A Safe Space

My goal with all students, regardless of their age or instrument, is to activate their own internal desire to learn and play music, while having fun in the process. Each student is different and there are many different learning styles. But all students need to feel safe so that they are willing to take risks; to try new things and to make mistakes. This is an essential part of learning, so creating the appropriate atmosphere for learning is always the first step. Once that trusting relationship and safe space is established, it also needs to be maintained.

Reading Music

All of my students learn to read music. I have taught many adult students who initially declared they would be unable to read music. Parents have also been wary that reading music would be too cumbersome or frustrating for their child. Some worried that because their child had special needs they would not be able to learn traditional musical notation.  I have taught students with a variety of special needs and they are all able to read music – the mistake many teachers make is throwing too much at the student too quickly. Learning music is learning a new language; it takes time and there needs to be repetition and patience. Students need to master certain notes before moving onto others. Over the years, I have worked on creating an approach to reading music that I have found to be very successful. It is also a flexible approach that I can modify to accommodate all learning styles.