Just because something is easy doesn’t mean you’re not learning.
My daughter is solving very basic pre-algebra problems. Things like 3x = 15, or n + 6 = 17. (*)
She commented on just how easy these are; she can mostly solve them in her head before doing any math. The message she needs, then, is that it’s not about getting the answer.
It’s about training the brain in the process so that when a more difficult problem comes along, she is ready.
Easy challenges are a great way to train the brain without taking too much time, losing students to confusion, or distracting from the primary insight.
It’s the same reason that we don’t program only pieces at the very edge of students’ ability. Learning some lovely but approachable canons is a tried-and-true way of starting a choir on their journey; I program plenty of Level II charts for Shades of Blue, alongside maybe one III+ or IV. They are easier, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t learning.
I find it’s sometimes a challenge to engage students in musical work that isn’t challenging, though. “We sang this in middle school” is a popular expression of scorn. Until we explain what the value is in programming easier music, we risk eliciting that response. They don’t know it’s good for their brains, that there are a hundred different tiny things they are getting better at as they learn the so-called “simple” music.
* x = 5; n = 11