Private Teaching: Developing a Curriculum of Study

[Kennedy]

I am about to begin my first very serious teaching experience in a private setting. I am currently student teaching at a local high school and have recruited around seven trumpet players from the high school and middle schools that I will start instructing next week. Where do start? How do you educators/teachers develop a curriculum of study for every one of your students? Is there a "spinal column" of core literature and exercises you use to train and inspire young musicians on the trumpet?
_________________
Andrew Kennedy
University of Southern Mississippi
Trumpet Graduate Assistant

[jwtrumpet]

First off, Congrats on getting to student teaching! So many people don't get to it or decide that they would rather graduate without a license. The fact that you decided to follow through is really great. We need more great music teachers in our education system!

I seem a little bit confused about what exactly you will be doing with this trumpet group. Will you leading sectional rehearsals, starting your own studio, or leading group study (masterclass style)? There are the usual method books that can be used for all sorts of trumpet playing issues, and would likely serve you well. Standard rep and methods should not be ignored. Perhaps a good idea is to share exercises, books, and literature that worked well for you in your program. The literature you have most experience with will likely be the easiest to teach.

I would also suggest that you first figure out what exactly you want to accomplish with these students. Do they need to focus on their playing, or becoming more musically literate? Some curriculum decisions might become more clear when you evaluate the needs of every student.

It would be interesting to follow up on your process. Feel free to message me whenever you like. I will hopefully be teaching in 2013 after I get my masters and it would be cool to see how you've progressed.
_________________
-Jon Wysong

Schilke P5-4 piccolo trumpet
Lawler Ps1 - Bb and C
Selmer Paris Chorus 80j

MM Trumpet Performance Univ. of Louisville

[trpthrld]

[rockford]

[Matthew Anklan]

Teach to the student. If you have an agenda, you'll never see what the student needs. Show the students the way by example. How did YOU become the player you are? Instill those habits and the work ethic in them.
_________________
Matt Anklan

www.matthewanklan.com

[BJones]

As someone who just completed student teaching and graduated myself, finding where to start with private students can be tough. You may feel that there are so many things that they need to fix and develop, but I recommend starting with their sound. Teach them to sound better, and to produce better sounds with less physical effort (or greater ease). This is the basic foundation of great trumpet playing in my opinion. After they have this starting to move in the right direction, you can start to include more musical concepts (especially rhythm) and advanced technique into your teaching. The sound stuff is very important; once they have a solid foundation, you can start to build other concepts on top of it.

Also, I have to agree with Mr. Anklan, that if you have a concrete agenda, it will impair you from addressing what the student needs. I would say, that you need a general roadmap, but you need to use your ears and your eyes to see and hear what they are doing, and lead them to a better result. Don't completely focus on what worked for you; use what works for them. If something isn't working, leave it and try something else. You could come back to revisit it in the future.

I myself grade each of my students on each lesson, and I assign listening (jazz, trumpet literature, and classical music) each week. The listening helps them develop their sound, and augments your teaching quite a bit, and it gives them a better idea of what direction they what to go in. If they like jazz more; great, teach them more jazz oriented stuff. If they like classical more; great, teach them more classical oriented stuff.


Hope this helps!

BJones
_________________
BM: Music Education, CWU

Bach 37/25; Bach 229/25H; Schilke E3L; Schilke P7-4; Kanstul 925 Flugel
Bach 1.5C, Reeves 43D/1.5 rim, Bach 7E, Curry 1.5F, Curry 3Z

[Crazy Finn]

Some great responses, here.

I admit that my initial response was along the lines of Mr. Wendt, here.

[royjohn]

Hi all,

Tim, I have the greatest respect for you as a player and teacher and I really value your many sensible helpful comments here at TH. In this particular instance I think your challenge might help stiffen the OP's spine, but if you are really suggesting he shouldn't be teaching, then I am curious as to what your minimum qualifications would be.

Tennessee Tech is a very good school to attend if you are interested in brass performance or teaching. The curriculum for a Music Ed Major, which the OP is, is given here:

http://catalog.tntech.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=3&poid=390&returnto=search

If you and the other discussants here took the trouble to look at this program of study you'd see the OP is about four months from graduation and has had some pretty good general preparation for teaching middle and high school students. He's in his second semester of student teaching and is talented enough or charismatic enough or whatever to attract seven students out of those with whom he works. These are facts. From here on we have to make some assumptions or get some more data from Andrew. He's had a course on teaching band lessons (another fact) but needs help in applying what he's learned to individual lessons. He quite possibly has more knowledge than he thinks and is a bit anxious about his first attempt to teach private lessons for real money outside the school situation. Some of you teachers should remember that and be able to empathize and offer helpful advice.

I have a background in psychology (doctorate and 33 years' experience) and I will share some thoughts here and others in a PM. I don't teach trumpet, but I may at some point because there is a developing body of literature in psychology about how we learn to play music and I think I would have something to offer from that perspective. I would, and the OP should, be careful not to attempt what he is not competent to teach.

I think there are some very important caveats for any trumpet teacher in order to "first do no harm." There are things you shouldn't teach to avoid developing bad embouchure habits and some kids need cautions about these. Many teachers know these, but, judging from what I read here, many others, some Juilliard graduates and teaching pros, do not know them all. For example, I run into more bad info than good here for teaching folks with a natural upstream embouchure.

Beyond that, some kids need to be left alone embouchure wise and others can be helped to form an embouchure a correct way if they have trouble with this. Crazy Nate had a great post on this sometime back and another fellow who uses coffee straws had another, but it will take me a while to find these.

Once you are sure you aren't going to harm somebody's lips and basic embouchure, at least 50% of what you do do is inspiring and motivating. A young player has an advantage in this as he's an older brother figure and can share his excitement at his developing playing and more easily serve as an approachable role model than some of us older folks.
There's lots more that could be said about this . . . .

Empathy skills and being a genuine person are key in any individual teaching effort. Think of the teacher you admire most. He or she probably knew what you were thinking before you did and, if not, probing questions were asked to track where you were at any given moment. How does the student think about music. What does he want? Does challenge or encouragement motivate him? Does he want you close in (physically and emotionally) or a little more distant? Does he respond to emotion or thinking? Is he a visual and/or auditory and/or kinesthetic learner? Spontaneous or methodical. Does he muscle or finesse the horn? Which would be better for him?

Where is the student musically? If you opened up Arban, where would you start him? What are his goals ---how hard does he expect to work and for what? Can you inspire him, over time, to aim for more? Who is paying for the lessons and what do they expect? What kind of music does the student like, want to play.

What does the student know about how to practice . . . . how much to play, rest, how to practice a piece, how not to practice mistakes? With a young middle or high school student, what is he playing on and does he need help with his horn or mpc? Does he have a time(s) to practice that works in his family and allows him to feel good about playing and able to hear himself? Does he have a recorder to use and would he? A tuner?

This is not as systematic as I'd like, but it is a start. There are a number of threads here on what books to play and, for more advanced students, Bolvin's Arban Manual and even his Jazz book might assist the OP in assigning lessons. I'm sure there are other guides. Perhaps the OP already has some from his coursework and his own private lessons. It would be great if he had a teacher who would help him develop as a teacher as well as a player.

Lastly (and I wish I'd paid more attention to this in my professional life) don't ever let fear of making waves or money considerations prevent you from telling someone they need to step up or they are wasting their money or time. I wouldn't do this after a week when student dogged it, but I wouldn't let one go on and on thinking they were doing what they needed to do when they weren't.

Charge based on some combination of what you think you're worth and what the going rate is for your level of experience. As a almost new BM, you're not Chris Gekker or Dave Bilger, but you may be better than some band directors who teach trumpet but really shouldn't and you can probably figure this out if you pay attention to what's happening in your town and to what students who've had other teachers tell you.

Good luck. I look forward to learning something from the rest of this discussion. I hope some of this is helpful and not too much of it is dead wrong, but I'm sure someone will tell me if it is and some will tell me it is even if it isn't . . . .
_________________
royjohn
Trumpets: 1928 Holton Llewellyn Model, 1957 Holton 51LB, 2010 Custom C by Bill Jones, 2011 Custom D/Eb by Bill Jones
Flugels: 1975 Olds Superstar, 1970's Elkhardt, 1970's Getzen 4 valve
Cornet: 1970's Yamaha YCR-233S . . . and others . . .

[MrGBand]

I have a decent amount of success teaching private MS and HS students so I will share how I approach the private lesson.

First - Every student starts with a structured warm-up routine I have written out. It involves basic fundamentals - moving longtones, Tongue reps (2 notes, 3 notes then 5), Lip slurs, Scales/arpeggios. Advanced kids I will extend into the Stamp book.

Second - Asses where the students are and put them in a method book(s). Young kids I tend to use the Walter Beeler book unless they have natural range, then Elem rubank. MS kids I mostly start in the Intermediate Runbank, end of elem rubank if necessary. This all tracts to Clarke/Arbans. HS kids who come to me and are ready I put right in Clarke/Arban (some spend some time in Rubank first). Usually after Rubank Intermediate the serious MS/HS kids are ready for Clarke/Arbans. Some of the less serious students I continue into the Runbak Advanced.

Third - Musical things. Etudes that are age appropriate, Sig Herring 40 studies, Getchell (sp?) 1 +2, Clarke. This is also where I will work in Jazz playing with something like Jazz conceptions or solos for auditions, ensemble music etc.....

Hope this helps
_________________
Bb Yamaha YTR 8335R 20th Anniversary
1947 NY Bach M
C Bach 239/Blackburn 19 pipe and slide
Pic Yahama 6810s

[Kennedy]

Thanks for all of these great responses. Just so everyone know and no one tells me I have any busy teaching...I had a fantastic trumpet teacher at Tennessee Tech. He took me from a mediocre high school trumpet player to the top of his studio at the university. I'm not clueless, I just have a lot of ideas and techniques and was wondering if there was a general launch pad from which private trumpet teaching starts. Something that I have learned since I started my student teaching is that we all were beginners at one point and it used to be hard, even for you, so don't pretend it wasn't. You can't ever forget what it was like when it was the most difficult thing you've ever done.

Anyway, I wonder if there are any basics things that everyone covers in ever lesson, no matter what, or do you find the specific target for that week and work until it is improved and then move on? I know in my personal experience, I had lip and mouthpiece buzzing exercises, lip slurs, articulation studies, lyrical etudes, technique studies, solo lit, and transposition practice, ever lesson, every week, for four and a half years. Anyone have a similar experience and have applied it to their private teaching?
_________________
Andrew Kennedy
University of Southern Mississippi
Trumpet Graduate Assistant

[rockford]

[Billy B]

There is no curriculum. There is standard literature and the teaching of fundamentals.
_________________
Bill Bergren
Obstacles are what appear when you take your eye off of the goal.
www.synergyjazz.org

[pepperdean]

A good teacher tailors the lessons to the student's needs. The best thing you can do is to arm yourself well with lots of techniques and experience. Keep learning and adding to your arsenal of teaching tools. If you do this, you will be able to readily adapt your strategies to each individual. Continuing the quest toward personal improvement will give you a natural enthusiasm that will be infectious and will motivate your students.

I've been successfully teaching for over forty years and I never know exactly what I'm going to teach until I see what each student presents. Once the needs are identified, I'm ready to choose the appropriate instruction and practice that will be best.

Alan

[Nos Mo King]

1). Don't Panic

2). Sight read every day. More reading is better than less.

3). Keep energy high in the lesson,

4). With that many students, I recommend recording the progress in a journal,

5). Burn a CD of every lesson and give it to your students.

6). Don't Panic

All the best.
_________________
Russ Chapman




______________________________
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

[kylesherman]

as someone who recently got out of grad school and started teaching, i know what you mean about having a lot of ideas and not knowing where to start. i have a 50 student studio in dallas, from beginners to seniors in hs. some of my kids are just in it for fun, others want to play the horn for a living. i was sort of nervous at first, now i'm having a blast. a lot of the people in this forum are giving great advice. it's our job to communicate how making music is awesome and help the kids figure out what they want and how to attain it. remember that they're still developing as young human beings, so you're equally a trumpet pedagogue, music appreciation teacher and mentor. have fun and you'll be great.

[JoseLindE4]

[kylesherman]

and if you run into craig watson tell him i said hey.

[robertgrier]

One of the first things in assessing what the student needs. Of course the sound. Are they using the air properly. Are they tonguing properly. Look at their posture. Work on fundamentals. Go to a music store with a lot of method books and look through them. I written out a lot of exercises when I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Most of all be supportive. When I need to correct a student I always say somwthing postive about their playing or about them. No good come from making a student feel dumb.
_________________
Bob Grier
An Old Pro
Web Cam lessons for trumpet and jazz improvisation
www.bobgriermusic.com
bgrierjr@triad.rr.com

[bagmangood]

I'm not a trumpet teacher, but the book "The Inner Game of Tennis" might help you with working with students if you're working with them for the first time. (And don't worry that its about tennis, its the concepts that matter, the details don't)

[chrisf3000]

!. Sound
2. Rhythm
3. Pitch

These are three of the big fundamentals of playing, IMHO. If you start here with each student basically tailoring their own lesson, you should be off to a good start. Work on a good sound concept, have a metronome and tuner handy and demonstrate.

It may take you a semester or two to hit even a hint of a "stride", but you will find your groove as a teacher eventually through experience. Most teachers I know became good teachers through experience. You might have learned the concepts of teaching, but until you are actually in the trenches...

Also, I second being positive. Good luck, and post your experiences so others can learn!