This is a description of the paper for MMB Basics, a module of Professional development, for first year students.
In class assignments you have worked with:
• Explanations about how we function as musicians: the interaction between music, mind and body.
• Warm-ups for musicians designed to increase your proprioceptive awareness of where you are and how you move.
• Practice tactics were used to apply what you learned to your daily practice and to widen the range of tools available to you in your work.
• We discussed our tendencies and tactics for improving our efficiency and comfort.
Now you will write a paper about your experiences during the series of lessons.
The paper should be about 2-3 pages to be handed in via Project Campus.
This paper will show how you have worked with the class materials, what insights you have had on the way you work, and your plans for future self-care and development.
Please be careful to put your name first in the title, and then “Personal Plan MMB Basics.” So the paper title will be:
“YOUR WHOLE NAME Personal Plan MMB Basics”
About this paper:
This is an experiential paper, which means that it is based on what you yourself experienced when carrying out the class work. The paper will have five sections. You can use the questions below to get started writing each section. There are many questions to help you, but you can write freely. You may find that you need to repeat some warm-ups or practice tactics to remind yourself in order to write the paper, or re-visit the class page for the info and links. The paper should reflect your active participation in the lessons. There are no wrong answers.
Sections of the Final Paper OSB Online: Each section is at least one long paragraph in length.
1. Explanations and Readings:
Which explanations contained new information for you? What did you learn about how musicians navigate and coordinate in order to play or sing? There were different perspectives on the topic of music making, focusing, taking care of yourself as a musician. Which things stuck with you, things you want to remember?
2. Warm-ups:
Include a summary of your experiences in doing the class warm-ups: Lie Down, Unpacking the Musician, Spinal Spiral, and Space to Breathe Stretch. Tell which ones you tried the most often, how many times and over which period of time. Did you notice anything before during and after doing them? As you became more experienced in doing them, how did that change it for you? Did the warm-ups affect your practice, concentration, mood or sense of your body or the space? Do you have any warm-ups that you do yourself? Which warm-ups do you think you would like to continue to do? What is the purpose of such a warm-up for a musician?
3. Practice Tactics:
In class you played or sang twice, and saw others play and work. During these sessions, we tried various practice tactics. You were assigned some for yourself alone, which you worked on for a few weeks.
Please now write which tactics you were assigned to try, and what happened in your playing or singing. What did you find out that you did not know? How did it change your approach to practicing? What did you see in class when others were playing? What do you want to remember to continue with?
4. My tendencies and tactics:
We talked often in class about what can get in the way of clear thinking and action, in other words, what disturbs or clouds your perceptions and steering (proprioception), your concentration and stamina. This material was also covered in Lesson 5 which some of you did when we could not have class. Now write a description of your own tendencies and tactics. You can use these examples of Tendencies and Tactics to get you going.
5. Class:
We are interested in your experience in this live course. What was fun to do, and what was hard? What did you miss, and what did you like? How did you experience the live classes, warm-ups, playing and singing, etc? Were the tips clear and useful? How could we help students in future to do the course in a fruitful way for them? What could you have done to improve your own participation in the course?