Music Teacher

Learning an instrument is one of the most enjoyable activites you can do - it creates a sense of fulfilment and of pride. It can get tough at times with practicing and learning never ending pieces of information.The best way to learn an instrument is to find a music teacher. In fact the best way to learn anything in life is to find a tutor and to take on the task head on and learn from actually doing.People say that you learn from your mistakes – partyl true due to the fact you know what NOT to do but I believe there is a key point missed here – at least you are actually DOING something.A teacher is someone to show you the path, the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. At the end of the day they know what they are doing and talking about – you probably don’t – and its because of this, the fact that you put all of your trust into your teacher, that you should be very carefull about ensuring the teacher you choose is up for the job.Here is some advice on choosing your teacher and what to look out for.1. Previous Experience.It is essential that your teacher has previous experience. There are two types that count – performing experience and teaching experience. It is important that your music teacher is actually a musician – the best reason I can think of why is this – imagine instead of learning an instrument you want to learn how to scuba dive. Would you let yourself be taught by someone who has studied diving from books but never actually been under the water?If your teacher shows that he has performed music it gives you some guarantee that they are of a high enough standard musically – chances are they wouldent of been hired if they couldn’t play their instrument.The second is teaching experience. After discussing how it is important for your teacher to of actually been involved in music it is also important that the have experience in teaching music.Teaching is a completely different art to performing. Most musicians tell me that they learn more through teaching than they do from any other source - when you teach you instantly reveal your own weak points.The opposite of this is true as well actually – how many times have you heard someone who recently passed there driving test say ‘you don’t learn how to drive until your out on the road on your own – after your lessons and test’ (This carries over to a future article – Why performing is critical to your progress as a musician.)So – make sure your teacher is both a musician and a teacher.2. Attitude.Often people ask for character references – estate agents, employers – most people looking to hire someone. This is also true for finding a music teacher.The hardest part about teaching is surcumming the frustration of ‘well I know how to do it, why cant they’.Learning is much easier in a friendly environment – did you ever notice that the teachers that had a laugh and were fun often taught you the most? In human nature it is common to be stubborn and resilient and it is a teachers personality and charcter that helps connect with you therefore making the experience enjoyable thus increasing the productivity of your lesson.Although it is not generally goin to be possible to get a reference from a teacher but use your first lesson as a trial. Get to know your teacher a bit and get a general feel for the lesson – if you have fun and enjoyed every minute then you’ve probably found a good teacher character rather than if it was drab and boring.If you can talk to some of your prospective teachers other students. See if they enjoy their lessons and what there overall comments are.3. Flexability.Again tis covers more than one topic – flexability as a musician and as a teacher.In the long term you are going to begin expanding your musicality. For example – wood wind players generally begin learning one instrument, maybe clarinet or saxophone. Eventually, and if thy want to pursue music, they will begin learning other woodwind instruments as it is common for, say for instance a saxophone player, to play clarinet, flute even through to oboe and bassoon.Because of this you are going to want a teacher that can provide this in the long term. After months and years of lessons with your teacher you wont want to find that in order to progress further you need to find a new teacher and again begin to creat the bond that you would of developed with your current teacher.Positive things to look out for are:• If yor teacher still has lessons and practices (even the most professional musicians still have lessons – see the beginning of my article – Practicing music – what to do outside of your private music lessons to find out how it is impossible to learn and master every aspect of music)• If your teacher teaches more than one instrument (be wary of teachers that teach, for instance, trumpet and flute – whilst musicians do end up playing completely irrelevant instruments they generally will stick to teaching their primary instrument.)• If your teacher is still an active musician – this is a gray area because where it is easy to assume that your teacher, not an active musician maybe is not good enough to perform music, it is possible that your teacher prefers teaching than performing. The benefit if they are still an active musician is again they will be learning constantly and they will still be an active teacher during this period.To a lesser extent the other flexibility to look out for is there organisation in regards to lessons. It is possitivly adviced that regular lessons – or regular anything – is good for you. Regular exercise keeps you healty, regular sleep keeps you alert and regular lessons help improve your musical playing.If your teacher will constantly phone up to re-arrange or misses lessons or is late for your lessons it will have a negative effect on you. Pshycologically the fact that you havnt got into a routine with your lessons and the fact that you keep getting let down will make you less enthusiastic towards your music lessons.So find a teacher that offers many years of tuition rather than a limited number of months and someone who will keep regular dates and hold his promises of this dates and times.Hopefully this article will give you some food for thought if you decide to find a music teacher and just remember that unless you are enjoying and learning your instrument – maybe you need a new teacher.

Practice makes perfect. These three words are heard every day and time after time these words are ignored. But why? Music is such a vast subject that for anyone, even the professionals, mastering it is near impossible. With years of work one can be very knowledgeable in specific areas of music but it would take more than a lifetime to fully understand every aspect of an instrument or music theory.With that in mind hopefully people should start to understand that having a one hour lesson once a week is not even close to enough to gain substantial progress and development on a musical instrument. This series of articles offer tips on practicing music which will hopefully demonstrate the benefits, enjoyment and fulfilment that can be gained through practicing music.1. Goals are key. It is human nature to take pride in reaching a goal whether a promotion at work or winning a competition. If you have a set goal to reach you will be more willing to put in the work required to achieve it. Some examples of goals could be to learn the latest song you’ve fallen in love with, to be able to sight read in a certain key, to develop faster, more technical playing or to reach a certain exam grade before a certain period.2. Little often is better than a lot occasionally. One key point to remember is that repetion is the quickest way to learn something due to your brain and muscles ability to develop and store a so called ‘muscle memory’. It will take a substantially longer time to learn and retain your new knowledge if you practice for a long period but only occasionally. See tip 3 on how to easily incorporate regular practice sessions into your daily routine.Another benefit of practicing a little often is that your concentration levels are kept up throughout your practice session. Brass players will understand this the most – after playing a trumpet or any brass instrument for approximately an hour your lips start to feel numb which in turn begins to restrict your playing abilities. The knock on effect of this is that the longer you practice without a break, the more harm ultimately you will cause yourself – both mentally and physically – it will knock your spirit and could even do damage to your embouchure. Obviously this applies to all instrument groups; as is well documented repetitive strain injury is common among musicians. The primary cause of this is improper technique but as the name implies too much repetition through a movement can create serious effects. Therefore if you are practicing for longer periods be sure to take regular breaks – 5 to 10 minutes for every 50 minutes for adults and 10 to 15 minutes for every 25 minutes for children.3. Routine. Imagine this – every morning you wake up, maybe make a cup of coffee or sort through the post and eventually at some point you will go to the sink and brush your teeth. Now most people do this without any thought – it is just something that gets done. This is the effect of getting into a routine. If you set aside a time each day to practice, away from distractions if possible, you will get into this routine making it much easier to practice, it becomes a part of your day to day life.4. Practice with a partner. Most humans love competition – especially if you know you are the winner – and by tapping into this you’re making your practice session less of a chore and more of a game. Set challenges between you both and find some reward for the winner. The other benefits are that you gain an outsiders opinion and criticism on your playing, the opportunity to practice duets and you will have some company rather than being locked away in your bedroom.This is just a glimpse at the different methods you can adopt to improve your practice and in the next article I will demonstrate some more music based tips to help you improve; using a metronome to develop your internal body clock, a fun method for scales and arpeggios and how and why you should be incorporating sight reading and music theory into your practice sessions.For now just focus on your desires and on the reasons why you started music and give the tips above some thought.

Music is such a powerful force, it creates deep emotions in humans - it is played at weddings for happiness, in horror films and during war for fear and at home for happiness and because of this lends itself to relaxation, stress relief and health therapy - and the connection between music, body, and soul has even been shown to improve physical and mental health. Skills such as working in teams, communication, self-esteem, creative thinking, calmer attitudes, imagination, discipline, study skills and invention are learnt and improved through the study of music and by focusing on the fact that young children are mostly highly receptive to pitch and rhythm - one of the main ways a child learns its language - that we can drive education in music to children to help them with benefits ranging success in society and in life. “We believe the skills the arts teach -creative thinking, problem-solving, risk-taking, teamwork and communications - are precisely the tools the workforce of tomorrow will need. If we don't encourage students to master these skills through quality arts instruction today, how can we ever expect them to succeed in their highly competitive business careers tomorrow?"-Richard GurinChief Executive Officer, Binney and Smith, maker of Crayola crayons Music is a part of our society and a part of all communities - every human culture uses music to carry forward its ideas and ideals. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to developing greed and a selfish attitude, provides bridges across different cultures that lead to a respect of other races at an early age.Music has a great value to our economy - it creates jobs, increase's tax base, boosts tourism and spurs growth in related businesses. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace such as teamwork skills and discipline - during musical performances all members must work together to create the sounds they wish to achieve and for this regular practice is also required. Music favors working and ‘doing’ as opposed to observing, and these are the ethics employers are looking for.Because of music's ability to relax, calm and heal, and its optimal platform for emotions, the involvement with music helps to carve brighter attitudes - more optimism towards the future, less TV and non productive activities, low use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs and desire to develop individual abilities.Music requires study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills and as these are learnt and developed they expand the student’s abilities in other academic areas and help them become better students. - Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. — College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The CollegeEntrance Examination Board, 2001.The discipline of music, particularly through participation in ensembles, helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior - According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” — Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992.. Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music in the brain. Scientists say that children who are exposed to music or those who play an instrument do better in school than those who don't. Recent research suggests exposure to music may benefit a child's reading age, IQ and the development of certain parts of the brain.It can be shown that some measures of a child’s intelligence are increased with music instruction - a connection between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things) helps people to visualize and imagine solutions. This helps people to solve problems creatively and is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for solving mathematical problems and even general daily tasks.“The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling--training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.” — Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001. Along with mental development music study can support the brains physical development - it has been indicated that musical training physically develops the parts of the brain known to be involved with processing language and reasoning, and can actually wire the brain's circuits in specific ways. Memory can be improved through the linking of familiar songs with objects just as linking images can - past memories and emotions can be triggered by audio."Why arts in education? Why education at all? The purpose of education is not simply to inform but to enrich and enlighten, to provide insights into life as it has been led and as it may be led. No element of the curriculum is better suited to that task than arts education."-David KearnsNow retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Xerox CorporationIdeally we want our children to experience “success” throughout life itself. The benefits may be psychological, spiritual and physical and with the challenge of making life meaningful and fulfilled and to reach a higher state of development by participating in music we develop self expression which in turn leads to self esteem – ultimately helping us to succeed at these challenges.“Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the ‘incredible marvel’ of being a human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds like a good cause for making music an integral part of every child’s education. Studying music and the arts elevates children’s education, expands students’ horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder of life.” — U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.ConclusionMusic is a powerful tool and as seen can dramatically improve and enrich everybody. It makes sense to push music education and to allow young generations to gain these wonderful benefits - higher intelligence through increased creative thinking, problem solving and physically stronger brains, a higher perception of life including better attitudes, strong desires to achieve and fulfil and higher self esteem, better developed discipline, study skills, concentration, communication and team skills which transfer from education through to career and a better understanding of communities and society