[Guest]

Hello there,

I have experienced some teaching problem. I have some students range from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Their ages are from 6 to 9 years old. They are practicing their exam piece. I have been working with them almost 6 months. They can play satisfactory but at the moment, I am polishing their music. Whatever I say to them. You need to pay attention to detail. The rhythm, counting, the tone color, the phrasing. I have gone through with them weeks after weeks, months after months. One particular piece, technically is quite simple, but there is lots of detail of crescendo, dim, mp, p pp mf and rit... <.....> etc. Each week, I keep on mentioning to them please pay attention. You need to execute all these details in the music. I feel really disappointed, if I don't mention it, they won't see it somehow. Why it is so hard to kids to pay music with tone color.I am trying to different methods to arouse their interest or imagination. Even ask then to hum along with the music they play. I said to them, please draw me a picture, with lots of interesting color. They have drawn amazing, beautiful pictures, but they can't play their music with creative and imaginative way. One student every time comes to play the piano, she sits down," bang bang cling cling" all the way through the end. I said to her " are you playing music or making noise !!". I said to them play the music note is not enough. How do I encourage them to remember what I teach them, I have made notes and write down and highlight everything for them and how do I make them to play in creative way, not afraid to express feeling, emotion, style. It seems that they understand when I am telling to them, but as soon as they left, by next week, old habit is still the same. Sometimes, I can see little bit of improvement, but it is not constant enough somehow.

[Gill the Piano]

The problems are attention span, discipline and practice. Not enough of any of them, and parents these days expect the teacher to do it all without reinforcing it at home by making them practise. Computers have made children lazy and deficient in attention, with expectation of instant gratification - they are possibly the single worst thing to happen to music education! Add to that the current indiscipline in home and school, and voila! you have a teacher's modern-day dilemma, I'm afraid. The only way I can get kids' attention is by saying outrageous/silly things to illustrate points, which they remember - the brain remembers incongrous things far more easily than it does the everyday and orthodox.
That's why I don't teach!

[markymark]

Very often, children right up until 9 years of age haven’t developed an emotional intelligence within their natural day-to-day social and personal development, so I have to say coming up against a brick wall when asking for an emotional engagement with something as abstract as music is part and parcel of teaching young children. Sometimes painting mental pictures can be useful as you move through phrases of music, like “little mice bouncing down the stairs” or “a pretty princess tip-toeing down the hall”. I think to use phrases like “sweetly” or “staccato” in music need more illumination in primary school aged children in particular.

Setting targets and using stickers to show achievement in a notebook can also allow parents to help reinforce what you are looking for. Bear in mind that you may also be working with children whose parents are not musical so there will be need for greater clarity. Most parents like to know how well their children are doing. By sharing constructive feedback on work set during the week or areas for improvement, parents can quickly get an indication as to how things are going. Use stampers or stickers than can show to what extent the child has been successful. This may sound quirky but I used to have three star-shaped stampers: a red one with a happy face, a green one with a faint smile and a blue one with a sad face. Even 5 year olds could get the picture when you explained what they basically meant when referring to their learning success.

There are certainly parents out there who just want to throw everything in your lap and let you get on with it, and as a class teacher, no one knows that better than I. However, there are parents who only need to know what you want, and will try to help the child during practice even if that is only offering verbal opinions of their performances. After all, music lessons ought to be an investment from a parent's point of view, not money down the drain if their child isn't getting the most out of their lessons, through no fault of the teacher!

At the end of the day, many adults are walking around today saying that they just didn’t “get” what music was about. They only remember the ‘yapping’ and negative points of the private music lessons they attended, but often find it hard to recall their success and sense of achievement. Positive reinforcement may sound terribly like bribery, but when used sensibly, is highly successful for developing both a focused and reflective pupil. When children are happy and feel like they are having fun (and I'm not saying that your lessons are boring by the way!), they tend to take more in.

[markymark]

Not sure what to make of this comment Gill the piano:

[Samick]

I think you sound as if you are already on the right track with these children - it is just a case of encouragement and reward for every little nuance that eventually will appear.

I agree with Markymark - involve the parents. I currently have a six year old boy having lessons with me, and like you, I find progress somewhat slow. The Father generally drops him off and rarely stays, despite me frequently encouraging him to do so. However, I have other pupils of the same age group whose parents always stay for the lessons, and even though they are not musicians themselves, I generally find these children progress much quicker with additional help from the parents. During the lesson I make notes in their notebooks, and if I particularly want the child to practice something in a particular way, eg "start this piece very softly and gradually get louder from bar...." etc.. I always draw it to the attention of the parent so that they can remind the child when they are practicing. They may not understand what it means, or be able to demonstrate it, but by just reminding the child what was said in the lesson, it usually helps it "sink in". With this age group, it is all about going over it at every opportunity.

Don't give up!! It will suddenly all click into place, and if it doesn't - well they are still very young, and as long as they are still enjoying their music making - that is the most important thing of all.

[Gill the Piano]

Marky; No, I'm saying that many children aren't disciplined at home and this leads to indisciplined behaviour on the part of those same kids in school. The teachers aren't ALLOWED to discipline the class any more, as the kids would all be on their mobiles to either Childline or Cherie Blair because their yuman roights had been infringed.
Samick is right in saying that parents affect the outcome of your lessons to an enormous extent; my parents couldn't play a note, yet were taught by my teacher how to clap the pulse of the music for me, and they always made sure that I did my practice. Never did me any 'arm, as they say!

[markymark]

That's alright Gill.

You've been removed from my hit-list...

[Gill the Piano]

Phew!