1. Teaching music is only 25% about music and 75% about people (anyone who tells you differently is likely unaware of the transformation of ordinary people into talented musicians). Understanding how a student thinks, processes and applies that information to their instrument is vital. A teacher also needs to understand what motivates, frustrates and excites their student and why. A teacher sometimes needs to babysit their moods. Sometimes a child may need a soft encouragement and sometimes a little push.
Most music teachers think ‘teaching music’ is all about scales, music theory, songs chords, etc. When they focus on ‘presenting lesson content’ to their students in a logical step by step linear way the result is often mediocre at best. Although some music students can learn well with that teaching method, the fact is most do not. This is why we at Kathryn Brickell Music use a strict screening method in order to ensure that your child gets the very best teacher.
2. Once a teacher understands that the philosophy of teaching music is more about ‘people’, than music, presenting the actual lesson content becomes the easier part of teaching music. Until and unless teachers fully understand the things we mentioned in point 1 above, teaching music effectively will be difficult however once they do understand it, everything seems to fall in its place pretty well and their students typically progress more rapidly on their instrument than ever before.
The bottom line is, no matter what instrument is being taught, teacher-student interaction is of great importance. Contact us today if you’re interested in taking private lessons. We offer lessons for a variety of instruments from of the best instructors in the New York area, including Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens.