Teachers

Do you teach private music lessons? Do you feel that your approach is meeting the needs of all of your students? Does the lesson framework allow you to go with the needs of each student? What do you do with a student who needs to take a break from what he’s doing and relax for awhile? How many of your students practice as much as you think they should? How does a student benefit from his studies with you? How do you feel when a child quits, and what are possible reasons? These questions are designed not to reveal your shortcomings as a teacher, but to reflect on the essential structure of the private music lesson.

In the larger picture, how many adults do you know who say, “Thank goodness I took  ___ lessons as a child! Those lessons made me feel musically empowered and competent. Because of them, I am musically involved today.” Really – How many?

If I can believe all the stories I hear from parents, as well as my own experience, lots of children are not well-served by the traditional lesson structure. Initial enthusiasm fades over time and lessons become drudgery, desperately hanging on to their value outside of music, for example, the idea that they develop “discipline.” Creative impulses and individuality are, at best, irrelevant. Children become trapped in the practice web and resist doing it or feel guilty about not doing it. In addition, due to the specific, step-by-step requirements of learning how to play an instrument, music lessons happen in a sort of vacuum, unrelated to a bigger musical picture.

Many children who have not had a holistic exposure to music that includes experience with informal, unstructured musical exploration are not served well by the traditional lesson structure. Studying one instrument is kind of like specializing, and it doesn’t make sense to specialize in one thing before you’ve had some experience as a general music practitioner.

Even for those students who do stick with it and progress, what would be wrong with broadening their musical experience while tying it into their instrument study?

Here is one example. Suppose you are a guitar teacher. Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to relate the guitar to other string family members? You might have a banjo or ukulele around so that a student could explore those connections. An autoharp would be a wonderful adjunct to guitar study. A student could learn about chord families, finding harmonies by ear and reading tablature, all without the problem of forming chords. What about a chance to hear great guitarists? Listening to master guitar players of various styles can be inspiring as well as giving the student a broader understanding of the instrument.

Here are additional links to sections on this site that I think will be of particular interest to teachers. They approach the subject of music lessons from many angles. I hope they will inspire you to look at the entire website!