All about Fred
My piano students know Fred well. Fred lives inside them. He's their automatic pilot.
When they play something incorrectly, Fred learns very quickly and then Fred can take over and play that passage for them.
This is vital to playing a new piece. It's vital for all of us. We have to have that automatic pilot so deal with every day routines, or in their case playing passages automatically so they can concentrate on other things.
Can you imagine going for a walk and thinking "now I have to put my right foot forward...now I have to put my left foot forward". We just do it without thinking. We've taught Fred how to do it so we can use other parts of our brain to decide where we are going etc.
So Fred is a quick learner. He takes over routine actions. Sometimes they teach Fred the wrong notes, or the wrong timing, and they have to take control of Fred for a while to teach him a better way. But if Fred has learnt this section incorrectly for a long time, he doesn't like change. He has to scrub out what he has learnt and relearn it again. He's resistant, because the way he was used to doing it was easier and we always tend to go for the easiest way out. It makes sense.
So I go through their piece. We work out what sections Fred can play beautifully, and which sections they have to play. The parts they have to take control of to reteach Fred.
I tell them that I can teach them, but I can't teach Fred. That's their job. Fred wont automatically play the section correctly unless they've taught him over and over again. And yes, Fred does learn quick, but relearning is harder for him. It's easier to write on a plain piece of paper and read it back, than one that has to be rubbed out first and written over.
So they go home and their job is to teach Fred what I have taught them. They have the intellectual understanding of how the piece needs to be played, but they have to put that into practice in their piece.
It's no good just expecting Fred to be able to do, just because they want him to, or because they've done it 3 times. They have to teach him so well that Fred just does it.
It's the same with us and food. Food is rewarding, and our Fred is used to grabbing it automatically if we are in a certain place at a certain time, or during certain emotions. He's our automatic pilot. We just let him do and then wonder why he's done it, when we know it's wrong.
We have to take control of Fred. We have to stop and say "hang on mate...wrong move...this is how we do it". At the beginning it's hard because we are so used to letting him take over once he's been primed, but we have to take that responsibility back from him, to stop him going into the next action and completing the whole routine.
Think I'll continue in another message. It's getting too long
My piano students know Fred well. Fred lives inside them. He's their automatic pilot.
When they play something incorrectly, Fred learns very quickly and then Fred can take over and play that passage for them.
This is vital to playing a new piece. It's vital for all of us. We have to have that automatic pilot so deal with every day routines, or in their case playing passages automatically so they can concentrate on other things.
Can you imagine going for a walk and thinking "now I have to put my right foot forward...now I have to put my left foot forward". We just do it without thinking. We've taught Fred how to do it so we can use other parts of our brain to decide where we are going etc.
So Fred is a quick learner. He takes over routine actions. Sometimes they teach Fred the wrong notes, or the wrong timing, and they have to take control of Fred for a while to teach him a better way. But if Fred has learnt this section incorrectly for a long time, he doesn't like change. He has to scrub out what he has learnt and relearn it again. He's resistant, because the way he was used to doing it was easier and we always tend to go for the easiest way out. It makes sense.
So I go through their piece. We work out what sections Fred can play beautifully, and which sections they have to play. The parts they have to take control of to reteach Fred.
I tell them that I can teach them, but I can't teach Fred. That's their job. Fred wont automatically play the section correctly unless they've taught him over and over again. And yes, Fred does learn quick, but relearning is harder for him. It's easier to write on a plain piece of paper and read it back, than one that has to be rubbed out first and written over.
So they go home and their job is to teach Fred what I have taught them. They have the intellectual understanding of how the piece needs to be played, but they have to put that into practice in their piece.
It's no good just expecting Fred to be able to do, just because they want him to, or because they've done it 3 times. They have to teach him so well that Fred just does it.
It's the same with us and food. Food is rewarding, and our Fred is used to grabbing it automatically if we are in a certain place at a certain time, or during certain emotions. He's our automatic pilot. We just let him do and then wonder why he's done it, when we know it's wrong.
We have to take control of Fred. We have to stop and say "hang on mate...wrong move...this is how we do it". At the beginning it's hard because we are so used to letting him take over once he's been primed, but we have to take that responsibility back from him, to stop him going into the next action and completing the whole routine.
Think I'll continue in another message. It's getting too long
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