What are your harp goals for the new term?

It’s the start of a new term, so one of the things I’ve been doing a lot with my students is talking about goal setting for the year. What pieces do they want to learn? What do they want to achieve?

I consider this a really important piece of my teaching with a student - it might even take up a whole lesson, but then it keeps us on track for the months to come.

In the Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, there’s a great quote:

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.

‘Which road do I take?’ she asked the cat.

‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response.

‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered.

‘Then,’ said the cat,‘ it doesn’t matter.’

 

Having a goal in mind gives you something specific to aim at. Without one, as the Cheshire Cat says, you might find yourself wandering aimlessly.

 

Step 1: Goal brainstorm

Step 1 is to brainstorm all the goal ideas you can think of. These might be about pieces you’d like to learn, performances you’d like to give, techniques you want to develop etc.

So examples include

Memorise one piece every month

Practise sight-reading every day for 15 mins

Improve your learning by ear

Learn a new musical genre

Take a music exam

Perform a public recital on June 25th

 

Step 2: Narrow down

At this point you may have a huge list, so now decide on your top priorities. Make sure these goals are SMART:

Specific - What specifically do I want to achieve?

Measurable - How will I know when I have reached my goal?

Attainable - Is it possible for me to reach this goal?

Relevant - How relevant is this goal for me? Does it correspond to my level?

Timely - How much time do I allow myself to accomplish this goal? Is it a short-term or long-term goal? Give yourself an end date by which to achieve it.

Step 3: Break down each goals

Now that you have decided your main goals for the year, take each on in turn, and make a list of all the steps you need to take to accomplish each goal and, when possible, write down a deadline or a timeframe for each step.

I like to work in weekly chunks for this. So an example might be, I want to perform a recital of 10 pieces on June 25th. So the first thing I would do is work out how many weeks I have til the deadline e.g. 16 weeks. Now I normally like to give myself a 2 week buffer as we all know life can be unpredictable. So let’s say we have14 weeks to work with.

Next, I would decide the 10 pieces I wanted to learn. Decide NOW so that you can’t procrastinate in indecision later.

Then I would grade, on a scale of 1-10 where I’m currently at with each piece. Using this, I’d determine how long I think I need to work on each piece to get it performance ready.

Then I’d make myself a schedule where I work out how much practise time I have, and therefore how much time I can devote to each piece, and then I’d write it down in my calendar.

In this way you break down the goal into smaller chunks which help make it more achievable, and also more likely that you’ll keep on schedule.

These are not new concepts, but knowing something and doing it are different things. Now is such a great time to take a step back, decide on your goals, and then make a plan to achieve them!