I hope you enjoy this series of fictional scenarios about teaching music, and find it at times thought-provoking, familiar, and even humorous. We look forward to reading comments by yourself and other teachers at the end, about “what would you do?”
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George is making progress. He has learned a reasonable amount of music. He enjoys music and practices regularly.
Sometimes, though, his hands get tired quickly. George works pretty hard, and asks too much of himself in some ways. He gets so intent on playing some notes that he twists his hands in odd ways. You’ve been giving him exercises and ideas for holding the instrument better so he can more easily play in tune, and save energy. It’s working, slowly. He is able to play more than he used to, without getting tired.
Today, George warms up with some familiar music, and you notice that although he made some mistakes, he didn’t falter, and his hands were a little more relaxed and comfortable than usual. There was a good feel to the music.
“That’s great!” you say. “The best you’ve done on that one so far!”
“No it isn’t,” says George. “It sounded lousy, and I do it way better at home.” He looks at you with a quizzical look that seems to say “are you humoring me or are you deaf?”
Is this a teachable moment, or time to move on? What would you do?
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Please add your comments below; if you have any hesitations about it, please see the earlier post about “Adding Your Two Bits! How It Works“.
Teachable moment. I’d say that it’s good that he could do better. I’ll proceed by telling him that he only needs to relax more so he can be able to execute his piece in front of people as good as he plays when he’s alone.
Teachable moment. I would explain exactly why I said it was better. That it wasn’t just about the notes but that I noticed him appearing more relaxed with his instrument. You could ask him if he’s feeling more comfortable and talk about what he did at home this week to bring about this good “posture.” Did he notice the difference himself?
Teachable moment!
In line with “The Perfect Wrong Note,” I would ask him to describe what he was feeling, physically, forgetting about the sound for a moment. Was it more relaxed, spontaneous? Were there moments that didn’t feel as good?
Then have him explain what aspects of it he wasn’t happy with and why. Finally, I might explain what I picked up on that I liked and how it will tie into future progress, but that’s optional. We’re guides. Telling students what we thought can have a short-term impact but true learning comes from within. If the student doesn’t feel was better/worse the way you do then it isn’t time yet to address those things, because whatever progress you make in the lesson on those issues will not be permanent.
It’s nice to see a music teacher blog like this. I honestly get excited when I first get visited your site and I was totally amazed. Continue to share!