One of the major things students learn in music lessons is problem solving. Musicians constantly encounter complex problems that need to be solved and within a certain time frame to play a piece successfully. How can I get from middle C to low G within that 8th rest? How can I play this run without tripping over my fingers? I ran out of fingers and still have to play another note! What do I do?
Last week, I had a beginning student who has been struggling with keeping her hand in place in a five finger position. Somehow, she keeps shifting over one note and playing the correct finger, but the wrong note. She has realized she does this and started playing the right note with the wrong finger. She had to step down from G to C and ran out of fingers on D. She crossed finger 2 over to C and played it correctly, though more awkwardly than needed. Ordinarily, I would have told her to try again and keep her hand in C Position. That hasn't worked. This time, I said "That was excellent problem solving! You came up with a great way of dealing with running out of fingers from being in the wrong position!" Her face lit up. "Now, let's see if we can prevent that problem." She eagerly agreed. We backed up and she played the passage again and we caught the exact time that she was shifting her hand out of position (playing a note with the wrong finger). We corrected that and she was able to play the whole things correctly. And she grew in confidence in problem solving and problem prevention. It was encouraging for both of us! How do you teach problem solving?
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