It’s ironic that beginners in music often have to weigh their budgets, and their sometimes insecure hopes of learning to play music decently, against the quality of their musical equipment, their choice of teacher, and their commitment to lesson time.
Beginners (or parents of beginners) are legitimately hesitant to invest unless they feel their musical interest will stick, or until they understand why the investments are needed. The teacher can make demands but it’s important to respect the dilemma the beginners feel.
And yet, if they have an instrument that is difficult to play, or has a bad sound, or if they have a beginning method book with music of limited quality, or insufficient lesson time, how can they get a fair exposure to the joys of making music?
Have you ever dealt with the equivalent in your field of a cheap, wire-strung violin that even I can’t make good sound on, a small plastic chin rest with a huge uncomfortable ridge in it, a cheap unadjustable shoulder rest, or tuning pegs made of softwood that can even break off in your aching hand?!
Sometimes you have to wait until the student has come along a bit, and then encourage them to make a few investments in better strings, a good shoulder rest, even to spend a few dollars more per month to rent a good quality instrument.
But apart from equipment, there are musical decisions about quality that we can certainly make. I think it’s essential to get beginners into good melodies as soon as possible, preferably right away. (I do wonder sometimes about the wisdom of spending a lot of time on Twinkle Twinkle, for instance…) I like to play for them some of the tunes they will be learning so that they can enjoy the music and keep in mind their own excitement about learning the instrument. There are some very beautiful melodies that work for beginners, and they’re worth finding and offering.
Soon after learning to play some music, beginners can begin to dream a little as they play, to rise above technical worries. Many people, including some teachers, presume students have to gain technique before being able to play musically. But it is quite possible for fairly new students to make the effort to play a simple melody in several ways, each representing different moods, different stories, different things that happened to them that day. It’s fun, and it’s the heart of playing musically.
Keeping the student’s spirit involved with the music, its stories, composers, and building the student’s connection to it, motivates them through the practice that creates a musician. And having musical equipment that can respond to their improvements rewards them for all they do.
by Alfred Lopez — Wed Oct 3, 2007 @ 1:50 pm