Posted by Charles D. Ortega on February 10, 1999 at 15:53:02:
In Reply to: Teaching posted by Chris Whiteman on February 09, 1999 at 21:32:55:
Everyone has touched on great ideas. I just have one concept to add to these, and that is in regards to the age group you are teaching.
I assume, if you are 16, you are teaching people younger than yourself, or around your age. One of the things that I would strongly recommend, is to make learning and lessons FUN.
We, as musicians, tend to take our craft and ourselves a little too seriously at times. I am not saying we should dress as a clown and go to teach a lesson (I have considered it, but I never DID it.) Music is a passion for us, a way of life for us, and we can't see ourselves without it.
But remember, a kid just starting out won't necessarily have that passion right from the start. Some ideas in these other posts should tell you how to help foster that love for music, but by and large, it is developed by the student on his/her own.
So, when I was teaching this age group, I would utilize almost all of what I read in the previous posts, but I would relay it to them in a fun way. Someone said in one of these posts that a teacher is a loving parent...okay, well, then be a FUN loving parent. Be a Bill Cosby as Heathcliff Huxtable, rather than just Father from "Father Knows Best"
teaching shouldn't be so important that learning gets lost. Above all, evaluate each student individually (as someone else said in one of these posts) and you should be fine.
Maybe someone else can post something about the type of literature one could use in teaching this age group. I had some ideas, but I would like to hear some from others, so if there are any books or literature that y'all out there think SHOULD be used, please post!
cdo