the womb.

Did she recognize the pieces I played? Or was it simply a new sound she was processing? Perhaps I’ll never know, but I did some experimenting. Bach makes her contemplative and attentive (I suppose it’s fitting as she was born to Bach), Vivaldi makes her happy and quiet, Rachmaninov made her cry when she was newborn, and so far she’s 50/50 on Beethoven as sometimes he’s a little intense. I’ve tried her on new and old composers, modern and classical music, rock, fiddle, and jazz. They all produced a different reaction. The younger she was, the more extreme the reaction. Now, at 7 months old she falls asleep in the car whenever we play Jack Johnson, sits quietly listening to Vivaldi (hands clasped in fascination) whilst ignoring the toys around her, waves her arms exuberantly to Mozart, and wiggles and dances to Scottish fiddling.

CD’s have never produced the same reaction as me or my husband or my students playing. Live music does something different for her. And I know how she feels. My violin mentor was playing a Bach solo concerto at a Baroque concert a few weeks ago. It was my first evening away from my daughter since she was born. And it was good for my soul. Balancing for my heart and inspiration for me. Live music gives us an energy and a soul that we lack or miss in recorded performances. 

So now my husband and I play for my daughter as often as possible. She comes to view my lessons when she’s awake and seeing her uncontainable excitement at music is incredible to see.

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Ever wonder what a musician’s brain is like? Ted-Ed explains...it’s fireworks!

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Why mistakes are good

"Can you see your mistake?" I ask a student. They cringe, seeming not sure as to what the right answer is. "I was out of tune?" They ask hopefully, but it's a shot in the dark. 

I've just finished reading, Mindset by Carol Dweck. In her book, she writes that there are two types of people. Those of a fixed mindset (what they are born with, whether it be talent, intelligence etc. is pre-determined and can't changed), and those of the growth mindset (intelligence etc. can be grown and challenges help us learn).

In my studio, I have both types of students. Some who love challenges, and some who shy away, worried that mistakes make them inferior. As a beginner violinist I was a growth mindset kid. When I saw other students playing harder pieces, and I worked extra hard to get there. There seemed to be no limits and I loved the challenge. But in my teens, uncertainty hit. I no longer saw the great gains in the practice room I was used to. And I started to wonder if I had hit the top of my talent.

Instead of worrying that I was somehow topping out, I should have asked what I could do better in the practice room. Looking back, all I needed to do was to pay much closer attention to why the mistakes were happening. I wasn't practicing effectively. Dweck writes that mindsets can always change. Just because we have a fixed mindset now, doesn't mean we can't change our though to embrace challenges, rather than see challenge as a test of our intelligence or abilities.

While we inwardly cringe when a teacher asks us if we can point out our mistakes, it's important to realize they aren't asking to demean, but rather to help you figure out how to recognize and fix mistakes.

On the flip side, I always ask my students, what went well, because while it's important to know when we make an error so we can fix it, it's equally important to know what we did well so that we can continue to do it again the way we want it. 

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Why music and children mix

Life seems to be rushing past me these days. My first child, a baby girl we named Aurora, was born 10 weeks ago. From the get-go she has been drawn to music. Perhaps because she spent her entire gestation listening to me and my students playing the violin. It's fun to see what she responds to. More contemporary composers get her high strung, while Mozart and Bach always make her quiet. One particularly difficult night she wouldn't stop crying. I was so tired. So as my husband held her in the next room, I pulled out my violin for something to drown out the noise. Hey presto! She stopped crying as soon as I started playing the Bach unaccompanied Sonata No. 1.

Here's yet another article about how music changes and develops children's brains.

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You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.

~John Wooden

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Two weeks ago I had a parent/teacher talk about practicing effectively. It was a great way for parents to connect and for me to help give specific practicing advice. One of the main points we discussed is how important it is to give specific instruction and feedback. As I strive to do give a one-point lesson, it's less overwhelming to students in the practice room when parents ask them to complete one task at a time or focus on one thing at a time.

The next week, one of my parents sent me this video of a new video coming about about the high stakes professional music video. Give it a watch...I found it interesting, intriguing, and yes a bit scary (can you imagine slapping a student! yikes!). However, it brings up an incredibly important debate in criticism vs. praise for development and teaching. Which is better? I've experienced both in my own training (not as extreme as the above example of course. No one has ever slapped me or belittled me so intensely), but ultimately I don't think either is actually very effective. One (intense criticism) tears you down to supposedly bring you up (never a guarantee of course), while the other (only praise) instills an unrealistic idea of how much work is actually needed to succeed. Ultimately both are false ideas of how you play. They are just judgements.

Then, as I've been pondering this, one of my favourite bloggers (a professor at Julliard), posted on this very topic. He asks, what is more effective -- praise or criticism? Turns out he looked to basketball for his answer and the legendary coach John Wooden. And the answer is the same as mine..neither is effective. However, he takes it a step further and looks at what we have to do instead. What he found was that 75% of John Wooden's teaching time was spent on specific details..giving instruction, making sure athletes understood every aspect of the game.

Because to sum up  "in the practice room, as on the practice court, it’s less about whether we are perfect or imperfect. It’s more about making sure we’re growing and learning from day to day."

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Are Westerners rejecting their musical heritage?

Last week an article came out in the Vancouver Sun about how there are fewer and fewer Caucasian students playing piano at a high level. In fact, the vast majority of high school students playing at a high level are Asian. This isn't just piano specific as I've seen this trend as well in violinists in the lower mainland. The article was clear to point out that it's not bad that Asians are taking up the Western canon of Classical music, but rather why aren't Caucasians? Are we rejecting our musical heritage?

I don't have an answer to this, but it's an interesting question. Perhaps I wear rose-coloured glasses, but I don't think we are rejecting our heritage. Growing up in the Vancouver Classical music world, there were certainly a diverse type of students and Asians typically excelled. But to be honest, the cultural background of the players never bothered me. The music was the focus, not the students. The music was what was important and becoming a better musician. There are certainly many examples of high level professional performers who are Caucasian (Hillary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Rachel Podger etc. are to name a few). And even if Westerners are rejecting Classical music, does it matter that we are passing on the torch to others who embrace it?

Given that the article was written in Vancouver, which is high in immigration, I'd like to know if this trend continues across the country. For instance, is Toronto or Edmonton also showing similar trends? And is this similar in the U.S., or just in Canada? Are high level Caucasian classical music players really going down, or do we simply have a more diverse population of immigrants who place an importance in musical education being integral to their child's education?

Unless there is a follow up article, I doubt I'll find my answer. But in the end, are long as the music is played well, does it really matter who plays it? I'd say no.

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I don't normally post cute animal pictures or videos, but I couldn't resist with this one of elephant's swaying together with a woman playing classical music.

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Deep practice is built on a paradox: struggling in certain targeted ways - operating at the edges of your ability, where you make mistakes -- makes you smarter. Or to put it a slightly different way, experiences where you're forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them - as you would if you were walking up an ice-covered hill, slipping and stumbling as you go - end up making you swift and graceful without your realizing it.

Daniel Coyle, "The Talent Code"

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Stradavarius vioilns aren't the most expensive

I meant to post this Economist article a few months ago, but I guess it's better late than never. This article is about expensive violins and how during the recession, violins actually went up in value, not down as I would have expected. Apparently, like art, rare violins are seen as an investment piece. And some argue whether this is good or bad as it becomes increasingly difficult for musicians to gain access to these beautiful instruments.