The Art of Cueing, Part 2

“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives."

  -Lilly Walters

In my previous blog I discussed the difference between speaking and cueing.  Now let’s get into specifics.  There are 3 elements of an effective cue:

1. Effective cues are Active - A cue tells the student what to do instead of telling them about what to do.  This is the difference between active cueing and passive cueing.  Here’s two versions of the same cue:

Active:  “Take a deep inhale, then press the carriage out to straight legs as you         exhale.”

Passive:  “Let’s go ahead and take a deep inhale, filling up the ribs, then we’re going to go ahead and press that carriage out as you blow out the air fully.”

There are two elements of the second cue that make it passive.  First, the use of “let’s”.  This blurs the line between the person giving instructions and the person receiving them.  Second, the use of, “we’re going to go ahead and”.  Instead of telling the students to take action, it describes what’s going to happen, making the instructor’s command more vague.

2. Effective cues are Precise - Here’s an example of a type of cue that I hear often:

“Hundreds, chest lifted, legs at 45 degrees, hands extended, eyes between the knees, abs in, pump the arms up and down and breathe in for 5 and out for 5, let’s go.”

This is simply too much information at once.  Imagine going to the store and on your way out of the house your partner says,

“Don’t forget to get cereal, but only if they have the organic kind in the blue box with green cursive letters on it.  Not the one in the blue box with red cursive letters.  If they only have that one, then get the smaller box, the one that comes with dried blueberries.  If they don’t have that, then get something similar, but only if it doesn’t have almonds in it.”

Good luck with that.

Sometimes in our desire for our students to do things the right way we overwhelm them with information.  A more precise approach is to get students into the starting position, then get them moving, and then address the specifics:

“Next exercise is the Hundred.  Lift your chest, straighten your arms by your side and extend your legs out toward the opposite ceiling (starting position). Now pump your arms up and down about 5 inches (movement).  As you pump, breathe in for 5 counts and out for 5 counts.  You should feel this in the center of your core, just above the belly button (specifics).”

You could continue to add additional cues.  However, there’s a limit to how much information a person can absorb at once.  You can’t fix everything in a single cue.

Effective cues are clear and precise.

3. Effective cues are Confident - Effective cues are heard and understood. If you’re a naturally quiet person like me, speaking in a confident voice often feels like you’re being overly aggressive.  Good news:  There’s an easy way to know if your cues are coming across clearly in the right tone of voice.  Just do what all world-class musicians do:  Record yourself.

Listening to a recording of your voice can be a humbling experience.  First of all, yes, you DO sound like that.  Knowing what you actually sound like is the first step toward measurable improvement.  After all, your voice is your primary tool in teaching.  You don’t want to be a stranger to it.  In general, you should speak from the diaphragm and at the top of the exhale.  This creates a clearer, more resonant version of your voice that will sound more authoritative.  If all else fails, there’s nothing wrong with using a headset while teaching.  However, speaking clearly is only half of what makes a cue understood.

Confident cues are spoken with meaning.  It’s not only what you say that counts; it’s how you say it.  Students can tell when an instructor is present and interested.  Cues given in a disinterested tone yields disinterested results.  Listen to great audiobook narrators and notice how they bring out the character of the story by varying the tone and pace of their delivery. The same applies to a Pilates class.  Cueing a stretch shouldn’t have the same delivery as cueing a jump board exercise.  One voice doesn’t fit all exercises.

I’ll give a few specific examples of common cueing errors in my next blog, “3 Bad Cues”