What Am I Doing Here
I am a teacher, one of those annoying people who is happy, if not compelled, to share anything I have learned – even 10 minutes ago. Thank heavens I found an outlet for this in teaching the violin. I fell into it by accident when we went to live in a remote foreign country where I wound up doing something few sane musicians would ever do – teaching my own children.
That little girl you see in the picture here was my second student. She is now dianatheviolinist.com so evidently I didn’t do such a bad job, but it was scary. I lived in the middle of the desert, had no idea what I was doing and had no one to talk to about it. I went to the UK to take courses in a teaching method which helped a lot from the technical and practical standpoint but didn’t really tell me how to teach: the art of transmission.
They say that teachers are born and not made. I would agree that you can have the natural desire and ability to transmit something to another person. But a natural born teacher is like a musical prodigy who even with great facility needs many years of excellent training plus thousands of hours of practice to become a professional. The difference is that we teachers get our many thousand hours of practice from actually teaching our students instead of hiding in a practice room where no one can hear us.
Contrary to what many may think, knowing how to do something does not mean knowing how to teach it; you know how to walk but can you explain how you do it? Having the technical expertise to perform does not mean you have the expertise to teach. As teachers, being conscious of our transmission techniques, being aware of what and how we do what we do can help us use our power better. More importantly, it can help us not abuse it.
Yes, power. Teachers have enormous power. Any musician can demonstrate how to play an instrument, but it takes a teacher to transmit the necessary skills to play it. With power comes responsibility. We can either help our students or hurt them. There is no such thing as neutral teaching.
Many ideas in music teaching, practicing and performing are implicit, therefore not always understood or applied effectively. In this blog I hope to bring some of them out into the open and examine them.
I have learned a lot over the years, you see, which true to my nature, I will be more than happy to share with you here in future posts.
Share this:
Buy it on www.sharmusic.com - eBook format, avaliable worldwide, paperback in North America
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT
A music teacher’s thoughts and observations on the teaching and the study of a musical instrument, hoping to be of help to parents, students and teachers.
PHOTO
AWARDED TOP 25 VIOLIN BLOG
CATEGORIES
TAGS
ARCHIVES
-
Agosto 2022
Agosto 2023
Agosto 2024
April 2015
April 2016
April 2017
April 2019
April 2020
Aprile 2022
Aprile 2023
Aprile 2024
August 2014
August 2015
August 2016
August 2017
August 2018
August 2019
August 2021
December 2014
December 2015
December 2016
December 2017
December 2018
December 2019
December 2020
Dicembre 2022
Dicembre 2023
Dicembre 2024
Febbraio 2022
Febbraio 2023
Febbraio 2024
February 2015
February 2016
February 2018
February 2019
February 2020
February 2021
Gennaio 2022
Gennaio 2023
Gennaio 2024
Giugno 2022
Giugno 2022
Giugno 2023
Giugno 2024
January 2015
January 2016
January 2017
January 2018
January 2019
January 2020
July 2015
July 2017
July 2019
June 2016
June 2017
June 2018
June 2019
June 2020
June 2021
Luglio 2022
Luglio 2023
Luglio 2024
Maggio 2022
Maggio 2023
Maggio 2024
March 2015
March 2016
March 2017
March 2018
March 2019
March 2020
March 2021
Marzo 2022
Marzo 2023
Marzo 2024
May 2015
May 2016
May 2018
May 2019
May 2020
November 2014
November 2015
November 2016
November 2017
November 2018
November 2019
November 2021
Novembre 2022
Novembre 2023
Novembre 2024
October 2014
October 2015
October 2017
October 2018
October 2019
October 2020
October 2021
Ottobre 2022
Ottobre 2023
Ottobre 2024
September 2014
September 2015
September 2016
September 2018
September 2019
September 2020
September 2021
Settembre 2022
Settembre 2023
Settembre 2024
RECENT POSTS
Terry G and Me, or Terry Gilliam on Where (or What) Practicing the Piano Will Get You…
The Teaching We Don’t Do Is More Important Than We Think
Overwhelmingness or What Teaching and Motherhood* Have in Common
Cellphone Serenity
How to Build Your Reputation – the Kind You Want
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures. Or How to Deal With Your Strong-Willed Stubborn Student and Survive
“Why Does My Teacher Get So Frustrated?” Letter to a Perplexed Student
Mount Rush-no-more….And How to Get There
Realizzato con VelociBuilder - Another Project By: Marketing:Start! - Privacy Policy