This blog post about instilling a growth mindset in music students was written by Barbara Githens. Barbara teaches voice and piano through her business, ‘Heart and Soul Music Studio’. She lives in Kansas, USA with her husband and a cat named Rumor. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys being a church musician, quilting, gardening and all things crafty.
I have a secret weapon in my teaching toolbox which is helping me to develop a healthier approach in working with my piano students.
What’s this secret weapon, you ask? It’s the development of a growth mindset.
I was inspired by a recent read of the book Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck, PhD. This book has recharged my teaching strategies in a major way.
Learning to inspire and motivate these young music students to implement a growth mindset is a continuous challenge. But I’m striving to walk this journey to a growth mindset alongside my music students. And together we’re accomplishing some amazing things.
A Tale of 2 Mindsets
I’m no miracle worker, but I do my best to instil hope and confidence during lessons. And, hopefully, change some mindsets.
Consider these examples from 2 of my students.
Growth-Mindset Gary
Allow me to introduce one of my “growth mindset” students who has helped me become a better teacher.
Gary came to me mid-year after going through several piano teachers. No one had taken the time to challenge him or allow him to grow at his own rate. In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure what he knew or was capable of. But I quickly discovered this piano student already had a growth mindset.
With his can-do attitude, Gary has grown leaps and bounds. I recently gave him what I thought would be a difficult piece. A week later, he returned with the piece performance ready asking me for even harder pieces.
Sometimes I must tell him to hold on to a piece for a little while longer. Those aren’t his favourite lesson moments, but he’s not letting constructive criticism define him. Rather, he’s taking his material home and working it over with a vengeance.
Gary loves what he’s learning and isn’t afraid of hard work during his practice week. He’s getting smarter and, with each challenge, he’s growing into a fine musician.
I wish I had a studio full of kids like Gary. But I don’t. For those “fixed mindset” kids, I need to use different tools..
Fixed-Mindset Farah
Take Farah, for instance. It’s been a struggle to teach Farah. I’ve had many lessons with her thinking she was going to quit right then and there, or at least throw a book across the room. 😨
Progress has been at a snail’s pace, peppered with fixed-mindset statements like “It’s too hard” and “I can’t understand this”.
As I worked with her, I used my old standby approach of “praise the child”. It backfired on me, and Farah got worse.
But when I changed my approach to nudge her toward a growth mindset instead of giving empty compliments, she changed her attitude and approach for the better.
This past Valentine’s Day, my heart was touched. Farah handed me a handmade card and a heartfelt note that said, “Thank you for being the best teacher I can have”. I haven’t given up on her. She hasn’t given up on me.
It’s a slow process, but I see her advancing, and she sees it too. Something is working.
The Language of Growth Mindset
My growth-mindset language skills are increasing. I like to use the words “strive” and “discovery” as I teach. The results may not be immediate, but I’m slowly seeing some changes in attitude and effort.
When I hear a fixed-mindset statement like “I can’t do this” or “I don’t understand it”, I say “yet!” very emphatically. Getting the students to say “yet” with me helps them see that just because they can’t do something right now, that doesn’t mean they won’t be able to do it with hard work.
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Language Tweak No. 1: Productive Praise
After reading Dr. Dweck’s comments about the danger of positive and negative labels stemming from praise or blanket compliments, I knew I needed to make another change.
I don’t ever want someone to walk away from lessons feeling like I was disappointed, or that I think they’re a failure. And I don’t want them leaving lessons feeling defeated or that they just don’t measure up. But I also don’t want to see these kids puffed up with false pride.
When I learnt that a slapdash approach to praise can hinder progress or be damaging, I began to choose my words a lot more carefully. Now, instead of praising the person, I celebrate the outcome of a student’s hard work.
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I’m learning to acknowledge the beauty of a piece and to recognise the student’s efforts to get there. Focussing on their labours and the process sparks growth.
Language Tweak No. 2: Mistakes = Learning
Sometimes I’ll ask, “Will you play this with 2 mistakes or fewer for me?” Or I’ll ask them to play it again, with a statement like, “Now play that 50% better!”.
Surprisingly, those musical eyes and ears are opened, and I hear a significant improvement from round one. Those “fixed mindsets” and “I can’t play this” kids realise they actually can do it – they just need a little more time working out the tricky bits.
Questions and statements like these send the message that making mistakes is OK. Mistakes mean we’re in learning mode! I tell students they’re getting smarter when they can identify errors and fix them.
I have a few students who suffer from perfection paralysis, so this approach has been a good cure.
If I’m feeling cheeky, I tell my perfectionists that if they aren’t making any mistakes, then I’m going to keep making things harder until they start making mistakes. After all: If mistakes = learning, then no mistakes = no learning! 🤩
Language Tweak No. 3: Discovery Questions
Asking open-ended, probing questions has allowed me to better understand where my music students are coming from, while nudging their thought process towards a growth mindset.
- How can I help make this easier for you to practise this week?
- What would you say about doing [fill in the blank] together?
- What practice tools will you use this week?
The answers to these questions often surprise me, and even teach me a thing or two.
Language Tweak No. 4: Someday
Comments like “I can’t do it!!” are rare in my studio these days. But when they do come up, my response is, “Maybe it’s a challenge right now – but someday it won’t be so hard.” Remember to add “yet”: I can’t do it yet!
I remind my students that it takes time to learn the skills they need to master that “hard song”. But with work, they’ll eventually get it. And they almost always do.
A Fresh Approach
Our studio theme this year has been all about superheroes and refining our piano superpowers by accomplishing specific “mission assignments”.
Heart and Soul
Our “mission assignments” focus on developing a growth mindset and shining up the musical tools we already have. These challenges explore fresh ways to pay attention to dynamics, articulation and expressive playing – all that stuff which makes good music become great.
Encouraging students to read beyond the page – striving to play with heart and soul – takes effort on my part. But I’m seeing some good results.
With a growth mindset, my music students are learning how to tap into their full potential, far beyond what they think they’re capable of.
Student Self-Reflection
In her book, Dr. Dweck points out that children develop their mindsets, whether fixed or growth, very early in life. But with encouragement, they can learn to self-reflect, set goals and stretch themselves.
This year, I took the advice from a teacher mentor and organised a group session to help my students to set their own goals. What a revealing and rousing discussion of strengths and weaknesses! It was so helpful for them to self-evaluate and reflect on what they were currently doing well, and what needed to be improved.
These students realigned their purposes for learning music, helped each other establish some better strategies for home practice and voiced what they wanted to play.
The Adventure Continues
In my studio, our world is going round with a refreshed outlook and a growth mindset. Each lesson is a new adventure, guiding a young mind to bigger views of capability.
As I teach in new ways, I’m no longer feeling burnt out by my “tough to teach” kids. As they change, I change. I hope my piano and voice students are having richer experiences and will carry this growth mindset with them in everything they do.
How do you approach students who have fixed mindsets?
Tell us about it in the comments, so we can add to our own toolkits.
For more ways to help your students develop grit and a growth mindset, hop over to the Colourful Keys ‘Teaching Practice’ hub page, chock full of resources on teaching your students about practice.