Jazz Musicians, Chess Masters, and Teachers

Jazz Musicians, Chess Masters, and Cyber Teachers:

What We Can Learn From How Experts Learn

It was not quite humiliation, but it was close. I was 21, with all of the hubris that goes along with it. I had decided two years earlier that I wanted to be a jazz bass player, and here I was playing one of New Orleans’ top jazz brunches. The leader on the gig was Joe Cushenberry, and he was not impressed with me, at all. Cush (as he was known) knew hundreds of songs from the early-20th century and was used to doing 4 45-minute sets with no sheet music and no pre-planned set list. Since I didn’t know the songs, he would yell out the chord changes in between singing: “C oh well the shark hasDpretty teeth, dear D minor…”. This went on for four hours. I felt an urgent need to learn fast.

Learning can be thought of as the purposeful acquisition of new information and skills. Purposeful implies that there is an actor, one who is learning. This is an important point in the Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning’s 2000 report, How people learn: Brain, mind, experience  and school. In the words of the authors (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, (2000), “The model of the child as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge provided by the teacher must be replaced (p. 19).” Bransford, et al. (2000) emphasise that students background knowledge “provide(s) the foundation on which the more formal understanding of the subject matter is built” (p. 19). In my dilemma, I had decent skills on the instrument and knew quite a few songs, although they were different in significant ways from the songs I needed to learn.

While jazz musicians do use improvisation to perform, it is within a specific framework. So for a three or four minute song, there is about one page of sheet musicians need to memorize. I tried recording my performances with Cush and learning the songs, but remember, this guy know hundreds of tunes. It did not help that he nagged me for “having a bad memory” and he said the old bass player, Jesse, was able to learn tunes just by playing them once. I consulted Jessie, what he told me is that I needed to look for the patterns within the songs. Instead of thinking of each one as a unique whole, think of it as being constructed from a common set of conventions. This type of learning is called chunking (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 32). Chunking helps experts learn things more quickly than novices; they are able to take large chunks of information and fit them into a framework. In a study published in Cognitive Psychology, when shown a chessboard with pieces on it, chess masters demonstrated a significantly better ability to remember the position of chess pieces than less skilled players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Jessie was using this same type of chunking when playing with Cush.

But expertise doesn’t just help you memorize more, it teaches you what to focus on. In DeGroot’s study, the author expected to find that chess masters considered more possible moves than lower quality players. In truth, chess masters, “considered possibilities for moves that were of higher quality than those considered by the less experienced players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Cush once told me that he could tell Jessie the chord changes to a song on the break and he would be able to memorize the whole thing without every playing it. Jessie was not memorizing 32 different chords on the spot, but rather just choosing between a few common song forms and then looking for anything that did not fit what he expected. After some practice, I learned to do it myself.

Another practice that separates experts from non when approaching a problem, is that experts focus on the broad principles rather than lots of details. In the words of Bransford, et al.(2000), “Experts’ thinking seems to be organized around big ideas” (p. 37). At the New England Conservatory, I had the honor of studying under George Russell. His Lydian Chromatic Concept was based on harmony (chord progressions) having three basic states: resting on tonic, moving away from tonic, or moving towards tonic. Using this concept, Russell could analyze music styles as disparate as J.S. Bach and Jimi Hendrix with ease.

As technology begins to take a more active role in education, it is important to design systems that foster deep knowledge and support the development of expert strategies. Technology can help students develop fluency with key concepts, as well as present a wide variety of problem sets that force students to apply what they know in different situations. At the same time, we have to try to interface with whatever we are building with a novice’s mindset.

References

Bransford, J., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), (2000),  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school (pp. 3-27). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.

Jazz Musicians, Chess Masters, and Cyber Teachers:

What We Can Learn From How Experts Learn

Michigan State University

Chris Kjorness

It was not quite humiliation, but it was close. I was 21, with all of the hubris that goes along with it. I had decided two years earlier that I wanted to be a jazz bass player, and here I was playing one of New Orleans’ top jazz brunches. The leader on the gig was Joe Cushenberry, and he was not impressed with me, at all. Cush (as he was known) knew hundreds of songs from the early-20th century and was used to doing 4 45-minute sets with no sheet music and no pre-planned set list. Since I didn’t know the songs, he would yell out the chord changes in between singing: “C oh well the shark hasDpretty teeth, dear D minor…”. This went on for four hours. I felt an urgent need to learn fast.

Learning can be thought of as the purposeful acquisition of new information and skills. Purposeful implies that there is an actor, one who is learning. This is an important point in the Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning’s 2000 report, How people learn: Brain, mind, experience  and school. In the words of the authors (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, (2000), “The model of the child as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge provided by the teacher must be replaced (p. 19).” Bransford, et al. (2000) emphasise that students background knowledge “provide(s) the foundation on which the more formal understanding of the subject matter is built” (p. 19). In my dilemma, I had decent skills on the instrument and knew quite a few songs, although they were different in significant ways from the songs I needed to learn.

While jazz musicians do use improvisation to perform, it is within a specific framework. So for a three or four minute song, there is about one page of sheet musicians need to memorize. I tried recording my performances with Cush and learning the songs, but remember, this guy know hundreds of tunes. It did not help that he nagged me for “having a bad memory” and he said the old bass player, Jesse, was able to learn tunes just by playing them once. I consulted Jessie, what he told me is that I needed to look for the patterns within the songs. Instead of thinking of each one as a unique whole, think of it as being constructed from a common set of conventions. This type of learning is called chunking (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 32). Chunking helps experts learn things more quickly than novices; they are able to take large chunks of information and fit them into a framework. In a study published in Cognitive Psychology, when shown a chessboard with pieces on it, chess masters demonstrated a significantly better ability to remember the position of chess pieces than less skilled players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Jessie was using this same type of chunking when playing with Cush.

But expertise doesn’t just help you memorize more, it teaches you what to focus on. In DeGroot’s study, the author expected to find that chess masters considered more possible moves than lower quality players. In truth, chess masters, “considered possibilities for moves that were of higher quality than those considered by the less experienced players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Cush once told me that he could tell Jessie the chord changes to a song on the break and he would be able to memorize the whole thing without every playing it. Jessie was not memorizing 32 different chords on the spot, but rather just choosing between a few common song forms and then looking for anything that did not fit what he expected. After some practice, I learned to do it myself.

Another practice that separates experts from non when approaching a problem, is that experts focus on the broad principles rather than lots of details. In the words of Bransford, et al.(2000), “Experts’ thinking seems to be organized around big ideas” (p. 37). At the New England Conservatory, I had the honor of studying under George Russell. His Lydian Chromatic Concept was based on harmony (chord progressions) having three basic states: resting on tonic, moving away from tonic, or moving towards tonic. Using this concept, Russell could analyze music styles as disparate as J.S. Bach and Jimi Hendrix with ease.

As technology begins to take a more active role in education, it is important to design systems that foster deep knowledge and support the development of expert strategies. Technology can help students develop fluency with key concepts, as well as present a wide variety of problem sets that force students to apply what they know in different situations. At the same time, we have to try to interface with whatever we are building with a novice’s mindset.

References

Bransford, J., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), (2000),  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school (pp. 3-27). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.

Jazz Musicians, Chess Masters, and Cyber Teachers:

What We Can Learn From How Experts Learn

Michigan State University

Chris Kjorness

It was not quite humiliation, but it was close. I was 21, with all of the hubris that goes along with it. I had decided two years earlier that I wanted to be a jazz bass player, and here I was playing one of New Orleans’ top jazz brunches. The leader on the gig was Joe Cushenberry, and he was not impressed with me, at all. Cush (as he was known) knew hundreds of songs from the early-20th century and was used to doing 4 45-minute sets with no sheet music and no pre-planned set list. Since I didn’t know the songs, he would yell out the chord changes in between singing: “C oh well the shark hasDpretty teeth, dear D minor…”. This went on for four hours. I felt an urgent need to learn fast.

Learning can be thought of as the purposeful acquisition of new information and skills. Purposeful implies that there is an actor, one who is learning. This is an important point in the Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning’s 2000 report, How people learn: Brain, mind, experience  and school. In the words of the authors (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, (2000), “The model of the child as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge provided by the teacher must be replaced (p. 19).” Bransford, et al. (2000) emphasise that students background knowledge “provide(s) the foundation on which the more formal understanding of the subject matter is built” (p. 19). In my dilemma, I had decent skills on the instrument and knew quite a few songs, although they were different in significant ways from the songs I needed to learn.

While jazz musicians do use improvisation to perform, it is within a specific framework. So for a three or four minute song, there is about one page of sheet musicians need to memorize. I tried recording my performances with Cush and learning the songs, but remember, this guy know hundreds of tunes. It did not help that he nagged me for “having a bad memory” and he said the old bass player, Jesse, was able to learn tunes just by playing them once. I consulted Jessie, what he told me is that I needed to look for the patterns within the songs. Instead of thinking of each one as a unique whole, think of it as being constructed from a common set of conventions. This type of learning is called chunking (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 32). Chunking helps experts learn things more quickly than novices; they are able to take large chunks of information and fit them into a framework. In a study published in Cognitive Psychology, when shown a chessboard with pieces on it, chess masters demonstrated a significantly better ability to remember the position of chess pieces than less skilled players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Jessie was using this same type of chunking when playing with Cush.

But expertise doesn’t just help you memorize more, it teaches you what to focus on. In DeGroot’s study, the author expected to find that chess masters considered more possible moves than lower quality players. In truth, chess masters, “considered possibilities for moves that were of higher quality than those considered by the less experienced players (Bransford et al., 2000, p. 35). Cush once told me that he could tell Jessie the chord changes to a song on the break and he would be able to memorize the whole thing without every playing it. Jessie was not memorizing 32 different chords on the spot, but rather just choosing between a few common song forms and then looking for anything that did not fit what he expected. After some practice, I learned to do it myself.

Another practice that separates experts from non when approaching a problem, is that experts focus on the broad principles rather than lots of details. In the words of Bransford, et al.(2000), “Experts’ thinking seems to be organized around big ideas” (p. 37). At the New England Conservatory, I had the honor of studying under George Russell. His Lydian Chromatic Concept was based on harmony (chord progressions) having three basic states: resting on tonic, moving away from tonic, or moving towards tonic. Using this concept, Russell could analyze music styles as disparate as J.S. Bach and Jimi Hendrix with ease.

As technology begins to take a more active role in education, it is important to design systems that foster deep knowledge and support the development of expert strategies. Technology can help students develop fluency with key concepts, as well as present a wide variety of problem sets that force students to apply what they know in different situations. At the same time, we have to try to interface with whatever we are building with a novice’s mindset.

References

Bransford, J., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), (2000),  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school (pp. 3-27). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.

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