dweck mindset music teaching

049 - What Every Music Teacher Should Know About Mindsets: Insights from Carol Dweck's Book

049 - What Every Music Teacher Should Know About Mindsets: Insights from Carol Dweck's Book

I first heard about this book from one of my grad school professors.

We were sitting around a long table one snowy January evening at our annual dinner for current and prospective doctoral students. I asked my professor about books he was reading lately and he named several including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and Carol Dweck's Mindset.

It's been on my list since then (let's just say it's been a few years), but I finally read it last year.

Today, I want to share my four biggest takeaways from Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to give you an idea of what it's about and how we can learn from it as musicians, teachers, and leaders.

041 - Focus On the Music

041 - Focus On the Music

This month in my teaching, I'm making a conscious effort to focus on the music.

I know that might sound obvious. You're a music teacher—what else would you focus on? But the truth is, as teachers, there's a lot we're thinking about:

  • Are we managing our time well? Will we complete everything on the lesson plan?

  • Are we keeping a good pace and keeping our students engaged?

  • Is there enough variety in the activities we're doing today: theory and sight-reading, aural skills and musical expression, on-the-bench and off-the-bench activities, rhythm and movement?

  • How are they doing with this activity? Do they understand the concept? Have they developed this skill? Do they need a challenge?

Then there are the COVID protocols:

  • Are we keeping enough social distance?

  • Are we washing our hands after we take turns at the piano?

  • Am I respecting the student's sense of personal space? Do they feel comfortable?

All of these things are important and necessary to our work. As teachers, we are responsible for organizing and sequencing learning activities, managing time, and assessing the outcomes. But this month, I want to prioritize the music we're making, the music my students are making.

In his book Deep Work, researcher Cal Newport wrote, “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.” That's what this episode is all about.