A closer look at the benefits of process-based learning…

“My music lessons used to be like the day of reckoning. I was always so afraid for my lesson day.” These words haunted me for several days. I had heard one of my dear parents in my studio share her personal musical journey with me. She was commenting that her son was experiencing music in a totally different way than she had experienced it. 

Many of us can also resonate with this image: We learn a new technique or piece, try our hardest to learn it and perfect it in just a few short days in between our lessons, show up to our lesson in whatever state of mind we can muster, play our material, and brace ourselves for the blow of critical comments to follow our performance. As I’ve talked to many parents and performers over the years, I’ve heard stories of teachers that were well-intentioned, perhaps, but quite stern and strict. Sadly, some were even emotionally and physically abusive. There was little-to-no regard for differing learning styles, scaffolded learning, encouragement for motivation, pacing of the learning process, and variant energy levels. Labels were slapped onto students every week. Lazy, stubborn, spacy, disappointment, disgrace, dishonor, disobedient, waste of time, and other terms were attached to the student based on the performance level of lesson material.

            These kinds of experiences can have profound and damaging effects on children (and adults). The love of music, the experience of music, and the life-long journey of music is severely and negatively impacted when there is a hyper-focus on performance in the learning process. As integrity, technique, and mastery are stressed in a performance art, an equal care to mental health, emotional regulation, personal motivation, and independent learning should be fostered. The joy and the magic of music happens in the process of the learning. In my experience, the lesson is where the students should experience the celebration of the process of learning and not the fear of failure. The lesson is where they should feel safe to grow. 

Mastery and integrity of the art does not have to be lost in this way of pedagogy. Rather, in my experience, my data shows that students learn faster and more joyfully, skillfully, and willingly when the pressure to perform and be perfect week-in and week-out is lifted. They never need to fear the teacher. I, the teacher, will always be curious when I notice patterns and actions that don’t support the child’s art and goals, but I will never label the child or shame them into “better” behavior or “better” playing. 

Some weeks, a child might have so much energy to learn and practice, everything has gone his/her way, they experienced no resistance, and the process of learning was easy and smooth. For this particular week, the child’s learning is fast-paced! They will come to their lesson and present all their exercises and material at top tempos, polished, and memorized. “What a good lesson!” we will say. And it was a good lesson!

Other weeks, a child might have low energy, perhaps from a few sleepless nights with the sniffles or a cough, or perhaps they are behind in assignments in school or being teased on the playground. They may be experiencing hormonal changes in their bodies or grief and emotions that they can’t yet articulate. They show up to the lesson with their material in-process, their exercises half-baked or still-mixing in the bowl. This part of the process is to be celebrated and explored. They showed up! They are not afraid to bring their process to the table. “What a strong person you are for showing up today and being open to learning and trying new things!” we can say. Then we pick up where they left off, and we keep learning. This, also, is a good lesson. 

There is beauty in the process. Let us celebrate that. Every thoughtful process will produce a thoughtful product, whether seen, heard, or experienced. Let this process first be seen, felt and experienced within the artist, for from within the artist, the art will have its strongest power. Let the learner grow at the pace of a real-live human. We cannot ask our little humans to be robots and machines, just as we would not want that asked of us. We can hold them to integrity and high standards of mastery, and we can also curate love and compassion and joy in the process. Meet them there, and see how they grow and blossom in that kind of a greenhouse. 

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Questions to ask from a process-based learning approach:

1. How do you feel today, at this present moment?

2. What would be the best use of our lesson time today?

3. Does this assignment seem possible this week? 

4. What would be most helpful for you right now?

5. Do you feel calm and in control of your learning? 

6. How can I support you now? 

7. At what tempo were you able to climb up to this week?

8. What exercise would you like to start the lesson with?

9. What part do you want to perform today, and what part would you like some support on?

10. What might you do this week that would help polish that portion of the piece?

11. Can you tell me what you were able to look at this week, and we can start from there?