Be sure if you have not already written a comment on the homework posts for Wednesday and Friday that you have done so by this evening.
As we've spoken about in class, the work we are doing has many purposes:
- Drumming and dancing helps us to feel a rhythmic pulse in our bodies, and to connect with others in an ensemble.
- The leading exercises help us to experience and go beyond self-doubt and fears that get triggered when we are in a leadership situation.
- Yelling "you're wonderful" at each other gives us an opportunity to experiment with what it's like to choose to approach with a particular attitude--in this case one that's positive and empowering.
- Everything we are doing helps to open the channel to our own intuition and creativity.
It's also meant to offer a counterbalance to the rigors of classical music training, which requires great discipline and commitment, and which can trigger what Arthur Hull calls "student crisis mode."
Student crisis mode happens when we are aware that there's something we can't do (yet), and then whatever fears and insecurities are there to be triggered get triggered.
There's a model of skill development that I came across many years ago that rings true for me. It's called the "conscious competence" model of learning and skill development, which was developed by DePauw alum Dr. Thomas Gordon. The Wikipedia article I just linked to explains it pretty clearly:
The four stages of competence[edit]
- Unconscious incompetence The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
- Conscious incompetence Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
- Conscious competence The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
- Unconscious competence The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
- Unconscious incompetence The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
- Conscious incompetence Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
- Conscious competence The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
- Unconscious competence The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
A lot of what happens in applied lessons is that we (your teachers) either point out something counterproductive that you didn't realize you were doing, or introduce you to a new skill that you didn't know existed. So you've been moved from what is sometimes called "blissful ignorance" to awareness of something you aren't yet able to do. This is what's referred to in this model as "conscious incompetence."
That can trigger what Arthur calls "student crisis mode." As you work on that skill, you gradually become able to do it when you focus your attention on it. You develop "conscious competence." When you don't pay attention, when you aren't being fully conscious of that particular skill, there's a kind of relapse into "unconscious incompetence." When you notice what's happening, and switch back into "conscious incompetence," it can be quite frustrating!
The good news, however, is that working in these modes of conscious incompetence and conscious competence are the way we develop unconscious competence.
Here's what I want you to write about:
Recall a time you earned something new and went through the stages of going from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to at least conscious competence. You may be right there, at intermittent conscious competence, right now. Tell us what the skill (musical or otherwise) is, and if you had any "student crisis mode" in the process.
If this "conscious competence" model works, then is some degree of "student crisis mode" therefore inevitable and something to be welcomed?
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!
When I was learning the Roberto Sierra Preludios Caprichosos, I went through the stages of conscious competence with the 9th prelude's velocity. At first, I had no idea that the slow, just-learn-the-notes tempo was many, many times slower than the written tempo, and so I thought I was doing awesomely-- until my lesson. At my lesson, the actual tempo was pointed out to me... commence student crisis mode. The student crisis mode was not entirely fixed by unconscious competence though; I performed the piece quite a bit slower than indicated due to time constraints and my current technique and speed of learning; luckily, all turned out fine thanks to the score's flexibility (and Roberto Sierra's kindness). Now, I am still working on the prelude and am increasing the tempo. The funny thing about playing faster is that I have to tell myself to not think about the notes--to be consciously unconscious-- otherwise I get stuck and cannot play fast enough to keep up with a faster tempo.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was learning the Roberto Sierra Preludios Caprichosos, I went through the stages of conscious competence with the 9th prelude's velocity. At first, I had no idea that the slow, just-learn-the-notes tempo was many, many times slower than the written tempo, and so I thought I was doing awesomely-- until my lesson. At my lesson, the actual tempo was pointed out to me... commence student crisis mode. The student crisis mode was not entirely fixed by unconscious competence though; I performed the piece quite a bit slower than indicated due to time constraints and my current technique and speed of learning; luckily, all turned out fine thanks to the score's flexibility (and Roberto Sierra's kindness). Now, I am still working on the prelude and am increasing the tempo. The funny thing about playing faster is that I have to tell myself to not think about the notes--to be consciously unconscious-- otherwise I get stuck and cannot play fast enough to keep up with a faster tempo.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of conscious competence more applicable to my studies in the liberal arts school. First semester didn't present any too huge of challenged intellectually, however, with the second semester much more pleasantly focused on my studies in the liberal arts school, I found myself in a good example of the unconscious incompetence mode. A class that I'm currently taking is a little bit more difficult than I initially anticipated, and when I first found myself a midst of class of political science majors who were mostly seniors I felt like a ham sandwich in water. I didn't know where to begin, how my understanding of the American judicial system matched up to their more comprehensive understandings of it. But the readings were merciless, and the teachers lectures gave me an idea of how I could catch up with other majors in the class so I didn't look like a floundering idiot. Moreover, as time went by, I learned how to approach the readings in a more efficient and focused manner, and with conscious time management, I was able to handle all my classes more effectively (ie doing outside work in the class to make the work I was doing not seem like work). Now, even though the act of working is deliberate and conscious, the overall way in how I invest my time and focus my efforts is gradually becoming more and more uncomplicated.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of conscious competence more applicable to my studies in the liberal arts school. First semester didn't present any too huge of challenged intellectually, however, with the second semester much more pleasantly focused on my studies in the liberal arts school, I found myself in a good example of the unconscious incompetence mode. A class that I'm currently taking is a little bit more difficult than I initially anticipated, and when I first found myself a midst of class of political science majors who were mostly seniors I felt like a ham sandwich in water. I didn't know where to begin, how my understanding of the American judicial system matched up to their more comprehensive understandings of it. But the readings were merciless, and the teachers lectures gave me an idea of how I could catch up with other majors in the class so I didn't look like a floundering idiot. Moreover, as time went by, I learned how to approach the readings in a more efficient and focused manner, and with conscious time management, I was able to handle all my classes more effectively (ie doing outside work in the class to make the work I was doing not seem like work). Now, even though the act of working is deliberate and conscious, the overall way in how I invest my time and focus my efforts is gradually becoming more and more uncomplicated.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came to college I had to learn to warm myself up and how to practice. In high school I rarely practiced voice at home. Usually I would just listen to whatever song I had been assigned a couple of times, and call myself prepared. I would say this was a mixture of unconscious incompetence and conscious incompetence, because I knew I was supposed to be practicing, but I didn't realize how difficult I would find it when the time came. When it became clear that I would actually have to work at singing here, I freaked out because I had no idea where to begin. Also, I have sustained vocal damage in the past, so I didn't want to mess anything up with my incompetence. Eventually I decided that I would just have to start doing it, because I would do more harm never practicing than trying. So I did, and it was hard, and I was constantly worried I wasn't doing it right. Now I have reached a state of mostly unconscious competence, but there are still times when I will feel like I've tried everything I know how to do, and it's still not working right. Luckily I have found that I am not alone in this. A lot of singers hate warming up. I find that extremely comforting.
ReplyDeleteSince coming to DePauw, I think I've grown a lot with my art and as well as a person. In some of my voice lessons, Valentin would begin to explain things that I didn't quite understand. However, the more he talked about it, the more I grasped the concept of what he was explaining. Breathing was always a weak point and as a singer, I'm very aware that breathing is extremely important. Valentin would have me do numerous breathing exercises and I became more aware of this skill that I had to acquire. It wasn't until Valentin went on sabbatical and I started learning with KJ that I had finally understood what Valentin was trying to teach me all along. I would take a normal breath, but right before I would sing, my chest would collapse, making the good breath that I'd just taken completely useless. As I became more aware of the problem, I slowly started to fix it. I'm still conscious of when I do it, but it's slowly becoming an unconscious competence for me.
ReplyDeleteBreathing is super hard for me too! Pam has been helping me so much I totally understand your struggle.
DeleteAs a music education major, I'm required to take techniques courses in all of the instrument classes. I'm enrolled in my first techniques course this semester: Percussion Techniques. I was super excited for it, mainly because I was always that kid sitting in class using pencils to drum on my desk. However, after about a week, I realized it was going to be a semester of Student Crisis Mode. Turns out it's really stressful to learn a completely foreign instruments in two weeks while still keeping up with other classes. I've been combating the crisis by utilizing class time as much as possible and by asking my percussionist peers and obscene amount of questions, but I feel like it's still a conscious incompetence.
ReplyDeleteToo add to the stress and hectic schedule of a first semester of college, my father had a massive heart attack during Thanksgiving break. That meant that I had to fly home and spend the majority of 8 days in the hospital. When I came back, I had a lot of work that I wasn't able to do during that time and was still dealing with the fact that my dad was still in the hospital. I was definitely in student crisis mode!!! But this semester I feel like I am moving from the conscious incompetence from last semester to conscious competence not only in my academics but also in my applied lessons. Even though last semester was not fun to go through it has definitely helped me this semester. I now am doing much batter balancing my school work and with my dad doing much better I am also balancing my personal life better as well. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I can say I am in a happy state of conscious competence.
ReplyDeleteYou go girl!!! You are awesome. Keep doing what you are doing!
DeleteI hope your dad is doing better!
DeleteI do believe that things can become second nature but only after a lot of time. For instance, Dr. Whiting pointed out that my left hand makes a swiping motion when I play timpani and at first I definitely hit that "Student Crisis Mode" and only focused on trying to fix it (because I thought it would be fixed in just a week) {lol}. But now, after weeks of correcting a bad habit, it is starting to go away.
ReplyDeleteProf. Dicker has told me many of times I need to focus on getting out of student crisis mode or my playing will never get better. She's given me a wonderful technique for stopping my own freak-out moments: Breathing and affirmation. If you make a mistake, you breathe, recognize it happened and keep going. Then when you stop, look at the mistake and instead of looking at it as a mistake, see it as a learning opportunity. The positive affirmation of learning really makes it easy to become a lot more involved in the music once you start having such an outlook on practicing. I have found that practicing is such a mind game. You can practice for 6 hours without your mind engaged and get less done than you could in a really focused and engaged hour and a half. I know that when I remove all distractions and make everything feel interesting to my mind, even talk to myself while practicing, I become engaged and get so much more accomplished and don't get stuck in crisis mode.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a really helpful exercise. It is so easy to become caught up in all the mistakes when you are practicing. I'm going to start doing this now!
DeleteI remember picking up the oboe. It frustrated the crap out of me. Going from being a decent clarinet player to an oboist who sounds like a duck really frustrated me. I was consciously aware of how horrible my playing was. My frustration proves how impatient I was learning a new instrument. I wanted to become a good player fast because I had been exposed a lot to what good oboe sounds like.... AND I JUST WANTED IT FOR MYSELF. With any skill as I practiced more and more I became better. I haven't gotten to a point yet in my playing where I am unconsciously competent in part because when I began I rushed through basic technique to much and also because i have only been playing the oboe for four year; I advent put in my 10,000 hours yet.
ReplyDelete* havent
DeleteComing into college I had no high notes at all and my hope was that Caroline would be able to help me open that up. Muscle memory was killing me all of last semester and I was definitely in student crisis mode, trying to change the muscle memory, hours of crazy hand and body movements to really feel the correct positioning in my body as a whole. This semester especially I have noticed my voice gaining higher notes and I keep working on my changing muscle memory and singing notes I couldn't sing before coming here have become my unconscious competence. I can just sing those notes now without having to flail my arms or walk around doing weird things to find the placement, I can just go there now.
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem! I was told I was probably a mezzo, so I didn't need those notes. Then Valentine assigned me a coloratura aria and I was like, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this????" Now I can hit those notes and I feel so much more free! Power to the sopranos!!!!!!!!!
DeleteI'm going to go ahead and discuss the acquired skill some of us started in that awkward "unconscious incompetence" phase.
ReplyDelete....piano *gasp*
Yes... the beginning piano class. I came here dreading this course to the piano proficiency exam. I had tried many many many many many many many many time to teach myself (coming from an area that didn't have an experienced piano teacher around) and failed all those times. Needless to say I was very pessimistic on my outlook of learning how to play. But miraculously, I was plunking chords and piecing scales together before I even realized it. Though it continues to be slow progress, I can't help but understand that even starting from scratch, one can absorb a lot without too much effort.
However, putting this into our already stacked schedule of practicing can be stressful. I can't think of a time before I piano quiz or test that I didn't "lose it" in a practice room because of some problem that I thought FOR SURE I had fixed weeks before. But this "crisis mode" I go into only lasts a few minutes, then I'm able to find a second wind and focus in on the material. So it can be "welcomed" in a sense, but the fact that it adds this stress is potentially problematic.
Caleb you are perfect. Never change.
DeleteWhen I was in high school, I had to pick up the euphonium to fill an empty spot in our wind ensemble. For the first weeks it was quite …. an adventure to say the least. The first week alone was spent struggling practicing scales to try and learn the fingerings for the notes. After a week, I felt like I could start playing pieces so I began practicing with the wind ensemble. Boy was I wrong. I think I made it through 5 bars before I just lost it. After a couple weeks of drilling and working through etudes, I finally felt that I was making progress. I knew I was nowhere near good but I could tell that I was getting better and made me happy. It made me want to stick with the instrument until I had a strong grasp on it and could play it well. After time, I was proud of where I had advanced to but I’m not done working with. Even here I still continue my euphonium playing just to make sure that I don’t lose what I worked so hard to learn.
ReplyDeleteWell this website sucks. Sorry but I had a really thoughtful post and it never went through. Not going to type it up again....cool
ReplyDeleteJazz improv was a process that brought me to student crisis mode many times. It first happened after I became comfortable with the twelve bar blues. I was confident with what I knew (which was very, very little), until I was exposed to other chord progressions and structures of jazz tunes. I was very overwhelmed with everything that went into having a good solo. To this day I go from being comfortable with what I know, to overwhelmed when learning about a whole new aspect of improv. Student crisis mode can be dangerous, but is a necessary mountain to climb in order to become a strong, confident musician.
I find the thing I struggle with the most is focus. I have gradually gone from not being able to pay attention to anything at all- to being able to focus for five minutes at a time- to then ten and twenty. Sitting in the middle of an exam and realizing that my focus was lacking definitely put me in "student crisis mode" which made me panic even more. I did worse on the exams because of the panic than I did my lack of focus. Eventually through breathing, finding something to do with my hands during an exam and using color coated cards to read, I found I could focus for much longer than I ever could before- longer than I ever even thought possible. It has become second nature now that I use techniques to stay focussed. As crazy as it sounds, I don't think worry is entirely a bad thing. Worrying is sometimes what I need to keep me doing what is necessary to get the grades, get the results, and reach goals. "Crisis Mode" may be pushing the limits of worry to panic, but it was the initial panic that helped me realize I needed to make a change to make a specific, uncomfortable situation, more comfortable and more natural. The techniques I use for focus I use when I am feeling stage fright, nervous in general, or simply tense. It is so interesting to see how you can apply techniques you use for one of your "student crisis modes," to other things that make you feel wacky, or just not your best.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I started taking acting classes at a new acting school that does a really bizarre form of theatre involving a lot of large body movement, improvisation, meaningless sounds combined with movements, and third-person story telling, among other things. When I took my first couple classes at this school, I was terrified. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and if I would ever be comfortable running around a room flailing my arms and shouting around a group of 20 other students. I took a few classes that involved more and more of these techniques, then was asked to be in the school's most advanced acting ensemble. I remember the first day I was in the new ensemble, everyone else was really good at doing this weird stuff and I thought, "I'll never be able to do this stuff like they can!" Surprisingly, I quickly got completely comfortable doing these unusual things, and felt like I was holding my own with all these other experienced kids. Something about being around all these people with such high energies and lack of embarrassment made me feel super comfortable with putting my all into the activities. After two years of being in this ensemble they became my family, and this form of theatre became my life. Unfortunately, I had to quit the ensemble my senior year of high school because I no longer had time. I still think about the experiences I had as part of the ensemble and always wish that I could go back and do all those weird things with those amazing people again.
ReplyDeleteI can’t recall a time where I went through a student crisis mode, but I agree with the competence model. I find myself practicing tough rhythms until I can’t get them wrong. When I first start practicing the tough rhythms its takes all of my concentration to get through them. As I run through them over and over again and notice that I start thinking about it less and less, until I can play it like its nothing.
ReplyDelete