Loading...
Start Date
27-3-2021 2:30 PM
End Date
27-3-2021 3:25 PM
Zoom Link
https://uttyler.zoom.us/j/92453625958
Date of Publication
2021
Document Type
Workshop
Abstract / Program Notes
Recent studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience show that skill-based learning, such as that involved in studying a musical instrument, benefits from emphasizing variation over rote repetition. Teaching students to explore multiple approaches to a technique develops adaptability and nuance in performance while reducing the risk of repetitive strain and more complex neurological injuries. Teaching students to experiment around problem issues promotes creativity in practice, helps alleviate fear of failure, and promotes long-term flexibility in practice habits. This workshop explores the pedagogical ideas of Israeli mathematician, physicist, and mechanical engineer, Moshe Feldenkrais, adapted by the presenter for use in music classrooms, ensemble teaching, and private teaching. Feldenkrais’s work employs what he called “differentiation” and “integration” to explore infinite variations of function through movement and sensation. Feldenkrais believed our tendency was to fixate on our successes and fall into habits of repetition that, on the one hand prevented us from reaching our learning potential, and on another created discomfort and injury from repetitive overuse. We will focus on how ideas of differentiation and integration, borrowed from Feldenkrais’s Awareness Through Movement lessons, can be used to teach technique, rhythm, posture, breath, phrasing, and aural-skills, as well as strategies for working with performance anxiety and specific issues of playing-related discomfort. Participants will explore exercises and experiments that can be done in the classroom, in private teaching, and in individual practice to promote effective learning, reach diverse populations of students, and allow for individualized observation and experimentation.
Biography
Dr. Lisa Burrell is on the music faculty of Lone Star College in Houston, Texas. She is a violinist, violist, string clinician, and a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. Dr. Burrell is a regular clinician in public school music classrooms, college and university music programs, and workshops for music educators throughout the United States, and internationally. Her work, which integrates pedagogical ideas from the Feldenkrais Method into music education, promotes strategies for learning, practice, and performance that reduce patterns of stress, rote repetition, and habitual overuse that often lead to long term injury and difficulty. She has recently presented at the Symposium on Feldenkrais in the Performing Arts (2016) in London, UK, the International Arts in Society Conference (2017) in Paris, France, the ISME Conference (2018) in Baku, Azerbaijan, The Midwest Clinic, Chicago (2019), and the Institute for the Psychology of Music Education, Portugal (2019). Her writing detailing her work with students and professionals on injury prevention and rehabilitation will be featured in two books on the Feldenkrais Method scheduled for release this fall through Bloomsbury Press and Handspring Press, London, UK.
Keywords
Moshe Feldenkrais, Differentiation and integration, Education
Feldenkrais as Pedagogy in the Music Classroom and Teaching Studio
Recent studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience show that skill-based learning, such as that involved in studying a musical instrument, benefits from emphasizing variation over rote repetition. Teaching students to explore multiple approaches to a technique develops adaptability and nuance in performance while reducing the risk of repetitive strain and more complex neurological injuries. Teaching students to experiment around problem issues promotes creativity in practice, helps alleviate fear of failure, and promotes long-term flexibility in practice habits. This workshop explores the pedagogical ideas of Israeli mathematician, physicist, and mechanical engineer, Moshe Feldenkrais, adapted by the presenter for use in music classrooms, ensemble teaching, and private teaching. Feldenkrais’s work employs what he called “differentiation” and “integration” to explore infinite variations of function through movement and sensation. Feldenkrais believed our tendency was to fixate on our successes and fall into habits of repetition that, on the one hand prevented us from reaching our learning potential, and on another created discomfort and injury from repetitive overuse. We will focus on how ideas of differentiation and integration, borrowed from Feldenkrais’s Awareness Through Movement lessons, can be used to teach technique, rhythm, posture, breath, phrasing, and aural-skills, as well as strategies for working with performance anxiety and specific issues of playing-related discomfort. Participants will explore exercises and experiments that can be done in the classroom, in private teaching, and in individual practice to promote effective learning, reach diverse populations of students, and allow for individualized observation and experimentation.