Interpreting the Master(class)

Do we want jazz to stay alive, to thrive? Then get everyone on board who wants to learn it. Get high school students learning riffs, licks, chord progressions, voicings so they can use them quickly and experience creativity at every level of learning. Don’t make them wait to get to college and meet a pro in a masterclass.

They will not only learn how to play it, they will learn to love it as the ability to perform inspires deep study which creates passion. These are, at least, the future audience members who will know how pass this appreciation on to their children.

Some of them are the future teachers, performers, scholars who will need to pass this on to a general public who needs a bit more sophistication to fully appreciate this art form.

They will also train the next group behind them.

Interpreting the Master(class)

I was recently turned on to a masterclass video of Hal Galper, the great jazz pianist (thanks, Tom!). It is filled with incisive insight and wisdom.

He zeros in on what seemingly everyone wants to know – how do I get that effortless flowing feeling when I improvise? (Hint – it is not by trying to force it, it can come through a specific kind of work). Mr. Galper brings them through the very last step of this process, in what has likely been a long circuitous journey for them.

Think of how long they’ve had to wait to meet him and finally get past these blocks.

I recommend watching all of his stuff.

Let us get right to the heart of one of those insights. Everything Mr. Galper says here is true, he knows what he is talking about.

As an educator informed by cognitive science I’d like to interpret and expand with the unsaid details of learning that would help you, and his immediate audience, understand better.

If we know the science we can find the best ways to learn these things ourselves, and do it faster than traditional methods. In short, we make best and lasting use of the master’s advice.

Here he is talking In a masterclass at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012 he talks about acquiring vocabulary for improvisation (scales, licks, riffs), and then using it while improvising.

Him: “Your aural imagination, your hearing, is not vivid enough,”
Me: The representation is not vividly stored in long term memory.

“Is not alive enough in your ears for you to play it.”
Retrieval speed from long term memory to working memory is too slow to use the information in real time.

“When the signal from the brain gets strong enough you can play it.”
When retrieval is strong/immediate you can play it.

“That’s what you’re doing, developing a strong brain signal…”
You are encoding, storing and retrieving information into and out of long term memory. Each of these areas can be strengthened through specific practice techniques.

“…So what you’re saying is your brain signals are weak, and you’re going to have to get them stronger.”
We’re  going to have to make them stronger by applying targeted practice to get things into long-term memory and instantaneously back out whenever needed.

This last part, retrieval, is all but ignored in education, and in this case is not addressed except for…

“Now I know this, I remember what it was like hearing at your level, and I always used to think, “Is this the way it’s gonna be because it sucks, you know.” (everyone laughs)
Slow retrieval is not pleasant, and quite demoralizing. It looks and feels like failure because it is.

So, he has been there. It may be where you are right now. What do we do, how do we practice, what can we work on to get better at that?

“(is this the way it’s gonna be?) Well no, because your hearing grows automatically whether you like it or not.”He is talking about the best, but slowest teacher, life experience also called multivariate experience.

This is not mere ‘experience’. We can actually get worse by just ‘putting in time’. This has been called the experience trap. Improving requires spending that time in a specific frame of mind.

Aside from that, as surely as an athlete can design exercises to work specific muscles, flexibility, etc. we can design exercises to make that process quicker and better, so we can have even more and better life experiences with our learning.

“Your hearing grows automatically whether you like it or not. You’re not going to be hearing the same way tomorrow you hear today. You’re always going to be growing.”Sounds like we just have to keep on keeping on and wait for this mythical process to happen, but that is not the case.

We can do something about this instead of waiting around. By understanding the relevant principles of neuroscience and psychology we can design specific routines that allow us to automatize foundational elements of improvising much faster than ‘random exposure’ or ‘lick practice’ done by someone with a highly developed ear, theory knowledge, hours and hours of listening and so on.

Later he asks the class if they have been practicing licks, an important part of improv development, not many say yes. And he says, “not enough, ohhhh, so I don’t want to hear any complaints you don’t know any vocabulary.”

Even these advanced university jazz students are not working on this significant area of their development, and likely others. This would be the place to tell them about how to leverage the research on memory and teach them a system for internalizing licks. Too bad they didn’t learn that when they were much younger.

What if one reason some people give up, get discouraged, don’t get good enough in time, just seem plain untalented, is because they don’t know how to go about this mysterious path of growth in their practice. Listening, watching, practicing, investigating. Heck, these kids weren’t even practicing licks!

The unsung role of mindset (Dweck)

The bridge to understanding to what is going on here is a fundamental principle of learning called mindset. I’m not talking about the myriad of uses, misuses mostly, of the word in education and other circles. I’m talking specifically about cognitive scientist Carol Dweck’s decades long research into what she calls mindset.

I recommend her book, “Mindset,” and also address mindset in some free published materials about learning.

I refer to it as why most of us cannot get out of our own way when it comes to learning.

There are many ways this can manifest itself and here is one.

Hal Galper is an expert in jazz and a novice in the learning sciences. He speaks about some of the reading he has done to educate himself on this, and it has clearly helped him and informs his insightful teaching.

The bar for this type of scientific knowledge is very low for educators. Most know none of it, and anyone who can bring just a little genuine insight into using it, as Mr. Galper can, seems to most as an authority on the subject.

Add the halo effect and we can become downright confused. This occurs when we judge someone positively for one trait such as the high intellectual/creative achievement it takes to play and communicate about jazz as Mr. Galper does, and then assume they should be similarly skilled in any area they choose to present themselves, which Mr. Galper is not.

Why would success in one complex domain automatically transfer to another complex domain without the same amount of work?

This is the cognitive bias of the halo effect.

We understand the critique above could upset some, but why? It either has merit or it does not. This is why the issue of mindset is so important, and so hard to teach/learn the later in life we start.

A fixed mindset says, “Who do you think you are to critique such a highly accomplished and wonderful person? Can you play like that? Sounds like you are jealous and want to bring others down to make yourself feel good.”

A growth mindset says, “I’ll take this seriously as long as what it says seems plausible. If I get through the whole thing, putting aside any personal feelings or judgment, and there is a valid point then I can do further research into the author’s work, and the work he cites, to see if what he is saying might be credible.

If so, there may be some very important information here that will help me reach my teaching and learning goals.

If not then, “Who does this guy think he is to criticize such a highly accomplished person? Can he play like that? Sounds like he is just jealous and wants to bring others down to make himself feel good.” 😉

How much good, great, helpful information do we miss because of judgements like these? Are we getting what we want from our teaching and learning? Would we get more if we evaluated information with a growth mindset?

The insights available in the learning science are not obvious and run counter to a lot of what we’ve been taught and teach to others.

If I understand Mr. Galper’s character as an educator he would appreciate my best attempt at a critique designed to improve how people learn, so they may truly enjoy and create in the domain of jazz.

That is a growth mindset and why he has learned so much.

I LOVE watching him! You will too, check it out.