A Soprano On Her Head: Chapter 6
Emily Cottam
Chapter Summary: In this chapter, Ristad discusses yet another application to the concepts mentioned in the previous chapter (about learning to adjust teaching styles to accommodate individual student learning styles) to students with perceptual problems. She addresses the benefit of meditation again (this time in the form of “drumming”) in order to rid yourself of the inhibitions caused by past feelings of failure. She briefly discusses the danger of becoming too comfortable in your strengths because this can inhibit your willingness/ability to branch out from your comfort zone and work on your weaknesses. Being able to identify what’s most challenging to you is an important first step to learning a new piece of music. Sometimes, prepping your brain (particularly in areas that require adept amount of coordination) before practicing can be helpful to get you into the “mode” of learning (i.e. juggling before sight reading).
Key Concepts: Branching out from your comfort zone and embracing your weaknesses as a challenge to help you improve. Many times, the preparation that come before entering the practice room can help improve the efficiency of your practice, whether it be mental (meditative) or physical (coordination).
Key Terms: Error/difficulty-focused practice (Though it’s not explicitly stated, I’d say that this is an important concept in this chapter.)
Making Connections: I can use this in my own practice time because I find that preparation before entering the practice room really does improve the efficiency and quality of my practice--for instance, if I go to practice after coming out of opera productions, my practice goes a lot better because I’m in a rehearsal state of mind and physically, I’m warmed up and I’ve listened to good model singers for a good amount of time before walking into my practice room.
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