What is it that motivates us? Truly, madly, deeply motivates us?

Is it TRULY only about rewards?

I have been very much a fan of Mihaly Csikszentmihaly for many many years since he wrote the book FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990). Since it was written over 26 it comes up time and time again in the discussions of what we, as human beings, experience in life as feelings of concentration and deep enjoyment and fulfillment when doing the things we want to do. Ultimately, in search of pleasure and transcendence. A great deal of the book deals with that within us that motivates (intrinsic) an that without which motivates us (extrinsic) to be happy. The great word he uses is autotelic: of an activity or creative work having an end in and of itself.

When we look to rewards for ourselves and others we are all-too-often looking outside ourselves for some form of inner gratification. Here are a few ponderings on a subject that I will be devoting more time to in the next while.

Rewards for students: This is highly dependent on the age-stage of the particular student, of course. In my work teaching instrumental performance at the Victoria Conservatory, my young adult androgogs are at a first-stage finding their feet as self-directed learners. My work is to support the development of these skills underpinned by a developing awareness that what they do is a worthy end in itself and that the world can (and it can) be changed by the fruit of their labours. I also give them provocative creative projects around this idea.

Changing your students’ perceived value of your rewards

Without a doubt this is the most important aspect of my work and my work in support of the teachers who work with the students in specific areas of music instruction (i.e. theory, harmony, arranging, chamber music, history etc.). My rewards are meaningless unless they are shared as mutual. Given this, I rarely if ever see these as ‘my rewards’.

Impacting your students’ perception of expectancy

Expectancy comes in may forms. And, for me and hopefully my students, it does not come as too directly linked to reward. By this, I mean training my students to embrace the notion of delayed gratification. In an age where everything is so readily available, classical and contemporary music performance training is sometimes as outdated as shoe-repair. It is a throw away culture. Outcomes are clearly identified but the path is made clear to my students that is is long and that the love of training is what is most important. The goal/reward less so.

Increasing your students’ motivation to perform-  expectancy, instrumentality, or valence

In this I have some advantage, as the students have declared themselves as wanting to perform. I reveal to them how they can do it more efficiently and effectively. Having said this, some don’t have the discipline. They say they want it but they are tied to an emotional framework that does not support them. I am no psychologist, but I do spend considerable time helping them with their efforts and focusing on what you might call valence-awareness. The rewards are personal (i.e. a good public showing, good grades, respect, potential work etc) and the rewards are public (i.e. making the world better, helping society, relieving suffering through the sharing of music, etc)

Disadvantages to implementing this theory in the classroom

Only if one comes to believe too heavily in equations and formulae. I do have suspicions of any theory whose basis is to increase worker production. Perhaps it is just me. Too few businesses are founded on a principal of making their employees better people and placing the product second. The disadvantages I would think only come when an instructor believes the theory so much that the students becomes standardized input. The devil is in the details of customization.

And for more on Mihaly, please take 20 minutes to watch this wonderful TEDTalks: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

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