Mix it up Monday: Teach your students to CENTER

When I am teaching lessons, there are often moments when the student is so close to getting the result we are working towards but they get frustrated and things begin to go downhill. I know this is happening as I watch their physical connection to their voice disappear, the voice usually gets tight, the breathing becomes panicked, and/or their larynx creeps up. At the moment I notice this happening, I make them stop and re-center themselves using an approach I learned from Dr. Bill Crawford, PhD. I have them acknowledge the problem while placing it in the past, and then have them make an affirmative statement in the present. We then sing the exercise again and move forward, almost always with great results. For example, I might have them repeat something along the lines of:

“In the past I could not belt a D, but now I am learning to do it”

or

“In the past I couldn’t sing quietly, but now I can with this new approach”

Author Eric Maisel has a variation of this approach in his book “Coaching the Artist Within” (p. 107-115). He offers six-steps to help students CENTER themselves:

• Come to a complete stop
• Empty yourself of expectations
• Name your work
• Trust your resources
• Embrace the present moment
• Return with strength

The student begins with slow, deep breaths – six counts to inhale, six counts to exhale. When they get settled into this pattern of breathing, cue them to silently repeat the brief statements below to themselves. The first half in ( ) should be on the inhale and the second half on the exhale. The statements are:

• (I am) (completely stopping)
• (I expect) (nothing)
• (_____) (_____) name your work
• (I trust) (my resources)
• (I am embracing) (this moment)
• (I return) (with strength)

Here are a few examples for naming the work:

• (I am) (learning to sing legit)
• (I am) (learning to riff)
• (I am) (improving my pitch accuracy)
• (I am) (memorizing this monologue)

The goal is to bring the student’s mind back to the task at hand. As they reaffirm what they are trying to accomplish, and thus acknowledge it is a work in progress, the frustration should subside, their body should relax, and their mind will be prepared for the task at hand.

There are a lot of variations of this kind of work. Getting the student to slow down, calm themselves, and try again from a centered place is critically important to their long-term development. If they keep repeating the same mistake over and over again while frustrated, their body is going to associate that action with that emotion and they will get into a cycle that will be hard to break out of down the road. By taking time to reset, the brain is more likely to memorize the new habits and leave the old ones behind.

Do you stop and have your students center themselves in their lessons? When and how? Please contribute to the conversation below in the comment section. If you are not already following the blog, please enter your name and email address below to be added to the mailing list so that you will receive a message each time there is a new post. As always, thank you for reading and have a wonderful week of teaching!

~Matt