Life Skills Through Music

Life Skills Through Music

By Linda Kundert-Stoll

After organizing a family reunion around a “Kundert Kuchen Bakeoff” this summer, I realized how important it is for all of us to have the opportunity to develop a broad spectrum of life skills. There is no better way to develop competitive coping skills than through the study of music. If we experience many competitions and exams, we eventually gain the skills to handle the results. We realize how subjective another person’s opinion is, and if a human is involved, we learn that a perfect standard is impossible. However, we gain inner strength by putting ourselves out there. Over time, and with continued involvement, we learn so much from our many musical successes—and occasional failures.

Music teachers continually help their students through the process of preparing, taking and assessing exam and competition results many times a year. The process toughens all of us up for the “real world.” Over time, we as teachers learn how to cope with the system and learn how to help students cope with their own performance results.

At the family contest there were eight relatives putting their best family cake recipe and cooking skills on the line. Each judge had to pick a first, second, third, and “Wurst” Kuchen. All was done in good fun with prizes given to winners and a piece of liverwurst and jar of sauerkraut given to the two who received last place. Everyone had a great time except for the cousin who exclaimed, “Had I known that there would be a last place prize, I wouldn’t have entered the contest!” She was embarrassed to explain her loss to her grandchildren and her day was ruined!

Personally, I thought that my cousin had an opportunity to explain the reality of competition to her grandchildren. She could have emphasized how important it was to enter, regardless of the result. In competition, you are at the mercy of the judges and you have to take what you get. Sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is not. Above all, it is important to prepare extremely well, enter often, and be prepared to learn from others. There is always room for improvement and there will be different results every time.

As musicians we have all lived through many surprises in exam marks and many upsets in festival classes. Did you experience some this year? I did—several times! Here is one example. A young adult student who is working through her ARCT in Piano Pedagogy Diploma requirements had received First Class Honours in Elementary Pedagogy, then First Class Honours with Distinction in Intermediate Pedagogy, but did not make the Advanced Pedagogy examination this spring. It shook her to the core, and she was ready to quit. I thought that she would realize she hadn’t prepared early enough, nor well enough, but it took some extra guidance from me to help her make the transition from blame and self-pity to the realization that she could turn this into an opportunity to become a better teacher. I expect that this student will ultimately have better life skills than the cousin who couldn’t cope with the family competition.

If you would like to share a “learning experience” of your own, please add a comment below. 

Linda Kundert-Stoll is an experienced teacher, collaborative pianist, adjudicator, and clinician. In addition, she has also been a reviewer and editor for the Frederick Harris Music Company. Ms. Kundert-Stoll is the Co-founder, President and Artistic Director of the Calgary Arts Summer School Association (CASSA).