Asking the right questions As we know, communication with pupils should be in the form of a shared dialogue ~ talking ‘with’ pupils rather than ‘to’ them or (worse still) ‘down to’ them in a controlling manner. Talking ‘with’ rather than talking ‘to’ also reminds us that teaching must always be a two-way process. In doing so we continue to learn about each individual as he or she develops musically. We often enjoy some lively repartee with our younger, pre-adolescent, pupils. Adults, too, are generally keen to chat, and in the group-teaching environment pupils will be more confident to make conversation. But many of our teenage pupils (in both individual lessons and smaller groups) will often wish to stick to tradition and remain fairly monosyllabic. So a lot of the conversation we have will be in the form of questioning, at least to get things going. As a lesson progresses we will use questions to clarify, challenge, confirm and explore whatever we are teaching. It's important therefore to make the questions we use relevant, interesting, stimulating and, most of all, productive. And if we can appreciate that asking and answering questions can be fun, they come to play a very important role in the process of teaching. The best questions are concerned with moving forward and finding energy. How’s the hamster? The questions normally begin as our pupil(s) enter the teaching room. It's important to show interest in what they've been up to, and in particular get a feel for how their week has been since the previous lesson. It’s also important to get a feel for what mood they are in (we, of course, are always in a good mood). If the pupil has had a good week (producing high energy levels) we can generally be more challenging than with the pupil who may have had a difficult week. Here we may have to tread more carefully — at least during the early stages of the lesson. (But be on guard for the smart pupil who may try to manipulate the teacher.) Aim to feed in lots of up-beat questions at the start of a lesson ~ it can really influence the general atmosphere and set the lesson off positively: ‘What was the high point of your week? What went well in your practice?" As a lesson progresses there are a number of different types of questions and questioning methods we can use ~ let's have a look at them. If you don’t ask, you don't get The word education literally means to draw out. Questions are, of course, a tried and tested way to do this. They can help us draw out anything, from what pupils do or don’t understand, to what insights and observations they might have about the music itself. Here are three basic practical areas where we will use questions. The first two are to review a pupil's present learning. 531. To check and confirm current understanding (note the way the following question is put will not cause a loss of self-esteem if they can’t do it): ‘Are you happy to clap this new rhythm we learnt last week?" And some follow- up questions: ‘How is it different from this other rhythm? Can you explain how the rhythm works?" 2 To encourage recall of facts or information: ‘What might cause you to play fiat and how can you make adjustments as you're playing? You're about to play the scale of G major ~ which note will you play as a sharp? Can you remember why?" But be careful when asking factual questions. If you think there's a fair chance that the pupil won't know the answer, simply don't bother to ask it. I’ve regularly seen teachers ask questions the pupil was clearly not going to be able to answer ~ it's just a waste of time and hardly likely to do much for the pupil's self-esteem. If your question is to elicit some information about what pupils know or don’t know (rather than ‘testing’ them), then that’s okay: ‘I need to find out if you know what this means? No? Then I'l tell you' [or much better] ‘Let's see if we \ can work it out .. The third area is to help with a pupil’s problems. 3 To help diagnose a pupil's problems, rather like vsiting a doctor: ‘Can you try to describe what you're doing when you tongue this note?" ‘Exactly which part of this rhythm are you uncertain of” Open versus closed Questioning becomes more interesting and sophisticated when its purpose is to encourage pupils to think more deeply about the music and to engage, apply and refiect on what they are learning, Let's look more closely at how this can be achieved and begin by comparing open and closed questions. Closed questions just require yes or no (or seek short right or wrong) answers. ‘Do you like this piece?’ is a closed question and will probably only elicit a very brief response; similarly, ‘What does adagio mean?’. Open questions will require more thoughtful (and longer) answers: ‘What do you like about this piece? Can you think of a passage in another piece that will help you to understand the character here? What do you think | meant by ...? Why do you think the composer has marked this cantabile?’. There will be a need to use both types of questions in a lesson, but the Virtuoso Teacher should lean towards the more imaginative open-style questioning when possible. If we know our pupils well we will also know the level of questioning to which ‘they will respond best at any given time. And as their understanding becomes stronger we can formulate increasingly more challenging questions. Depending on how we express our questions, we can gradually encourage pupils to think more creatively with the result that their understanding will deepen further. As 54 Asking the right questionsin all good teaching, set expectations at a suitable level, but always challenge appropriately. Here, for example, are two sets of questions about D major, the new scale a pupil is learning. G major is already known, Set 1 Simple, effectively ‘closed’ questions: 1. What's the key signature of D major? 2 What's the seventh note of D major? 3 How does D major differ from G major? (Expected answers will be along the lines of: ‘It begins on D; it has a second sharp’.) Set 2 Here are the same questions, but asked in a more challenging ‘open’ manner that will need some analytical thought and an understanding of the sound/ shape of the major scale to answer them: 4. Why does D major need two sharps? 2 What's the equivalent note in D major to the F sharp in G major? 3 What is similar about G and D major? Exploring questioning as feedback ‘As we discovered in the last chapter, questions can be used effectively as feedback. But choosing the right question is important. Let's look at the following scenario: a short passage has both forte and piano but our pupil has just played it all piano. Here are a series of responses in the form of questions that might be put to the pupil. They range from those that require virtually no thinking (sometimes known as /owerorder questioning) to those that require a fair bit of thinking (higher-order questioning): * (Pointing to the forte section) ‘Did you play that passage forte?” Answer maybe yes or no. Think how the discussion would continue depending on which answer was given. Either way, it's not a very productive question. * ‘What does forte mean?” Answer may be known or not, but again not a particularly effective question. * ‘Why didn’t you play that forte?" Whatever the answer (‘I did; | forgot; | don’t know’) the main consequence will be not much more than to waste some time. (In fact most ‘why did you’ and ‘why didn’t you’ questions have limited usage.) * ‘How different was your forte compared to your piano?” A more interesting question that requires a ‘replay’ in the pupil's mind and may produce material for some productive discussion. Don't accept ‘I don’t know’ (see below). ‘+ ‘What do you need to do to play forte here?" This implies forte was not played and requires some thinking about the act of playing forte, making the answer more practical and beneficial. Asking the right questions 55* ‘Can you suggest a reason why that passage is marked forte?" This question is asking for some musical thinking and an opinion — it should elicit an answer that will stimulate more interesting discussion. Perhaps a more generalised question would stimulate discussion (if there is time and teacher and pupil are in the right mood): * ‘Why do we have different dynamic levels?” I've occasionally heard teachers ask ‘Would you like to do it again?" with No preliminary preparation. It’s not a very productive question and invites a possible ‘No’ response. Questions to inspire A pupil plays a phrase with little imagination. Rather than suggesting our own ideas, here are some questions we might use to stimulate a conversation about the way forward: * ‘What did you think about the way you shaped that phrase?” (Be careful, some cynical pupils might automatically assume this is a criticism!) * ‘What was in your mind that made you shape it like that?” * ‘Could you shape it a different way? ... Or more than one different way?" * ‘Work out some different ways to play that phrase and then choose the one you like best.” * ‘Might a different way to phrase it be more effective?" Here are some more open-ended and thoughtprovoking questions that are likely to provide interesting and productive discussion: ‘© ‘What were you thinking when you did that?" * ‘Can you tell me how you did that?" * ‘What does that mean to you?" * ‘What could you do differently next time?’ * ‘What made you decide to play it like that?" * ‘What is your favourite part of this piece? Why?" + ‘What were you trying to communicate then?’ * ‘Did you like that sound? Why (not)? Was it your best sound?" ‘+ ‘What does this piece make you think about?" The power of ‘might’ Some words can have a really significant effect on the way @ conversation unfolds. The word ‘might’ is one of them. By adding the word to a question we suddenly make it so much less daunting. Without ‘might’, questions imply a particular answer known to the teacher and perhaps not known to the pupil. Without ‘might’ there is pressure on the pupil. With ‘might’ the question becomes more open, the pressure disappears, and the pupil is much more likely to offer an answer: 86 Asking the right questions“What is this piece about?” “What might this piece be about?" ‘What does forte mean?’ “What might forte mean?" ‘How can you make this more expressive?’ ‘How might you make this more expressive?” ‘imagine’ is another similar word: ‘What do you imagine this piece is about? ‘What do you imagine forte means? The post-answer wait period Research has shown that teachers often don’t wait long enough for the answer to their question. The typical wait period is about a second before the teacher either gives the answer or tries to ask the question in a different way. Wait longer - perhaps about three seconds. Give pupils time, they are probably thinking and will get frustrated if the teacher interrupts too early. In the group-teaching situation, after an answer from one member of the group, pethaps the teacher might go on to ask: ‘Does anyone else have anything to add?” Something here needs your attention - can you work out what is? Using interesting questions in response to a mistake can be fun. A pupil has been asked to play the scale of G major, The performance omits F sharps. Instead of simply saying, ‘Where were the F sharps? You forgot the F sharps’ or some such rebuke, try: ‘Here is what you played’ (teacher plays G major without F sharps) and then follows this with ‘That's what you played, but it wasn't quite G major —why not?’ Or perhaps the teacher plays a correct version followed by the pupil’s version for comparison. The potential replies may take you into all sorts of interesting areas of discussion. But some care does need to be taken if you use questions frequently as a response to a mistake. Whilst it's a useful strategy, it should be one of various responses in this context ~ otherwise pupils will begin to think that questions denote a mistake has been made. Hopefully, pupils won't be making many mistakes (see page 54)! ‘I don’t know ...’ ‘How many crotchet beats make up a dotted minim?" If a pupil really doesn’t know, or hasn't the necessary understanding to work it out, then ‘t don’t know’ is perhaps acceptable. if you sense the pupil is being lazy, or simply withholding the answer through a general desire to be uncooperative then it's not acceptable (see page 30). You may like to be direct: ‘I think you do know the answer ...” and simply wait for it. Or you may like to Asking the right questions 57elicit the answer by working logically towards it: ‘Can you remember the rule about dots after notes? So how many crotchet beats in a minim?", and so on Getting pupils to ask questions It’s also very important to encourage and develop our pupils’ confidence to ask us questions. Pupils should know that it’s okay and positively expected that they should. If we have created a trusting and safe environment then they should be happy to ask us for clarification on areas they don't quite understand, or ask to be taught particular techniques, concepts or pieces. ‘I need help to understand this rhythm/tongue these notes/finger this passage/sing in tune; I'd love to learn Rachmaninoft’s Third Piano Concerto now ...” In one of the most productive lessons I've observed, the pupil was continually asking appropriate questions, The teacher delighted in answering them. Similarly, encourage pupils to come back from a week's practice with some questions related to their work. A healthy mix of both teacher- and pupilted discussion Is very important. Practising is asking questions The art of practice itself is very much concemed with the asking of good questions. In fact pupils should be continually asking themselves questions. They are central to solving problems, being creative and generally improving: “What should I do next?’; ‘What kind of sound do | want there?’; ‘Do | understand that rhythm?'; ‘Is that note in tune?’; ‘Can | use those ingredients to make up a piece?’; ‘Am | putting enough character into that phrase ...?’ These questions encourage pupils to think critically, creatively and independently. That's what practice is all about. 58 Asking the right questions