Questions tagged [teaching]
For questions about the knowledge of music theory and musical practice and the methods by which they are to be taught.
72
questions
8
votes
5answers
3k views
How did students remember what to practise between lessons without any sheet music?
Before the time when sheet music was popular people were good at playing keyboard instruments. I am referring to the time when printing books was expensive.
How did the students remember what to ...
23
votes
6answers
5k views
What are the problems in teaching guitar via Skype?
I have taught guitar one-to-one for several years and would now like to start offering lessons via Skype.
What are the major problems in teaching guitar by Skype and can they be overcome? Are there ...
3
votes
0answers
54 views
What is a good app, software or other efficient method to type out staff notations? [closed]
I’m asking for suggestions and recommendations from music theory educators who often need to prepare music lesson notes and set tests that will require a lot of staff notation images, for e.g. an ...
5
votes
3answers
163 views
Didactic impediments of using simplified versions
I have been discouraged (read: told "don't do that!") from using a "simplified versions" book of famous pieces, and I've read also here many questions (for example this one, or this one). They ask, ...
6
votes
5answers
2k views
Why don't key signatures indicate the tonic?
It's always seemed strange to me that key signatures don't indicate the tonic. I feel this has two main drawbacks:
Beginners (and more advanced students, it has to be said!) often find it difficult ...
13
votes
6answers
4k views
How can I help a piano student who doesn't slow down to read the notes
I have a student who, when he tries, can figure out what notes he's looking at on the score at a decent pace. He couldn't sit down and sight-read something fluidly, but the foundation is there.
The ...
3
votes
2answers
101 views
Music Education in the UK: skipping all grades?
I live and work in the UK as an engineer. In the past, aroudn 10 years ago, I got a diploma in piano with 10/10 cum laude in an Italian Conservatory. After a hiatus of several years, I started playing ...
1
vote
1answer
126 views
Piano Learning book with fingering details
I wish to learn piano by myself. So I am looking for a comprehensive teaching book with lots of shertmusic with fingering details available. Book should cover
big collection of music sheets with ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
Piano scales: Why bother with hands together?
During my first ten years studying classical piano, the scales that I played were hands together, parallel. But the only literature that actually has scales in both hands, for more than one bar per ...
9
votes
5answers
286 views
How does one teach a subjective art form like music composition in an objective manner?
As someone who has never taken composition lessons, I've always wondered how one teaches composition without straying into the purely subjective. In other words, how does one teach composition in a ...
3
votes
2answers
130 views
How can I find a decent synth teacher in London
I've been searching online and most of the sites I've found only seem to have piano teachers but I want someone who can also help with the sound editing / technical aspects of my new synth. Have ...
1
vote
0answers
134 views
Beautiful quote about “B durum”
This one goes out to all the scholars and historians.
I'm trying to put together a little booklet, for my students, to explain the accidental markings (sharp, flat etc) and where they come from. My ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
Musical Training to help with taking up Cello in the fall
My daughter is 8 and has been taking private piano lessons for around 3 months now but will take a break from lessons over the summer. In the fall (when school starts back up) she will be taking cello ...
11
votes
3answers
583 views
What are some of the tips for musicians starting out as teachers?
What are some of the pitfalls and tips for starting out as a teacher? What do you need to start your own successful music teaching business and what are some of the things you should avoid?
-1
votes
8answers
2k views
Why do music teachers emphasize reading sheet music and not playing by ear? [closed]
When I was younger in my teens, I went to my neighborhood piano teacher, an older lady that went to Juilliard in her youth. The very first thing she had me do is sit down with very elementary sheet ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Scales and order of presentation
Why do some violin scale books, after starting with C Major and A minor, then work through key signatures up to six flats and then work down from six sharps?
1
vote
0answers
81 views
Books on composition as insightful as Goeschius [closed]
I've been a magpie for books on composition/orchestration, and it seems to me that the books written by Percy Goeschius are the best, most insightful and well-written that I've come across. Hia ...
1
vote
1answer
137 views
Any books similar to Mikrokosmos written by a famous composer?
I just discovered this gold nugget in piano teaching called Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok.
Are there any other books that have progressively difficult sight-reading exercises written by a famous ...
-2
votes
3answers
149 views
Piano vs singer notes
What pitch does the pianist play for male voice when the score is written in the bass clef.is it that pitch or an octave lower.
1
vote
2answers
106 views
Standard Jazz teaching repertoire
I am a classically trained pianist with many years of teaching experience in the classical repertoire. I would like to expand my horizons and become more knowledgeable about jazz and pop piano music ...
2
votes
1answer
131 views
What can a musician determine from the below examinations about the student, and how?
In my university's musics and fine arts department, all the instrument courses have some sort of interview for the students from the other departments.For example, for violin courses, they played 4 ...
6
votes
3answers
623 views
Teaching a lefty to play drums
I've been asked to teach someone to play drums. I noticed that he's predominantly left-handed. I play right-handed, and feel that for his future, he'll be better off learning with the kit set up ...
3
votes
2answers
168 views
Is there anything I can do wrong when teaching my son how to play the piano? [closed]
My son is nearly 3 years old and is clearly showing an interest in the piano. I've been playing around with him, mainly encouraging him to mash the keys, try to play a single note, and so forth. ...
0
votes
3answers
835 views
What are the top 3 most desired drumming skills? [closed]
I often assume that speed is by far the most common desired skill for drummers. But then again, rudimental applications around the drum set seem to also be up there.
For this reason, I'd like to see ...
3
votes
1answer
87 views
Teaching proper piano posture
I'm teaching a nine-year-old how to play piano. He's very quick at learning, but he can't seem to pick up how to sit at the piano properly. No matter how much I prod him, he keeps slouching and ...
2
votes
2answers
568 views
Stretches for inflexible adult beginner violin players
I would like to know about stretches or exercises adult beginners can use to inmprove their flexibility for string playing.
I have a violin student who hand and arm can only rotate about two thirds ...
2
votes
2answers
94 views
Teaching hard passages to a child
First off I'm no teacher neither have I studied music. I have played the oboe for 15 years now and play in multiple amateur orchestras.
Now I have encountered situations where I'm asked to lead a ...
2
votes
1answer
104 views
Modern Cello Pedagogue
Simon Fischer is a prolific author on violin instruction and practice techniques. He studied under Dorothy DeLay and has several books on techniques for practice. I have found his material extremely ...
2
votes
4answers
82 views
How do I help/tutor my sister for her solo?
Okay, so my older sister is singing a solo (To The Sky From The Earth) for an ISSMA contest. She's still making lots of mistakes in pitch, rhythm, and intonation, and there's only a week left till the ...
17
votes
7answers
3k views
How can we effectively teach schoolchildren theory?
Background Reading: I thought it was worth extending the recent discussion about music theory to the topic of teaching theory.
I think our default approach to teaching theory is sometimes too ...
-3
votes
2answers
2k views
How are child piano prodigies taught so quickly?
Can you create prodigies or are they born? I'm mostly curious how teachers handle a student like this, and what methods they would use.
Please give credentials before you answer.
Edit 1: I was ...
4
votes
3answers
163 views
Restarting music lessons/exams and beginning teaching
I've been on an instrumental hiatus from music for 2 years due to my GCSE exams and from singing for a year. I've been told I can take back up 2 out of the 4 instruments I used to play and have ...
1
vote
3answers
729 views
Am I eligible to teach on classical guitar
I have been playing classical guitar for over number of years and have a grade 8 practical in trinity. Sometime I have considered to teach some students but not sure whether I eligible to teach ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
Is perceived progress in singing performance necessarily a good indicator of the quality of the teaching method?
I'm taking singing lessons from a few teachers; I am trying to figure out, in a reasonable way, which teacher to stick with.
I'm in a situation though, when I don't have a way to evaluate the quality ...
4
votes
2answers
219 views
Teaching using the Piano Adventures series
I am currently teaching five young piano students using the Piano Adventures curriculum (which is the method I learned by) and so far I am really in love with those books! However, two of my students ...
6
votes
6answers
1k views
What can I do to help my guitar student get off the ground faster?
About me: I'm an intermediate guitar player whose preferred style is extreme metal. I've never given lessons before. I only read tabs but I have a basic understanding of music theory.
About the ...
7
votes
5answers
851 views
How to give classes on improvisation
I'm giving a 6 times 3 hours workshop on musical improvisation. The participants are 5 to 10 mostly classical musicians, skilled with their instruments, slightly interested in jazz, and all keen on ...
7
votes
4answers
733 views
I need help teaching a piano student with dyslexia; are there any websites specializing in this?
I know there are websites for teaching students with dyslexia, but are there any focusing on issues special to music, and particularly piano?
2
votes
4answers
1k views
Time signature equivalent - two bars in Waltz time
I'm teaching a dance class in Waltz, the music is of course in 3/4 time.
I wanted a way to describe to the students the beats in 2 consecutive bars, which I thought of as describing as '6/4' - I know ...
0
votes
1answer
159 views
“It takes dedicated PARENTS to produce a good drummer” — Tell me more
Motivated by https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/38814/why-is-it-so-hard-to-find-a-good-drummer?noredirect=1#comment55597_38814, which had a comment that stated:
It takes dedicated PARENTS to ...
1
vote
4answers
280 views
Teaching Theory for Violinist in Suziki book 2?
I have been teaching a young violin student for quite a while now with the Suzuki method, and she is now about to take 'Bourree' in book two. But recently I started reading the stuff on the pages ...
5
votes
3answers
261 views
Technique in which student repeats notes teacher plays
I came across an interesting essay on playing by ear, in which the author describes a method he called "Call and Response Teaching" (section 2 in the article).
The description is thus:
The easiest ...
-1
votes
1answer
468 views
introducing the 3 main concepts of harmony : chord, tonality, mode
Where is the best example of a 7-8 pages course defining all together the basic concepts of harmony, that would be useful when teaching harmony to an adult who is interested in classical music, jazz/...
5
votes
3answers
11k views
Games for the young piano student?
I've been teaching violin and piano to beginners for a couple years now, and I'm starting to notice that piano tends to be a little less fun for my younger students. In violin I have several fun and ...
25
votes
17answers
8k views
How to help students remember Half vs. Whole rests
The symbols for the half rest and whole rest are pretty much the same and in the literature my students play we rarely encounter them.
Is there a good, memorable way to describe which is which to ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Note duration in Hindemith's “Elementary Training For Musicians”
On the recommendation of a friend (and Nadia Boulanger), I am working through Hindemith's "Elementary Training For Musicians", with an eye to using a small selection of its exercises for some of my ...
5
votes
2answers
337 views
Should very young bassists use a German bow?
I play bass with a German bow, and teach this to my students. Recently my school aquired a 1/8-size bass. Should I get a German bow for this one, or would it be too big? Should I rather use a French 1/...
4
votes
7answers
3k views
Teaching unmotivated students
I teach 2 ten year old twin boys piano, but they both show no motivation to learn. Every time they come over they have a new excuse for why the couldn't practice at all in the last 2 weeks since I ...
4
votes
6answers
769 views
The teaching of scales, chords and keys
A question for the music educators out there. What are we doing wrong that is causing so many young musicians to ask so many questions based on the misapprehension that only certain notes and certain ...
22
votes
9answers
3k views
Why would a teacher ban the metronome altogether?
So when I was a kid I had this piano teacher who was completely against even owning a metronome.
He was adamant that using a metronome to practice was a bad habit and insisted that pupils always ...
