Today in the 30 Day Studio Refresh we have an interesting challenge. I want you to reflect on how you teach a concept or a technique.
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Do you know this saying?
“Doing the same thing over and over and expecting
different results is the definition of insanity.”
I think it might be an Einstein quote. As private music teachers, we go through a similar process with each student. All our students need to learn how to read music, shape phrases, understand musical terms and signs, etc.
Unless a student is a transfer from another teacher, we walk with them from the beginning of their musical journey. We need to structure all this information in a way that works for us and is digestible for our students.
Teaching Strategies & Methods
Over time we develop strategies for teaching what our students need to know. No teacher is perfect though. There’s probably a chink in your armour somewhere.
Do you find a lot of your students struggle with keeping a steady pulse? Do they not practice in an efficient and productive manner? Maybe they simple take a long time to understand legato vs. staccato.
Unless you really are perfect there’s probably something that recurs in your students. Something you could be teaching better.
Target the Weakness
Today I want you to think about what your teaching weakness might be. What’s one thing that you seem to struggle to communicate to your students? What do your students not understand or not execute very well?
Once you’ve found and identified I want you to research a better way. Make a note of 5-10 strategies that you could try with your students from now on. Use your students as guinea pigs and improve your own teaching in the process. Your students will thank you for it.
Action Steps
- Pick out the teaching weakness you want to fix.
- Ask the community, Google and Pinterest solutions to this weakness.
- Write down the solutions you want to try and one student you will try each solution out on. Who will be your guinea pigs?
How do I find new solutions to my teaching weakness?
Go over to the Vibrant Music Studio Teachers group and tell us what concept or technique you’re looking for a better way to teach.
Hopefully we can crowd source some solutions and get everyone on track to even better teaching.
Vibrant Music Teaching members, you can access this resource inside the VMT library. Not a member yet? Find out more about becoming a member here.
Did you miss any of the posts in the 30 Day Studio Refresh? Check them out by clicking here.
