What’s the best approach to teaching children?
Part 2:
In part one of “The Best Approach”, we talked about the Chord approach. Generally speaking, this is usually how a typical teacher working in a music shop will teach. We also talked about the pros and cons of this approach as well.
The “Book” approach:
This is when a teacher uses a lesson reference book as the guidelines for lessons for ALL students. Whichever book (mel bay, REH, Berklee Guitar Method, Omni, dozen a day, Troy Stetina, Hanon etc) the teacher uses is the gospel, and his students work through the book from page 1 until completion.
Pros: The student has a very clear idea of what he/she is going to learn, in what order, and can see their progress throughout. The student has a hard copy of lesson materials and what their practice time should be spent doing is clearly laid out. Method books are usually very organized, and approachable. The teacher makes his job easier by putting all of his students into categories by whichever book they fall into (level 1, level 2, etc).
Cons: Material is hit or miss with these books. Some of the music is boring and a snooze, and will bore students. Some of it is too easy for too long, with zero difficulty challenge. A few books are too hard too fast, and unapproachable. Some books spend too much time on note reading. Other books spend too much time on scales. The books are written as a one stop solution for all individuals, and rarely address any one single individual’s needs.
There are more teaching approaches….stay tuned for updates
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