Not Every Student Learns the Same

Sometimes tried and true methods don’t work. Trying different approaches with students is a thing I like to do a lot. Sometimes you just have to find another way. Maybe someone learns differently. Maybe someone is too young to read, or too old to move their hands as precisely as they once could. Or maybe they have physical issues, like strange hand pain or blindness. This is where teaching gets interesting. Recently, a very young student was having trouble focusing on practice time. In lessons, he would be great, but on his own, he wasn’t old enough to remember that, if he practiced, he could perform his lessons for me. However, very young people have not really recognized ’cause and effect’ yet. They tend to think more in the present (which is something we adults should remember)- rather than constantly either living in the past or planning for the future. The young student could play simple one-and-two finger chords, but hadn’t gained the muscle control beyond that, which leads to frustration. Also, he was young enough that he hadn’t begun to read words yet, much less music. So this requires a different approach. This would be an approach which adds the parents in to the picture, in much more than a ‘go in your room and practice’ role. They would be required to attend the lessons, and make it a fun thing for the parent and child to do together. Funny, I think it works better with a parent who has no past musical experience. They tend to be more open-minded about new  methods of teaching. It can’t always be ‘work on page 3 in the book’ type of lessons. Sometimes there are simple rhythm games, sometimes there are creative games that explore simple songwriting.

Exploring ideas like this helps me as a teacher too. I learn more about teaching young people, and if I have good results, with the right parents, I can expand my teaching practice.