Creative Piano Pedagogy
This podcast is an enriching resource designed specifically for piano teachers and music educators working with out-of-the-box students: students with disabilities, physical or learning differences, gifted and 2-E learners and neurodivergent students. Each episode delves into innovative teaching strategies, offering insights and practical solutions that promote creativity, inclusivity, and approaches teaching from a positive and student-first environment.
Pedagogue, researcher and music educator Dr. Elizabeth Davis-Everhart will demystify topics such as technique, communication, piano methods, understanding behaviors, autism, ADHD, dyslexia and much more- all with a focus on encouraging teachers to meet the diverse needs of their students and inspiring them to embrace new ideas and cultivate the musical potential of every learner.
Creative Piano Pedagogy
Adapting to Individual Learners with Lesson Pacing Strategies
What if the pace of your piano lessons could unlock the true potential of your students, especially those who are neurodivergent? Join us as we dig further into adapting our teaching approach by unveiling the often-overlooked art of lesson pacing. In this episode of the Creative Piano Pedagogy podcast, we draw parallels between the rhythm of a lesson and walking speeds, advocating for a teaching style that resonates with each student's unique learning rhythm. By tailoring the tempo of your lessons, you can help students with ADHD and other learning differences absorb information, build confidence, and feel less overwhelmed, turning their challenges into triumphs!
This episode shines a light on the profound impact of pacing in educational success, encouraging educators to embrace flexibility and adaptability in their teaching practices to honor the diverse needs of every student.
Find the full transcript, show notes or links mentioned in the episode here!
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Hey everyone, and welcome back to the second episode of the Creative Piano Pedagogy podcast. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so glad you've joined us. And if you have a few minutes, go back and listen to episode one, Embracing Change. That will give you some context on what adaptive teaching is so you can be ready to go in this new series that we're doing on what adaptive teaching is.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:I wanted to take a second and just say thank you for all the great responses to episode one that released two weeks ago. I was so delightfully surprised at all of the encouraging messages and notes I received, and just the words of kindness from everyone that enjoyed the episode. I think we reached four different countries in the world with that first episode. So, wherever you're listening from, I'm so grateful that you've tuned in and I hope you enjoy. I wanted to also let you know about a new feature on my podcast this week. It's a "text me feature and you can find this on the about tab of the episode where you see the description and the show notes, but you can find it on any of your preferred podcast platforms like Apple or Spotify, and this is a way for you to send in questions, thoughts about the episode, anything really. So give it a try and I'll look forward to seeing messages if you send them that way. And, of course, you can also just reach out to me on Instagram at Creative Piano Pedagogy.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Now that we've defined what adapting is and how it applies to piano teaching, let's really dig into why it matters and how we do it. Over the next several episodes in this series, we're going to get into the nitty-gritty of specific aspects of our teaching that we can, and really should- adapt, as well as how we do it. Our topic for today is kind of an odd one and not something that a lot of people talk about, and that is lesson pacing. So, first off, what is lesson pacing? It is basically the flow and speed of instruction and learning throughout the lesson. This also includes those transition times, like the time between activities or pieces that's usually spent introducing new activities allowing for discovery and questions. All of that, the pace and timing of all of these separate entities of learning, really impacts and affects the overall pacing of the lesson and even our students' success during the lesson, especially for our neurodivergent students. The pacing affects things such as their ability to absorb information and new concepts and even feel secure enough to be able to confidently replicate what they've learned at home. It also impacts their confidence in the lesson itself and their ability to overcome feelings of overwhelm or frustration when they're learning new skills or music. It impacts their ability to hear, comprehend and apply all of the instruction and teaching that we're providing, and so much more.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:From lots of research on disabilities, we know that students with disabilities and neurodivergent learners really benefit from having more time to accomplish tasks and goals and even more time to respond to questions. This is a really common thing that's found in students' IEPs at both public and private schools, all the way from primary grades to high school, even college and grad school. An IEP is an Individualized Education Plan and this is something that lets teachers and administrators, or anyone who's going to be educating a child- lets them know where the child could use more support during the learning process. A lot of times this results in allowing for more time on tests and assignments. Sometimes it allows for aides- people to specifically help that child throughout their day. But today we're really thinking about this concept of time, so thinking of extended due dates for papers and exams, extended times for like state testing or testing and assignments. Those are some of the things that might be in an IEP. If we think of this concept of pacing as it pertains to the speed of walking, let's think of them like strolling pace, a gentle stroll, or bumping it up a little bit to a walking pace; and then increasing it to a jog, and then a sprinting pace. Your students may have the capability to process information at all of those speeds, depending on the aspect of the lesson and if it's their area of strength or not.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:To lessen anxiety and help manage behaviors before they even start, we need to really carefully plan for more time on things that may involve an area in which the student is not naturally gifted. In disability research and in special education, this is often referred to as a student's "deficit. A deficit is something that a child is considered not to be good at, but I like to think of it in terms of strengths and then areas for growth. So when we're thinking of students with disabilities as it results in piano and as it is related to piano, we're going to think a lot about the fingers and things that may not be natural for them to do at the piano that might take more time or where students might benefit from more time. So let's just think through some of those we're talking about. Finger control like is needed for playing leaps and skips on the piano, even harmonic intervals, chords or new patterns that they haven't played before, even things like isolated finger movement for scales and a big one, coordination playing the hands or coordinating gestures together. We can even extend this thought into music theory concepts and, honestly, even areas of music where the student doesn't really enjoy what they're doing. As you well know, students are much more apt to succeed at something if they enjoy it or if they think they can do it, even if it's a little more complicated. Piece of music or musical concept. Piece of music or musical concept If you've ever taught students with ADHD, then you know they're not just distracted kids who talk incessantly and jump around.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:They're actually very motivated by learning challenging things and being challenged. So if a student is really invested and interested, the sky is the limit- if they love a challenge, and of course it doesn't just apply to ADHD. This can apply to kids who have autism, other neurodivergent learners or just the typical kids in your studios. Kids are also really honest, aren't they? And that's one of the things I love about teaching neurodivergent learners, if I'm honest. I love how honest they are with me and how blunt they are to let me know what's working and what's not.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:I had a student several years ago who was on the autism spectrum and he also had ADHD and OCD and a few other things going on. But we were learning a new concept at the piano and I was still trying to figure out how to read this student- their facial expressions and their body language, to know if they felt confident and they were ready to move on or if we needed to do a few more repetitions. All of a sudden, he stopped playing right in the middle of a piece and he put his hands on his hips and said- "I think we can move this along a little, don't you? Time's a wasting and the sun's going down. I think he was all of eight years old at the time, but I was like, okay, now I don't have to wonder. I know it's time to move on. He let me know the pacing needed to increase.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Another thing we can keep in mind when teaching neurodivergent students is we need to frame and teach the tricky things in creative ways so the students don't become frustrated. We want to lower the stress and intensity level and really lessen their anxiety about learning new things or really tricky things. There are some other aspects of pacing the lesson that might not be quite as obvious, but that are hugely impactful. One of those is the speed at which you, as a teacher, are talking and how much you're talking during the lesson. That's a big one.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Something else to think about is the time that you allow for students to think and respond after you've asked a question or given them the next step of what to do. You have to kind of respect the silence in the lesson, don't you? And silence is not a bad thing. If kids are not responding right away, it is not a bad thing. Something else we need to pay attention to is the transition. This is going from one piece to another, switching from one activity to the next, and if you notice that students seem to get stuck on one thing, or maybe they become very chatty and they don't seem ready to move on, think to yourself- "why are they stalling?
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Stalling in a lesson or a student kind of feeling stuck on this one piece or activity isn't just a tactic used by kids to take up time so they don't have to play or learn. I think we kind of view it that way a lot of times, like "oh, they didn't practice the next thing, so they're trying to distract me, or whatever it might be. And while that could definitely be the case from time to time when kids are stalling, it could be a lot of other things, like perhaps they're avoiding something that they feel very anxious, nervous or overwhelmed about, maybe they're mentally fixated on the last thing, or they're so excited that they finally got it that they're not ready to move on. A really random fact for you about ADHD is that kids who are very hyper can be one extreme or the other. They can either have not a lot of focus at all and have very short attention spans, or they can vacillate to the other extreme and become extremely hyper, focused to where they do not want to move on. They want to keep repeating it over and over and over again, because maybe they feel confident about it, maybe their brain is feeling really excited and, whatever it might be, they just become hyperfocused. So that could be what's going on.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Another reason why a student is stalling is maybe they don't feel a structure in the lesson, a sense of structure, so they take up time with chatting because they're not really sure what's coming next or what's expected of them, and that's a whole other topic for an episode we're going to do soon about structure in the lesson. So these are just some of the possible reasons why students might stall.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Another thing that we don't often think about in reference to this pacing is that students (and really none of us) need or want to be constantly reminded that we're not good at something. This is so vital to keep in mind as you're planning your pacing or even just doing an approximate pacing for your lessons with all of your students, but especially your neurodivergent learners. If you know you have some difficult concepts or music to cover, really carefully assess where the best place would be to put that in a lesson. Maybe there are activities you can plan so that it will feel like more of a natural flow; if you're teaching the student to cross over you know, their left hand or their right hand on the piano over the other. You can spend a few weeks doing improvisation activities using that skill and then the day they're going to see that in their music for the first time, uou could do that activity right before playing the new piece-- something like that to help them feel less anxious and feel very prepared for it.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:I always err on the side of preparing way more than I need to for each lesson, because I honestly just don't know which version of my students I'm going to get that day: the deeply focused kid, the easily distracted one? Or maybe the very overwhelmed learner who has way too much going on and needs to take a slower, more gentle learning pace? Another thing to remember is that it doesn't really pay off (and it rarely results in a positive outcome) if we rush or push our students constantly in the lesson. I know that I personally do not really respond well to being rushed or pushed when I'm trying to grasp a new concept, especially if it's something new or a little frustrating. Hurrying me does not help, and the same thing goes for our students.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:There are a few parting questions I wanted to leave you with to just ask yourself about the pacing of your students lessons. Feel free to write these down, type them out or maybe just ponder them throughout the week as you're planning your lessons and as you're thinking about your students. The first question is- how would you rate your average lesson pacing with your students? Is it quick, rushed, kind of hurried and efficient, racing through to get things done? Is it more relaxed and thorough, taking time with what your students need to take time on, or maybe it's a bit scattered, a mixture of rushed and very slow and not a whole lot of structure?
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:The second question- Are your lessons teacher-led, meaning you, the teacher, is doing all the talking and directing and pushing things along, or does your lesson have a more natural flow where you follow the students' lead, or maybe a combination of both? And you know what, if you haven't thought about this, that's okay, too!
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Number three- As you think through your lesson pacing, particularly with any students who may be struggling on a concept, are there creative ways you can adjust the pacing to relieve the stress or anxiety about that concept and then allow more time so it feels relaxed and natural? Maybe you can even remove an aspect of the lesson and spend less time on something to really spend time on what matters that week.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Number four- Are there aspects of the lesson that could benefit from better pacing, maybe spending more or less time based on how your student is responding? Jot down a few thoughts about specific students or aspects of your lesson where you can just tweak your pacing and create a more student-centered approach. Use your student as the guide for when to keep going and when to take more time. If you really want to take a deep- dive into your teaching and discover ways to improve your lesson pacing, start to really closely observe how much talking you're doing during the lesson and when and if you see signs the student's ready to move on before you are. You could even make a list of your students and jot down the areas of the lesson you want to adjust the pacing on, whether that be more time on improvisation and adding musicality to the lesson this week and less time on scales, or whatever your focus is.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:One last thought- What is your ideal pacing for a piano lesson? Your ideal lesson pacing and your students' needs may be vastly different and while it's always good to be prepared for our lessons (and I shared that I love to be prepared), we do need to ensure that the structure of the lesson is factoring in the humanity of our students and their individual needs.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart:Now, this podcast episode should come with a little warning. Thinking about lesson pacing is a bit like buying a green car: Until you buy a green car, you've really never noticed other green cars, but after you drive it off the car lot, suddenly you see green cars everywhere. Lesson pacing is one of those sneaky, silent and often underrated things that usually gets ignored and we rarely hear it discussed in pedagogy circles. But it is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to teaching and meeting our neurodivergent students where they are. It's an integral thing to adapt on this journey and I hope you've gained a few little insights into the really cool part of lessons that is lesson pacing. It's these little things like pacing that can make a big difference in our student's success, and that makes the adapting so very worthwhile.
