Accurate Music Instruction
Why You May Not Getting Excellence Earlier for Your Student
When I became serious about learning, I found a fabulous instructor that used several methods of teaching which she developed and combined into her own style.
The great thing here is that she had been studying with one of the great Russian concert pianists and the techniques taught by their conservatory
Starting Technique Off Right
The thing was that they spent a lot of time going slow with the good technique and accurate music instruction. To make sure your motion is correct and you may spend months if not years on exercises that lock that in before you play at a faster speed or even learn significant pieces of music.
With the need of instant gratification that kind of instruction is not an easy sell.
What I loved about how my teacher handled it was the way the technique was integrated it into the learning process with other aspects of theory and songs.
Technique was focused on every time we studied a scale, a chord, Hanon or Czerny exercises, and phrases in songs. It was about getting quality playing no matter what you were working on.
Each instrument has it’s own challenge in good technique. Having good materials for theory is a must, but making sure that the technique is focused on is essential if the quality of the learning and playing is going to satisfy your customer the student.
What to Think About
Technique can be glossed over and should be focused on intently and in detail. You need the big picture as well, but the focus on the details is essential in getting the quality sound.
For the student, explore the music directories and video now available on the internet. Compare what people are doing, see if they are teaching technique or the how to accomplish quality sound. Ask yourself if they are getting in enough detail for you to learn. Ask your own instructor to be more specific.
Parents, start asking questions about what is covered. Get into technique issues and learn if they are getting enough focus on technique. Interview several teachers.
Instructors, are you focused enough on technique? Are you exploring and learning more all the time? Better yet, take the time to write out the what, how and why of technique. Be ready to explain it to your students and the parents.
Think about how you are going to ensure that you are getting good technique and instruction. Using the internet with the new video age can be a great resource in being able to compare and contrast and give you a base for asking questions or observing good instruction.
Learning Resources
The Getting It Down Cold Workbooks are a high value resource to allow you not only to learn the theory, but systematically own it as well.