Teaching Arrangements Time-Frame
Found in: Arrangements & Variations
Francine V., Australia
I think I have just realized that not all arrangements will ever get done – is that right? Most are hard, or if I shouldn’t use the work hard, they are at a much higher level than the foundation songs.
If we’re only giving small chunks of an arrangement at a time, it might take WEEKS to learn one arrangement – this means maybe only 1 arrangement per foundation? Which means not all will ever be done? Even the Dreams arrangements are quite complex, and for most students I don’t even give them the first one until they are in about level 3. Is this about right? (Not the same for variations, they are ok).
Mark M., New York
There’s no particular deadline to complete arrangements, so there’s no reason to think you will not complete them.
I highly suggest you get Gordon Harvey’s TWS offerings about the Arrangements program. In addition to hearing extra advice for teaching each piece, you’ll also get his recommendations for when to introduce each piece. There you’ll see that the idea is to cover several arrangements alongside each Foundation level, including doing several alongside Foundation 1 & 2.
The more you’re doing variations/arrangements and composition/improvisation from the very start, the richer your students’ experience will be and, by definition, the less time you’ll have for Foundation anyway. This will stretch Foundation over a longer period time than what you’re imagining right now, and this, in turn, will allow you to cover far more arrangements alongside any given Foundation level than what you currently believe is possible.
Sheri R. , California
Echoing Mark’s experience, it’s not unusual that I might teach 8 to 10 variations and arrangements while students are in Level One. It’s also not unusual that some students might only learn 3 or 4. It seems to vary from group to group and student to student. Some are ready and able to process more, some not so much. They are not taught in the order presented in the books however. Obviously Dreams Arr. 3 isn’t something the vast majority will be learning while still in Foundation Level 1, but they can certainly take on Jackson Arr. 1 and even Arr. 2, etc. Depending on how long someone stays with the program they can very well learn all the arrangements but they wouldn’t be getting some of the more complex ones until much further into the foundation program and partially because some of them correspond with pieces in later foundation levels.
I recommend and encourage you to weave plenty of variations and arrangements in with the foundation program (as well as composing and improvising!) from the very beginning. These streams really help broaden (deepen?) the students’ experience.
Ethel S., Arizona
While all of my students are either in Level 1 or Level 2, they have all completed a few arrangements. Because I had several who have wanted to write notes, I have revised Joanne Jones’s Learning Strategies worksheet for the Arrangements. That way, they are writing down which tools they are learning.
Sue K., Australia
Today I have been thinking along the lines you are. I have students who are in level 2, but with only 1 arrangement because they are proceeding so slowly. Sometimes, 1 note more is all they can handle. I dream of being able to do 8-10 arrangements in one level! But my students are older, and so we go slower.