Student Scenario #1: I know I should be teaching technique and theory and ear training, but there never seems to be enough time in a lesson to do it all. Sometimes we get stuck on one aspect of an etude or a piece and never even get to some of the other important pieces. I’ve tried to set a schedule for the lesson, but that always feels too rushed. How do you fit everything into a lesson?
Student Scenario #2: I’m glad that my students are playing in school and community groups; they learn so much and it helps them find the fun in playing the harp. But it demands so much extra time in our lessons on the music they need to prepare that their recital pieces get shortchanged. And forget about trying to do any focused work on technique or musicianship—there’s just no time. I worry that this will slow down their progress.
There are few things more frustrating for a dedicated teacher than having to abandon your well-planned curriculum to address an “emergency” situation. You know what your students need, and you are committed to their growth as harpists and musicians. At the same time, you see the value in their participation in various ensembles, and you want to encourage them to seek out these experiences. So when lesson plans go awry, your first feeling may be frustration with yourself: why did you let the lesson get so far off track?
The answer is that you didn’t really get off track; you simply took a detour.
If the road to learning and understanding music were a straight one, lessons would be simple. But the fact is that all students learn what they need to learn in their own time. Today’s lesson might have been their time to make that thumb play properly, or to find the beauty in Debussy with your guidance. Today’s detour may actually turn out to be a lightbulb moment for your student.
If the road to learning and understanding music were a straight one, lessons would be simple.
Obviously, you still need to develop and follow an overall plan, but your plan should include the time and flexibility to make those detours. In organizing your lesson plans for your students, you will need to view their learning from a larger perspective. Today is only one lesson. You will plan to balance your teaching not in a single lesson, but over time.
There are a number of creative strategies for making sure you provide your students with a well-rounded musical education that includes subjects such as theory and ear training.
First on my list is to take advantage of “double duty” opportunities. Is the student starting a new piece? Before you dive into the notes and the fingering, ask her questions about the composer, the key, the meter, the form of the piece. Start a discussion aimed at helping her make new connections and discoveries. Or do you need to help her work out a difficult passage? You can create drills that also work on technique or note reading.
Alternatively, if you want to spend more in-depth study on a particular topic, try a monthly or semester approach. Rather than trying to work on technique and theory and sightreading in each lesson, dedicate one month to each of those topics. It will enable you to cover the topic more fully, and will help the student integrate the material more deeply too.
You could carry this approach further and have all the students in your studio focus on the same topic for the month. Add a two-hour studio class once during the month so all the students can learn the fundamental concepts together. You only have to teach those concepts once to the group, and then you can follow up in each student’s lesson with drills or further work appropriate to his level. Of course, you can charge for this class too. Your students will appreciate the class, and so will you.
When a lesson detour occurs because the student has extra music to learn for outside commitments, the balance factor becomes even more crucial. Now, balance is not merely your task in the lesson; it is what you must teach and demonstrate to your students.
You role is to help the student learn to prioritize, to honor their commitments, to meet deadlines, to turn down opportunities when necessary. And most importantly, you must teach the student how to set goals, organize and balance their practice time so that he can accomplish his goals without feeling overwhelmed. How you spend the lesson time becomes the model for the student’s practice time. This is one of the highest goals of music teaching: to help the student develop and utilize self-discipline and good practice techniques.
I used to worry about teaching those “detour” lessons too, until I remembered a lesson of my own when I was about 13 years old. My teacher spent the entire lesson on the first measure of the Handel Concerto. She was teaching me the phrasing of the opening four notes and the four chords that follow. But more importantly, she was showing me the kind of focus that was required to be a “grown-up” musician. It was not wasted time; it was one of the best lessons I ever had. •
