Sounding the Teaching | Page 52

EX A MI NI NG MU SI C LEA R NI NG EX P ER I ENC ES T H O U G H T S C HUA S I E W LI NG Do our students experience a sense of flow during music lessons? We are not just talking about balancing challenge and ability in the sense that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defined flow, but rather, a sense of the presence of music in their mind, body and soul. Such an experience will trigger in our students an intrinsic motivation and a kind of positive energy or life force. As teachers, we can consider how the experience of music in the classroom has touched our students aesthetically and spiritually, something beyond musical understandings and expression. Creating such aesthetic or musical flow experiences in our students will create precious moments that touch our students deeply. 51