I'm a retired nurse and after retirement, when grandbabies started coming I kept them while their parents worked. One of Granny's absolute rules from several months old til school age was "thow shall not disrupt the sanctity of the nap". At the time there was no science to back me up, but from what I had learned and observed it seemed logical. Babies need 2 naps in addition to regular night sleep, same routine. I did such a long and loud dance when neuroscience proved me right. At the age of 63, I am learning to fiddle. It's or was, a tradition in my family. The last couple of generations have seen it dwindle. I understand I will never be contest material but I love learning, not so much in a class setting, self learning. At the beginning I couldn't get enough rosin on my new bow, I wasn't sure I was doing things correctly. The bow flopped and flipped and was nerve wrackingly unwieldy. Every day I would go back to just trying to get enough rosin on my bow so it made some kind of sound, always using the bow hold expected. On the 3rd day, as I made myself continue, it struck me and I mean it was like a brain thump that I was so preoccupied with the impending failure I failed to realize the ease with which I had picked up and was moving and controlling my bow. I changed rosin and in 2 minutes everything was ready but I now have stopped expecting to hear or feel the improvement as I am practicing or expect a large improvement from longer practice. That only makes me tired and frustrated with no desire to pick up my fiddle for days. I try to pick upp my fiddle 2 or 3 times a day and scratch the itch. I can hear and feel improvement but it's like watching clouds. They are changing shape, you know it, you see movements but because it is slow and dispersed you don't see the individual changes, it's more a slowly creeping change. It's like the changes in my mind and physical movements are seeping in. For me, I will embrace the seep.
You're so right about approaching practice with the goal of retaining the right information opposed to giant leaps of progress. I've been learning the fiddle, which can feel like an insurmountable beast of an instrument. I got frustrated with slow progress, theory, and awful screeching noises, so I put tape on the fingerboard and in a long grind learned a cajun shuffle and Liza Jane. When I demonstrated for my teacher she was flabbergasted and said she had no idea how to teach someone who could zoom ahead like that. She told me to take the tape off, as it didn't make sense to jump over a fundamental like intonation. In spite of that apparent massive leap through a few grueling practice sessions, I was set back to square one by the next time I demonstrated for her. I couldn't cross the strings without losing position, sharp on one, flat on the other, sloppy bowing. It sounded awful. All that progress was built on a faulty foundation. I expended an immense amount of effort learning a couple of neat parlor tricks, opposed to learning how to properly play fiddle. Practice to build a strong fundamental competence of a concept... then if you build your tricks on top of it the whole thing won't come crashing down when you change something basic.
This was fascinating to listen to how the brain creates new circuits while we sleep. So true. I have noticed that. Chess is great exercise for the brain as well as learning to play banjo and other instruments and learning different styles. Memorizing lyrics is also great for the brain. Use it or lose it as they say.
Thank you again - these are a great resource (beginning accordion). I reviewed episode 32 "This is Why Expectations Matter" after seeing strategy #5 in this video, "Ditch Your Expectations!". I believe the information is consistent between these two Brainjo Bites, but perhaps #5 could be stated as ditching unhelpful expectations - that is, things beyond our ability to control. You've pointed out that a helpful expectation is "I can get better at this by practicing (i.e. it's not beyond my ability to improve)". In contrast, an expectation that I will be able to outperform my instructor within X amount of time is unhelpful as (1) I can't control my instructor's progress, and (2) the likely outcome is that reality will not meet this prediction but will be discouraged for having failed.
Thanks for the tips, Josh! So, thinking like a scientist, would a professional musician (I'm not one 😃) who practices a single instrument something crazy like 8+ hours a day benefit from breaking that up into 4, 2-hour sessions followed by power naps? If so, could that same method effectively transfer to grad school students in challenging programs or even career changers trying to quickly get up to speed in a mentally-intense new field (assuming they work from home and aren't napping at their office desks 😂) ?
Hi I was wondering if you could help me. You seem to have a vast repertoire of songs and I’m looking for any information on this song. This is a song Billy Connolly has played on the soundtrack of various DVDs and I’ve only been able to work out various sections of it. My drop thumb ear isn’t strong yet and it’s driving me insane. The song is credited as being “Full Moon”. I’ve never heard anyone else play it. Do you know if it’s old/recent, who wrote it or if it has another name? Any info would be much appreciated. This is the only version I can find it on UA-cam; the song is played over the last 30 seconds of this video. ua-cam.com/video/nQyF_Siqj3s/v-deo.html . Thanks
I`m no expert but I would think deep cycle sleep that we get at night is more beneficial. I know you weren`t asking me but thought I`d throw my two cents in.
I'm a school psychologist and I concur that you are right on! Thanks for bringing music, especially banjo, and cognitive neuroscience together!
My pleasure - thank you!
I'm a retired nurse and after retirement, when grandbabies started coming I kept them while their parents worked. One of Granny's absolute rules from several months old til school age was "thow shall not disrupt the sanctity of the nap". At the time there was no science to back me up, but from what I had learned and observed it seemed logical. Babies need 2 naps in addition to regular night sleep, same routine. I did such a long and loud dance when neuroscience proved me right.
At the age of 63, I am learning to fiddle. It's or was, a tradition in my family. The last couple of generations have seen it dwindle. I understand I will never be contest material but I love learning, not so much in a class setting, self learning. At the beginning I couldn't get enough rosin on my new bow, I wasn't sure I was doing things correctly. The bow flopped and flipped and was nerve wrackingly unwieldy. Every day I would go back to just trying to get enough rosin on my bow so it made some kind of sound, always using the bow hold expected. On the 3rd day, as I made myself continue, it struck me and I mean it was like a brain thump that I was so preoccupied with the impending failure I failed to realize the ease with which I had picked up and was moving and controlling my bow. I changed rosin and in 2 minutes everything was ready but I now have stopped expecting to hear or feel the improvement as I am practicing or expect a large improvement from longer practice. That only makes me tired and frustrated with no desire to pick up my fiddle for days. I try to pick upp my fiddle 2 or 3 times a day and scratch the itch. I can hear and feel improvement but it's like watching clouds. They are changing shape, you know it, you see movements but because it is slow and dispersed you don't see the individual changes, it's more a slowly creeping change. It's like the changes in my mind and physical movements are seeping in. For me, I will embrace the seep.
I love these Brainjo Bites!
Thanks!
You're so right about approaching practice with the goal of retaining the right information opposed to giant leaps of progress. I've been learning the fiddle, which can feel like an insurmountable beast of an instrument. I got frustrated with slow progress, theory, and awful screeching noises, so I put tape on the fingerboard and in a long grind learned a cajun shuffle and Liza Jane. When I demonstrated for my teacher she was flabbergasted and said she had no idea how to teach someone who could zoom ahead like that. She told me to take the tape off, as it didn't make sense to jump over a fundamental like intonation. In spite of that apparent massive leap through a few grueling practice sessions, I was set back to square one by the next time I demonstrated for her. I couldn't cross the strings without losing position, sharp on one, flat on the other, sloppy bowing. It sounded awful. All that progress was built on a faulty foundation. I expended an immense amount of effort learning a couple of neat parlor tricks, opposed to learning how to properly play fiddle. Practice to build a strong fundamental competence of a concept... then if you build your tricks on top of it the whole thing won't come crashing down when you change something basic.
This was fascinating to listen to how the brain creates new circuits while we sleep. So true. I have noticed that. Chess is great exercise for the brain as well as learning to play banjo and other instruments and learning different styles. Memorizing lyrics is also great for the brain. Use it or lose it as they say.
Absolutely! Thanks for those comments, Dan.
Thank you again - these are a great resource (beginning accordion). I reviewed episode 32 "This is Why Expectations Matter" after seeing strategy #5 in this video, "Ditch Your Expectations!". I believe the information is consistent between these two Brainjo Bites, but perhaps #5 could be stated as ditching unhelpful expectations - that is, things beyond our ability to control. You've pointed out that a helpful expectation is "I can get better at this by practicing (i.e. it's not beyond my ability to improve)". In contrast, an expectation that I will be able to outperform my instructor within X amount of time is unhelpful as (1) I can't control my instructor's progress, and (2) the likely outcome is that reality will not meet this prediction but will be discouraged for having failed.
Thanks for the tips, Josh! So, thinking like a scientist, would a professional musician (I'm not one 😃) who practices a single instrument something crazy like 8+ hours a day benefit from breaking that up into 4, 2-hour sessions followed by power naps?
If so, could that same method effectively transfer to grad school students in challenging programs or even career changers trying to quickly get up to speed in a mentally-intense new field (assuming they work from home and aren't napping at their office desks 😂) ?
Hi I was wondering if you could help me. You seem to have a vast repertoire of songs and I’m looking for any information on this song. This is a song Billy Connolly has played on the soundtrack of various DVDs and I’ve only been able to work out various sections of it. My drop thumb ear isn’t strong yet and it’s driving me insane. The song is credited as being “Full Moon”. I’ve never heard anyone else play it. Do you know if it’s old/recent, who wrote it or if it has another name? Any info would be much appreciated. This is the only version I can find it on UA-cam; the song is played over the last 30 seconds of this video. ua-cam.com/video/nQyF_Siqj3s/v-deo.html . Thanks
Does this mean that it is productive to take a nap or go to bed soon after practice? I often do this.
I`m no expert but I would think deep cycle sleep that we get at night is more beneficial. I know you weren`t asking me but thought I`d throw my two cents in.