Hello everybody! The fall has gotten off to a tremendous start, with lots of exciting new challenges and opportunities. Chief amongst them has been the broadening age range of my students, my experience putting on monthly group classes, and my efforts to make a conduit that provides for more regular updates (aka sure, I guess Instagram could be useful).
Young and Old
Part of what I enjoy so much about the diversifying age range is the variety of purpose and application it brings to the teaching experience. Often with children there is as much an emphasis on how to learn, practice, and persist as there is on the actual object of our studies. Conversely, most adults arrive knowing that already, at least on a basic level. This can free us up to dive deeper on questions/concepts as they arise. There’s a conversational quality that relies upon the adult’s capacity and propensity to tell you when you’ve lost them, not often the strongest suit for most children.
On the other side of the spectrum I’ve begun working with a four year old, which calls more heavily upon the ability to find music in the moments that catch their attention. Part of that has included learning how to set up stations that optimize the chances of that, so we have a variety of instruments, drawings, and other options when sitting at the bench is too much to ask. Challenging, but of course that makes for the best reward.
More the Merrier
Where the group classes are concerned, the joys appear to be limitless. A short list includes,
- The perspective gained seeing my students work side by side offers glimpses of relative strengths/weaknesses I might not have noticed otherwise
- The opportunity to go over big concepts together, seminar about it, try to pull out what they already know and then build thereupon helps us develop confidence and knowledge; the moment they figure out they’ve been learning all along is pretty rapturous, not to mention funny.
- The organization entailed in making the handouts forces clarity of thought on my part, and inspection of concept on theirs, leaving them with another tool in their box.
Last but not least, the priceless opportunity to have fun with this music stuff we do, in as many ways as we can imagine, as a little musical community.
Hey, You, Look at This!
This brings me to the notion of an Instagram. In short, I’d like to share more of what I’m doing. Though I still plan to post these periodically, Instagram seems like the ideal vehicle for more regular contact. Whether it’s a picture of piano party prep, some short performance of stuff i’m playing with, or things featuring the kiddos themselves, I’m excited to open a new window into the world I love. Find me by clicking here (or searching for notesandnums) and I look forward to sharing.
Thanks for reading and until next time, live well and make music!