Meghan Hatfield - Coyle - Chapters 1-2

Summary (or what I took as important points):

Recalling is a better way to learn than rereading. Sometimes ways of practice should change to increase interaction (like in futsal). Deep practice leads to more efficiency. These things help increase the myelin sheath, which is what develops a skill as it insulates neural pathways. This process does decrease with age, which is why it is harder to learn things later in life. The ten year/ten thousand hours rule is not universal, and memory can be improved.


Response:

I found this reading very frustrating. While I largely understand the research and ideas presented (and have seen them come up in my own research/courses), the author writes in so many metaphors and similes that, at times, this book seems like it probably could have been summed up in a concise article. This was a very wordy way of saying things at times.

I also find us reading a book like this in class ironic. After all, we are currently at a university that doesn't even really give the light of day to someone without baseline talent. You have to be "good enough" to get in to even be allowed to learn here. I have many personal qualms that I won't get all the way into, but that ideal is classist and even racist at times. But more to the irony of this - the whole idea that 'talent' can be taught and learned through deliberate practice is not even fully tested here, as those who need the help to learn are often turned away at the door. I think that if we truly believe anyone can learn and practice to greatness, we should be showing that. The 'talent hot-beds' were often in the least expected places, and often in lower-income areas. I wonder how much we miss because people don't get the chance.

Besides the obvious irony of this book in this setting, I was most struck by the anecdotes about futsal. I think the idea of practicing something in another way is so fascinating. I wonder how it could be applied in music, but also how it maybe has been abused in music (for instance, using catered aural skills examples rather than actual music to teach listening skills, because in reality, it is hard to transfer). I don't think that the idea can or should be transferred to everything, though I think it would be interesting to look at more. For instance, in a choral setting, I think that augmenting difficult sections into warmups that you perform in many keys / on vowels could be a way to apply this (and one that I am currently researching).

I do somewhat disagree with the author's complete disregard for aptitude. While yes, practice can help, there are people who will have an easier time earlier on with certain things. This doesn't mean someone can't learn, but it shouldn't be completely forgotten. He also hasn't addressed any sort of disabilities, which makes this book very able-bodied and neurotypical focused, which I think is an issue. 

I think some ideas in this book are useful and interesting, but I have a lot of issues with it that I hope I see get better.

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