New Ways to Practice for Gentle Souls: An Interview with Esther Friedman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLUL04OQ1oU

Hey All 😎

The most important thing I say to my students is that the burden of the learning is on me. If someone doesn't understand what I'm teaching them, that's my problem.

And really, it's not a problem at all because figuring out the best way to show or explain something to my students is one of my favorite things about teaching.

There are a number of ways I work on guitar playing skills with my students that often feel stressful, but they're effective.

Except when they're not.

In some cases, these tried and true techniques create the opposite effect; they trigger a freeze response and the student's learning process is blocked. So I started experimenting.

With one student, I had her play through a verse of a song she was working on while singing in the voice of Bob Dylan. Then Ethel Merman, and a few others. Then she sang in her own voice and, because we'd been having so much fun imitating these iconic voices, she was relaxed and played the song better than she'd ever had.

Then, I began considering other things to try at her next lesson, like having her finger the chords and sing, but not strum or finger pick. Then I asked my bestie and band mate, Esther Friedman if she had any ideas. Turns out she's been breaking down her practice routine to the studs and the results have been amazing.

In this interview I did with Esther, she talks about all the ways she breaks down practicing a song. I asked her to do the interview because I believe this info will be helpful to many of you.

I've been trying these techniques with all of my students, and it's really helping them.

Peace, Janet