Process Over Product - Dr. Joseph Montelione

Dr. Joseph Montelione

Educators struggle each day with balancing the need to produce results with finding the time to dive deeper into the intricacies of learning how to play an instrument. To help bridge the gap, educators expect students to go home each day and practice. But what is practicing and how effective is it? Why is an educator asking a student to practice? – to help speed up the learning and execution of their band music?...to memorize scales for the sake of assessments?...why?

With enough time, anyone can learn a musical instrument—but how well? The question is can I instill a thirst of learning to grow in my student’s mind? The answer is yes! But how? In my studio, I make sure to teach my students how to practice before I can expect them to know what practice.

Getting students to practice is a challenge because most do not know how to practice. Just because students have been playing their instrument for a couple of years, doesn’t mean that they know how to practice. Students may get a result, but how well does the information stick? For example, a young principal trumpet player struggles with playing the last note of the first movement of Holst’s First Suite for Band—a c above the staff. So, the student goes home and tries to play that note repeatedly until he can produce the note. However, repeating something ad nauseum and potentially getting that note once or twice does not mean it will translate into the student being able to play that same note consistently, accurately, in tune, with a good sound, and nuance.

I have found that the best students are always thinking about ways to improve how they play. Imagine an ensemble of all “best players”. Believe it or not, you can have this! A good strategy to convert all of your players to become the “best” player is to instill in them the concept that the value of learning music is not about any one particular note (product) but the training of the mind to think musically (process). This is accomplished by teaching students how to practice.

So how does an educator teach students how to practice and focus more on the process of learning? There are a myriad of practice tips and strategies available, but many of them center around “what” to play. “What” to practice is a vital component to the learning process, however too much emphasis on the “what” will only yield short-term results. Paying closer attention to “how” they practice the “what” will yield a longterm sustainable outcome. So, how do the best musicians improve the quality of their performances and train their minds to think musically?

Teaching students how to practice involves helping them understanding how to manage two different kinds of thought. For most, practicing for students involves figuring out some sort of concept or musical passage. What happens when students cannot figure something out? Most become frustrated and put their instrument away, become frustrated and choose not to practice, or worse become frustrated and possibly quit forever. When learning to play a musical instrument or a passage of music, challenges can be a daily occurrence. I typically begin by explaining to students that when they practice, they will use two different types of thought—what I like to call Attached and Detached. If a student can maneuver between both types of thought processes, then there is hope that a student practicing can avoid frustration as a daily occurrence.

Attached Thought

What I like to call attached thought is a thought process where most students think they can be the most effective. Attached thoughts involve an alert state that centers on the most important information blocking out all distractions. This can be a highly effective way to problem solve. However, this thought process can also become a problem in itself. I have found that my students become too attached to whatever they are trying to fix, that they themselves become the roadblock to the solution.

Detached Thought

Enter detached thought processes! A detached thought process is a state of repose. This mental rest isn’t a shutting off of the thought valve per se, it is more of allowing the mind to be open to a broader perspective. A detached state can and most often happens while engaging in other activity, such as a long walk or even as simple as standing up, stretching or walking out of the room. Detached thought creates an envi-

Attached-Detached Thought

I explain to students that a musician must use both forms of thought while practicing. The detail-oriented nature of attached thought processes forces the music student to dig down deep to find the true nature of the problem while the detached thought process helps them become open to new information, make broader connections thus allowing for unanticipated insights to occur.

Students instinctively will focus intently on the problem (or more specifically what they are currently producing). For example, they are learning to play a scale, but they keep missing notes. Over the course of time most students will play the scale multiple times hoping that the more times they do it the better it will be. Unfortunately, in most cases, they get too attached, then frustration sets in. The best thing to help a student in this case is to express the importance of discovering a solution over concentrating on the problem—doing it multiple times without concern for how they are playing the scale will not find a solution, it will only reinforce a bad habit. Instead, have the student focus all their attention (attached thought) on discovering a solution to the problem. Have them play the scale and (good or bad) ask how they achieved it. Then have them do it again, but instead of having them focus on getting the right notes, have them focus on a new approach to getting the note, i.e. use less air, raise the soft palette, balance the shape of the tongue arch with the forward momentum of the air, etc. Then, before the point of frustration, have them detach from their instrument and allow the brain space to engage in potential different perspectives that will lead to a permanent solution. When students use the attached thought process in a healthy way (i.e. focusing on solutions, practicing before the point of frustration), balanced with a detached thought process, they will be able to achieve a lot more in a smaller amount of time without the frustration. By focusing on the “how”, I am training the student to discover solutions that will ultimately lead to better more consistent life-long results.

So how can educators teach students to learn how to use both types of thought processes?

1. Identify and write down no more than 10 issues.

2. Instill that while there may be 10 issues (or more), tell students to direct their attention to only one of them. During Attached Thought Process, do not allow the student to get distracted by the other nine issues—only focus on the solution to one problem at a time.

3. Set a timer and use the Attached Thought Process to 4. Then after say 10-15 minutes of focusing intently, set another timer for say 5 minutes. During these five minutes, go out of the practice room, walk down the hall, grab a drink of water, allowing the brain to create new pathways for potentially new solutions and then come back.

5. Practice for another 10-15 minutes on finding the solution to the same problem without any distractions and then put the instrument back in its case.

6. Then either come back later in the day or start fresh again the next day.

Practicing is not about producing the scale or playing the notes on the page perfectly (at first!). In the early stages of developing musical and technical skills, it is about developing new thought patterns. In order to develop new thought patterns, educators have to create an environment where the process to discover is more important than the result. The discovery (new thought pattern) will then be able to be applied to any other musical or technical area, not just that particular piece of music or technique. For example: recall the earlier example of the trumpet player playing “the high c”, when he is practicing to get “the high c”, he is not focusing on producing the note, he is discovering a new process that will allow him to play the note in the most efficient way possible, creating new thought patterns that will allow him to be consistent in any assigned piece.

Final Thoughts

What is the point of practicing? Is it to produce familiar musical thought patterns or create new ways to think? The purpose of practicing is to program the brain to create new ways of solving problems and to use this process to continue to expand the mind artistically for a lifetime of music enjoyment. Teaching “how to practice” is the first step toward providing students the tools they will need to begin the journey of learning a musical instrument. In the next two articles of this threepart series, I will discuss the next steps in developing a process over product practice mindset: the four types of practicing and developing a practice plan.

Joe Montelione has been on the trumpet faculty for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, New England Music Camp, National Trumpet Competition, and Music Academy International’s Trentino Music Festival in Primiero, Italy. He is currently on the faculty of Florida Tech University where he teaches trumpet and directs the jazz band.