Ellen Johansen (Piano)
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Noa,
It’s pretty common that a student with Autism will focus on one thing and for This student it is the music Cateen, the Japanese pianist. He does these very difficult arrangements of pieces, and the ones she is hyper-focussed on is Happy Birthday (a different variation for every month of the year) and Twinkle (in seven Levels). These are her happy pieces and she want so play them at EVERY lesson so I restrict the timing to 10 minutes. This ritual has been going on for years. We got her to expand to Mozart’s Twinkle variations and she has agreed to learn the music in the Piano Adventures Series to work on her reading skills but this is like throwing darts at a board with a blindfold. I have pulled every tool and trick in my bag and created new ones. The good part of this is that many of the methods and ideas apply to all my students.
Its been fascinating to work with her and humbling.
Ellen
P.S. Thanks everyone for your input. I just needed to share this part of my world for support and encouragement. Sometimes it gets lonely teaching her.
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Thank you Alyssa, for you thoughtful reply. I do have two instruments side by side and I teach her online as well as in person. I have used all these techniques and I am bolstered to hear I am on a similar path.
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I find the writing thick as if the writer is trying to impress someone. Is he going for tenure?
Anyway, i wish he would go more into how we know when it is time to move from deliberate practice to prepare for a performance. Are there cues in the playing?
Ellen
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In my Woop this week I noted that my biggest obstacle to evening practice is energy level. So it’s a toss between memory retention and poor energy/motivation to get there in the first place.
Ellen
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Here is my WOOP for the week of May 29, 2023
Wish
I wish to memorize the De Falla piece, Arogonesa
Outcome
I will feel proud and confident and will even consider playing the piece in front of my colleagues at the next musicale.
Obstacle
Energy level and Fear of failure
Plan
If I stop practicing because I feel tired I will set a timer for 15 minutes and take of myself so that I can consider going back to the piano and continue my practice.
If I find myself missing a practice moment, I will schedule it into my schedule being careful to book it when my energy level is at its best. This means morning or after an afternoon nap or before lunch time. Not in the evening.
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This week is a vacation from teaching so i am using the time to regain my energy and move back towards daily practice.
Goal: learn liebestraum of liszt which my student is learning so i can go deeper with the student
This is a piece that has never been on my to dos and its been fun to try out the practice tools on a new piece.
Also preparing the george walker sonata for a public play on april 29…
ELLEN JOHANSEN
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I am finding this process getting in the way of practicing. In fact I am noticing that this has been going on for a while. I have lost the love of listening and practicing. My inner goal is to love listening to music again without all the anxiety and LOUD inner voice doing critiques. I went to the beach and just put on music to listen to while reading and I couldn’t. There was so much interference from both. Same with practicing. I am at a point where I just play and then run away. Not doing too well in this avenue,
Ellen
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My biggest obstacle, I discovered this week, is that I create goals that are just too big. It doesn’t help that the pieces I am focusing on are so big and long with many issues I would like to improve/fix/survive. So I CAN control this factor.
The second obstacle is that if the goal is TOO small I blow it off saying it ain’t good enough for my inflated ego. OUCH!! That hurts because I am working so hard to help my students create smaller goals.
So my wish is that I am gentler with myself as I practice and reward my progress when the progress is infinitesimal.
The obstacle is allowing me to do this.
Plan: Create smaller recordings. stick to ONE section, one issue and focus on it. I know what the issues are.
Reprogram
Ellen
Saw an old film on Netflix called Zarthura and at one point a character gets a game card that says “REPROGRAM”. He can’t figure out why he got the card or WHEN he should use the card. Of course there is a point where it becomes very apparent.
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The first week was successful but i kept undermining myself by telling myself the task was too small and i wasnt getting anywhere. But i did complete the task and i did record it daily and i had a win. So i discovered that i make goals too big or unreal. It goes back to early days when my colleagues would breezily remark how they memorized a concerto in a week or had no time to practice but could play that new piece flawlessly (at least to my ears). I was setting myself up weekly to fail.
So i wrote down two goals for the week. First, finish memorizing the first movement of the beethoven appasionata and two learn the tricky second section of the walker fourth movement (same section as last week but in an entirely different key with subtle difference that drive any sane person mad).
If i do one i would feel i failed the other so i need to choose one and save the other for next week. The walker wins.
I will feel clearer and more capable although i am sure the tempo designated by walker is not attainable this week. So 3/4 tempo and this may be the final tempo.
Obstacle. Still too much screen time. If i open a machine for screen time i will set a timer for five minutes and then turn it off. Then Go do the following:
1. Take a nap
2. Go for a walk
3. Pull something or clean something in the garden
4. Throw out something in the basement.
5. Reorganize a shelf
6. Declutter a drawer or closet
7. Play anything on the piano for five minutes
8. Play through a rep piece. .
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This week I would like to get back the final movement of the Walker Sonata. There are some squirrely passages for the left hand with large skips in the right hand that seem to create pauses, slow downs and the words, “Drat, here is comes again.”
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Yes, my training is in music and have taught piano for over 45 years. My experience with autism is through workshops with Scott Price, who wrote an excellent book, Autism and Piano Study. I plan to contact him as well. I won’t exit this relationship but will continue to work with the family and parents. Looking for insights from other teachers who have Children with autism in their studios.
Thank you, Peter.
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I teach a program called Musikgarten and one of its base is Gordon’s system of audiation. This is the foundation of all my students musical language. The books he wrote are rather dull to read but programs like Musikgarten bring his work and contributions alive.
Ellen