Amongst the many things I have learnt at the RNCM, our weekend spent in Scotland with the Michaels and the ABRSM teacher’s conference, is that the ability to teach is not simply an act of passing information from one person to another.
It is something that involves the complexity of person to person interaction, thoughtfulness, and a dynamic and imaginative engagement between student and teacher. I have never consciously thought of teaching in this way before, and now I strongly believe that it is something that needs to be taught: how to teach. I think the common misconception is that teaching music is something for those who failed to become concert soloists or orchestral musicians. So there is a lack of pride and commitment associated with being a music teacher. I am simply speaking from my experience, and I am not discounting the many incredible and dedicated teachers who are out there, and who have really made it their life’s work to perfect the art of teaching.
There are many practical aspects to teaching that I am learning about. These are simple things but they make a huge difference. For example, I never felt that planning your lessons in advance was an integral part of teaching. It seems obvious, but one can easily get away without doing it in a teaching situation where you don’t have a curriculum to follow, this is especially true for part-time and private teaching. Yes, I would mentally prepare what I was going to do with my students, but looking back I realise that that approach lacked a clear sense of progression and improvement, for both me and my students. Simply setting up a month to month plan, on paper, with the necessary resources, is a reliable way to keep yourself and your students moving forward. The importance of music-making away from sheet music and using singing, body percussion, and improvisation instead, has really been emphasised at all my teaching classes and workshops. Lessons should be fun and creative, and a student should leave the lesson with a sense of achievement, no matter what level they are at.
Our weekend in Scotland with Richard and Morag Michael was strongly focused on teaching jazz to beginner groups and preparing students for an ABRSM jazz exam, which gave us useful insight into the exam process as well. Richard Michael never allowed us to forget that learning and playing jazz is mainly about the ‘feel’ and the ‘groove’, and he started off our first session rather unusually by having us jump up and down to a jazz song. The weekend was an enlightening and emotional experience for me, as I was confronted with many of my own inadequacies as a musician (and a teacher), but at the same time I was also inspired by the passion and dedication the Michaels have for jazz education. Thanks to the little time spent with them, and the jazz courses I am taking at the RNCM, I am starting to feel that this jazz thing is no longer a mysterious and exclusive art form. But something that can be learnt by anyone given they have the interest and will to do so. For myself, I have to first learn how to play (and feel) jazz, in order for me to teach it to others. These lessons that approach jazz from a basic beginner level are really proving helpful to me. Slowly but surely things are making more sense. But I have a long way to go still.
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