Printed on 11/2/08
Reviewed by Judy Johnson
Several years ago I attended a workshop session presented by Mr. Westney at a CSMTA Conference.I don't remember details but I do remember how uplifting and free the atmosphere in the room was.I was anxious to read his book, partly because I recognized his name and also because I was curious about the title.
I enjoyed the book very much.It was written from such an open, honest perspective.He quoted often from Eloise Ristad, whom I have admired for years since taking a class from her in the late 70's.She introduced me to "The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey, which has since expanded into "The Inner Game of Music" when Mr. Gallwey collaborated with a musician, Barry Green. Theyhave a premisesimilar toMr. Westney's book.Heopened my eyes, yet again, as to what is most important, that "music participation should be healthy, both mentally and physically because only then can we reap its precious harvest."
He begins by talking about how natural and almost magicalchildren's reactions are to music.In order to retain that vitality, he suggests that music teachers become less "concerned with controlling the student than with encouraging the student's own impulses."Good practicing is problem-solving and that is where the interesting title comes in.Instead ofa reprimand when amistake occurs, it becomes the focus of an honest appraisal of what went wrong.He says that Ineed to "learn how to dig for deeper truth in practicing, and quit wasting time trying to impress myself."If we do this kind of honest work, we willbe able to "just trust ourselves and play, with a free flow of energy."
His outline of the process of "Healthy Practicing" is explained in detail and has principles that I'm sure all of us use to some extent, but the courage to really "let it happen, not make it happen" will take some work on my part.In this day of such great concern about injuries, I was impressed with this statement: "It's virtually impossible to develop a playing injury when you use natural motions and perform them thoroughly, without fear."
He suggests that progress is not generally visible and steady, but most always plateaus and breakthroughs. He talks about the infamous fear of performing but asks us to embrace performing: "Instead of the anxious egoism of 'What do you all think of me?' we can convert to the generosity of 'Let me share this with you.'"
The chapters on lessons and un-lessons, and on the un-master class introduce a new way of approaching these old standards that make everyone feel good, especially the student.My book is full of highlighting and I plan to readit again as I try to adopt many of his wonderful suggestions and ideas into my teaching and my own practicing. I recommend "The Perfect Wrong Note" very highly.What would you think if we all read it and then had a discussion together?
Back to Top
Reviewed by Sandy Lundberg
The Biggest Job We'll Ever Have is written by Laura and Malcom Gould, who worked for over 35 years with the "Hyde Program," an educational philosophy developed in a private school in Maine. It is now taught around the country in workshops and used in several additional K-12 schools. The program has demonstrated outstanding success in turning around troubled teens, but is also well received by any student seeking an alternative to the traditional educational system.
The essence of the Hyde program is character development and a belief that parents are the primary teachers and the home is the primary classroom. The authors believe that good teaching cannot over-compensate for bad parenting, regardless of how either is defined. Therefore a key component to each student's Hyde experience is the involvement of the whole family in the learning and character development process.
Stating that "at any age, a person's character is more important than his or her innate abilities," the book outlines a framework that allows parents and teachers to break the enormous task of character development down into bite-sized chunks.
The majority of the book is devoted to explaining "The 10 Priorities." They are: truth over harmony, principles over rules, attitude over aptitude, set high expectations and let go of the outcomes, value success and failure, allow obstacles to become opportunities, take hold and let go, create a character culture, humility to ask for and accept help, and inspiration; job one.
Each of these priorities is not necessarily what you first think upon reading the title and they are not meant to be the final word, but are offered as "concepts to think about, struggle with, to laugh about, and most important to apply to our daily lives." There are plenty of interesting stories and anecdotes from Hyde teachers, parents and students demonstrating a real-life example of each principle.
An underlying theme is "if you want your children to be people of character, you need to be working on your own character on a regular basis." I can say from personal experience homeschooling my own children for the past sixteen years, that there is no better character development program in the world than to parent children with integrity.
I appreciate the fact that the authors acknowledge a Judeo-Christian foundation for the principles they espouse, even though it is just mentioned in passing. I do not believe we can divorce principles from the principle Creator without the consequence of having our credibility reduced to mere opinion.
This book would be helpful to piano teachers by encouraging us to consider character development in our students more important than a perfect performance. We can encourage stronger students to confront their insecurities and weaknesses as a means of building character. Weaker students can be encouraged and praised when they conquer material after great struggle.
It is also important to look at parents as an indispensable part of the musical education of the student. Their involvement in the process cannot be underestimated.
Our character as teachers matters. What we value in our students' music matters. (Our true values, as evidenced by our actions, may surprise us!) It would be worthwhile to read this book, but it does take a lot of effort unless you just skim. The authors encourage you take time after reading each chapter to explore its implications in your own life and circle of influence.
Back to Top
Reviewed by Ruth Hale
This is a very intense book, I found myself searching the way we brought up our own children....what, where did we grow wrong, which is the way you think any time you read those psychology books! But it opens up one's eyes to the things that are out there today and to be realistic with yourselves and your children and keep a balance, equalize life....and definitely take time to smell the flowers, a few precious moments each day will save and create a beautiful lifetime with you and yours. He recreates some very dreadful scenarios, then I was back on balance, our family is okay! I have typed up a fairly good concise bio of the book if anyone would like a copy, I would be happy to send one off. I am printing here the chapters of each part.
Part I Our Hurried Children
1. Our Hurried Children
2. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents
3. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Schools
4. The Dynamics of Hurrying: The Media
5. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Lapware, Brain Research, and the Internet
Part II Hurried Children: Stressed Children
6. Growing Up Slowly
7.Learning To Be Social
8. Hurried Children: Stressed Children
9. How Children React ToStress
10.Helping Hurried Children
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Reviewed by Renee Clay
The primary purpose of this book is to help parents match the child care to the child based on where they fall in the five basic personality types that stem from inborn physical characteristics:
Sensitve
Self-absorbed
Defiant
Inattentive
Active/Aggessive
A description of characteristics as well as strategies for parenting patterns are given for each of the five basic personality types.
The Sensitive Child
According to Stanley Greenspan the highly sensitive child is often bright, creative, articulate, and insightful. This child may easily tap into other people's feelings and is frequently capable of demonstrating great acts of empathy and compassion. He/she can often read people well by being able to deftly tune into body language, tone of voice, etc. The sensitive child tends to be very perceptive, tuning into certain environmental nuances and subtleties that generally go unnoticed by others. Because sensitive youngsters are so attuned to the world, they tend to focus on the details of what they see, hear, and experience and can be overwhelmed by seemingly innocuous stimuli. The sensitive child may be a budding artist, but can also be clingy and whiny, sometimes bossy and demanding or sometimes all the above at the same time. He/she can throw long tantrums over seemingly minor issues. Some sensitive children also demonstrate difficulty with spatial concepts, for example, they may become lost easily. This child might also have difficulty with motor planning, especially in regard to carrying out a series of motor sequences. Hence, if you are working with a child that is very verbal but seems to get lost when they have to do anything that involves a series of behaviors it may be linked to a motor planning deficit. The sensitive child can be very organized when operating in an area of strength or very disorganized when dealing with an area of weakness. Examples of action series requiring motor planning include an evening routine of brushing teeth, putting on pajamas, etc. Parents may be surprised when an otherwise bright child demonstrates so much difficulty in the execution of seemingly mundane tasks. The symptoms can be so severe that teachers may erroneously raise the question of attention deficit disorder.
Strategies in Working the Sensitive Child
Greenspan suggests extra empathy, compassion, and flexibility when dealing with sensitive children. Also, additional structure and firmness may be needed. Basically, the child may feel overloaded and, therefore, the strategies employed are intended to help the child deal with their feelings while creating the structure needed to aid the child in feeling safe and limiting the likelihood of becoming externally overloaded.
The Self-Absorbed Child
According to Greenspan, unlike the highly sensitive child the self-absorbed child needs plenty of stimuli. Interestingly, loud noises do not command their attention that easily because of their general lack of reactivity and, thus, self-absorbed children find it easier to tune inward and withdraw. Such a child may have difficulty with skills that require sequencing physical movements like crawling, tying shoes, climbing ladders, etc. Furthermore, they may also demonstrate difficulty with auditory-verbal processing and expressive language. They may be hard pressed finding the words to express how they feel or describe what they desire.
Strategies
Greenspan states that it is all too easy to give up on and neglect children who are self-absorbed, which only facilitates their further withdrawal. Instead, caregivers need to reach out energetically to help the child interact, attend and engage in their environment.
The Defiant Child
The child categorized as defiant can be very stubborn and controlling. Such a child often does the opposite of what is expected of them. He/she often demonstrates difficulty dealing with transitions and appears to do better with repetition and slow change. There can also be a tendency to be compulsive and perfectionistic. As an infant this type of child can be fussy and while getting older may be more apt to engage in power struggles. The defiant child may have many of the same sensitivities as the highly sensitive child but instead of becoming cautious and fearful they may react proactively by trying to control all environment parameters as tightly as possible. Also, unlike the sensitive child the defiant child tends to have better visual-spatial skills.
Strategies
While it is tempting to respond to the aforementioned behavior by becoming angry or punitive, Greenspan suggests that this response will likely intensify the child's defiant behavior. Rather, it is recommended that the caregiver respond in a soothing, empathetic, and supportive manner. It is suggested that change be slow and gradual to avoid power struggles and enhance the child's flexibility.
The Inattentive Child
A child who is inattentive has difficulty concentrating, staying in one place and focusing on one thing at a time. They may exhibit restless behavior by flitting from one toy to the next, or switching quickly from one activity to another. This child is often misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder. He/she may appear forgetful and it may be difficult to carry on a conversation because of the tendency to shift from one subject to another. There can be different underlying reasons why a child has difficulty attending. Therefore, such instances of inattentiveness tend to be fairly case specific.
Strategies
Greenspan suggests that caregivers should urge the child to reflect upon his/her behavior, thereby providing the opportunity to focus on one subject at a time. Educators can help children with processing difficulties in one mode by using some of their strengths in another mode as compensation. Once they learn to focus then the other skills tend to grow.
The Active/Aggressive Child
This type of child is often impulsive and tends to physically react to many different types of situations. They tend to be doers more than thinkers and may always be impetuous, diving in first and looking later. When frustrated, this child may react by hitting, punching, or pinching to express anger or to achieve desired ends. According to Greenspan, an overly impulsive child tends to have poor motor control, which is sometimes misinterpreted as aggression. Like the self-absorbed child, they may be underreactive to stimuli and, thus, crave greater tactile and physical experiences. They may also have a high threshold for pain.
Strategies
Caregivers may react with anger at the inappropriate behaviors of an active/aggressive child. However according to Greenspan, the less warmth and nurturing an aggressive child gets the more difficulties they may face. It is suggested that caregivers not only provide firm structure and limits but also provide consistent opportunities for warm engagement. Encouraging use of the imagination to help the child gain skills for verbal expression rather than reacting with physical expression can be quite effective. A delay in the physical response through reflection is a key skill for the aggressive child.
While this book was not specifically geared towards music educators per se, much can be gleaned with how to deal with the aforementioned personality types. Using this knowledge, compensatory strategies can be devised that are specific to how music educators deal with behaviors in the piano lesson context. We often deal with our students on an individual basis and understanding the various perceptions, strengths and weaknesses of our students can only increase the likelihood of developing effective teaching strategies. For example, if a teacher is dealing with a child who is self-absorbed, understanding that this type of child requires more stimuli should inform our approach to how we impart information. Perhaps we need to execute a more energetic approach by offering more kinetic, auditory, and/or visually stimulating experiences. Using activities that require a higher level of engagement or providing more stimulating listening experiences may also help to focus the child's attention. Obviously, this would not necessarily be the best approach when dealing with a highly sensitive child who is already feeling overloaded. Much can be appropriated from Stanley Greenspan's knowledge and experience working with children and imported into the pedagogical environment. To that end, "The Challenging Child" has much to offer the serious teacher and the ideas set forth therein will certainly prove beneficial to the task of piano pedagogy.
Back to Top
< Back to Book Reviews
2004/5 Book Reviews
The Perfect Wrong Note
The Perfect Wrong Note: Learning to Trust Your Musical Self, by William WestneyReviewed by Judy Johnson
Several years ago I attended a workshop session presented by Mr. Westney at a CSMTA Conference.I don't remember details but I do remember how uplifting and free the atmosphere in the room was.I was anxious to read his book, partly because I recognized his name and also because I was curious about the title.
I enjoyed the book very much.It was written from such an open, honest perspective.He quoted often from Eloise Ristad, whom I have admired for years since taking a class from her in the late 70's.She introduced me to "The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey, which has since expanded into "The Inner Game of Music" when Mr. Gallwey collaborated with a musician, Barry Green. Theyhave a premisesimilar toMr. Westney's book.Heopened my eyes, yet again, as to what is most important, that "music participation should be healthy, both mentally and physically because only then can we reap its precious harvest."
He begins by talking about how natural and almost magicalchildren's reactions are to music.In order to retain that vitality, he suggests that music teachers become less "concerned with controlling the student than with encouraging the student's own impulses."Good practicing is problem-solving and that is where the interesting title comes in.Instead ofa reprimand when amistake occurs, it becomes the focus of an honest appraisal of what went wrong.He says that Ineed to "learn how to dig for deeper truth in practicing, and quit wasting time trying to impress myself."If we do this kind of honest work, we willbe able to "just trust ourselves and play, with a free flow of energy."
His outline of the process of "Healthy Practicing" is explained in detail and has principles that I'm sure all of us use to some extent, but the courage to really "let it happen, not make it happen" will take some work on my part.In this day of such great concern about injuries, I was impressed with this statement: "It's virtually impossible to develop a playing injury when you use natural motions and perform them thoroughly, without fear."
He suggests that progress is not generally visible and steady, but most always plateaus and breakthroughs. He talks about the infamous fear of performing but asks us to embrace performing: "Instead of the anxious egoism of 'What do you all think of me?' we can convert to the generosity of 'Let me share this with you.'"
The chapters on lessons and un-lessons, and on the un-master class introduce a new way of approaching these old standards that make everyone feel good, especially the student.My book is full of highlighting and I plan to readit again as I try to adopt many of his wonderful suggestions and ideas into my teaching and my own practicing. I recommend "The Perfect Wrong Note" very highly.What would you think if we all read it and then had a discussion together?
Back to Top
The Biggest Job We'll Ever Have
The Biggest Job We'll Ever HaveReviewed by Sandy Lundberg
The Biggest Job We'll Ever Have is written by Laura and Malcom Gould, who worked for over 35 years with the "Hyde Program," an educational philosophy developed in a private school in Maine. It is now taught around the country in workshops and used in several additional K-12 schools. The program has demonstrated outstanding success in turning around troubled teens, but is also well received by any student seeking an alternative to the traditional educational system.
The essence of the Hyde program is character development and a belief that parents are the primary teachers and the home is the primary classroom. The authors believe that good teaching cannot over-compensate for bad parenting, regardless of how either is defined. Therefore a key component to each student's Hyde experience is the involvement of the whole family in the learning and character development process.
Stating that "at any age, a person's character is more important than his or her innate abilities," the book outlines a framework that allows parents and teachers to break the enormous task of character development down into bite-sized chunks.
The majority of the book is devoted to explaining "The 10 Priorities." They are: truth over harmony, principles over rules, attitude over aptitude, set high expectations and let go of the outcomes, value success and failure, allow obstacles to become opportunities, take hold and let go, create a character culture, humility to ask for and accept help, and inspiration; job one.
Each of these priorities is not necessarily what you first think upon reading the title and they are not meant to be the final word, but are offered as "concepts to think about, struggle with, to laugh about, and most important to apply to our daily lives." There are plenty of interesting stories and anecdotes from Hyde teachers, parents and students demonstrating a real-life example of each principle.
An underlying theme is "if you want your children to be people of character, you need to be working on your own character on a regular basis." I can say from personal experience homeschooling my own children for the past sixteen years, that there is no better character development program in the world than to parent children with integrity.
I appreciate the fact that the authors acknowledge a Judeo-Christian foundation for the principles they espouse, even though it is just mentioned in passing. I do not believe we can divorce principles from the principle Creator without the consequence of having our credibility reduced to mere opinion.
This book would be helpful to piano teachers by encouraging us to consider character development in our students more important than a perfect performance. We can encourage stronger students to confront their insecurities and weaknesses as a means of building character. Weaker students can be encouraged and praised when they conquer material after great struggle.
It is also important to look at parents as an indispensable part of the musical education of the student. Their involvement in the process cannot be underestimated.
Our character as teachers matters. What we value in our students' music matters. (Our true values, as evidenced by our actions, may surprise us!) It would be worthwhile to read this book, but it does take a lot of effort unless you just skim. The authors encourage you take time after reading each chapter to explore its implications in your own life and circle of influence.
Back to Top
The Hurried Child
The Hurried Child.....Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon, by David Elkind, Ph.D.Reviewed by Ruth Hale
This is a very intense book, I found myself searching the way we brought up our own children....what, where did we grow wrong, which is the way you think any time you read those psychology books! But it opens up one's eyes to the things that are out there today and to be realistic with yourselves and your children and keep a balance, equalize life....and definitely take time to smell the flowers, a few precious moments each day will save and create a beautiful lifetime with you and yours. He recreates some very dreadful scenarios, then I was back on balance, our family is okay! I have typed up a fairly good concise bio of the book if anyone would like a copy, I would be happy to send one off. I am printing here the chapters of each part.
Part I Our Hurried Children
1. Our Hurried Children
2. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents
3. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Schools
4. The Dynamics of Hurrying: The Media
5. The Dynamics of Hurrying: Lapware, Brain Research, and the Internet
Part II Hurried Children: Stressed Children
6. Growing Up Slowly
7.Learning To Be Social
8. Hurried Children: Stressed Children
9. How Children React ToStress
10.Helping Hurried Children
Back to Top
The Challenging Child
The Challenging Child, by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D.Reviewed by Renee Clay
The primary purpose of this book is to help parents match the child care to the child based on where they fall in the five basic personality types that stem from inborn physical characteristics:
Sensitve
Self-absorbed
Defiant
Inattentive
Active/Aggessive
A description of characteristics as well as strategies for parenting patterns are given for each of the five basic personality types.
The Sensitive Child
According to Stanley Greenspan the highly sensitive child is often bright, creative, articulate, and insightful. This child may easily tap into other people's feelings and is frequently capable of demonstrating great acts of empathy and compassion. He/she can often read people well by being able to deftly tune into body language, tone of voice, etc. The sensitive child tends to be very perceptive, tuning into certain environmental nuances and subtleties that generally go unnoticed by others. Because sensitive youngsters are so attuned to the world, they tend to focus on the details of what they see, hear, and experience and can be overwhelmed by seemingly innocuous stimuli. The sensitive child may be a budding artist, but can also be clingy and whiny, sometimes bossy and demanding or sometimes all the above at the same time. He/she can throw long tantrums over seemingly minor issues. Some sensitive children also demonstrate difficulty with spatial concepts, for example, they may become lost easily. This child might also have difficulty with motor planning, especially in regard to carrying out a series of motor sequences. Hence, if you are working with a child that is very verbal but seems to get lost when they have to do anything that involves a series of behaviors it may be linked to a motor planning deficit. The sensitive child can be very organized when operating in an area of strength or very disorganized when dealing with an area of weakness. Examples of action series requiring motor planning include an evening routine of brushing teeth, putting on pajamas, etc. Parents may be surprised when an otherwise bright child demonstrates so much difficulty in the execution of seemingly mundane tasks. The symptoms can be so severe that teachers may erroneously raise the question of attention deficit disorder.
Strategies in Working the Sensitive Child
Greenspan suggests extra empathy, compassion, and flexibility when dealing with sensitive children. Also, additional structure and firmness may be needed. Basically, the child may feel overloaded and, therefore, the strategies employed are intended to help the child deal with their feelings while creating the structure needed to aid the child in feeling safe and limiting the likelihood of becoming externally overloaded.
The Self-Absorbed Child
According to Greenspan, unlike the highly sensitive child the self-absorbed child needs plenty of stimuli. Interestingly, loud noises do not command their attention that easily because of their general lack of reactivity and, thus, self-absorbed children find it easier to tune inward and withdraw. Such a child may have difficulty with skills that require sequencing physical movements like crawling, tying shoes, climbing ladders, etc. Furthermore, they may also demonstrate difficulty with auditory-verbal processing and expressive language. They may be hard pressed finding the words to express how they feel or describe what they desire.
Strategies
Greenspan states that it is all too easy to give up on and neglect children who are self-absorbed, which only facilitates their further withdrawal. Instead, caregivers need to reach out energetically to help the child interact, attend and engage in their environment.
The Defiant Child
The child categorized as defiant can be very stubborn and controlling. Such a child often does the opposite of what is expected of them. He/she often demonstrates difficulty dealing with transitions and appears to do better with repetition and slow change. There can also be a tendency to be compulsive and perfectionistic. As an infant this type of child can be fussy and while getting older may be more apt to engage in power struggles. The defiant child may have many of the same sensitivities as the highly sensitive child but instead of becoming cautious and fearful they may react proactively by trying to control all environment parameters as tightly as possible. Also, unlike the sensitive child the defiant child tends to have better visual-spatial skills.
Strategies
While it is tempting to respond to the aforementioned behavior by becoming angry or punitive, Greenspan suggests that this response will likely intensify the child's defiant behavior. Rather, it is recommended that the caregiver respond in a soothing, empathetic, and supportive manner. It is suggested that change be slow and gradual to avoid power struggles and enhance the child's flexibility.
The Inattentive Child
A child who is inattentive has difficulty concentrating, staying in one place and focusing on one thing at a time. They may exhibit restless behavior by flitting from one toy to the next, or switching quickly from one activity to another. This child is often misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder. He/she may appear forgetful and it may be difficult to carry on a conversation because of the tendency to shift from one subject to another. There can be different underlying reasons why a child has difficulty attending. Therefore, such instances of inattentiveness tend to be fairly case specific.
Strategies
Greenspan suggests that caregivers should urge the child to reflect upon his/her behavior, thereby providing the opportunity to focus on one subject at a time. Educators can help children with processing difficulties in one mode by using some of their strengths in another mode as compensation. Once they learn to focus then the other skills tend to grow.
The Active/Aggressive Child
This type of child is often impulsive and tends to physically react to many different types of situations. They tend to be doers more than thinkers and may always be impetuous, diving in first and looking later. When frustrated, this child may react by hitting, punching, or pinching to express anger or to achieve desired ends. According to Greenspan, an overly impulsive child tends to have poor motor control, which is sometimes misinterpreted as aggression. Like the self-absorbed child, they may be underreactive to stimuli and, thus, crave greater tactile and physical experiences. They may also have a high threshold for pain.
Strategies
Caregivers may react with anger at the inappropriate behaviors of an active/aggressive child. However according to Greenspan, the less warmth and nurturing an aggressive child gets the more difficulties they may face. It is suggested that caregivers not only provide firm structure and limits but also provide consistent opportunities for warm engagement. Encouraging use of the imagination to help the child gain skills for verbal expression rather than reacting with physical expression can be quite effective. A delay in the physical response through reflection is a key skill for the aggressive child.
While this book was not specifically geared towards music educators per se, much can be gleaned with how to deal with the aforementioned personality types. Using this knowledge, compensatory strategies can be devised that are specific to how music educators deal with behaviors in the piano lesson context. We often deal with our students on an individual basis and understanding the various perceptions, strengths and weaknesses of our students can only increase the likelihood of developing effective teaching strategies. For example, if a teacher is dealing with a child who is self-absorbed, understanding that this type of child requires more stimuli should inform our approach to how we impart information. Perhaps we need to execute a more energetic approach by offering more kinetic, auditory, and/or visually stimulating experiences. Using activities that require a higher level of engagement or providing more stimulating listening experiences may also help to focus the child's attention. Obviously, this would not necessarily be the best approach when dealing with a highly sensitive child who is already feeling overloaded. Much can be appropriated from Stanley Greenspan's knowledge and experience working with children and imported into the pedagogical environment. To that end, "The Challenging Child" has much to offer the serious teacher and the ideas set forth therein will certainly prove beneficial to the task of piano pedagogy.
Back to Top
< Back to Book Reviews
