Nicole Phillips

Professor Flynn
March 10, 2016

The Melodies of a Piano

I think back to my childhood years. I can consider all of the things I can do now that I
couldnt do then, particularly learning how to play the piano during my first piano lesson . I
remember how foreign everything was to me; the black and white keys, the pedals beneath the
piano that made the sounds hold longer than normal, even where to begin when putting my hands
on the keys. It was a challenge for me, but after much practice, I learned how to play all different
kinds of songs. From "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, to "Clair De Lune" by Debussy, I became
more experienced from learning by my teacher. Learning is an essential key process in all of
human behavior. It is an important no ding process which occurs and is influenced by guidance,
reinforcement, and the funds of knowledge that is involved within the environment of the learner.
To get a better concept on how learning works, one must observe how learning is
implemented within a classroom. The observation of my learning episode started at
approximately 11:30 AM on a Monday morning. College students of 'Beginners Piano 101' all
gathered into the classroom and sat down at their regular piano benches. The piano teacher, also
known as Professor Savaria, came in shortly after and set a few folders down on a front table as
she begins to prepare her lectures for the class. A few students had taken out their practice books
and placed them on the dark cherrywood stands above the piano when they notice she's in the
room. Professor Savaria immediately asked students to open up their music books and practice a

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lesson called "Repertoire Unit 11," as she writes the title of the practice on the board. She asked
for everyone to play together by the steady claps of her hands and asked them to count the beats
of the song as she began to walk around the classroom. A very notable observation that I made
was that she was looking over the students shoulders as they played their music. The the students
who were struggling to count with the class were asked to stop as the teacher helped them
individually. At one point, Professor Savaria also guides a students hand and placed it in the
correct octave before saying "that's where your hands should be." This is an example of an
important method of teaching called "guided participation."
Guided participation is essentially the idea that one can learn from interacting with more
experienced person in the field who can assist them and give feedback and tips along the learning
process. According to psychologist educator Barbra Rogoff, she claims that "guided participation
focuses on the side-by-side or distal arrangements in which children participate in the value,
skills, and practice...with intentional instruction." With this in mind, a form of guided
participation is explanation. The piano professor had done these forms of guided participation
with her students that were struggling with the rhythm of the song by explaining what notes to
play and where their hands should go on the piano by moving them around herself.
One part of the observation that really stood out was the fact that one particular student
who was struggling seemed to have the most trouble with reading the music notes. At one point,
Professor Savaria came to him and watched him perform before commenting "Don't play with
your ear, Anthony. Don't just assume where the notes are." It is most often a a conflicting matter
of students who are able to musically perform better by cite reading notes, or by listening to the
piece by ear. As Professor Savaria is aware of this conflict, not only did she have students read

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music, but she had them listen to what the lesson should sound like on her own piano to make
sure they were doing the material correctly. This is another form of guided participation by
demonstration. It should should be noted that once the teacher demonstrated the lesson to
Anthony on the piano, he was able to catch up to the rest of the students. While some students
might be able practice and continue their work without much assistance, guided participation is a
very useful method when helping a student to learn the lesson.
In contrary to guided participation, learning is also severely influenced by the
reinforcement that is given by the teacher that can alter the behavior and motivation of the
learner. This statement became developed by the theory of B.F Skinner who called it "operant
conditioning." The concept of reinforcement is when certain feedback from the environment can
increase the probability of a behavior being repeated (Pierce, 2013). During my observation of
the piano class, I noticed that whenever a student played the piece correctly for Professor
Savaria, her voice became higher as she praised them and patted their backs. This is an example
of positive reinforcement, whereas negative reinforcement was presented in my observation
when the professor asked individual students a question in front of the class and they failed to
answer it. The negative reinforcement motivates students to take the necessary action to
memorize notes more often so if they are called on in the future, they'll be able to properly
answer the question with the correct answer. In the memoir "Life on a Steamboat" by Mark
Twain, negative reinforcement is constantly given when Twain attempts to learn how to be a
professional steamboat pilot by being constantly corrected by his teacher, Mr. Bixby. "My boy,
you must get a little memorandum-book; and every time I tell you a thing, put it down right
away. There's only one way to be a pilot, and that is to get this entire river by heart. You have to

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know it like A B C" (Twain, 1903, Pg. 32). Mister Bixby was disappointed at the fact that Twain
knew nothing about the river even after he had told him certain points and vocabulary that came
with being a steamboat pilot. However, Twain states after that he "did not feel discouraged" at all
by Bixby's negative reinforcement and continued to practice and try to get his answers right in
the future. Another addition is that reinforcement can not only be given from a more experienced
individual, but from classmates as well. When the Savaria complimented a student for the way
she played her piece, the student turned to her peer and her peer gave her a high five for her
strengthening skill to perform on the piano. Such evaluation and reinforcement of praise
connoted value from achieving intellectual mastery and enhances her willingness to learn for the
likelihood of future praise from her environment (Jackson, 1968, pg. 26). Using reinforcement in
the classroom is effective to all students. It boosts the desired behavior as needed and keeps
students motivated through the term of the class.
As learning relies much on guidance and reinforcement, it can also be heavily influenced
by the environment and cultural diversity of the classroom. The most important note that I've
made in this observation, and by far, the most interesting, was when Professor Savaria asked
Latino students a questions in Spanish rather than English. When the Latino student was asked a
question, they answered back in Spanish, and Savaria would either praise or correct them in the
same language. It should also be noted that the professor is Canadian, but seemed fluent in the
Spanish language when talking to Latino students. This is a really powerful concept to include
students' own culture into the classroom as it creates a stronger connection with the teacher and
the learner.

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This is the concept of "funds of knowledge" which is defined my Luis Moll and others as
"the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential
for household or individual function and wellbeing." In Moll's article titled "Funds of
Knowledge for Teaching," they did a case study in which a teacher met with some of her students
outside of school in their own homes and became the learner as she was informed on certain
cultural practices or routines that her students did outside of the classroom. She had placed
herself in her students shoes and saw her students in their own terms and their own turfs (Moll et
al, 1992). Some of the students in that piano class may have grown up in another country and
would have very different experiences than their American counter parts. Although the Professor
Savaria most likely did not visit her college students outside of class, acknowledging that some
of her students may not have the same background as her and may speak a different language
was a demonstration of funds of knowledge. By carrying out this concept, Professor Savaria
created a more comfortable environment in which there is room for responses for the diversity of
students in her class.
There are a lot of ways that a person can efficiently and effectively learn something.
Whether it be from learning by guided participation, from reinforcement, or from the connection
that a learner can have with their teacher that creates a willingness to learn even further. All of
these concepts are the main essential kinds of learning that were present in a classroom and as I
can recall, were very present in my experience of learning to play the piano.

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References:
Jackson, P. W. (1968). The daily grind. In Life in classrooms (pp. 4-37). Boston: Harcourt Brace
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching:
Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice,
31(2), 132-141
Pierce, W. David; Cheney, Carl D. (2013). Behavior Analysis and Learning : Fifth Edition.
Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com
Rogoff, B. (2003). Learning through guided participation in cultural endeavors. In The cultural
nature of human development (pp. 282-326). New York: Oxford University Press
Twain, M. (1903 / 2007). Life on the Mississippi (pp. 21-53). New York: Bantam Classics

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Appendix I

Observation
The class in which the observation
was beginners piano 1, held in
Lincoln hall in room 135. Class
began at 11:30 am.

-There are six rows of two sets of

pianos that align the walls of the
classroom, and a larger grand piano
in the front of the class.

-the white board is hung in the front

of the class and there is a picture of
a set of piano keys. Below that is a
grand sta scale where the teacher
has previously drawn notes and
other bar rests.

-Earphones are placed on tops of

every single piano in the classroom

-On the picture of the piano keys, the

white keys are labeled with the
correct letters of the piano, and only
the white keys are filled in(C, D, E, F,
G, A, B, C).

-The first student finally walks in at

11:26 am

The first student to walk in asked me

if I knew how to turn the pianos on,
of course I didn't, but he was
hesitant to touch anything

All students including the teacher

arrive at approximately 11:32, most
students are seen carrying other
instruments such as a violin, a
saxophone, and one was carrying a
guitar

-she hands students papers back,

this seems to be an evaluation
papers from student performances
that she graded from the week
before

Comments

Perhaps the teacher demonstrates

lessons on this piano

-most likely to help students

concentrate on their own pieces of
music to practice

-do the students know the rules

about black keys? Flats and sharps?

Class starts at 11:30, but the first

student comes only four minutes
early

-the teacher must have the ability to

turn the pianos on by herself only

-students are multi-talented in the

field of music!

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