The Learning Coach - Gregg Goodhart

The Lightbulb Masterclass Series

Lighting the path of understanding
Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach
Deliberate Practice – Music Memorization – Improvisation – Sight Reading – Retrieval Practice – Contextual Interference – Mindset

This series of Lightbulb Masterclasses are the gateway to finally understanding how to use all of that scientific practice advice we hear about, but nobody teaches well, in our minute to minute practice to improve every moment.

They light the pathway from where you are to where you need to be to understand the way learning really works in your practice.

A 30 minute detail packed lecture, then 30 minute Q&A addressing the elements of, what I call, the ecosystem of learning that nobody else teaches, and step by step PDF’s are included for your practice.

I kicked the series off with deliberate practice, the overall principle of high achievement learning/practice. That also kicked off my deep dive into the science over 10 years ago to find the things that, unfortunately, most people, including teachers, don’t know about learning. I wish they did so they could have taught me decades ago.

Crazy story about that.

Gregg and Dr. Anders Ericsson at FSU in 2017
Gregg and Dr. Anders Ericsson at FSU in 2017
I ended up developing unique applications for understanding many areas of learning, and the central one is deliberate practice. The first research I dug into was that of the renowned expert on skill development K. Anders Ericsson. You know, the 10,000 hour rule guy.*

In 2017 I was invited to Florida State University to present on deliberate practice and my discovery of the related areas of the ecosystem of learning. FSU is also where Ericsson was doing his research, and he attended one of my lectures.

I live in Los Angeles, so I don’t get phased by famous people. Unless it is Ericsson. I was thrilled to meet the man who did this brilliant research from which I had learned so much, and anxious for him to see what I had done.

I started my lecture and soon enough went to put up the slide describing the process HE discovered describing what I thought was the best way to explain it when it hit me, and I realized where I was and who was watching.

Oops, I didn’t bother to run this by him beforehand.

Talk about stage fright. Try abject fear.

I had no choice and kept going.

He was kind enough to have several discussions with me afterward and offered some minor critiques for which I was grateful.

With regard to my explanation of the process, though I had explained it in a new way, and added other important elements to his work, he didn’t want to change a thing.

It took me tens of thousands of hours of research, study, application and experimentation with my 13 years teaching as a high school teacher, more as a learning coach, private lesson, university instructor, on and on, but I can save you a lot of that time.

That is what I do. I explain the complex concepts of the research to everyday people in a way that nobody else can, not even the researchers themselves. That is OK, they are great at research for which we are grateful.

I’ve invented that learning bridge for teachers, students, parents, you.

I’ll teach you more in 30 minutes than you might learn about it in 30 years. That is how difficult it is to learn this information accurately.

*The, “10,000 rule,” is a misinterpretation of the evidence in Ericsson’s original research which showed that to reach the highest level at a particular music conservatory the average time of previous practice was 10,000 hours. They were not masters yet, and it was an average not an absolute number.

This myth was published by Malcom Gladwell as a marketing tactic for his book, “Outliers,” and it worked great, but is not a real thing. Ericsson himself has written that it is helpful in that, at least, people will understand that it doesn’t happen in on one or several thousand hours, but takes a long progressive process of deliberate practice.

You can read all about it in his book, “Peak.”

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lms improvisation

Improvisation: Figuring It Out

How’s learning improv going for you? Do we listen to pros who are great at it and expect them to teach us? They can’t remember what they did for first step, then the next beginning step, then the next.

And it doesn’t matter how advanced you are as a player. If a concept is new to you and you want to learn it then you are a beginner with that concept, even if you just want to level up.

I’ll teach you, in less than an hour, how to learn creativity in improvisation at the most basic, atomic level. It progresses quickly once you understand that.

Gregg’s blog posts on learning improvisation:
Improvisation Post: Part 1
Improvisation Post: Part 2
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sight reading lms

Sight Reading: Where To Start

Are you having trouble keeping up reading charts with your weekly/monthly play along group? Whether is it chord charts, tablature, written music, many of us cannot get the notes off the written page without great effort.

Teachers, do you have a plan to teach your students how to begin sight reading then quickly progress?

Sight reading is skill that can be developed with a few minutes of practice every practice session. The very first step is a simple physical skill you need to train in your eyes called saccades. Nobody teaches this in sight reading, if they teach it at all.

Much of the advice I’ve heard from pros is, “Just do it, you’ll get better at it.” They don’t make it easy to get started, do they? Maybe a lot more of us would seem to have talent if we knew how to get started with this stuff.

Gregg’s blog posts on learning sight reading.
Sight Reading Post: Part 1
Sight Reading Post: Part 2
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Discounted Bundle Package $197
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