Reflection Post Week 7 - Teaching Beethoven Two Ways

Although I am not much of a pianist, I see several aspects of the Beethoven "Pathetique" sonata that would be addressed by a behaviorist approach.  The technical skills needed to play this piece would need to be addressed using drills and practice.  Students would need to work on contrary motion, multi-rhythmic playing, correct fingering, pedal technique, dynamics, and phrasing (esp legato vs staccato and phrasing).  A behaviorist approach to this piece would ask students to practice these skills, and then practice the piece bit by bit, perhaps not even moving on until mistakes have been corrected.  The teacher would offer positive reinforcement for successful playing.  The process would be repeated until the student's muscles were conditioned to play the music correctly.

A cognitivist approach would see the teacher as a guide, helping the student develop strategies that would allow for a successful performance.  The teacher would help the student tap into prior knowledge about how to play pieces like this (slow, legato, with a pseudo ostinato in the middle voices).  Students could look through the music to find familiar terms and markings (dynamics, articulations, etc).  The cognitivist teacher would have the students study and think about the music as a whole, rather than individual skills. Any unfamiliar terms or skills could be taught in the context of the piece, and using that prior knowledge as a basis of the new learning.