Feeling. Feelings.

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I came across the Feelings Wheel while watching an interview “Red Table Talk”, briefly mentioned by Hayden Panettiere. I started googling and it was liberating to read as it resonated so much with me, and I’m sure many others too regardless of age and gender. Originally created by Dr Gloria Willcox, and designed by Geoffrey Roberts, this visual is a great insight into our inner worlds.

There is such a great need for us adults and younger generation to be able to identify the deeper layers of our emotions and address them accordingly. Why is this so important? How does this relate to music making? How can music help us better understand our emotions and vice versa?

Feeling. Feelings.

How often do we feel and not understand our emotions at a deeper level? How often do these unresolved emotions happen? From a young age, general emotions like happy, sad, angry, fear sometimes get swiped under the carpet, or goes unchecked. Personally, it took me some epic life changes to be aware and understand the deeper levels of emotions better. How we view our experiences frames and forms our coping and survival mechanisms that carries into our adulthood. We might turn to destructive or unhealthy coping mechanisms unknowingly, which propagates and get ourselves stuck in a vicious cycle.

Example: A child or teenager who is dealing with a lot of stress at school does not understand the deeper complex emotions he/she is feeling. Feelings of suppression, numbness and emptiness might linger on if it goes unchecked. It could be stress from school, parents, or a social and interpersonal issue when dealing with friends and matters of the heart. Some might start to withdraw with expressing their needs and pain, never knowing how to manage those emotions and turning to social media or the virtual world for comfort or escape. This is the same for us adults. We find our own escape mechanisms, but it gets unhealthy when it goes out of control and proportion. When we get to dig deeper and address the root causes of these emotions, we find better solutions and different pathways to deal with them.

⭐ Before introducing a student to the concept of the Feelings Wheel and how it relates to music, we walked and talked through the emotions of the day. There were many break-through moments with the student in understanding and resolving bad feelings. 

An example from my student’s note- taking

⭐How does this relate to music making?

This framework of identifying emotions, connecting them with our current situations and taking actions to address them can be applied to music making. The disconnect between expressions, thoughts and musicality is a huge problem to tackle for teachers and students. I strongly believe that it comes from our ability to understand why and how we feel first. When students get to identify how the music feels, by putting words and labels to it, they can then better understand what the music is trying to say and express. It is up to us teachers to translate and teach those abstract feelings and concepts into technical and musical playing.

⭐ After we get a better understanding of the different layers of emotions and how it behaves in our daily lives, we turn to music. We make connections of emotions and the music, breaking them into phrases and bars to analyze. Every emotion and feelings felt in the music is valid as music speaks differently to everyone.

Analysis by my student

⭐ Students have shown much progress within minutes of lessons; just by us talking through the emotions of the music, or how their day went. If they come to class with “bad feelings”, it will translate into poor playing during class, or with their own practices at home. When we tackle those emotions first and set them aside to focus for music lessons, they can better manage it internally and perform better with a clearer headspace.

The Feelings Wheel piqued the curiosity of many students as there are tons of words and labels that they do not understand. With the empty wheel, they get to colour the emotions accordingly to what we are working on for music, do note-taking and internalise the information before playing on their instruments. Parents get to print out the PDF as well so that the same framework and mental practices can be done at home.
(Laminate them, so that it is re-usable with the whiteboard/coloured markers)

When we can better relate and regulate emotions through music, we make better music. That’s one of the reasons why I find self discovery through music so intriguing. Whether it’s through music, art, sports or any other mediums, when we understand the different frameworks better, we become better selves.

As time passes, we tend to forget that we are just older versions of the kid in us. Start addressing issues, emotions and root causes earlier, and we will get to develop more resilient, independent and curious individuals.

We are all a work in progress, alongside our students=)

*Feel free to use the resources, happy teaching and living!

Puppet mental practice: Focusing fully on your left hand mechanisms

How can we sight read a new piece more efficiently?

If I foresee that the problematic passage that we're working on is more left hand-centric, we play "puppet" again where I am the one controlling the bow while holding his right hand, so that the student can fully focus on the left hand mechanisms.

The key is to find a way to align mind and body in the most efficient way possible. This takes time, but it's worth it and achieves a few things concurrently with this process:

- Fun! (Key to learning)

- Aligns the brain on right hand coordination

- Aligns left hand mechanisms

- Creates awareness on where the problematic areas are

- Creates laser focus awareness and attention on problem solving

In this example, it's little Jules's first attempt to learn this difficult passage of the Huber Concertino in G. While holding his right hand, I can also feel where he is having resistance and doing the wrong bowings while sight-reading. Guiding him along as a puppet can further train his bowings, bow directions and control while he’s taking care of the left hand mechanisms. I'm extremely proud of him and his progress with his concentration, awareness and attention to details. We shall work harder and a lot more on this!

Time Management: Own it and be free!

Time is finite. It is one of the most important constants in life. How we use our time and prioritize greatly affects our behaviour, choices, and quality of life. I think time management is one of the most important life skills one can learn and own; and I try to integrate it into my teachings and lessons with all my students regardless of their age.

Since young, I honestly have a very poor concept of time; if I don’t have a phone or clock with me, I lose track of all time. But what I’ve really achieved over the years is being able to manage my time at a high level and work around my weaknesses. There are usually too many excuses for not completing a task etc. I get asked quite often on how I’m able to manage so many different things at once yet still have the time to relax and chill. It takes years to build that skillset; I strongly believe that we all have much more time than we think if we prioritize.

When we create awareness and develop skillsets on time management, we achieve these in the process:

1. Prioritization
   - Learn to filter out what’s most important at any given point of time regardless of its significance.

2. Efficiency
   - Learn to make the best out of every situation within a limited time frame.

3. Respect & Ownership (This is huge)
   - Self-respect and respect for other people’s time can bring you far in your life in all aspects; personal, social, career.
   - Owning this life skill and the regulating the processes leading up to it will be beneficial for life.

Just like music, when you understand the fundamentals and structure of rhythm, pulse, groove and how it flows in the bigger picture of the music, only then can you truly be free with time. This is the same for life. I’m always thinking of ways to incorporate these life values into our music lessons. I constantly go through different charts, writings, and drawings with my students; for them to understand their own time and life better.

Music is a medium to channel those values. Kids are sponges, whether they absorb or own the knowledge is up to them. But we teachers have a duty to shine light on paths or thoughts that they might not know, so that they can make better decisions in their own lives. I think that’s the true purpose of education. Knowledge opens up endless pathways. (A topic for another day)

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We usually narrow down a student’s busiest day of the week, so that we can see exactly how much more “free time” there is despite the chaos. Students would often realize that they have a lot more time than they think when you can visually* dissect and assign priorities accordingly.

*24hour bar/pie/ cake chart varies accordingly to students’ timetable and needs

Once we establish how much time could be allocated to practicing, we further narrow down what are the problematic areas to work on during that session. You train your mind to work more efficiently when you can filter out what’s most important to work on when practicing. Mindless practicing gets you nowhere. The allocated time could be used for both physical, and/or mental practicing, and I’m a strong advocate for the latter. Mental practicing takes a lot more effort; it is harder to teach that, but it works wonders overtime if the student persists as well.

Having short attention spans aren’t an issue if you know how to work around it. Some of my students have 7-8 mins attention span or less, and I fully empathize coz I’m like that too. Don’t make students feel less of themselves just because they cannot focus. There are always underlying reasons for certain behaviours. We must figure out ways to embrace and empower that instead; bringing light to how they can manage their own practice time with certain tools (e.g. alarm) and reminders (writing down these charts and pointers). Overtime, these can slowly shift behaviours and mindset.

Learning to manage my time is probably one of the most positive life skills I’ve acquired as it has a ripple effect on other parts of my life and work that needs to be managed as well. Personally, alarms and Google Calendar have been the best tools that I use. Since I have a poor concept of time, I pre-set the alarms throughout the day according to the different tasks needed to be completed so that I really get things done within that time frame; be it admin, teaching, or miscellaneous work. This might seem intense, but it really works for me! =) The altMBA experience last year had further enhanced this prioritization and making time for chillaxation is crucial for me.

When older students like these express how they’ve benefitted from our time management lessons, it really energizes me to continue what I do daily, so thank YOU students for being the light and fuel of my teaching and learning journey.

I would highly encourage all teachers to incorporate these time management lessons into your teachings: it aligns students on what’s important to focus on for their practices, giving them the tools they need to start efficient practices and in turn, you’ll see improvements in their playing!

Happy teaching! <3

Sing it!

One of the most effective ways of working on musicality, alignment of body and mind is to SING! This works on students of all ages, even for myself (even though I can’t sing well). But I’ve found it of utmost importance to be able to hear your voice and mind clearly, so that it brings clarity to the instrument or music when you’re playing.

The most direct translation of what and how we think is through our voice, and it is crucial for students to understand this connection between their mind, voice and instrument.

Picking the right repertoire for students is crucial too, and in the case of chamber music; learning how to flow and align with one another can done best through singing!

Siblings tend to fight and I love for any of our students to be able to make music with one another. It’s a long and difficult process because it’s not so much about the playing, but more about working through differences, enjoying the process, witnessing and experiencing the changes through music, together.

In the example above, I’ve seen these two girls grow up since Charis was 4, and Claire tagging along as a toddler back then :’) . Charis is turning 10 next year, and Claire, 7. It doesn’t matter if their level of playing is different, the key is to choose the right piece of music that they will enjoy, be challenged, overcome all obstacles and HAVE FUN TOGETHER!

Singing or playing chamber music builds confidence, inculcate a deeper understanding of alignment in all aspects, dig deep into the workings of the mind and more importantly, it’s fun when family members can make music with one another! This is something that they will hold close to their hearts for a long time to come when they become adults. That’s the unifying power of music that I absolutely love and hope for our community and students to experience; the fun of chamber music making and just enjoying music for music’s sake <3

Making rhythm learning fun at all levels!

What’s a better way to make rhythm learning fun for any ages and level of students?

Use any building blocks equivalent to Lego! I love to experiment. Even after a decade of teaching, I’m constantly trying out new things with different students and I sincerely feel that that’s the way to grow as a teacher, and for your students as well. Most importantly, it’s fun! One of the biggest barriers in learning happens when it is no longer fun. Resistance builds up and it’s harder to take ownership of knowledge.

Each student is unique, has a different view on things, headspace and approach, so something as specialized as music learning, should be catered to the individual as much as possible to maximize potential.

I started experimenting with these last year; it can be done 1:1 or in groups.

There are endless permutations on how to use building blocks as an example for learning rhythm. I’ll share a few so that any of you can takeaway and customize on your own, according to how your student responds- it’s SO interesting to see how each student responds differently when given the same framework to work with.

The key is always to observe how they respond, tap into their creativity, responses and tweak it accordingly.

We do lots of building, writing and mental training; building, analysing, breaking down, integration, understanding.

Beginner level:

-  Time meters

-  Beaming of notes

-  Making sense of each value and their place: Especially Semiquaver, Quaver, Crotchet, Minim

-  Build an object from the given rhythms

-  Notation and Counting

Intermediate level:

- Compound time

- Use of rests, beaming of compound time

- Making sense of each value and their place: Especially Dotted crotchet, dotted minim       

Advanced level:

- Inclusion of exercises from Intermediate level

- Using those rhythms created and play scales or improvise with it on violin (or any instrument)

- Integration of different mental training, purpose and concepts:
- Building rhythm tower in compound time.
- Dismantle it after and build something related to music.
- Then explain how those ideas came about and what it signifies.

Most of these ideas are bounced off of how my students interpreted things and gave inspiration to more of these exercises and experiments.

We need to have faith in them and the things that they come up with are often very surprising and awesome! <3

Have fun experimenting! I’d always appreciate feedback or know how it has worked for you and your students! You can comment on the IG posts here accordingly.

altMBA

It’s been a month since commencement from altMBA (created by the one and only Seth Godin); a workshop for selected global leaders and highly driven individuals to level up. Much time was needed to process what has happened; or rather, to rest and recharge from that intensity. The processing will never end. I’ve had breakthroughs every week. I can’t fully describe how much empowerment, vulnerability, inspiration, connections, prioritization, fun and learning were gained through this process. It’s more than a huge honour and privilege; getting to work and learn closely with people who come from different backgrounds and industries. From CEOs, COOs, Presidents, Directors to Entrepreneurs, Creatives and so many more. More importantly, the breakthroughs, close connections and friendship forged with like-minded people has been mind blowing.

Thanks to Justin, our brand designer and Fireside Chat Project Lead at 12Petals, for encouraging me to try out altMBA. I did not even know who Seth Godin was then in March when I applied; let alone the amazing work he’s been doing all these years in the world. When I read up more, the worldviews aligned, and it was something I really needed, questioned myself if I was able to commit to before applying. Regardless of whether I got accepted into the workshop or not, I was ready to change up my life routine and move forward with even more clarity and energy in my life. Upon receiving the acceptance email, understanding and changing up my sleep cycle since April to prep my body for the intensity paid off.

altMBA is definitely not your typical leadership online course or workshop that are usually one-way street; where you attend a series of recorded lectures, get a certificate at the end, have some type of networking going on; that usually doesn’t sustain or grow in the long run within that community. I didn’t even know what I was getting into, except that the worldview aligned and I needed some acceleration in my life.
So if you’re looking at conventional learning and certification, this is not the place to be. The level of intensity and awesomeness was really unexpected and out of this world.

A typical week/day in my life during the altMBA process looks something like this, with 3 projects due per week:

(You have different time zones to choose from and I was working in the Eastern Time Zone/New York time)

· 5-6am: Get up and ready for meeting

· Three 6am- 9am or 9pm-2am meetings in a week:

-  Working with different groups on 3 projects every week

· 9am-12pm: Individual work and deliver each Project by 12pm

· 12pm-10pm: Coronation Music School + 12Petals work
(I teach 40 students a week and manage all aspects of Coro + 12Petals)

· 10pm-2am: altMBA work

· Any commuting time was spent on reading and processing as well

A few key takeaways from the experience:

🌎 It’s all about prioritization.

-          Before starting altMBA, I was planning not to meet anyone during the one-month period; but I soon realize into the first week that I still needed a life, and how much I value that; I still made time to relax decompress with friends and family every week despite having “not enough time” for all the work piled up. I got to work hard and play hard at the same time! I was able to work and live even more efficiently and purposefully with all that I had do with altMBA, Coronation, 12Petals and my private life.

-          “If that is not an option, what will I do?” This has helped me greatly in decision making processes.
[A topic for another blog post]

-          I always knew that I have very good time management, but not until altMBA, did I find out that there is a whole new level to that; and that I was capable of doing even more with the finite time that we have.

-          Any resistance to what you have to do; be it work or personal stuff, are all just a form of excuse or escape. If you prioritize, just show up and do it; you’re one step closing to getting things done or resolved.

🌎 We are (always) better together.

[One of the community practices of altMBA]

-          This experience enhanced this worldview to a much deeper level. It drives what I’m doing in my daily work at Coronation Music School, teaching, 12Petals and many more to come.

-          The collective good energy from like-minded people really brings hope, opportunities and it moves things in this world.

-          Making a change is possible when you have the right people together.

🌎 Vulnerability connects people.

-          Renewed purpose can always be found from within and with the right people if you dig deep enough.

-          Being vulnerable to self and others opens doorways and paths that you can never imagine.

🌎 Seeking Sonder
[I’ll have another blog post on Sonder]

sonder - n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

Sonder

Narrated, written, directed, edited and coined by John Koenig.

🌎 It’s a huge honour and privilege to be in a leading position to serve others; do good and never forget your roots.

-          This worldview has deepened and strengthened even more through altMBA. Even though most things in life are all self-imposed, the responsibility and duty to empower others in any work I do were magnified through this process.

-          The biggest common problem throughout anything in life; be it at the workplace or personal life, is the battle of the ego and pride. In this working context, whether it’s on an individual or institutional level, when leaders only see themselves, manipulates or avoids; pain starts to trickle down to others and the system.
[Maybe another blog post on this seemingly unaddressed issue at workplace]

We have monthly reunions for our cohort and it’s just heart warming to know that a group of once-strangers-turned-friends will have your back for life after going through that process together.

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For those of you who are interested in altMBA,
I highly recommend it.

Check it out for yourself if you wanna dig deeper <3

Improving intonation via Zoom for string students!

There is definitely some fatigue with doing online lessons, for both students and teachers since 2020. However, I’ve discovered some new ideas and interactions that have blossomed as a result of Zoom lessons; it might not be a bad thing after all and I would love to share them=)

Most of my students who have been doing Zoom lessons on and off since 2020, have developed a stronger sense of ownership, responsibility and the best part; being able to take down notes and reiterate it for themselves and I’m so proud of them! Note-taking and processing is a crucial part of learning.

Intonation issues are not just a matter of practice, it’s a spatial awareness that’s usually lacking, and we teachers are responsible for pointing out that awareness and working around what works best for each student.

I’d like to focus on how the concept of half and whole steps are reinforced, and have been much more effective for students to understand as a result of Zoom lessons!

Everything becomes more visual when I get to draw on the whiteboard, color code things and shift patterns, drawings around in real time during the process of breaking down a problematic passage. Students immediately become receptive to that and

Here are some of the screenshots for different students:

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While working on harmonics in third position:

- Drawing out their finger placements in real time, allowing them to visualize the whole and half steps have been really helpful for students

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When a student plays out of tune and can’t figure out why:

- Green spots represent where they were placing their fingers for a certain passage

- Pink spots represent where they should be placing their fingers

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An exercise for the young ones on filling in the notes; they enjoy and have fun when they get to switch up the colours!

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When a student has no idea how all fingers relate to one another, processing this together gave a better understanding on the distance between fingers across different strings.

Of course there are still frustrations when you can’t have instant access to correcting students’ posture and fingerings, but I also feel that the delayed response or barrier serves as a good reminder to slow down and rethink how we approach the same issues in learning and teaching.

What seemed impossible to work on intonation via Zoom or online teaching no longer posed a big problem when we have to find the best ways to make it work for our students. Of course, nothing can be better than face-face lessons, but I think we all have been adaptable and make the best out of each situation!

How to align your mind and body through music

One of the most effective ways that I teach my students when learning a new piece is: Doing mental practice and practicing away from the instrument. In fact, learning how to do mental practice takes precedence when addressing any technical/conceptual issues. This take a ton of work on both the teacher and students’ part, but it is worth it over a long period of time.
Mental practice and visualization plays a huge role in developing that patience, resilience, alignment of mind and body if we want to achieve better music.

Kids love it when I become their “puppet”. The hardest part is getting them to understand the concept of aligning your mind and body movements. “Air fingering” and “air bowing” helps greatly for younger ones to solidify what they think/hear in their minds Vs. their actual movements. When I am a puppet to what they’re working on in the music, they get to hear what’s being played on a more sensitive level; this trains their ear and raise awareness on all levels as well. They immediately hear the hesitations, the wrong notes, the misalignments that are often neglected when they’re unable to take a step back to listen to themselves.

Playing an instrument is so difficult and it involves so many levels of multi-tasking and awareness skills. So by taking away the layer and difficulties of physical playing, you help students understand and hear their thoughts better, train their mind before they combine both physical + mental mechanisms again.

We teachers also make the mistake of repeating an instruction 3-10 times with no productive improvements, and forget to reevaluate how we are the ones who are not conveying messages across to our students in an effective way.

Everything boils down to how we think and approach situations or issues in life. Just dig deep and find out what’s the root of the problem, explore whatever ways work best for you and your students.

Hope you can try this approach and that it helps!=) This works not just for younger students but any ages who is open minded to try!

Different types of bow strokes

Why are there so many bow strokes with so many different names?! How are they related and how do we play them?! What’s the difference between a Détaché, Martelé, Spiccato and so many other bowings?? How do we notate this and that? These are some of the common questions that are being asked with regards to the different types of bow strokes.

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There are tons of information, videos, books, details out there. But I realized that the written information out there on bow strokes are all over the place; they were either too wordy, too vague, or just not visually satisfying to absorb. “Why isn’t there a clearer/simpler visual of all these wonderful bow strokes and information?” 🤔

With references to the teachings and contents by Leopold Auer, Ivan Galamian, Samuel Applebaum, James Kjelland and many more, I thought: Why not create an infographic on the different bow strokes? This “research” process has been tiring yet intriguing and fun as I’ve learned some terms that I never knew as well! We’ve been playing and executing these techniques without knowing the names of it and it’s been a refreshing experience for myself.

I hope that this infographic will be useful for anyone who needs it. There are many more names/terms to the bow strokes, as well as notations for the strokes that I have not included (or couldn’t fit it into poster><). The mixed use of notations are endless but I’ve tried to be as precise as I can in including the least- most commonly used bow strokes.

I hope to include videos to these strokes eventually for better clarity. As usual, I’ll be updating and refining these overtime. Feel free to share it if you find it useful!=)

Cheers to a better string community!🥰

Resources for Violin students

There are so many resources out there for different levels of students- these are just some of what I’ve tried during the course of my teaching over the past decade and have found them incredibly useful. Hopefully these can help to serve as a guide for anyone who is looking to teach or learn. (not in any order of preference etc) There are definitely many more out there that I’m still in the process of learning and working out what’s best for my students, and this list will be updated=)

I strongly believe that each individual is unique- hence I’ll always be open to try out different resources; to find the best approach and fit for each student as they progress. On top of these, I come up with my own games, exercises, listening assignments, sharing of videos, books as well as working on aural skills and music history with my students.

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I’d like to think of these resources like a buffet; there are so many options and you get to pick and choose which ones work best for your students. Some kids are very visual and some are very mature for their age- the layout of the books matter and I spend a lot of time at bookstores going through new and old materials to learn and find out what else could be good for students of all ages.

Music learning should never just be about taking exams- but sometimes an exam structure could help motivate some students. The repertoire from the ABRSM Syllabus could aid in the learning process. However, the fixed mindset of “Music = ABRSM certificates” is way too common, especially in Asia and this is what most of us music educators are trying to change. This will be a topic of discussion for another time.

I don’t teach using the Suzuki method, but I use their books as more of a repertoire book. It’s important for students to be listening to different genres of music as well, ranging from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th century and contemporary repertoire and jazz. Listening to other instruments will greatly improve their overall musicianship as well!

There are just way too many violin sonatas, concertos and show pieces out there and maybe I’ll sort them out another time- but by this stage of advanced learning, students should definitely be working on some of these repertoires.

What has driven me as a teacher is the curiosity of what’s out there and I hope to impart and share the same curiosity and growth mindset to my students and anyone who might find this beneficial!

Take care during this period of uncertainty and stay safe!=)

6 fun ideas to motivate your child to practice

Finding motivation to practice is a universal problem. For parents who are involved in their child’s learning progress and practice sessions at home, these are some of the ideas and methods that could work; especially for ages 12 and below. The key is to constantly improvise and work out a routine with your child. Find out what works and what doesn’t- have patience!

In a society where everything is so fast- paced and students have so much to cope with academically, it is hard to focus and calm your mind. This is where music learning can address that and hone the skills to improve focus and mindfulness.

Southeast Asian Strings Community

Thankful to have the right people to work with, even if it’s managing a Facebook page! In an era where everything is shared freely and widely online, what better way to encourage string teaching and learning across borders, than building a digital ecosystem!

Together with Gabriel and many of his friends & colleagues from the region, we started the Facebook group: Southeast Asian Strings Community.

The group is open to all regardless of nationalities to join!=D

Welcome to Southeast Asian Strings Community!

Whether you are a string teacher, student, parent, or enthusiast, we hope that you will join us and share openly :) Please invite anyone whom you think may be interested in this! (on Facebook)

🔸Click on "Units" to access different topics of interest for learning and sharing. We will be adding to these regularly so do check back for more!

🔸 Click on "Discussion" for a lively conversation and sharing of ideas. We will be organizing activities such as Facebook Live sessions to discuss various topics. Feel free to post anything interesting or start a conversation going!

🔸If you'd like to include your original content or suggest additional materials to the learning units, please feel free to contact any of our administrators!

Aligning your expectations

Aligning your expectations with the teacher is crucial if you’re dedicated to monitoring and following your child’s musical progress =)

I love making info graphics. These are all questions that have popped up over the years and I’m hoping that this little chart could help anyone navigate their thought process better and to know what to expect in terms of progress. Of course, these are based on personal opinions and experiences. I’m looking forward to sharing more over the next few weeks and months! Feel free to share them if you think it’s helpful=)

Finding the right violin size

I know that there are tons of information that are already out there for this question, but I feel that other than videos, a lot of the posts are either too wordy or hard to understand.

My head and hands were itching to design another poster for my students and parents, as well as anyone who might find this useful, so here it is!

The best way to find the right size is to actually try the violins with your teacher or a professional and trust them.

I’ll improve on this poster as we go along. Feel free to share it, hope this helps! =D

Dealing with low self esteem

I’ve come across many young students who are hesitant to even start playing on their instruments during lessons. It may seem that they are looking for all sorts of excuses to avoid playing and if we are not mindful enough, we could just easily classify them as “rascals/rebels”. However, I’ve come to realize over the years that most of them behave this way due to a similar root of the problem: A very low sense of self esteem.

This comes out in many different forms in my students, namely: 1) Extremely negative towards situations 2) Beating themselves up in every possible way 3) Easily anxious 4) Does not persist long enough to find a solution to a problem

It’s a very long journey in guiding kids with low self esteem, but I have seen some of them transformed overtime, even if they have stopped learning music. What has worked so far for them and myself is to constantly pen down their thought process and draw them out. Visualizations work wonder for kids and anyone who’s receptive to them!

In this particular example, this student is extremely temperamental and has an extremely low sense of self esteem. His most common phrase is “I can’t do it!” When I started to draw out how his brain was working ( he named the wall of negativity “Trump wall” lol..) and broke down the reasons why he thought he couldn’t do it, he was able to see his own thought process clearer. ( He had fun penning these down as well!) Once we sorted these out, he was much more receptive to play on his violin and work through problematic passages. This of course took many months to cultivate the awareness of this mental barrier in him.

The goal is not to change the students, but to at least bring out the awareness of their own problems and to see an improvement through music. We can only do that much within a weekly lesson. The practice of mindfulness needs to build from home and the communication with parents on this is crucial as well.

It’s always a learning journey for myself as well whenever I deal with my students. Growing with them is not an easy path, but definitely a rewarding one when you start seeing more smiles and sparks in their souls <3

Matters of the mind #3

“No that’s an up bow.... No that’s a down bow... down? Down? Yes down, not up!” (Repeats this throughout the lessons)

A problem that a lot of my little ones have: Getting confused with the direction of bowings and the signs for it. After many countless futile attempts of re-phrasing my words throughout numerous lessons, I decided to attach this to the bow and this has worked out for most students after sometime! 🤗

Use a washi tape to tape any paper to the bow so that it does not leave a sticky mark on the bow.

What happens when young ones don’t remember what or where their pinky should be on the bow? You tape a cute paper sticker to it and they remember it for life 😂 It’s actually a lot (sometimes too much) of information for them to remember how the physical mechanisms work when they first start learning an instrument.

It’s important to identify the root of confusion for them and work out a solution around that; while keeping it interesting and fun for them!😄 Try it!

It’s very interesting to see how the human mind responds to different approaches in teaching. Kids are inspiring as they have some of the most creative ideas that you get to learn from as well. What matters most is to find out what works best for every child and the possibilities for solutions are endless, as long as you keep searching!

Sight-reading Parties

Attending sight-reading parties together with friends was one of the fondest memories that I had back at Eastman and it has baffled me as to why it doesn’t happen here in Singapore ever since I came home in 2011.

SRP #1

Lots of food/drinks for each reading party

SRP #2

Sorting out and filing all the scores

SRP #3

SRP #4

I’m so happy to finally be able to start these parties from this year onward as I have my own place now. The chamber music itch hits me almost every 3-4 months amidst the crazy schedule and it’s been fun as well to prepare these parties; improving on making it a better experience for all by compiling and tidying up the scores. Everyone has been such a sport and good company and I’m definitely hoping to include more instruments other than strings in these chamber music readings in future! Cheers to music, good company and good food! <3

String Teachers' Collective

WHAT IS the STRING TEACHERS’ COLLECTIVE ALL ABOUT?

Ever since I came home in 2011 after graduation, it’s been a whirlwind journey with balancing teaching, performing and everything else life has to give. One thing that has been consistent is the strong desire in doing much more in the education sector and building the community; not just for students and our community, but for teachers in general as well.

One of the biggest challenges is finding the right people to work with, people who align with your beliefs and values. This year, it felt like the stars aligned and it’s so exciting to work with Tee Tong on this collective for and with like- minded teachers. There isn’t a collective like this for string teachers in Singapore and we are very happy to initiate this. I’ve known Tee back in 2014 and it’s heartwarming to see how we have grown over the years, reconnect and develop in different ways. It’s always rare to find people who are 1000% dedicated to education and growing the music community here, and Tee is one of them! As what Tee wrote about STC: “Building an inspired string teaching and learning community, organised by string educators for string educators.”

Read more about Tee’s thoughts on STC here!

We’ve had our first dialogue session back in October and it was such an intimate, inspiring and heart warming event where everyone exchanged and shared their thoughts on pedagogical related issues. Struggles, things that work or don’t; it was almost too much content to cover in that session!

String Teachers’ Collective welcomes any teacher who is looking to share your struggles or experiences, seeking any growth in your own teaching or learning journey and we hope that this community will allow that space that you need.

Our next session is coming up on JANUARY 14th 2019! Please RSVP down below! If you think “Oh I don’t know what’s gonna happen” or even slightly intimidated by the thought of attending these sessions or what you could share, then all the more you should join us and check it out for yourself!=D

Living with grief and your fears

Grief hits in different forms; losing a loved one, losing a career, relationship etc.. Any form of loss.

My greatest fear in life since young is losing a loved one. It hasn’t been an easy journey dealing with grief ever since I first experienced it back in 2012 when my teacher/mentor, Zvi Zeitlin passed on. When you’re much younger (teenager), you just see it as a “sad event” and get on with life much faster. The older I get, the more I realized that I have/need to deal with this kind of loss. There is no timeline in healing, there are no right ways in dealing with loss and sometimes it hits you in waves in the slightest and least unexpected moments. Sometimes, you avoid things that remind you of the loss, sometimes you want to relive the memories for fear of forgetting while trying to block it out at the same time. Sometimes you question your emotions overtime and wonder if you’ll ever get better as the pain is too devastating. Sometimes you think you know how to deal with the emotions until something new triggers the pain or fear once again.

Sometimes I want to love people less so that the pain won’t be as intense if I ever have to deal with the loss in future, but at the same time, those who I love and treasure are the reasons I live and love, the motivations and drive behind what I do and I can only love them dearly. Sometimes you don’t want to talk to your friends, even loved ones about it as you think that no one will ever understand.

But.

It will get better. However long it takes. At least it has helped me so far; if you allow any of these thoughts to flow and just be. It’s ok to avoid things. It’s ok to block certain things out. But it will also be better if you allow others into your deepest fears and inner world sometimes. I’m used to listening to others. I’m used to trying to keep it all inside my heart and head and not talk to even my closest friends about it, thinking that “Everyone has shit to deal with, I better not bother them with mine and add on to their burden.”

But I’ve learned that it will help to heal if I talk about it. It’s still hard, especially when it’s also hard for others to approach you. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know the right things to say.” Thoughts that go through my mind when others are going through grief. But just being there, letting them know in every little way that you are thinking of them helps.

Grief has changed my outlook on life, my values and my motivations for the better. Grief is like a life compass that directs a different/new perspective in your life. The people whom you have lost will live through your life in so many ways, as well as sharing that bit of them with others throughout your life. We mourn for their absence but rejoice for their presence in our hearts forever.

Banksy’s artwork “Girl with balloon” has a different purpose and meaning, but it somehow resonated with me in terms of dealing with grief/ life.

Learning to manage these painful emotions will be a lifelong journey. I can never know if I’ll ever be able to “recover” from the loss, I don’t plan on fixing that as I have no answers as well. Some things might never be “fixed”. Letting go does not equate to not caring, it’s allowing yourself the space to accept and grow in a different way.

All I know is that I can only live my life as meaningful as I want to, as much as these lost ones would hope for me to, to share as much as I can, to love as much as I can and as much as those around me right now would hope for as well.

Finding that inner peace is a constant journey. I hope that for everyone going through grief at different stages/moments throughout of your life, that you know that you are not alone and that it’s ok to be not ok.

Much love and hugs. Thank you for reading this as well. <3

Matters of the mind #2

Building Confidence

#mattersofthemind

You know the times when we have students who constantly refuses to pick up their instrument to play or try to read their notes, and start to get really distracted and do everything else besides playing their instrument?

“Why are they being so difficult? What’s wrong with them? Why aren’t they listening to us? It’s not that hard to read a few notes, isn’t it?” - thoughts that might run through your mind as you struggle to make the lesson more productive😖

The truth is- a lot of times, WE are not listening to their struggles. Beneath those seemingly “naughty behavior”, there’s an underlying reason that I noticed in a lot of kids pertaining to note reading issues: A lack of confidence. They don’t have enough confidence to deal with a difficulty or are aware of their own behavior as a result of that. (other than the fact that they are just playful)

When you start to draw out or simplify your students’ struggles in words or drawings, things become clearer and they become more receptive overtime. I have tried this with most of my kids who are in similar situations and they have shown improvements as a result, so I would love to share them:

1. Pinpoint the root of the problem and guide the child through his/her own struggles (write/draw it out! Or get them to do it.)

2. Prompt the questions and answers if they are not not able to express themselves accurately

3. Let them know that it’s OK to have these struggles, and we can try our best to overcome it together

4. Giving them the boost in confidence in saying “I can do it!” 10 times in a row can instill the idea to be comfortable with themselves with saying that🤩 (they usually break out laughing by the 6th time, but it does wonders to the brain of a child who’s initially uncomfortable with this idea)

After a certain period of time, you will realize that they start to get better and more comfortable with the difficulty.

When we listen and read our students’ body and verbal language, we can better identify the underlying problems, which usually are mostly #mattersofthemind. We’ll need to be flexible in dealing with the different personalities of our students. No one said it’s going to be an easy process and it is very tedious, but if we hope to see some improvements in the long run for some of our students, try it!🙏🏻

#tryit #buildconfidence #violinlessons #musiceducation #kids #mattersofthemind