Helping students keep the playlist alive
Found in: Practicing & Playlists
Stephen R., California
I feel like I’ve had an epiphany lately! I’m realizing the importance of “really” helping students to keep their songs alive. We can’t assume they will do it all themselves or even the parents for that matter. The lesson time is the only time we have control of to hear students’ lists. Any variations and arrangements require ongoing review since there’s no video support.
I’m making it a personal mission to hear more playlist songs from students each week. An “alive” playlist is really different from an eroding or forgotten playlist. This requires ongoing and regular management!
Kym N., California
I agree the playlist is super important, but if we spend more time on the playlist, we will have very little time to introduce new material and that will cause other problems too. It is even more difficult in shared lessons.
I am thinking about running a playlist spelling bee type of contest every few months. Each level has a winner and the winner has to know the most songs of the level up to his present level.
Stephen R., California
I understand the lack of time in a shared lesson! There may be a more heightened need to have “designated” playlist days every few months or at ends of levels with groups. If we’re hearing several songs a week (maybe 4-5), particularly with private students, we will help keep songs alive. It is very much a management issue. No more than 5 minutes in a half hour lesson to allow time for reading and new material, etc.
Leeanne I., Australia
I realized that myself six months ago. I was spot checking, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Now I make a note to do a full review every 8 weeks. I have a student that has just started Level 3. We are doing a full playlist review and she has forgotten Minuet in G (Level 2). That’s her next song in Level 3. I explained this to her and she said “Oh, I’d better get the video out and review it!”.
The variations and arrangements are challenging to remember; however, I do praise my students for the parts they do remember. We just keep going over them until they get them.
You don’t need to hear the whole song. You could ask them to play a particular part or sentence. In shared lessons, a fun game is to get each student to play a sentence directly one after the other, round robin style. I tell my students that we will just do one new project a week while we are doing a playlist review. That way the playlist review doesn’t drag out over too many weeks. I expect them to keep working on their current projects by themselves at home.
Even though I talk constantly about the importance of keeping their songs alive, some just don’t pay enough attention to it. If the students know they have to play all their songs in 8 weeks’ time, they are more likely to practice them.
Stephen R., California
Often we get lots of non-verbal clues from students when the playlist is falling by the wayside: frustration, tentative playing, low motivation or interest. So much of the power and thoughtlessness of the list starts with us, the teachers.
Kurt M., Michigan
I just committed myself to this also. One thing that I find fun is “Level 1 Races”. The students have to play all of the tunes in Level 1. If they know them, it should take about 5 minutes. If not, we spend much, if not all, of the lesson on the songs they don’t know. Depends on the group. If some are ahead of others I will adapt so something new is introduced, and focus on one song in Level 1 to correct. It goes for other levels as well. The advanced songs come much harder without knowledge of the basics.