Jon Broderick, Raskolnikov, and the rest of you guys...

Hi guys, as fellow musicians I'm just curious as to how you feel about teaching music to very young kids (who may have short attention spans) especially when it comes to music?

For years I've been teaching guitar lessons, to mostly teenagers, and to some adults as well. And I enjoy teaching, you know there are a lot of people who feel they can't possibly be inspired by those who possess less knowledge than they have, but on the contrary, because there are so many young aspiring musicians today who just have that natural flair inside of them. Although they lack the proper knowledge to play with their heroes, they sure have a lot of good ideas when it comes to the structure of songwriting.

I've always enjoyed teaching, because I really get a kick oyut of the ideas that my students have come upo with over the past few years, and it's great to just unwind and chat them just to find out what's going on in their heads.

However, with fourth graders, it's a much different story. When it comes to theory, a lot of the times they don't wanna to hear about it, because they feel that the best music today is played naturally, or with just a few chords.

Kids can be brutal, however recently I accepted a job as a music teacher at a school down here in Florida, where I'll be teaching grades four-six. It's a challenge nonetheless, especially when it comes to keeping them interested, and maintaining their enthusiam when it comes to the guitar, and music theory in general.

, So Jon, and the rest of you guys who have perhaps been in this situation, perhaps you could give me some tips on how to hold court, knowing just how much information I should express on the first few sessions? The reason the job was offered to me, because the teachers that I work with know that I have the patience to deal with kids like these. However, I want to try and avoid the evitiable paper airplanes, and those nasty detention slips...

Help me out guys...

-Joseph

Well, as I think back, I remember being quite a little BASTARD in music class.

Anyway, you've got a tough situation on your hands. You have to find some way to make what you want to teach them interesting (or else you're wasting everybody's time), and you have to come off with an aura of authority. I'm not sure how you should go about that. Little kids just naturally like to use me for a jungle gym, but that's about the debth of their interest in me... unless I'm doing something interesting. Just having an electric guitar will get attention, though the best example of what I'm talking about comes when I'm scuba diving, if I'm setting up, tearing down, or just kinda resting between dives, their's going to be a cluster of kids around. Mostly boys though... but we all know how boys like that sort of thing.

The bottom line is that the kids have to find what you're teaching them interesting, otherwise their will never be peace in your classroom. I suggest an army surplus helmet.

I usually give lessons by utilizing my midi and studio equipment. Give the students the opportunity to record themselves or practice scales along to midi tunes, record themselves on cassette so they can take it home and impress their friends etc..
I've found that just handing over my guitar synth to em when I'm teaching basic theory tends to hold their interest a lot more than just sitting there with two guitars and a little practice amp...and if they don't learn their lessons, they don't get to play with the cool stuff.

I once took on the task of teaching a class of about 20 kids, from grades 4 to 7, who had never played before. The human mind has a protective mechanism that causes memory loss during traumatic incidents, so that period of my life is kinda hazy. LOL.

What I do recall, though, was they didn't want to learn scales, or details of technique. They wanted to play a song. I took a big chance and asked them what song they wanted to learn. They agreed on "Proud Mary" by Credence Clearwater Revival. (This about 25 years ago).

Because they had all agreed on that song, they were motivated to learn it, and they helped each other with it. There was a school assembley/PTA meeting a month later. The parents were treated to "Proud Mary" played by a massed chorus of 20 guitars! :D

Good Luck!

You will have to teach them little 3 4 5 note,
fun things.Close incounters,cartoon songs ect.
sometimes most children this age have fun doing,
a Open string power chord useing 1 finger just ,
giving it 4 beats or just beating the heck out of the,
open string and closed note.ha
From teaching along time i find thier not ready,
at that age for basic theory.
Just make sure thier having fun.
You have try to get on thier level and stay there while,
your teaching them.

Mark



[Edited by skee1 on 08-26-2001 at 07:09 PM]

This is funny. I was one of those kids who didn't want to learn theory. After 5 years of lessons I quit and formed a punk band.

it wasn't until years later that someone got me interested in theory. Here's how:

This guy was teaching me songwriting lessons. He showed me a bunch of different songs that sounded different and all have i iv v as their basic progression. Because of this, I could see how songs are put together. I had no idea that all these different-sounding songs are really the same chord pattern.

Then he showed me songs with the really sad minor iv chord, songs with key changes, songs with interesting rhythmic shifts in the lyrics. Pretty soon I was hooked on theory because of this analysis of chord structure in songs. I was hooked on theory because I saw it was useful to me.

If you just teach a kid the circle of 5ths and all these italian words, he will resist because it seems irrelavent. First, teach him why it is useful.

The guy's name is Jai Josefs and he wrote a book called Writing Music for Hit Songs.

Hope this helps.

Jon

I appreciate everyone's thoughts pertaining to this subject matter, and this past week things have gone pretty good. I'm teaching 2-3 times a week, and I got a very enthusiastic reception from the classmates, which is a big improvement from what I understand.

I expressed my love for the guitar, and gave examples between the major and minor chords, showing how they both express different emotions, from happy to sad. And for a bunch of kids who never had any music theory from day one, I basically explained to them why it was important to learn basic theory, and then later on in the week I gradually introduced them to it. I got personal with everyone in the room, it as fun, and hopefully it wasn't just a good first week. Hopefully things will progress in a good way, where honesty pays off.

Thanks once again guys!

-Joseph