One of the things that I pride myself in as a music teacher, is my ability to engage kids in music. I know that music is not for everyone, and I have had students stop lessons because even through months of working together, it was fun, but they found it wasn’t for them. And that’s fine! One thing that I don’t think is fine is when a student shows interest in music, but still finds it too studious and dry so they give up.. That’s why I refer to these cases as the long con. And by con I don’t mean a trick but rather a method that will definitely benefit them!
When I come up with a lesson plan for these types of students I usually have a plan A, B and C. Then I let the student choose which one they want to do. It makes them feel like that have some control over their education as well as making it seem like we are only doing the fun stuff. Even though all 3 options have some sort of educational aspect to them. I assign homework that is 100% fun. No theory, just composing and jamming. The main goal is to get them used to making music at home. I want these students to make music more than just the half hour they are with me. And for the first month or so of our lessons that is the only goal.
Eventually the student will want to get better and do harder things. Once we hit that point they gain an interest in learning why somethings work or dont work and they want to learn how to read music so they can learn songs at home. Now that we have created a love for music and the student feels like they are in control of what they are learning, we can make real progress.
When working through these ‘long cons’, I often second guess myself and constantly wonder if I’m taking too long. But the patience always pays off. After teaching some of these types of students for over a year now, its amazing how much their skill, practicing and knowledge has grown, all while never loosing interest. Ive said it before and I’ll say it again. Taking the longer path is better than never making it to the destination.
Hilary