Guitar class provides our students with the perfect opportunity to stretch their minds in a way an english or math class cannot. Learning a new “language” and combining it with the physical skill of making music with your fingers proves itself to be a great outlet for them to push themselves in a new way, while earning a credit in the process.
Tyanna joined the class halfway through last school year, and has felt the ups and downs of learning an instrument. She, like myself, can be hard on herself when she isn’t progressing the way she wants to. She’d learn something new, get excited about the possibilities, expect herself to pick up the next thing quickly and easily, then be frustrated at herself for not getting it.
Last week, this played out with us practicing a few techniques together. Tyanna would begin the exercise, and within five seconds, stop and voice something distracting or something she wasn’t doing right. Failure was the only result, and she could tell me exactly why.
So I stopped her and gave her a new assignment: complete the exercise in total silence, and she wasn’t allowed to make any comments about her playing. Just focusing on what she has to do.
We sat there for at least five minutes, while Tyanna slowly crept up and down the guitar neck, hearing every mistake she made, and slowly correcting it each time. At first, she played much the same way she had been playing that day, but a couple minutes in, the mistakes became fewer and when they did happen, she corrected them much quicker.
When she finished, we celebrated and I told her I was proud of her. Not because she got better so quickly in one exercise, but because she was willing to sit, focus, hear her mistakes, be okay with them, and move on. Rather than focusing on each failure, she focused on what she needed to do to get better.
Failure used to be the enemy, then it became the way for her to know how she would improve.
Seeing her break that small mental barrier gave me reason to hope for her and for myself. Anything that I get frustrated at myself for, I tend to do the same thing she did: get fixated on the end result of failure and excuses or complaints about it. But if I’m willing to embrace a little pain and uncomfortability, then the pressure leaves.
We’re excited Tyanna is back at Kinwell! She is hard working (was a lifeguard at the Gas City pool this summer), motivated to get her diploma, and buys into the culture we desire at Kinwell. And who knows, maybe she’ll be performing some Chris Stapleton covers by the end of the year!
