The Space Between the Notes:
Culture, Communication, and Feedback in the Clarinet Studio

by the ICA Pedagogy Committee: Caitlin Beare, Luke Ellard, Lisa Kachouee, and Kylie Stultz-Dessent

THE POWER OF THE APPLIED TEACHER

CAITLIN BEARE

Your student walks into your studio for her clarinet lesson. From the moment she enters the room, you have the power to shape how the lesson might unfold. Do you ask how her week was, how that theory exam went? Or do you cut right to the chase: “How much did you practice this week?”

That choice conveys something larger about what your studio values and what kind of learning is possible. My intent as a teacher is to empower my clarinet students to be self-directed and curious by providing them with the tools and resources necessary to achieve their goals. I recognize that I can have a profound effect on not only a student’s musical development, but on their well-being and capacity to learn. In her book Compassionate Music Teaching, Karin S. Hendricks reminds us of an important truth: “As long as there is a superior-inferior relationship, there is a need to control power…[And] as long as there is a power struggle, true learning cannot take place—at least not the learning that is intended.”¹ Instead of defaulting to the hierarchical relationship that has long defined one-on-one music instruction, we as teachers have the opportunity to choose differently: to build a dynamic that is grounded in mutual respect.

LUKE ELLARD

I’ve been thinking a lot about June Boyce-Tillman’s Constructing Musical Healing and the question she asks: “How do we avoid, on the one hand, a community that stifles individuality and rebellion and, on the other, a competitive individuality that has no roots or responsibility?”² As sharers of experiences and collective lessons learned, we bear a complicated burden and blessing as teachers. We strive to scaffold support and structure for our students, hoping to foster feedback cycles of curiosity, all while trying our best to navigate changing demographics, expectations by our employers, and move through forces outside our control. I believe a salve for this imbalance is often found in communication. The instructor has the power to model methods of sharing that build others up through the ways we structure and facilitate feedback. The ways we hold space for students and set respectful boundaries can instill a feeling of safety; this in turn can allow students to explore more creatively. Open communication also builds community and has an impact far deeper than focusing on “just the music.” More than ever, we need to promote community. After all, we’re humans first.

KYLIE STULTZ-DESSENT

I recently attended a series of workshops at my university focused on elevating faculty impact through feedback literacy. Most of my colleagues attending the workshop teach outside of music, and much of the feedback they provide is in the form of written comments on papers, responses to discussion posts, or notes on exams. It suddenly occurred to me just how different this feedback environment is from the applied studio. Many instructors have hours or even days to reflect on a student’s work, carefully craft a response, revise their wording, and ensure their feedback aligns with both the assignment goals and the individual student’s needs. In the applied clarinet lesson, there is little time for reflection. Feedback is immediate. We rely on our expertise, instinct, experience, and what we hear in real time. As applied teachers, we must be exceptionally well-versed in the qualities of effective feedback and feedback literacy. Because our feedback is immediate and verbal, we have fewer opportunities to revise or soften our words. The tone we use, the pacing of our comments, and the balance between critique and encouragement all impact our students’ growth and emotional well-being. Our words do not disappear once spoken. They can linger in our students’ minds for weeks, months, and even years!

LISA KACHOUEE

As a teacher, I strive to inspire curiosity without judgement—the spark for a life of learning and wonder. For students to become their own teachers, they need a foundation of skill, understanding, and the curiosity to continue unearthing the previously unattainable. Over the course of my time as a student, I saw many peers abandon their pursuit of music. While sometimes this was related to skill or a mismatch of music with personal priorities, far too often it was because the person could no longer tolerate a life spent practicing with their relentlessly pernicious inner critic. I ask questions in lessons for a snapshot of the mental processes taking place within a student’s mind. If together we can train the mind to be curious and compassionate, then a lifelong pursuit of music can be a sustaining and rewarding endeavor. Furthermore, if these processes within are less judgmental and more curious, that radiates into thoughts and actions shared with others. The studio can be an honest and supportive community, and the individuals in it can carry that work into their lives and to new communities. I am always seeking ways to better communicate and connect in an ever-evolving social landscape of polarization and isolation.

In this article, we aim to bridge the worlds of research and real-world teaching, with a particular emphasis on the collegiate music studio. College music majors typically see their studio instructor for at least one hour a week over 15 weeks a semester, accumulating roughly 120 hours of contact across four years—a relationship unlike almost any other in a student’s education. Moreover, the studio is not just a dyad; it is a community, a microcosm of a much larger and more complex institutional system, where each member of a community serves a function and contributes to the operation of the whole. At its best, the studio is a place where students support one another, spend time together outside of lessons, and feel a sense of shared purpose. At its worst, it becomes a site of competition, resentment, and tension. The difference largely comes down to culture, and culture starts with the teacher.

THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

Think back to your early music-making memories: what experiences stand out? It is not a stretch to assume that community played a significant role in those memories. For many, a music community is a place alive with meaning. Hendricks writes that “the need to belong is satisfied through the combination of two experiences: frequent, positive interactions with an intimate group; and a stable relationship of mutual support and concern that endures over time.”³ Music instructors are in a unique position to provide these places for students to thrive and experience a sense of belonging.

However, the one-on-one teaching model—rooted in traditions of apprenticeship—has the potential to exacerbate feelings of loneliness and isolation and render the student relatively passive in lessons.⁴ This is no small concern, given that we are currently in what has been described as an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation. In May 2025, the World Health Organization passed a resolution acknowledging the essential role of social connection in combating loneliness, social isolation, and inequities in health.⁵ Loneliness has even been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions, including substance abuse, depression, and cognitive decline. In a 2024 Pew Research survey, nearly a quarter of adults aged 18-29 reported feeling lonely—a statistic that, when coupled with the rigorous demands of collegiate music programs, might leave teachers wondering what we could possibly do to alleviate such a far-reaching problem.⁶

Moreover, when students have weak social connections, executive function—the brain’s capacity to sort and apply new learning—is diminished by stress and cognitive load.⁷ Isolation doesn’t just feel bad; it actively impedes learning. Fortunately, an applied studio—by its nature—is a community, and that communal potential is something that teachers can intentionally foster. Research has shown that learning within a community improves outcomes, and “a sense of belonging has a profound effect on the knowledge and skills that students can learn, retain, and apply.”⁸

Yet the apprenticeship model—in other words, a centralized, linear transfer of knowledge—is still the prevalent model in applied music pedagogy. One way to combat this approach is through decentralization, which comes about by establishing a knowledge community.⁹ In a collegiate setting, the knowledge community often takes shape as a studio, where members learn to function together within a community; their knowledge resides in practice, and they share paradigms that guide their research or learning. The social nature of co-creating musical experiences invites a space for belonging and offers opportunities to move away from abrasive behaviors such as intimidation, competitiveness, and degrading judgement. In this intentional space of belonging and learning, students can move through moments of challenge and growth, emboldening them to take more musical risks while trusting in the support system around them.¹⁰

This egalitarian approach to the clarinet studio raises a powerful central question: what if we, the teachers, taught from a place of curiosity and vulnerability? For example, Lisa once had a robust discussion with her studio about performance anxiety, including snippets from inner monologues, unhelpful thoughts that heighten stress, and how to combat them. One student commented that a teacher had never shared or acknowledged these internal challenges, and as a result, the student felt like their experience was unique, a possible indicator that they were not fit to be a performer. This emphasizes that while we as teachers can demonstrate confidence in our skills and expertise to inspire others, we also must “pull back the curtain” to reveal our struggles and show our students that we are, like them, continually learning.

When our students experience belonging through collective growth, acts of vulnerability, and a sense of curiosity, their intrinsic motivation grows. Consider employing the following activities:

• Encouraging your students to get curious about their mistakes instead of engaging in negative self-talk.
• Creating intentional opportunities in the studio for your students to experience success alongside challenges.
• Establishing a supportive community where your students view the success of their peers as the success of the entire studio. When one experiences a moment of growth, the whole can learn from that experience.
• Highlighting the reality that we are humans first and our well-being is vital to our overall growth.¹¹

These practices align with what Hendricks describes as compassionate music teaching: an orientation in which teachers remain “open to learning from students,” recognizing that students can teach them things they had never considered or perhaps forgotten.¹² Knowledge communities, decentralization, and compassionate teaching are not separate ideals but expressions of the same underlying commitment: the studio is a place of mutual inquiry, not linear transmission. Breaking down the traditional teacher-student hierarchical model of learning creates space for communal learning, a decentralized exchange of ideas, and a cultural emphasis on curiosity. In other words, curiosity is modeled from the center out.

THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION

RESEARCH ON FEEDBACK

Instructional feedback can be understood as any information about a performance that learners use to improve their learning, whether it comes from the teacher, peers, or the task itself, and whether it clarifies current performance, future goals, or the strategies needed to progress.¹³Research suggests that students view high-quality feedback as usable, detailed, and attentive to their individual characteristics and emotional well-being.¹⁴ Interpersonal dynamics are equally critical as students report greater trust in instructors they perceive as caring rather than merely competent.¹⁵ Conversely, students are less likely to engage with feedback when it lacks clarity, carries a negative tone, or is delivered with the absence of trust.¹⁶ Within the intimate context of a clarinet studio, these findings reveal impactful feedback to be not only technical guidance, but also an interpersonal practice; together, these foster student growth and agency.

OUR STUDENTS AS FEEDBACK CARRIERS

Imagine your students as “feedback carriers.” Each student comes to a lesson with a clear and common purpose: to receive feedback on their progress from their teacher. They leave the lesson with the responsibility of applying that feedback to the following week’s practice and assignments.

Feedback-carrying capacity refers to the amount and type of feedback a student can effectively absorb, process, and act upon at a given time, based on their current skills, mindset, emotional resilience, and available support.¹⁷ Because each student brings unique life experiences and circumstances, not everyone will have the same feedback-carrying capacity. A student’s capacity can shift from week to week depending on factors such as academic workload, financial pressures, personal stress, or a particularly demanding schedule. A student who is ahead in their schoolwork and confident in their week’s practice sessions may be able to handle detailed feedback about phrasing, tone production, and intonation tendencies all within the same lesson. In contrast, a student who has just performed poorly in a jury, is overwhelmed with midterms, or is navigating personal stress may only be able to productively process one or two focused suggestions before becoming discouraged or cognitively overloaded. In both cases, the musical needs may be similar, but the amount of feedback the student can meaningfully carry forward differs.

The minutes in a lesson leading up to the first note are crucial in assessing a student’s current capacity. Use this time as a brief diagnostic check. Does the student seem focused or distracted? Energized or fatigued? Have any significant events occurred in the past week? Weigh the results of this informal assessment alongside what you already know about the student’s personality, strengths, struggles, and resiliency.

Fortunately, effective feedback can increase a student’s feedback-carrying capacity. When feedback provides cognitive fuel—clear, actionable next steps that the student fully understands—and is delivered in a way that feels emotionally safe, students are able to process more information.¹⁸ For instance, if you ask a student to play with lighter articulation, does the student understand exactly what physical or technical adjustments are required? Do they know how to practice that skill effectively during the week? Additionally, students should feel free to express themselves musically without fear of judgment. Mistakes should never be a source of shame but rather recognized as a natural and necessary part of the learning process. McPherson et al. write, “An ideal learning environment is one where mistakes are seen in a positive light, with quality feedback being the mechanism to help the learner grow from errors and misconceptions.”¹⁹ Over time, learner characteristics such as skill level, mindset, and resilience can grow when feedback both fuels the intellect and safeguards the learner’s emotional well-being.

RESEARCH ON IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK

In one-on-one instruction, feedback is often instantaneous—we catch ourselves interrupting a student in the middle of an étude or phrase to offer our insights and suggestions. In a recent blog post on The Bulletproof Musician, Noa Kageyama discusses findings from an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition titled “Information Feedback for Skill Acquisition: Instantaneous Knowledge of Results Degrades Learning.”²⁰ In this study, 76 students were divided into three groups and asked to practice a simple motor skill 90 times. The first group received their score immediately after each repetition. The second group had to wait eight seconds before seeing their score. The third group also waited eight seconds, but in addition, they were required to estimate their own score four seconds after completing each attempt. Two days later, participants were tested for retention. The results were revealing: the group that received instant feedback performed the worst, while the group that was asked to reflect and wait for feedback performed the best.

Applying these findings to musical study illuminates how important it is to offer our students time to reflect before sharing our suggestions for improvement. This might not always be possible with students who don’t yet have the awareness or knowledge to properly assess what changes need to be made. However, over time we can train our students to diagnose, solve, and overcome their musical and technical challenges. This insight by Kageyama proves just how vital this reflection and skill-building process is for our students. In a sense, our job as teachers is to work our way out of a job! We want our students to become independent musicians and effective problem solvers, confident in their abilities as musicians and clarinetists.

ACTIVITIES FOR CULTIVATING COMMUNITY AND COMMUNICATION IN THE CLARINET STUDIO

• Ask students to give feedback on your feedback! Check in halfway through the semester to assess how things are going. Is your feedback clear? Does it feel safe and encouraging? Ask the students to submit written feedback on the feedback they have received in lessons and studio classes. Use this information to adjust your methods for each student. Maybe some students prefer for you to demonstrate with your instrument more often while others need a detailed explanation.
• Create a shared rubric! Assessment in the applied studio can feel like a conundrum. In a highly individualized, one-on-one setting, assigning a single letter grade to a semester’s worth of nuanced artistic growth can seem reductive. Invite your students to collectively design the rubric that will determine their lesson grades for the semester. Ask your students to identify the essential characteristics of an effective clarinet lesson. What elements must be present for both student and teacher to make meaningful progress toward the student’s short-term and long-term goals? Then, synthesize their ideas into a shared rubric to evaluate lessons and overall progress throughout the semester. This collaborative process gives students ownership of the criteria by which they are assessed. It shifts grading from something imposed to something co-constructed and removes the sense that the teacher alone is stamping a final judgment on their work.
• Step back as the dominant figure in studio class! Hold “peer teaching days” in which each student leads a masterclass-style session with a colleague. Invite students to share a favorite warm-up or exercise with the group.
• Be vulnerable! Performing for a teacher in a lesson or in a masterclass in front of the entire studio is a vulnerable act. If we as teachers expect this from our students, we also have to engage in vulnerability, be it performing, admitting when we do not know something, or sharing relevant personal experiences.
• Implement a framework for feedback in group settings: Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process!²¹ This four-step framework includes statements of meaning, the artist as questioner, neutral questions from responders, and opinions shared only with the performer’s permission.

1   Statements of meaning: Responders highlight specific aspects of the performance that impacted them with the goal of uplifting the performer through clearly defined feedback. A statement of meaning in a studio class setting could resemble, “The way you used dynamics throughout the performance has inspired me to explore dynamics more in the solo I’m working on.”

2   Artist as questioner: The performer sets parameters by asking questions that avoid “yes/no” responses. Responders answer these questions directly without leading to a suggestion or critique. An example of “artist as questioner” could be, “At letter B, I’ve been working on connecting my air through the leaps. What were some spots that sounded connected and where was the connection lacking?” An appropriate response might be, “I only heard a disconnect when crossing the break. However, your leaps to the altissimo were connected.” Through these first two steps alone, clear boundaries are established that intentionally support the performer, creating a safer environment focused on meaningful and lasting impact.

3   Neutral questions from responders: The group inquires about the work and the process by which it was created, taking care to avoid sharing opinions or judgments within those questions. For example, “What has inspired you while working on this piece?” or “What connections do you feel you’re making to your fundamentals through working on this piece?” The boundary of neutral questions allows the studio to honor the performer’s agency and dignity, recognizing that a personal creative process is unfolding behind the scenes that may not be fully visible to others.

4   Permissioned opinions: Responders ask opinions with the permission of the performer. Additionally, permission must be granted to offer potential suggestions on how to fix the stated issue. For example, “I have an opinion on that triplet section, would you like to hear it?” or “I have an opinion that includes a suggestion about your reeds, would you like to hear it?” The performer may respond with “no” to any questions, which further encourages boundaries. This also provides an opportunity for the responders to think critically about what they are sharing or suggesting. “Is what I’m sharing to benefit my colleague or uplift my ideas?” or “Am I focusing on meeting the needs of my colleague or am I nervous that I won’t be heard in this situation?”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Acknowledging the human beyond the instrument is part of what helps students feel safe, engaged, and ready to learn. Psychologist Dr. Susan David references the power of establishing connection with the Zulu word Sawubona. It is a common greeting in South Africa she translates to, “I see you, and by seeing you, I bring you into being.”²² The more teachers know about a student’s goals, aspirations, and economic and social realities, the better equipped they are to help them as people and players.

One of the best parts of music study is the one-on-one teaching model itself. It is relatively rare to meet with a teacher individually for an hour each week, devoted entirely to one’s growth. Without our clarinet teachers, we would not be who or where we are today. When students and teachers come together by choice, it creates a uniquely powerful dynamic. And when this relationship is grounded in trust and respect, it becomes a vibrant partnership with potential to transform both the teacher and student.

ENDNOTES

1    Karin S. Hendricks, Compassionate Music Teaching: A Framework for Motivation and Engagement in the 21st Century (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018), 5.

2    June Boyce-Tillman, Constructing Musical Healing: The Wounds That Heal (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000), 249.

3    Hendricks, Compassionate Music Teaching, 123-124.

4    Kim Burwell, Gemma Carey, and Dawn Bennett, “Isolation in Studio Music Teaching: The Secret Garden,” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 18, no. 4 (2019): 372-394, accessed February 5, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1177/14740222177365.

5    World Health Organization, “Fostering Social Connection for Global Health: The Essential Role of Social Connection in Combating Loneliness, Social Isolation and Inequities in Health,” A78/A/CONF./2, (May 19, 2025), https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA78/A78_ACONF2-en.pdf.

6    Isabel Goddard and Kim Parker, “Men, Women, and Social Connections,” Pew Research Center (January 16, 2025), https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2025/01/16/men-women-and-social-connections/.

7    Ibid.

8    Claire Han, “The Importance of Social Connection in Schools,” The Education Hub, January 20, 2020, accessed February 5, 2026, https://theeducationhub.org.nz/social-connection/#_edn1.

9    Lars Lindkvist, “Knowledge Communities and Knowledge Collectivities: A Typology of Knowledge Work in Groups,” Journal of Management Studies 42, no. 6 (September 2005): 1189-1210, accessed February 5, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2005.00538.x.

10    Hendricks, 125-126.

11    Ibid., 136.

12    Ibid., 6.

13    Anastasiya A. Lipnevich and Jeffrey K. Smith, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Instructional Feedback (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).

14    Phillip Dawson, Michael Henderson, Paige Mahoney, Michael Phillips, Tracii Ryan, David Boud, and Elizabeth Molloy, “What Makes for Effective Feedback: Staff and Student Perspectives,” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 44, no. 1 (2019): 25-36, doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.146787.

15    Silvia Di Battista, Heather J. Smith, Chiara Berti, and Monica Pivetti, “Trustworthiness in Higher Education: The Role of Professor Benevolence and Competence,” Social Sciences 10, no. 1 (2021), https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10010018.

16    Anastasiya A. Lipnevich, Carolina Lopera-Oquendo, Ligia Tomazin, Jonathan Gutterman, and Carmen Florentin, “Unheard and Unused: Why Students Reject Teacher and Peer Feedback,” Frontiers in Education 10 (2025), https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1567704.

17    Andrea Bearman, “Bridging the Feedback Gap: Strategies to Cultivate Students’ Feedback Literacy,” (lecture, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, Purdue University Fort Wayne, September 3, 2025).

18    Ibid.

19    Gary E. McPherson, Jennifer Blackwell, and John Hattie, “Feedback in Music Performance Teaching,” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 4, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.891025.

20    Noa Kageyama, “Why Being Too Quick to Offer Feedback Could Inhibit Learning,” The Bulletproof Musician, June 12, 2016, accessed February 5, 2026, https://bulletproofmusician.com/how-being-too-quick-to-offer-feedback-can-degrade-learning/.

21    Liz Lerman, and John Borstel, Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process: A Method for Getting Useful Feedback on Anything You Make, from Dance to Dessert (First edition, Takoma Park, MD: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, 2003).

22    Brené Brown, “Dare To Lead” (podcast), Vox Media Podcast Network, March 1, 2021, accessed February 8, 2026, https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-dr-susan-david-on-the-dangers-of-toxic-positivity-part-1-of-2/.