Depth or Width / Breadth
Found in: Curriculum
Kerry V., Australia
In the group training video Neil mentions that we can go either depth or width (or breadth).
I can see that going into either the foundations or variations (and more) can be depth and width.
What are your thoughts on which one is depth or width?
And why?
Ian B., California
DEPTH: Deeper into content meaning progression and advancement vs WIDTH: a wider range of content, variations, arrangements, etc.
Kerry V., Australia
Ian thanks, that is what I am confused with.
Depth: Deeper is with the existing song?
Width: Adding the other streams?
Ian B., California
No. Deeper means forward progress in each level or program. Width/breadth has to do with adding variations and such to an existing project or projects. That’s my understanding anyway.
Example: The Pipes (FL 3.1). Dive deeper into level 3 content by progressing to 3.2 Light Blue-3rd Section. Or expand the breadth of Pipes by teaching the variations.
Another example of width/breadth would be to add a project from another stream rather than moving forward on Foundation Level. A good example would be using the Blues Infusion program to add tricks to Light Blue rather than simply continuing to the next song in the level. I do this all the time with students as they complete level 2, especially if other classmates are not ready to begin FL 3 yet. I believe that is the context of the discussion on the group training – for when students in a class are not in complete alignment. Rather than stalling the progress of one student while they wait for classmate(s) to catch up, you can “broaden” their existing assignment using a variation or another stream.
Mark M., New York
To me, breadth means more variety of different things, while depth means more extensive exploration of particular things. It can apply to both the Curriculum as a whole as well as to areas within it.
I’d choose to define Streams as breadth, and progress within each stream as depth.
Within Accompaniment, for example, I’d choose to define learning different Chord Types as breadth, and learning many pieces with a particular Chord Type as depth.
I’d choose to define Arrangements & Variations as breadth because they are different from the original, sometimes very different. Someone else might choose to define them as depth because they are exploring possibilities based on the original piece. The distinction between breadth and depth is meaningful, but it definitely can also be subjective.
Original discussion started January 2, 2022
