• Latest
  • Trending
Colonel’s Book Club

Colonel’s Book Club

July 24, 2021

Enhancing Your Performance: The Importance of Visual Presentation

May 22, 2025
Starting Strong: Why Foundational Music Instruction Matters

Starting Strong: Why Foundational Music Instruction Matters

May 21, 2025
More Than Just the Notes: Assessing Difficulty in Marching Band Shows

More Than Just the Notes: Assessing Difficulty in Marching Band Shows

May 19, 2025
Trust It

Trust It

May 19, 2025
Preparing Your Music Classroom for the Summer: A Guide for Music Educators

Preparing Your Music Classroom for the Summer: A Guide for Music Educators

May 15, 2025
Danger Ahead

Danger Ahead

May 14, 2025
The Music Trades 2025 Census: A Perspective for Music Educators

The Music Trades 2025 Census: A Perspective for Music Educators

May 13, 2025
New Products

New Products

May 12, 2025
My Journey

My Journey

May 9, 2025
Headlines

Headlines

May 8, 2025
The Immediate Threat to School Music Programs

The Immediate Threat to School Music Programs

May 6, 2025
Perfect Scores, Faster with Dorico 6

Perfect Scores, Faster with Dorico 6

April 30, 2025
Saturday, May 24, 2025
  • Contact
SBO+
  • Subscribe to SBO+
    • Subscribe
    • Login/Manage Subscription
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Advertise
  • Teachers’ Choice Awards
  • Columns
    • New Products
    • Travel/Festivals
      • Fundraising
    • UpClose
      • Features
      • Commentary
      • Advocacy
      • MAC Corner
      • Inclusion
      • Milestones
      • MusicEd: Mentor Minute
      • Perspective
      • InService
    • Technology
      • Audio Tech
    • Performance
      • Wind Talkers
      • Percussion
      • GoodVibes
      • Repertoire
      • Playing Tips
      • Modern Band
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Tone Deaf Comics
  • Teacher Nomination
  • Support
    • Email PR!
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe to SBO+
    • Subscribe
    • Login/Manage Subscription
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Advertise
  • Teachers’ Choice Awards
  • Columns
    • New Products
    • Travel/Festivals
      • Fundraising
    • UpClose
      • Features
      • Commentary
      • Advocacy
      • MAC Corner
      • Inclusion
      • Milestones
      • MusicEd: Mentor Minute
      • Perspective
      • InService
    • Technology
      • Audio Tech
    • Performance
      • Wind Talkers
      • Percussion
      • GoodVibes
      • Repertoire
      • Playing Tips
      • Modern Band
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Tone Deaf Comics
  • Teacher Nomination
  • Support
    • Email PR!
No Result
View All Result
SBO+
No Result
View All Result

Colonel’s Book Club

byThomas Palmatier
July 24, 2021
in InService
0
Colonel’s Book Club
399
SHARES
2.3k
VIEWS
Share on Facebook
ADVERTISEMENT

The next entry in “Colonel’s Book Club” is Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink. This book is exactly what the title indicates; it shares the results of a significant number of peer-reviewed studies that show many of our beliefs about what motivates us, and students particularly, are incorrect.

Therefore, many of our long-used instructional methods are also flawed. As always, I hope this “appetizer” will lead you to read this terrific book.

As with previous editions of the club, anything that appears in italics is a direct quote from the book. The author describes the operating systems of societies over the millennia. Going back 50,000 years, the underlying assumption about human behavior was simple and true. We were trying to survive. He called this operating system Motivation 1.0.

As humans formed more complex societies, bumping up against strangers and needing to cooperate in order to get things done, an operating system based purely on the biological drive was inadequate. Motivation 2.0 developed in response to more complex, interactive, and increasingly industrialized society. You simply rewarded the behavior you sought and punished the behavior you discouraged. This is pretty familiar to us as “carrot and stick.” Even though we have all been taught about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, many of our institutions are still running on Motivation 2.0.

Meanwhile, W. Edwards Deming, whose work was embraced in Japan with the same ferocity with which it was ignored in the U.S., argued that the route to quality and continual improvement was intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivators like bonuses, incentive plans, and forced rankings. These studies resulted in some changes but they were more of an improvement than an upgrade – Motivation 2.1.

Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation (carrot and stick) is detrimental to creativity. In other words, the central tenets of Motivation 2.0 may actually impair performance of the heuristic, right-brain work (like what is needed to make great music).

The author describes a number of studies that prove that “if you do this, you will get that” rewards actually snuffed out creativity and a desire to do better. In fact, they studied the differences between art that was commissioned and that which wasn’t. The commissioned works were rated as significantly less creative than the non-commissioned works. Think about that the next time someone wants you to join a consortium to commission a composition. For artists, scientists, inventors, schoolchildren, and the rest of us, intrinsic motivation-the drive to do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing-is essential for high levels of creativity.

Now, not everything we do as music educators requires high levels of creativity. Putting chairs and stands away after rehearsal is an important task, but not one likely to inspire students. For routine but important tasks, you can increase motivation by: Offering a rationale for why the task is necessary. Acknowledge that the task is boring. Allow people to complete the task their own way.

He describes two basic type of behavior: Type I (intrinsically driven) and Type X (extrinsically driven) and comes to the following conclusions:

• Type I’s almost always outperform Type X’s in the long run.

• Type I behavior is both born and made. Any Type X can become a Type I.

• Type I behavior does not disdain rewards of recognition. For Type I’s, recognition is not a goal in itself.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

• Type I behavior is a renewable resource. It is the emotional equivalent of clean energy; inexpensive, safe to use, and endlessly renewable.

ADVERTISEMENT

• Type I behavior promotes greater physical and mental well-being.

At this point, you are thinking, great, but how does this apply to getting my ensemble to play in tune? Pink lays out the importance of granting workers (students) autonomy to help them move from compliance to engagement. When we think of great ensembles, aren’t they the ones where every musician is as engaged as the conductor and where they feel they have value and control?

The second leg in Pink’s tripod is Mastery and how we guide them to achieve it. The third is Purpose that provides a context for the others.

The rest of the book shares various “toolkits” that provide real world examples of policies, techniques, and approaches to develop Type I students and to move to a Motivation 3.0 operating system, and it even gives examples of schools that have made these changes. Hopefully, this column will whet your appetite to read this fantastic book that can make every one of us better teachers.

Last month’s SBO article included some ideas about rehearsal planning. Next month we will talk about score study for the busy music educator. As always, I love to hear from SBO readers about things you would like to see in future articles. Contact me at www.ThomasPalmatier.com.

ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

JamKazam Just May Save Ensembles in a Virtual Teaching World

Next Post

Shielding Our Future: Tony van Veen pivots his company Disc Makers towards providing PPE

Next Post
Shielding Our Future: Tony van Veen pivots his company Disc Makers towards providing PPE

Shielding Our Future: Tony van Veen pivots his company Disc Makers towards providing PPE

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
50 Music Teachers Who Make a Difference

50 Music Teachers Who Make a Difference

December 2, 2024
When Selecting New Choral Music, Choose Success

When Selecting New Choral Music, Choose Success

February 26, 2025
Concert Band Set-up Fundamentals

Concert Band Set-up Fundamentals

August 29, 2019
The Immediate Threat to School Music Programs

The Immediate Threat to School Music Programs

May 6, 2025

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

0

BriLee’s Brian Busch: Man With a Mission

0

Third Annual Choral Directors of Note

0

July 2010

0

Enhancing Your Performance: The Importance of Visual Presentation

May 22, 2025
Starting Strong: Why Foundational Music Instruction Matters

Starting Strong: Why Foundational Music Instruction Matters

May 21, 2025
More Than Just the Notes: Assessing Difficulty in Marching Band Shows

More Than Just the Notes: Assessing Difficulty in Marching Band Shows

May 19, 2025
Trust It

Trust It

May 19, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
  • May 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • April 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • March 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • February 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • January 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
© 2005 - 2025 artistpro, LLC
7012 City Center Way, Suite 207
Fairview, Tennessee 37062
(800) 682-8114
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe to SBO+
    • Subscribe
    • Login/Manage Subscription
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Advertise
  • Teachers’ Choice Awards
  • Columns
    • New Products
    • Travel/Festivals
      • Fundraising
    • UpClose
      • Features
      • Commentary
      • Advocacy
      • MAC Corner
      • Inclusion
      • Milestones
      • MusicEd: Mentor Minute
      • Perspective
      • InService
    • Technology
      • Audio Tech
    • Performance
      • Wind Talkers
      • Percussion
      • GoodVibes
      • Repertoire
      • Playing Tips
      • Modern Band
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Tone Deaf Comics
  • Teacher Nomination
  • Support
    • Email PR!

© 2005 - 2024 artistpro, LLC 7012 City Center Way, Suite 207 Fairview, Tennessee 37062 (800) 682-8114

Wenger EndurAd Promo