What I’ve Learned About Group Lessons
Found in: Shared Lessons
Elaine F., California
How about a discussion of what we’ve learned doing groups? I’m new to teaching groups, and stuff that many experienced with groups perhaps learned long ago is breaking news to me.
For example:
- When students first play DCT and DCT 1 as a duet (or any other duet where they are playing different music– not just the LH and RH of the same piece), Some get very confused by hearing other music as they are playing. I need to coach them in this.
- I was feeling like having 2 girls play the same songs at the same time i.e. 4 hands on one piano was somehow not “enough” (my issue I know). But the girls loved it and asked to do more and the parents were thrilled with it too. These were the same girls who had trouble as described above.
- I felt I had not managed a lesson – #1 above – well. I called the parents and talked about this. They felt the same way but restated their desire to try it again– this was the 2nd or 3rd joint lesson.
Victoria S., California
I’m just exploring duets also. So far I have discovered that it is good for the students to play the same piece with 4 hands so they get their first experience playing with someone else and just keeping time together or learning to anticipate the other when there are slight hesitations, etc.
I tried DCT and DCT1 with one student on the piano and the other at my nearby electric keyboard. It was too confusing at first and I realized they were not yet comfortable enough with DCT1. I am going to try having them be able to sing to each independently before putting DCT and DCT1 together again as I think their voices will keep them united.
I noticed when I taught them to add the FSS in the middle of NS that some of them didn’t get the rhythm of it right away. So I had them play NS from the beginning and when they got to the FSS, I sang “la la la la” in the correct rhythm and that was all they needed to hear to be able to play it correctly without any talk about counting.
I like this idea about discussing what we’ve learned doing groups. So far my largest group is 3 and I am eager to expand.
Sheri R., California
I try to have students do duets frequently–almost every lesson. Not only do you get to hear two people’s playlists at the same time, but they get ensemble experience. It does take a bit of coaching at first. We just keep starting over until it gets better. I always give 3 or 4 beats by saying “ba ba ba” or “ba ba ba ba.” I only have them do it with songs they’ve been playing for a while. I haven’t tried this before but maybe starting people off with one hand duets would help.
If they can’t seem to get it, we might sing and clap or voice beats and clap before playing on piano. While ultimately we want them to be paying attention to the other person’s as well as their own playing, if
they’re having trouble I tell them to try to ignore what the other person is doing and try to just maintain the beat (which I very loudly say throughout or we all sing together). You could say “just like you’re not paying attention to all the conversations going on around you at a restaurant, you need to try to do the same thing while playing, just focusing on your own playing and staying with my tempo–or whoever is the ‘band-leader’–usually another student.”
Playing duets is a great opportunity for students to learn how to play through mistakes and find their way back to the right spot after they’ve gotten lost. I always heavily compliment when students do that even if
a big chunk of the middle of the song is missing–if they eventually fall back into place then that is a big thing. They learn they don’t get to start over or go backwards when playing duets, which is a huge
accomplishment!
For DCT and DCT 1 sometimes I’ll hold the hand down if it’s playing every beat until they see what I’m getting at. Or again, we’ll all sing and tap our laps with the correct number of beats before taking it to piano.
By the way, I have made countless errors in teaching–I’m pretty sure we all have–it just goes with the territory–but just think of how much we get to learn with each mistake. I must be a genius by now! And yet,
even after 6+ years of Simply Music teaching experience I’m still not done yet making mistakes. Wow, eventually we will all just be off the charts with our brilliance! And even with the learning curve our students are the most fortunate on the planet!