Dual Enrollment with SM and traditional
Found in: Other Methods, Studio Management
Vivien K., Washington
I have an eight-year-old homeschooled student who recently completed a Living Social four-week workshop. The mother herself learned piano with traditional method, but she likes Simply Music, and is interested in enrolling the daughter with me in shared lessons.
This student had a semester of group piano lessons at their homeschool co-op. The mother would like to keep her enrollment in that class while doing shared lessons with me. (They only need to pay $5 per year for that class.) She did ask about if this would create confusion for her daughter.
How can I address the “confusion” issue? What should I say to the mother?
I appreciate all your prompt input. I would like to get back to her in a couple of days as we would like to begin this group on the coming Saturday.
Jo D., Australia
Did you mean the other lessons would be traditional?
I think the mother needs to make a decision as to which way she wants to go and then do one or the other – definitely not both. Sounds like she is trying to hedge her bets.
I started teaching Simply Music last October and most of my existing traditional students transferred to Simply Music. However I had one mum who didn’t want to let go of traditional even after she had agreed to change her 10-year-old boys lessons to Simply Music. There were many reasons for this – her son was losing memory and brain functions and had many difficulties at school etc and she was scared he would forget how to read music notation even though his progress traditionally had been stagnating and even going backward over the last year.
I agreed to 2 x 20 minute lessons per week – 1 traditional and the other Simply Music. He lasted one term and gave up totally. Looking back it was a big mistake for me to agree to this. I was sure they would see how great Simply Music was and drop the traditional lessons. I guess I was too optimistic there as it takes the three of us working as a team (three legged stool) and the mum was never going to be supportive. The stool didn’t stand a chance!
Missy M., Nebraska
Short answer, I don’t think there is any confusion created by “dual” enrollments. I have a thriving, lively six year old whose father is a musician for a living. The family has him in a summer arts camp exploring music and several instruments. I don’t think there is any confusion in allowing a child to explore all avenues of music, just like there is no confusion in letting a child explore language the way we normally do. Rather, I think it teaches the child that music is awesome and to be enjoyed in many ways just like the ocean!
John M., Australia
Personally, I would recommend against a student learning two methods at the same time as you do run the risk of confusion. However, I did have a student who wanted to start with me, to try out Simply Music. He had been taking lessons for two years with Yamaha and his mum didn’t want to cancel lessons with the other teacher until she had a good idea of what Simply Music offered. He started with me and continued to do both styles. I did however warn them that after a while, there would be a possibility that there would be a situation where the student may have confusion, especially when it came to learning reading. I also stated that I would agree to them continuing both methods at the same time, but only for a short while, and that they would have to make a finite decision about which method they would continue with. After about two months (starting from the beginning of Simply Music), he quit the other lessons and continued with me for a year and a half. This may be an isolated situation, however, I didn’t actually find that he had any confusion. Of course, we hadn’t got to Reading Rhythm or Reading Notes. We just established that he would not do reading to learn the songs and that he must learn/follow the SM learning techniques when he was doing Simply Music material. Obviously, he and his mum decided that there was no comparison between Simply Music and the lessons he had already been doing for two years.
I do feel that there is always a risk of confusion; however, think about how many students we all have, that have parents who learned in the traditional reading based playing. They are still involved in helping their child to learn the songs. We rely on the fact that the parents agree to helping their child to learn the Simply Music way and not by traditional methods. Parents who can read and play music, technically, could be learning the songs by reading, and then teaching their children the songs without using Simply Music techniques. We are expecting the parents to not do this. We are expecting them to ignore what may be a more natural way of teaching for them, and to follow Simply Music techniques If it is only for a short while, is it much of a step further to expect that the children can make the distinction between the two method also? Just food for thought!! Of course, as other teachers have mentioned on the Forum, you can always remove the music score for a while until they have learned the songs.