The Third "M"

Robert Epstein's Self-Help Without the Hype presents the "Three Ms-" approach to modifying one's own behavior. The three Ms are: modify your environment, monitor your behavior, and make commitments. When I was living in Mexico I would send weekly practice reports to my friend Danilo in Italy. In my apartment in Ottawa I had a posted chart (1) that any friend that happened to be over for a visit could glance at. With this blog post, I am going to make a similar public commitment by announcing that henceforth, I will be updating daily practice reports in a Google docs spreadsheet.

1. This is exactly the kind of thing, by the way, that I would like for C.A.R.P.E.T. to address. What kinds of feedback (what kinds of stimuli, presented how, for how long, by whom, to whom, with what latency, and with what kind of user input, say) make for the most effective "self-help."

French, Mandinka, & the Mande Xylophone

In addition to the Mande xylophone, I'm studying French and have begun learning Mandinka. My 10-minutes-a-day resolution for the xylophone has been very successful so I've thought to apply the 10-minutes system to my French and my Mandinka. And that's been going well until now. I have an observation about those studies that will offer insight to my xylo-practicing: In my French studies, I always seem to want to try to learn everything all at once. I don't have patience with myself. I try to accomplish too much, spread myself thin, and end up not learning anything particularly well. I think that (as I've been doing with the first and second batch of Mandinka flashcards), if I make sure I don't move on until I've mastered the material at hand, I'll be better off for it in the long run. I think that my French studies would improve if I achieved greater mastery over a particular set of flashcards instead of being in a rush to just get to the end of the list. Mario Gaetano (2001) asserts that "the primary goal for each practice session is progess." But progress could be a strengthening of knowledge of old words (manifested in speed, accuracy, and confidence.) Adding new words is of course important, but an "exercising" of your existing vocabulary must also take place.

When practicing xylophone, be calm. Be patient. Focus on the task at hand. Concentrate on improving the specific skill or movement. Set a time-limit so you don't spend all night on one thing, but don't just move through the practice in a hurry to get to the end of the exercises. You will enjoy your practice more, and it will pay off for you in the long-run.

First, Learn the Structures

Dr. Kwabena Nketia was professor emeritus at the University of Ghana while I was there. (I was an affiliated researcher and he was my main supervisor.) "Prof" I called him. And not just me . . . everyone at the ICAMD knew him as "Prof." Of the many things that Prof told me, one that really sticks out is: When you are learning to improvise with West African music, it really is--to a large degree--a matter of cutting and pasting the appropriate parts of the various structures that make up the vocabulary of the instruments, but before you can even begin to cut and paste, first, you have to learn the structures.

I guess that can be practice-meme #1: "First, learn the structures."