Michelle
Two weeks ago, on Sunday afternoon at the Urbana Middle School, where our church was celebrating its 18th anniversary (which is another story,) 7-yr old Michelle turned to me, when I happened to be standing behind her, and said her parents had talked about asking me to teach her violin. Hmmm… interesting. I responded something to the effect that she should talk to her parents about it, and I’ll just wait till they ask me. She went directly to her dad, and just a few minutes later he came over to ask me. How to make that work has been strong in my mind and prayers ever since then. By God’s grace, I want to do it.
How to structure my next studio for teaching violin is constantly on my mind anyway. Since Peggy and I joined a company that gets us home weekends, I have thought about starting a program on weekends. To do it right would present special challenges and commitment. What I have in mind is a group setting in which fundamentals of music would be taught using psaltery, recorder, singing and rhythm instruments to begin with. Psaltery and recorder are very accessible and would yield quick results. Anyone can make music almost immediately on these instruments. Singing is the most natural way to make music. Rhythm & beat provide the framework on which to “hang” the music. So - I want to use these various ‘routes’ to build a foundation before ‘graduating’ to violin. The fist few songs and rhythms we would work on would be the same songs that would be learned on violin but in a different key, by the time we add the violin, many aspects of the music would be accomplished already. That’s the plan…
Logistically, because our time off is so limited, I can’t commit to traveling anywhere regularly on a Saturday, so it would be necessary to meet at my home. Generally, in this season of my work-life, I expect to be home only 3 weekends per month, so I can only offer lessons 2 or 3 times per month. The other advantage to meeting at home is that I have many resources collected in my music room. I’d like to get started teaching Michelle if we can work out the logistics. So, I will have to talk to her parents about these parameters. I had thought of the possibility of meeting sometime on Sunday in Carbondale, since we are there anyway on Sundays. I don’t rule it out, but I suspect it would not be the most conducive time for learning because Sundays are already so full. Still open to discussion…
I feel like a scientist doing experiments. It is not certain that all these plans will ‘take.’ That’s okay. With every new student I hope (s)he will catch the vision and fall in love with violin or great music in general, which seems to happen less than half the time. I see part of my job as provider of inspiration. I have seen many kids quickly identify with violin, get professional studio photos made with the violin, etc. But it may very well be that after learning fundamentals of music, a child may be fascinated by some other instrument - piano, brass, woodwind, percussion, cello, string bass… That’s great! Concerning beginners, parents and teacher should be on the lookout for indications of what the child may be naturally drawn to. I’ve known of students who got pretty far into violin and then switched to cello or guitar or singing - could be any other aspect of music. In that case the experience on violin is not lost; much of the violin experience transfers to any other instrument. It’s common for musicians to learn piano and 1 or 2 other instruments.
Another idea I have is to send home listening assignments every week - CD’s loaned from my collection - various styles of music for violin,/fiddle, orchestra or any other great music. I like to set performance goals, so we should be on the lookout for places to perform the songs being learned on psaltery, recorder and violin - nursing home, church, home-recital… This is most effective if done only when the student has prepared well and is confident of being able to make good music - in a group situation at first. One other part of inspiration is finding concerts to attend such as Paducah Symphony. Of course SIU Music School produces a constant stream of performances.
Next step is to discuss how and when to get Michelle started - one on one.
How to structure my next studio for teaching violin is constantly on my mind anyway. Since Peggy and I joined a company that gets us home weekends, I have thought about starting a program on weekends. To do it right would present special challenges and commitment. What I have in mind is a group setting in which fundamentals of music would be taught using psaltery, recorder, singing and rhythm instruments to begin with. Psaltery and recorder are very accessible and would yield quick results. Anyone can make music almost immediately on these instruments. Singing is the most natural way to make music. Rhythm & beat provide the framework on which to “hang” the music. So - I want to use these various ‘routes’ to build a foundation before ‘graduating’ to violin. The fist few songs and rhythms we would work on would be the same songs that would be learned on violin but in a different key, by the time we add the violin, many aspects of the music would be accomplished already. That’s the plan…
Logistically, because our time off is so limited, I can’t commit to traveling anywhere regularly on a Saturday, so it would be necessary to meet at my home. Generally, in this season of my work-life, I expect to be home only 3 weekends per month, so I can only offer lessons 2 or 3 times per month. The other advantage to meeting at home is that I have many resources collected in my music room. I’d like to get started teaching Michelle if we can work out the logistics. So, I will have to talk to her parents about these parameters. I had thought of the possibility of meeting sometime on Sunday in Carbondale, since we are there anyway on Sundays. I don’t rule it out, but I suspect it would not be the most conducive time for learning because Sundays are already so full. Still open to discussion…
I feel like a scientist doing experiments. It is not certain that all these plans will ‘take.’ That’s okay. With every new student I hope (s)he will catch the vision and fall in love with violin or great music in general, which seems to happen less than half the time. I see part of my job as provider of inspiration. I have seen many kids quickly identify with violin, get professional studio photos made with the violin, etc. But it may very well be that after learning fundamentals of music, a child may be fascinated by some other instrument - piano, brass, woodwind, percussion, cello, string bass… That’s great! Concerning beginners, parents and teacher should be on the lookout for indications of what the child may be naturally drawn to. I’ve known of students who got pretty far into violin and then switched to cello or guitar or singing - could be any other aspect of music. In that case the experience on violin is not lost; much of the violin experience transfers to any other instrument. It’s common for musicians to learn piano and 1 or 2 other instruments.
Another idea I have is to send home listening assignments every week - CD’s loaned from my collection - various styles of music for violin,/fiddle, orchestra or any other great music. I like to set performance goals, so we should be on the lookout for places to perform the songs being learned on psaltery, recorder and violin - nursing home, church, home-recital… This is most effective if done only when the student has prepared well and is confident of being able to make good music - in a group situation at first. One other part of inspiration is finding concerts to attend such as Paducah Symphony. Of course SIU Music School produces a constant stream of performances.
Next step is to discuss how and when to get Michelle started - one on one.
posted by Trucking Fiddler at 1:30 PM
2 Comments:
Always scheming, like my friend Jim. Are you still coming to my humble crib next week? Let's see. Room and board for 4 days and 3 nights ... only $500!
As it turns out, it won't work out for me to teach Michelle at this time... That's fine; I'm busy enough, but I need to make time to teach someone! The urge is boiling inside and I need to find subjects to inspire and shape into my way of thinking - about music!
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