Ear Worms Suck

"My head kept humming...I drifted downtown, and presently discovered that my feet were keeping time to that relentless jingle...jingled all through the evening, went to bed, rolled, tossed, and jingled all night long."

--Mark Twain, from "A Literary Nightmare"

You probably saw the title of this blog and thought "Ew!" Well, let me reassure you...Ear worms are not real worms.....but they may be just as bad!

Have you ever had a song stuck incessantly in your head, driving you nuts? THAT's an ear worm. Some people also call it a brain worm. Whatever you call it....it still sucks.

Now can you imagine being a piano teacher that teaches the same little jingles over and over every day? The simple kind that, as a rule, always get stuck in the brain. Here is just a sampling of what runs through my mind almost on a daily basis:

Yankee Doodle

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Alouette

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Jingle Bells

Ode to Joy

Among others....

So far, the only technique I found helpful is to think of the song and play it from the beginning to the end in my head, forcing myself to keep moving through all the parts of the song without getting stuck on one. This works about 50% of the time. The worst is when I don't know the whole song and can't complete it.

It seems to have worked for some of my piano students, too. They often get songs stuck in their heads from practicing. I'm curious to see if anyone else has a good technique for getting rid pesky songs?

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Yeva Delband is a piano teacher in West Los Angeles and specializes in teaching students with autism and other special needs. She has created her own method for teaching piano to very young learners and students with special needs, including ABA techniques in piano lessons.

"I Call This One 'Single Lady' "

It's amazing how much we sometimes underestimate and suppress kids.

Who ever said that you had to be named Mozart to compose as a little kid? And were his compositions that brilliant at that age? I beg to differ. All he did was mash together pieces of songs that he had been exposed to from an early age....there's nothing brilliant about that at all. In fact, all of my young students have done the same thing when GIVEN A CHANCE. Most teachers, I think, don't believe that little ones are capable of creating any coherent music. But they actually are, especially when they've been exposed to basic structure in songs they've played. It's just like when they learn how to speak.

I usually start out by letting the student (even as early as 3 years old) experiment with sounds for about 5 minutes during the lesson. If the banging really bothers you, bring ear plugs. But I would rather you listen how they slowly discover cause and effect and patterns.

Next, I usually get blank sheets of paper and ask them to press notes they want and I write the letters (or colors or numbers) for them. Then I let them decide on a name. It's amazing how much ownership over a piece encourages them to participate and do more composition and be more active and aware during lessons.

If the student is learning to write letters already, I then allow them to write their own letters. If you're still just using colors to denote notes, give them markers or crayons and let them draw circles of colors in the order that they make up a song.

Once they are learning how to read real music notation, I first write the notes for them but when they are comfortable I encourage them to write notes themselves.

The best part of this process is that the piano student has ownership of the activity and feels like they are directing something themselves. And of course, the titles they come up with can leave you giggling for days. One little five year old made up a song and played it for me. When I asked her what it was called, she turned her big eyes to me and disclosed: "I call this one 'Single Lady' " I was practically crying from laughter!

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If you're looking for piano lessons in West Los Angeles or more music resources in the area, check out my site Brentwood Piano.

If you are looking for tutors & music or art instructors in Los Angeles, especially those trained and experienced in working with special needs students, check out Able Scholar.

Elderly Couple of 62 Years plays piano

Kids & Self-Discipline...They Need YOUR Help

People often mistake motivation for self-discipline. They believe motivation can keep you going for a long time toward their goals and are very disappointed when it doesn't. Motivation is the ignition, not the fuel in your engine. Your fuel is self-discipline, something that you do without questioning. The moment you start to question whether to do something difficult or not, there is a 90% likelihood you won't. This is precisely why a routine is important! I know that I absolutely hate the process of showering, doing my make-up and my hair every morning. Honestly, it is pure torture for me! But I do it every day without fail only because I have developed a habit and it is not a daily DECISION for me anymore. I just do it because I always do it.

Many kids start lessons (not just piano) because they enjoy music or think it would be so awesome to be able to play their favorite songs themselves. However, in order get to this goal of playing for fun, students need to practice regularly. And practicing, by definition, means that the student works on the pieces that are difficult, not the ones that they already know well. When a student sits down and plays the songs they already know, that is called playing for fun--which is the goal that we are trying to reach! :D

Unfortunately, self-discipline is not something kids are born with. Period.

Now, maybe there is that 1 in 1000 kid that loves to practice the challenging parts (I know I wasn't one of them!) but the rest absolutely hate it! That is normal, and unfortunately we can't cure normal. Kids don't have the long-term view of life to understand that sacrifices now lead to great things later for them to enjoy (playing songs they want to play). Therefore, kids have a very hard time with self-discipline unless they get guidance from parents who help them set up routines.

Parents must help their kids in the same way whether it be for piano lessons, homework or sports. Studies show that it takes about 2 weeks to develop a habit of doing something without questioning it. Therefore, I suggest that parents take 2 weeks and enforce a practice schedule, even for just 5-10 minutes every day. Use of primary reinforcers (rewarding the student with a treat for complying with the schedule) will help navigate through complaining, whining and tantruming if that is an issue. At the end of 2 weeks, most parents will be pleasantly surprised that the kids sit down to practice without being asked, or with minimal reminders.

Of course, some students might not have that extra time in their schedule to devote to practicing. In this case, I would highly suggest that they post-pone taking lessons (whether an instrument or sport) until they have the time (even 10 minutes) every day to practice. When kids don't progress at an activity, they start to become bored, discouraged and even resentful! Many people think that making the kids practice will make them resentful to the activity, but on the contrary, they become more resentful when they don't seem to be getting anywhere. There are some students that make progress even just from weekly lesson and in that case, I would say it is ok to continue with lessons because they kids are happy with the goals they are reaching slowly but surely. In the end, what we want is for them to have a sense of achievement and the ability to play things that they enjoy.