Motivation Part 7: Nurturing Growth Mindset #1

Let's continue our conversation RE: fixed vs Growth mindsets. 

How can we, as educators, nurture a growth mindset in our students?

By reading Dr. Dweck's book and from my own experience, I believe students develop beliefs about their abilities from what we teach them as well as what we model. That's why I think it's so important to walk the talk as a leader. After all, talk is cheap!

Here is my first tip on nurturing the growth mindset:

1. Focus on the process: praise the progress, not just the talent

Instead of saying, “You're so talented!” or “That was great!", try pointing out the specific actions and strategies students used to achieve a desired outcome.

Trust me, I know it takes much more time and attention to notice the little details of their progress. But that's where some of the most meaningful learning happens.

Here are a few examples of what this might sound like in an orchestra rehearsal:

• “Did you hear how your intonation improved? Great job listening to the bass line!”

• “See how we lined up that passage by listening to the violas' eighth notes?”

• “Whatever you did differently that time, it worked! What did you change?”

Comments like these encourage students to recognize and analyze how their own actions contribute to their progress. Instead of simply being told that they played well, they begin to understand why they played well and how they can replicate and build on that success.

For example, the learning process might look something like this:

1. Play. Students play a passage.

2. Identify the problem together. e.g., "the rhythms aren't lining up."

3. Explore possible solutions together. Are we playing the correct rhythm? Should we listen more carefully to the eighth notes? Watch the conductor? Tap our toes? Subdivide in our head or out loud if you're string player?

4. Play again. Put the strategy into practice.

5. Evaluate the outcome. Did it work? Why or why not?

6. Reinforce the learning. Try the same strategy again to see whether the improvement is consistent and to reinforce what worked, or confirm that it didn't work.

7. Adjust and repeat. If the strategy wasn't effective, try a different approach and go through the process again.

Rinse and repeat!

This graphic was created by ChatGPT.

Having students participate in finding solutions can be incredibly powerful. Rather than simply giving them the answers, we're teaching them how to think and act critically and mindfully: identify problems, experiment with strategies, evaluate results, and make adjustments. They can carry these analytical skills with them after they leave our nests!

I know this approach takes more patience and time than simply telling students what and how to fix. And let's be honest, sometimes we just want to get it done. But whenever you have the time, I encourage you to give students the opportunity to work through this process themselves with your guidance.

Trust me, it's worth it. We're not just teaching them how to play a passage correctly. We're helping them learn how to learn.

Motivation Part 6: Fixed vs Growth Mindset

Hi friends,

Today, I'd like to discuss Dr. Carol Dweck's groundbreaking research on mindset and how it can help us educators, guide the next generation become resilient, motivated learners.

Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Dweck's book explores how our beliefs about intelligence, talent, and ability influence the way we approach learning, challenges, and failure. Her central idea is that how we think about our abilities can shape our willingness to learn and our motivation to improve. This has important implications for parents and educators who want to help children and students develop their skills and a lifelong desire to grow.

In her book, Dweck describes two mindsets: fixed and growth.

Fixed mindset is the belief that intelligence, talent, and ability are largely fixed. Children who are labeled “smart” or “talented” early on may feel pressure to live up to those expectations. As a result, they might avoid challenges or taking risks because they don't want to jeopardize that label. They may become discouraged by mistakes and interpret difficulties as evidence that they lack the ability to succeed.

“I'm not good at this, so maybe I'm just not talented enough.”

Growth mindset, on the other hand, is the belief that abilities can be developed through effective strategies, effort, feedback, and learning. People with a growth mindset are more likely to view challenges as opportunities to improve rather than as a benchmark of their worth or talent.

“I'm not good at this yet, but I can learn and grow.”

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It's important to remember that simply having a growth mindset or working hard doesn't guarantee that we'll achieve every goal. We all have different backgrounds, starting points, resources, strengths, weaknesses, and learning needs. As educators, our goal is to help students understand that their abilities can develop. That effort, when combined with effective strategies, constructive feedback, and the right support, can help them continue to grow and learn throughout their lives.

In the next post, I'll discuss how we can nurture our students' growth mindset.

Motivation Part 5: What is your Currency?

Today, I'd like to talk about the “currency” of motivation.

As a mom of a 10-year-old, I've noticed the power of “currency” in motivating my son from an early age. When he was 5, his currency might have been LEGO or watching a train video. “If you do XYZ, you can play with your LEGO,” or “If you clean this up, you can watch your train video.” As he got older, his currency changed. These days, it's playing the Nintendo Switch or watching YouTube channels featuring people playing Nintendo Switch games.

Using incentives to motivate your children or students can be effective. With my orchestra students, I believe one of the best motivators is the opportunity to play fantastic repertoire.

When it comes to programming, I don't use my student orchestra to satisfy my own artistic needs. Through my professional experience, I've already checked off most of the pieces on my bucket list. I'll always choose music that is fun, inspiring, and educational, and I will not program works that are beyond my students' current abilities just to satisfy my own ambitions. Instead, I want my students to SHOW ME that they're ready to take on difficult music and that they can accomplish difficult things.

I'm proud to say that my students continue to rise to the challenge. Over the years, they've made tremendous progress, allowing us to experience increasingly challenging repertoire, both technically and musically.

Here's another observation about my son. As a beginning violist, he has assignments on MakeMusic.com, where his teacher uploads an excerpt and the app assigns a grade based on his performance. My son is a natural high achiever, so he'll redo an assignment until he gets 100%. But once he reaches that perfect score, he stops trying to make the excerpt sound any better.

From my perspective, there's still plenty to work on. His note lengths and tone aren't always consistent, and his intonation could use some improvement. But when I point these things out, his response is, “I already got 100, so I don't need to practice.”

I do think this is a fantastic tool for teachers, especially when it comes to helping underachieving students reach a certain level of proficiency. Teachers are SO BUSY, and these apps are incredibly helpful for tracking student progress.

However, for students who are already naturally motivated to succeed, I wonder whether these tools can sometimes have the opposite effect. Instead of encouraging them to keep improving, the app may put a ceiling on their efforts. Once they've reached the target set by the system, they no longer see a reason to push further.

This is one reason I don't use chair placement tests or “pass-off” tests with my students. Not only are these assessments time-consuming, I don't want the fear of failing to become their primary motivator. More importantly, I don't want students who pass a test to stop practicing simply because they've met the required standard.

At this stage of their development, music majors SHOULD want to play better than what's considered “good enough.” Of course, they need benchmarks and goals to help them measure their progress. But I want to help them look beyond those benchmarks and find motivation in the work itself, in the process of improvement, overcoming challenges, and discovering what they're capable of achieving.

One of my goals is to help students develop their own internal standards and learn to recognize and celebrate their progress along the way. After all, if we always stop when we've reached the target someone else has set for us, how will we ever discover how much further we can go?

Motivation Part 4: Stories of my inspiring colleagues

 Hi Friends!

Today I'd like to share some inspiring stories. When I started looking into this topic a few years ago, I spoke with 3 of my former colleagues of Chattanooga Symphony & Opera (CSO) who inspire me. They gave me their permission to share their stories.

Matt:

Matt grew up in rural America with little financial support for his music studies until he received a full-scholarship at University of Alabama. Early on, much of his motivation to practice the horn came from wanting to set himself up for a better future. After earning a few degrees, his motivation began to shift: winning jobs. In his late 20s, while working on his DMA, he won the Third Horn position with the CSO. Soon after, he landed a position with The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own.”

But there was one catch: he had to lose over 100 pounds to qualify for boot camp. He drastically changed his diet and started exercising daily. At first, his extrinsic motivation was pretty clear: lose the weight, or he wouldn’t qualify for his dream job. Somewhere along the way, it seemed as though he started to enjoy this new lifestyle.

Spoiler alert: He did end up qualifying for boot camp and has been serving with Pershing’s Own for a few years now. Of course, he still needs to meet military fitness standards, but I truly believe that along the way, maintaining his physical health became an intrinsic motivation as well.

Musically, he continues to seek and create opportunities to perform and teach on top of his responsibility with the Army Band. I really admire his strong intrinsic motivation to keep growing as both a performer and an educator.

with Matt at TMEA earlier this year! It was so great to reconnect.

Chris:

Chris grew up in a musical household. His dad is a respected trumpeter in their region. When Chris picked up the trumpet himself, his initial motivation to practice was to make sure he didn't tarnish his father's reputation as a performer and an educator. Over time, that standard stuck with him and eventually became his own motivation to keep performing at the highest level possible.

He eventually won a position with the Air Force Band, where he served for over two decades. After retirement, he won the Principal Trumpet position with the CSO in his mid-40s. That's an incredible accomplishment! These positions are often won by younger musicians fresh out of graduate school, as maintaining your "audition shape" as a professional musician is extremely challenging. I can only imagine the discipline and determination it took for him to win that position.

Gordon:

Gordon has served as the Principal Horn of the CSO for over four decades. I have to admit, he's one of my favorite people, and I think anyone who's had the pleasure of spending time with him would agree!

Gordon also comes from a musical family. Growing up, he played in his church as a young horn player. His motivation was to hit all the right notes because, as he puts it, "You know, God was listening." He's not religious anymore, but that standard stuck with him and gradually became more internalized. These days, he wants to play well for himself because he's developed his own standards for what good playing means to him.

During my 13 years as Music Director of the CSO, I had the privilege of witnessing Gordon continue to grow as a musician. And to prove that point, he won the Principal Horn position with the Huntsville (AL) Symphony in his 50s! As mentioned earlier, this is no easy feat. That kind of continued growth doesn't happen without a strong internal drive to keep improving.

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I share these stories to show that it doesn’t have to be either or: extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can become intrinsic motivation in the right kind of environment. A healthy dose of both types of motivation can lead to a fulfilling life.

I would also like to note that these three colleagues are exceptional human beings. Not only are they phenomenal musicians, they’re also kind, uplifting, and inspiring. More on this point later!

Motivation Part 3: Is fear an effective motivator? Exploring different kinds of extrinsic motivation

Hello friends!

In my last two posts, I’ve been preaching about the importance of developing intrinsic motivation. But let’s take a step back and talk about extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivators are important, especially in the early stages of development. Stickers (remember those?), grades, chair placements, making Region/All-State or youth orchestras, or a combination of these can all be great motivators. At the same time, it’s equally important for educators to help students find joy in the process of getting better, especially when there isn’t an obvious goal in the horizon.

One extrinsic motivator I’d like to explore a little more is fear.

Fear is a powerful motivator, and it can take many forms: fear of a bad grade, losing a chair placement, or, perhaps the most powerful of all in my opinion, the fear of being reprimanded by a director, private lesson teacher, or parent.

Let me digress for a moment.

The other day, a new graduate student told me that he asked his section, “When is Dr. Dan going to lose her mind in rehearsals?” His section mates reassured him that it never happens. He was in disbelief. 

Trust me, I do get annoyed. But what seems to be more terrifying to my students is when I get disappointed. I do calmly give them a “talking to” every so often, and I hope those conversations are more effective than me screaming at them. 

In my previous position, I also received a comment from a group of professional musicians: “We don’t think you care, because you never yell at us.” I’m always shocked when musicians are surprised that I don’t yell and scream at them. Sometimes, people equate yelling with passion. And honestly, it makes me sad that this still seems to be an acceptable behavior for leaders.

As a young flutist, I played under many different conductors. Some yelled. Others didn’t. I’ll admit, I played well when fear was involved. However, I never went beyond “good enough” because I was afraid to push my limits and fail.

I eventually realized that when a conductor creates an environment that is both inspiring, positive, and SAFE, I feel much freer to experiment and test my limits. Sometimes I fail. Other times, I discover that I’m capable of performing at a level I didn’t know I could reach.

Of course, everyone is motivated differently. Some musicians may feel they need that pressure or reprimand to perform their best. But personally, I found that working with a conductor who emphasizes progress, creativity, and courage rather than perfection was far more enjoyable, inspiring, and ultimately, satisfying. When leaders rely on fear and demand perfection, they risk stifling creativity and growth. We may get the results we want in the short term, but what are we sacrificing along the way?

In my next post, I’d like to share stories of my former colleagues I admire.

Motivation Part 2: After you achieve your big goal

 Hi friends,

Today, I’d like to share some observations I’ve made about the musicians I’ve worked with, particularly what happens to their motivations after they achieve their big goals.

First of all, I think having big goals is wonderful. They give you something to work toward and help keep you focused. On the flip side, relying solely on these milestone goals for motivation can be dangerous.

Think about it: You win a job, and you’re excited! Then, during your probationary period, you keep working hard, build relationships with your colleagues, and do your best to earn tenure. And then what?

For the first few years, you’re living the dream. You get to perform amazing repertoire alongside your colleagues and guest artists. But eventually, things become routine.

This is where intrinsic motivation comes in handy. If you’ve already cultivated it before landing that job, whether it’s through a desire to keep improving your playing or simply to become better at your craft, you’re more likely to have a fulfilling and fruitful career.

Unfortunately, I sometimes see the opposite. Once some musicians achieve that big goal, they lose sight of why they chose this profession in the first place. They ca become jaded or grumpy, and that negative energy can be contagious, bringing down the people around them, too.

So, here’s my first tip for cultivating intrinsic motivation:

1. Set a goal that isn’t tied to an external reward.

This could be learning a particular piece or improving a specific technique. You could also plan a recital outside of your regular job to keep your creative energy alive. And if you want to give it an added sense of purpose, you could even use it to raise money for a cause you care about, like an animal rescue.

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Another challenge these musicians face is the lack of feedback. When you’re a child or a student, feedback is constant. You have grades, chair tests, auditions, lessons, and teachers telling you what to work on.

But once you become a professional and earn tenure, that feedback can almost disappear. This could make you feel lost.

Here’s my second tip:

2. Develop your own compass and yardstick.

Once you become a professional, there’s less guidance on what to focus on (your compass) and how to measure your progress (your yardstick). That’s why I think it’s so important to start developing these skills when you’re still a young musician. As students, we often rely on our teachers to tell us what needs fixing and how to fix it. But I believe it’s just as important for educators to encourage self-assessment and critical thinking.

When I work with younger musicians, I ask A LOT of questions. At first, they give me a look of: “You’re the conductor. You tell us!” But quickly, they start to engage and think more independently and contribute to the collective progress. Of course, the topics and questions are adjusted to their age and experience. I’m not going to talk about concepts of “color” with a middle school orchestra while they are still figuring out basic notes and rhythms. The goal is to get them to assess the situation: what happened, why it happened, and what they can do differently next time to get better. More importantly, I encourage them to assess their progress, not just their performance. One performance is only a snapshot of where you are at a given moment. What matters more is whether you’re learning, growing, and moving forward over time.

More on this topic in a future post!

Motivation Part 1: Two types of motivation and what motivates me

Happy Fall, everyone!

I almost forgot I have a blog...

I was preaching about motivation to my students the other day. Unfortunately, verbally expressing my thoughts isn't my strongest suit, so I decided to write them down. I'll share my reflections on this topic over several posts so it doesn't turn into a dissertation.

I've been curious about what motivates people ever since I became a professor, which coincided with my son starting kindergarten. As someone who is generally motivated, I'm genuinely interested in whether motivation can be cultivated in others and whether I can help foster it as both an educator and a parent.

There's a fantastic book by Daniel Pink called Drive that explains the science behind motivation. In a nutshell, he explains that extrinsic motivation, aka "carrots and sticks" (rewards and punishments), can be effective for certain tasks (purely mechanical ones) but can be detrimental to creative work. Instead, he advocates for fostering intrinsic motivation (motivation that comes from within), which has three important factors: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I highly recommend his book if you want to learn more.

What is my motivation?

My motivation comes from a little bit of anxiety, guilt, and a whole lot of FUN. I find learning, improving, and acquiring new skills to be incredibly enjoyable.

When I was little, I was motivated mostly by external forces: getting good grades, staying out of trouble, earning first chair, making all-state, getting into a good university (Hook 'em Horns!), etc. As a flutist at The University of Texas, I was playing A LOT. I LOVED playing in large ensembles, chamber music, and solo recitals. I practiced so I could play in the best ensembles and avoid being the weakest link in the group. Eventually, I realized that practicing was simply a means to an end because I wasn't particularly interested in becoming a better flutist. I knew then that playing the flute wasn't my true passion.

Luckily, I found conducting.

As a conductor, you're challenged in so many ways. There's an unlimited repertoire to learn.  You have to manage different personalities within a group, so you're constantly learning how to communicate effectively. If you don't have any Teaching Assistants or support staff, you're also the one running the ensemble, from managing personnel and the library to planning programs and handling all the other logistics that make an orchestra function. 

Then there is an art of conducting itself.

Even after 2 decades of working as a conductor, I'm constantly evaluating my conducting and rehearsal techniques. I reflect multiple times during each rehearsal to see if there's anything I can improve to become a better conductor and a communicator. The adjustments may be minor and may not always work, but I'm constantly experimenting. Even when I fail, I am excited to find my own weaknesses, which gives me additional opportunities and challenges to overcome them.

It's truly a joy, and I'm grateful to have found a profession that challenges me and fulfills me in so many ways. I believe my work provides all aspects of intrinsic motivation. 

Why am I interested in this topic?

So, if I'm already motivated, why am I interested in this topic? 

Good question!

I work with young musicians who will go on to become educators themselves. I want to learn whether I can help motivate my students by fostering their enjoyment of the work and their own progress while they're under my guidance. If they can experience that for themselves, hopefully, they'll be able to help their future students do the same.

I think the world will be more enjoyable place if more people took pride in and found joy in their work.

In the next post, I'll share some observations of musicians I've worked with, particularly what happens to their motivation after they achieve their big goals.