Video: Teaching is not magic!

“It will just get better over time, you’ll get it”.

What?!

How many times have you heard a music teacher say that? Seems pretty magical to me! Now, don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of magical aspects to music. But when it comes to skill learning, “you’ll just get it” doesn’t cut it!

There is ALWAYS a way to help a student “get” something – besides just waiting for it to mysteriously fall into place.

Although this video is of rough quality, I hope it shows this process at work. It goes like this;

1. Observe – The student plays part of Aardvark Boogie.  She is having trouble in one spot.  Specifically, moving her left hand to a new position quickly enough.

2. Investigate – I help the student break the spot down into its simplest elements – we take out most of the notes and the rhythm.  This is a bit of a diagnosis and concentrated practicing at the same time.

3. Discover – When assembling things back together, I notice one crucial difference between how she plays the spot and how I play it.  I am preparing my left hand one whole beat earlier then she is.

4. Solution! – Bam!  It hits me!  Have her play the notes in the new position one beat early on purpose.  Problem solved!

Enjoy!