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Originally Posted by givemethebeat  honest criticism is far more beneficial than flowery analogy. Young people of this era play high impact extreme video games see videos of real death and are way more exposed to the reality of the world. IF I say that someone sux i will always back it up with why. don't confuse this comment. i am not saying that everyone that comes for a lesson gets the extreme treatment, just some. It works for me and believe it or not they actually respond and develop because it is in a language they understand. Ever been around 12 to 15 year olds and see how they communicate. If the skateboarder on the video does something lame, the kidz don't say" gee that was a good try maybe next time he should do this" .. No they just say dude that guy sucked!!!!!
'Positive reinforcement' I believe is the technique discussed in this thread... |
I don't think anyone on here is against honest criticism. I just believe that honest criticism needs to be tempered and reinforeced with encouragement. No one on here is saying you shouldn't tell a student what he is doing wrong. We're just saying you need to also reinforce what he is doing right so he keeps doing it.
I've seen my oldest son (who is now a Captain in the Army) give up on the French Horn and quit High school band, because all his high school band director could do was harp on how he didn't like his tone. This was a kid who knew all his major and minor scales, and got a B+ on a grade 5 NYSSMA solo as an 8th Grader the year before. He practiced regularly and we would listen to him play long tones as the teacher suggested at the start of every practive session. I could here the improvement, and told him he was getting better, but he felt like the Band teacher was out to get him, because the band teacher never acknowledged the improvment, or encouraged him to keep working at it. He dropped out of band never to play again. The band director called me and asked why he dropped out because he was making good progress. If he had taken the time to tell my son he was getting better the outcome might have been different. If you've got a student and all you do is tell him what you don't like about his playing, and never acknowledge the good aspects of what he's doing, or tell him when he shows improvement he is going to get discouraged and quit. I'm sure even you if you tell a student "he sucks" one week will acknowledge when he shows improvement at the next lesson. I've raised two sons I know how teens age boys talk, I don't object to the words "you sucked" or telling a student what they did wrong. I object to that being the only thing you ever tell the student.
There are two sides to instructing correcting deficiencies, and reinforcing good performance. You need both!!