Piano Forum

Topic: Students lacking in confidence  (Read 807 times)

Offline aisoconnor

  • PS Gold Member
  • Newbie
  • *****
  • Posts: 7
Students lacking in confidence
on: October 27, 2021, 02:47:56 PM
Apologies if this has been posted before but I was hoping for some input on this topic.

I have a teenage student who is very capable, hard-working and talented but suffers (generally) from a lack of confidence. When the student plays it's almost like they're unsure of what they're playing and constantly second guessing themselves - so pieces are filled with hesitations and I can hear the uncertainty in their playing.

I get along very well with this student so I don't think, or at least I hope, I'm not intimidating! I've tried a lot of approaches - slowing the pieces down and aiming for fluid playing, closing off hesitations, memorisation, positive reinforcement and getting the student to actively listen and hear the hesitation. But it always comes back around to this overall uncertainty.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Offline dogperson

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1559
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #1 on: October 27, 2021, 03:09:17 PM
I’m not a teacher, but I would recommend you snd possibly your student read the book
‘The Perfect Wrong Note’ by Westney .  There is great advice in it

Another good resource is the online blog by the Bullet Proof Musician
Here is a link to some references to building confidence

https://bulletproofmusician.com/category/confidence/




Offline ranjit

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1410
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #2 on: October 27, 2021, 05:27:30 PM
Well, I don't know about advice. It might help to try to force them to play every note right, because it can force them to play with more flow.

Offline aisoconnor

  • PS Gold Member
  • Newbie
  • *****
  • Posts: 7
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #3 on: October 27, 2021, 06:21:49 PM
Thanks so much dogperson. The website has a lot of useful articles and advice and I’ll certainly delve into them. I’ve ordered the book too.

Offline aisoconnor

  • PS Gold Member
  • Newbie
  • *****
  • Posts: 7
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #4 on: October 27, 2021, 06:25:47 PM
Thanks ranjit. I’ll try to get them to hone in the notes more, even though we have covered this. You mentioned ‘flow’ and that’s the operative word really. It would be wonderful to get them relaxed enough to approach somewhat of a flow state.

Offline ranjit

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1410
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #5 on: October 27, 2021, 06:56:20 PM
Thanks ranjit. I’ll try to get them to hone in the notes more, even though we have covered this. You mentioned ‘flow’ and that’s the operative word really. It would be wonderful to get them relaxed enough to approach somewhat of a flow state.
Actually, I think sometimes going to the opposite extreme can help unlock something in your brain. So it might help, in controlled doses, to force the student to play in an intentionally stressful way (get every note right!) in order to make them aware of what stressful feels like. And then relaxed is kind of like the opposite of that. It works sometimes, and may be worth a try.

Another thing is to just hone in on 1-2 measures, so that everything can be held in the student's working memory which can free up that part of the brain which is recalling the music.

You can also ask them to work on dead easy music while making them realize it's not meant to be a test, but rather a way to learn how to be relaxed while playing.

The last thing is to ask them to improvise. But it's a difficult hurdle for many people to be comfortable enough with failure to improvise.

One thing many students fail to realize is that there is no honor lost in failing well. It's better to fail well than to succeed poorly in learning, and a good teacher will realize that. But students can get hung up in trying to play 'perfectly' for their teacher. Unfortunately it is almost always a very limited idea of perfection, because the student can't see beyond that.

Offline aisoconnor

  • PS Gold Member
  • Newbie
  • *****
  • Posts: 7
Re: Students lacking in confidence
Reply #6 on: October 27, 2021, 09:26:03 PM
Thank you once again ranjit. This is all great advice.

I especially agree with your last paragraph and the ‘limited idea of perfection’. I’d much prefer to hear a student bring out the character of a piece, mistakes and all,  but sometimes it’s difficult for students to reconcile this in their own minds.
For more information about this topic, click search below!
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert