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Five Common Musicianship Problems – Which Ones Do You Want To Overcome?

August 14, 2006 By Graham English

Most of the music coaching and teaching I do involves information gathering. It’s important for me to clearly identify what musical challenges my students are having so that I don’t fix something that ain’t broke and so I impact the problem in a way that is truly useful.

Are You Unconsciously Hitting Delete?

With all of my music students and coaching clients, I look for five specific deletions in their language.

  1. Simple Deletions
    A simple deletion is when something important is missing out of a sentence, for example: “I can’t do it.”

    Students often use the words “it” and “that” in sentences with simple deletions. The solution is to recover the information that is missing with open questions.

    “I can’t do it.” “What exactly can’t you do?”
    “I can deal with it.” “What exactly will you deal with?”

    Notice your own simple deletions and question them by asking: “What or where or when exactly?”

  2. Unspecified Referential Index
    A referential index is the person or thing that takes action or is affected by an action. When this is unspecified, all that is left is something being done but nobody doing it, for example: “Mistakes were made.”

    Words like “him”, “her”, “they” and “one” are not specific. Passive verbs are another good example of this pattern. A passive verb says that something was done rather than a person did something.

    “Mistakes were made.” “Who made the mistakes?”
    “It seems like an impossible task.” “Seems to whom? Impossible to whom?”
    Notice your own unspecified referential indexes and question them by asking: “Who exactly?”

  3. Unspecified Verbs
    An unspecified verb deletes exactly how an event happened, for example: “My ear training is progressing.”

    To recover the deleted information, I ask exactly how the event happened.

    “My ear training is progressing.” “How exactly is your ear training progressing?”
    “I can deal with it.” “How specifically will you deal with it?”

    Notice your own unspecified verbs and question them by asking: “How exactly?”

  4. Judgments
    Judgments are statements of opinion which are expressed as if they were facts: “That was awful.”
    When students express judgments, I question the values that lie behind these judgments and uncover who is doing the judging.

    “That was awful.” “Who says and by what standard is it awful?”
    “This is bad music.” “Who says and by what standard is it bad?”

    Unowned judgements can cause trouble. Prejudice is the result of thoughtless judgements. Notice your own value judgments and question their validity by asking: “By what standard am I making this judgment?”

  5. Comparisons
    A comparison compares one thing with another in order to evaluate it, for example: “I did that badly.”

    I’m particularly aware of words like, better, worse, easier, good and bad and I make sure there is a basis for comparison. When there is not, I ask about the comparison.

    “I did that badly.” “Badly compared to what?”
    Common in ear training: “Only 6 out of 20. Not too good.” “Good compared to what? Is 100% realistic on your first or second try?”

    Comparisons can be very important. They are often used to motivate people by setting a standard to aspire to. However, the standard may be unrealistic or not appropriate. Notice your own comparisons and question them by asking: “Compared with what?”

Asking questions allows me to gather information that specifies someone’s experience, in order to get a full and detailed representation of that experience. When students and clients offer me a challenge to solve, knowing what questions to ask makes all the difference. Many people don’t know what questions to ask, and they end up solving the wrong “problems.”

Now you know the questions that will solve five of the most common musicianship problems.

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Filed Under: Music Education, Prose Tagged With: coaching, deletions, Language, music lessons, MusicHacks, musicianship, NLP, questions

About Graham English

Graham English is a musician, author, and entrepreneur.

Comments

  1. MamaDuck says

    August 15, 2006 at 7:40 AM

    Great tools for music teachers as well. Thanks! Our list is up if youรขโ‚ฌโ„ขd like to look – http://lilduckduck.com/ducky-moments-in-time/240

    Have a great day!

  2. Graham English says

    August 15, 2006 at 8:35 AM

    Great list MamaDuck! I obviously like the “5 ways to develop your toddler’s musical abilities” the most. ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Jersey Girl says

    August 15, 2006 at 9:13 AM

    Wow, I say “it” a lot. I never thought about..it. I never thought about how often I choose this word. I’m going to try to become more aware of this habit!

  4. Graham English says

    August 15, 2006 at 9:27 AM

    What exactly have you never thought about, Jersey Girl? ๐Ÿ˜€

  5. josh Maher says

    August 15, 2006 at 3:32 PM

    Very interesting list…..

    it spans so much further then music though

    http://joshmaher.wordpress.com/2006/08/14/top-ten-reasons-you-should-not-blog/trackback/

  6. Graham English says

    August 15, 2006 at 3:36 PM

    You’re absolutely right, Josh. It’s all about language.

  7. Andrew Thomas says

    August 16, 2006 at 1:55 PM

    Some good stuff to ponder here. Thanks for checking out my list, BTW. I’ve been reading your blog and listening to the podcasts for a few months now – keep up the good content!

  8. Graham English says

    August 16, 2006 at 1:59 PM

    Thanks Andrew! Will do. ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Laurie says

    August 16, 2006 at 6:03 PM

    Timely advice, Graham. I have a friend who is a talented artist, but he’s reluctant to try to sell his work even though I’ve offered him a free listing on my site. He has a million excuses — no time, he needs to borrow a camera, etc. — but when I pressed him the other night the “I can’ts” came out. He’s afraid of failure. Maybe your advice will get through to him. Thanks.

  10. Graham English says

    August 16, 2006 at 6:15 PM

    I hope so, Laurie. Tell him to get it out there free first. Once he’s comfortable putting his work out into the world, then we can work on selling it. ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. Graham English says

    August 17, 2006 at 12:26 AM

    Oh yeah… Laurie, have him watch this.

  12. Laurie says

    August 17, 2006 at 4:33 AM

    For some reason I couldn’t see the show. Judging by some of the comments, my netnanny filter is probably interfering. ๐Ÿ™‚ I’ll try later. Thanks!

  13. Graham English says

    August 17, 2006 at 8:12 AM

    You can also find it in iTunes. It’s worth the effort.

    And anyone who reads this, subscribe to Ze Frank’s show! ๐Ÿ˜€

  14. Razib Ahmed says

    August 18, 2006 at 4:22 AM

    “Now you know the questions that will solve five of the most common musicianship problems.”
    No doubt that you are a great teacher. I wish my teachers were like you.
    If I teach again, I will remember these rules. My

    list is
    here.

  15. Graham English says

    August 18, 2006 at 8:17 AM

    Thanks Razib. Looks like you’re having great success on your blog. Best of luck to you!

  16. Thomas says

    November 13, 2011 at 6:02 AM

    I agree with Ahmed, I wish I have had a teacher like you, and at the same time I don’t think I was read for these kind of lessons before I knew some more about the brain. So I am really happy that I found your blog and got on the mailing list. By doing that I noticed that I have been playing music for over 7 years without traing my ear a hole lot I didn’t think I could do it, it was resvered for only the really cool guitar players know I its just all about train your brain and stop the self demolishing thoughts!

    So thanks I had my doudts about join the maillist thought it was yet another scame to sell me a dvd lesson but no!

    Rock on Graham! ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Graham English says

      November 25, 2011 at 11:08 AM

      Thanks so much!

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