http://musicmattersblog.com/2009/09/28/monday-mailbag-best-age-student-for-a-beginning-teacher/
Above is a link to an entry in the Music Matters blog which is about what the best age for beginning teachers to work with is. The article mostly pertains to private piano teachers I believe, but the philosophies mentioned by the writer are still interesting. She notes that many non-musicians believe that their children, who are beginning their musical journey, could study and benefit from a less-knowledgeable teacher at first and then, should the child become more serious about the hobby, could “move-up” to a more proficient teacher later. How untrue that is! Beginning students are the most excited they will ever be about creating music because the entire concept is new to them. Young musicians should be placed with teachers that can impress and motivate them to become serious about pursuing the art. Not all teachers have a good understanding of how to work with students of young ages either. It takes commitment and passion to commit to helping the new student grow serious and learn the fundamentals of a new instrument. I’m glad that the author noted this. She feels that it might be recommendable for inexperienced teachers to work with students who have had a number of years of lessons as opposed to working with those who have not played before. She also notes that the personality of the new teacher is also an obvious consideration.
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Damon, what a tricky subject to discuss. As a relatively new private teacher myself, I find that all ages have their difficulties. For my younger students, I strive to make sure that their foundation is solid. For my older students, I hope to help them create music that is meaningful (as well as being technically proficient!). In my opinion, it depends on what the educator feels the most comfortable doing.
ReplyDeleteAh, I think this is a very difficult question to answer unless you're looking on a case by case level. All teachers have to start somewhere. I have met beginning teachers that are much better at what they do than more experienced teachers (in both the private studio and the larger classroom settings). I agree that it's very important for beginning student musicians to have a teacher that will be introducing them to the proper fundamentals and techniques, but the personality of the teacher may be just as important at that age since it's a crucial time to get children excited about learning music. Maybe the answer is to judge the teacher in question's training and demeanor with the student?
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