Teaching Foundation Levels and Streams
Found in: Accompaniment, Arrangements & Variations, Composition & Improvisation, Shared Lessons, Student Management
Marina G., New Jersey
I recently received materials on Accompaniment, Accompaniment variations and Reading Rhythm, and found all of them very good. Actually, my adult (recent retiree) was so excited when with CFG set she could play several familiar Christmas songs almost at once, “Can you believe it, the same three stupid chords!” is her interpretation.
My question is, how do we correlate these into main track, Foundation? Do you stop introducing new songs from Foundation lessons, only keep reviewing and adding variation/arrangements here and there, while moving more aggressively into accompaniment, or add accompaniment assignments little by little while progressing with foundation in a regular manner? Or shifting them more or less evenly, e.g. lesson of foundation, less of accompaniment etc.?
I understand there might be different patterns of doing both, and I’d like to hear of what a “good” pattern is and what might be less productive.
Also, giving different students same materials in different proportions makes me feeling disorganized and I’m afraid they might too.
Robin Keehn, Washington
I’m glad you’ve started introducing Accompaniment in your lessons. The Accompaniment program is truly one of the “gems” of the Simply Music program.
You do want to teach Accompaniment, Arrangements, Comp and Improv right alongside the Foundation Level pieces you are teaching. Here is how I plan my lessons based on an illustration from Neil:
Neil draws a big square on the white board. Inside the square he draws a large circle that touches every edge of the square. Neil says the square represents the lesson time. The circle represents the foundation piece you are teaching. There are four corners that are not touched by the circle and that is where you put hearing the playlist, teaching a part of an arrangement, working on Comp and Improv and teaching Accompaniment, etc. Of course, that circle can expand or contract at any given moment during a lesson!
Anyway, I have always used this illustration to help me plan my lessons. I focus on the Foundation Piece (that doesn’t mean that I teach the whole piece on any given week) but I always teach multiple projects. Every week I do a part of an arrangement, cover some aspect of accompaniment, listen to a composition project or teach or give students an assignment in this area, and so forth. It takes a lot of time management and the ability to be flexible. It also requires that you have some way of keeping track of all of the “streams” so that nothing is forgotten.
This multiple project approach has many benefits including developing well-rounded musicians. It can also help you manage groups where not all students are progressing at exactly the same speed.
It does come with some management challenges but it well worth the time and energy it takes. As a teacher of Simply Music I can say that I am never bored or that I don’t have enough to do with my students!
I hope that helps, Marina. Feel free to reach out if you want more clarification. And, there is a brief audio recording about managing teaching multiple projects in the Teacher Reference Library on the Teacher Intranet.
Cindy B., Illinois
I believe that some of the learning involved in Accompaniment could be described as a prerequisite to reading, even though it’s not actually described that way in the teacher training. Being able to follow the page without getting lost is an invaluable skill that only gets harder as your students progress into the reading programs, and having ACC 1 under their belts only makes the transition into reading easier. The Acc Variations program supplies an equally important stepping stone into reading rhythm, and playing with a strong sense of down beat and rhythmic freedom.
Hilary C., Australia
I believe the learning emanating from the Accomp program is fundamental to all else that happens in terms of understanding what one sees on a score. Knowing those root position chords and their inter-relationships (initially 1-1V- V) is backbone stuff. In terms of how much and when – that’s a teacher’s judgment call related to the student, and they all move at their own rate.