Group Lessons - Differing Abilities

One disadvantage to group lessons is that it’s harder to cater individual students’ needs.  I try to structure lessons so all of the group are working at the same place in the book.  If a student is struggling, they will appreciate the extra time working on a particular song or concept, and if a student can play the notes correctly, there are still more things they could be working on or thinking about.

Group Lessons - What to Teach

What to teach in a group lesson really depends on the level of the students.  Beginners will spend more time on fundamentals of technique and using the tutor book.  More advanced students can work on their ensemble playing skills.

Group Lessons - Structuring a Lesson

I have outlined lesson structure in an earlier post, so this post is specifically about structuring a lesson for a group class.

Group Lessons - Creating a Community

Learning music in a group is such a fantastic way of becoming part of a community.  For me, this is what music is about.

Group Lessons - Physical Set-Up

The next few posts will be specifically about teaching groups.  Group teaching requires different skills than teaching 1-1.  I love that group lessons are social, and it’s easier to create that sense of community that the very essence of music.  Group lessons are ideal for teaching ensemble skills and provide a ready-made audience for solo playing.

The First Lesson

This is one of my favourite moments in the teaching year – the very first lesson of a beginner student.

They turn up, all shiny and new.  And the instruments turn up all shiny and new.  This might be the first time you’ve met the student/s and the first time they’ve met you.  Greet them in a friendly manner, ask their name (even if you already know it) and tell them your name – it’s super important. 

The first lesson is where you start to get to know your students.  Ask some personal questions – what school do you go to is always a good one.  If you know another student or a teacher or have some other connection with that school, mention it.  It’s a good ice-breaker and it shows that not only are you interested in the student, but on some level your worlds intersect.

Ask them why they want to play music, or your instrument in particular. What are their goals?  Do they already have experience with music?  Explain that while you get to know what they can do or can’t do, you’ll be asking lots of questions.  You might explain things that they already know (and it’s ok for them to say that they know it) or you might not explain things you think they know but don’t (again, tell them it’s ok to ask for clarification).

Then it’s time to get down to business.  Hand out instruments, or if they already have it, have them open the case (and teach them how to open the case if it’s not obvious!).  I start by just looking at the flute.  I get the student to touch the keys and see which key moves which other keys. I talk about the different parts of the flute and we play a silly game to learn the names of the parts.

Every instrument is different and your approach to the beginning of lessons will be different for each instrument.  With the flute, certainly the first lesson is spent just using the headjoint getting a clear, consistent sound.  You will need to think carefully about your instrument, and how to best begin.

The first lesson is also a good time to talk about taking care of instruments and where to store them at home.

Make sure you assign some kind of homework on this lesson – they’ll be excited and want to show off what they learned.  Keep it easy and manageable, but do let them know your expectations.  I’ll tell kids they need to play their flute to everyone who comes to their house during the week – mum, Grandpa, the cat, even the plumber.  Lucky plumber…!

Teaching in Someone Else’s Space

You may have a gig teaching in a school or an after school programme, where you’re actually in another teacher’s classroom.

Setting up a studio - what gear do you need?

Your instrument.  That’s pretty helpful (although there have been occasions when my flute has had a little unintentional holiday…).  Really, it depends on what you’re teaching, what style of music you teach, and your style of teaching.

Setting up a studio

Now it’s time to get going.  You need to decide where you’ll be teaching from.  You may have a space in your house, you may be able to use a space in a school or similar, or you may want to rent a studio.

Choosing repertoire

This post is about how to choose repertoire for your students (as opposed to how to teach it).

How to use a tutor book

Once you’ve decided on a book or books, you need to think carefully about how to make the best use of it.  Will you follow it slavishly, playing every single song and every single exercise?  Will you spend the entire lesson playing from the book?  Will you pick and choose – taking parts of the book to serve the point of the lesson?

What you do is up to you, but at the beginning of your teaching career I’d recommend following the book.  The author will be an experienced teacher/musician, and will have thought carefully about the order of progression.  The book will usually begin with how to produce a sound on the instrument and posture.  You don’t have to get through these pages in the first lesson.  With the flute, I don’t usually put the instrument together until at least the second lesson (maybe the third or fourth).  I need to be sure the student has got a good, consistent sound with just the headjoint, otherwise, the rest of their playing will sound awful.  During these first few lessons I spend the time in between trying to get a sound by talking about practising, where to store the flute, basic music theory (stave/crotchets etc), and how to NOT give your flute to your little sister to play.  Or if something goes wrong to bring the flute to me.  Dad is NOT allowed to touch it.

Sorry.  Rant over.[1]

I use the tutor book sparingly in the first 10 or so weeks of playing.  It’s more important to establish good habits in these weeks than it is to churn through pages of the book.  Once you get going with the book, it’s important to make sure the students understand each new concept.  In a group lesson I will use a whiteboard to explain things like time signatures and bars.  In a 1-1 lesson I write it directly in the students’ book.  Do be thorough and don’t accept sloppy playing. 

If a student doesn’t understand a concept, or can’t play the song independently, use the song as a “study”.  Take the trickiest part of the song and break it down to its core components.  Isolate rhythms or tricky fingerings.  I don’t recommend moving on in the book until the student can play the entire song independently.  In group lessons this is hard to find a balance.  I’ll discuss this in another post.

It can be fun to go over easy songs in the book.  Once in a while (e.g. at the beginning or end of a term) the class and I will play every song in the book until we can’t go any further.  This is great because it means we can see how far we’ve come (suddenly that “hard” song isn’t all that hard any more) and we can consolidate all the learning so far.

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[1] But seriously Dads, leave it alone.

Choosing a Tutor Book

Which tutor book you use for beginners depends on a few things.  If you are teaching through an established programme, the book may have been decided upon by someone else.  If you are teaching a particular method (e.g. Suzuki) then you will use the materials designed for that style.  However, if you are trying to decide on a tutor book for private students you may want to take the following into account.

What to Teach – Technique

Technique is an important factor of playing any instrument.  This should form a major part of your lesson.  Why? Because technique is the foundation on which we build our playing.  Because every piece we are going to play is going to contain technical elements and if you can isolate and perfect them, then playing the piece is going to be a million times easier.