Group lessons

[Marcus Richardson]

Hey there folks

Just started teaching group lessons at local college, previously worked with small groups but a class of 15 is a BIG jump in numbers! I have been busy planning for 6 week course for beginners...fingers crossed it has the desired result! Oh yes... i almost forgot to mention those forms I have to fill in to plan lessons. I know that after the first lessons i will have to make some slight alterations to accomadate what most people in the group want.

I'm interested to hear what some of you guys get up to in group lessons and how you may deal with some of the issues related to teaching beginners in large groups.

Regards!

marcus

[Mitchell Folkard]

Depending in what equipment is avaliable you could for small ensembles, i remember back when i was in year seven at school and the music teachers taught a class of 25, most with no experience at all, a simple 12 bar blues pattern starting on the low e string. (0--0-0--0-0--0-5--3-0)x4 then same on A string for 2 bars, after then when it came to the b to A chord change on the A string (2--2-2--2-2--1--0--0-0--0-0--3) then back into E for the remaining, important to note that the (3) at the end of the 2 bars is played on the low E string. Now what made this exercise unique, is the teacher made us split into groups, 1 play bass, one harmony, and one an octave higher on the E bars, if there is some more advanced students in the class encourage them to play chords. But ultimately let the structure of the ensemble be up to the students... ie.they decide when the bass comes in and so forth. Get them to practise in their groups each class for about 10 min at least. Then a couple weeks in when you see improvement encourage each group to play their rendition of the 12 bar blues to the rest of the class, this will build not only their playing ability, but also confidence when performing, and creativity. I hope that helps out a bit.

[Marcus Richardson]

Thanks!



Mitchell Folkard said:

Depending in what equipment is avaliable you could for small ensembles, i remember back when i was in year seven at school and the music teachers taught a class of 25, most with no experience at all, a simple 12 bar blues pattern starting on the low e string. (0--0-0--0-0--0-5--3-0)x4 then same on A string for 2 bars, after then when it came to the b to A chord change on the A string (2--2-2--2-2--1--0--0-0--0-0--3) then back into E for the remaining, important to note that the (3) at the end of the 2 bars is played on the low E string. Now what made this exercise unique, is the teacher made us split into groups, 1 play bass, one harmony, and one an octave higher on the E bars, if there is some more advanced students in the class encourage them to play chords. But ultimately let the structure of the ensemble be up to the students... ie.they decide when the bass comes in and so forth. Get them to practise in their groups each class for about 10 min at least. Then a couple weeks in when you see improvement encourage each group to play their rendition of the 12 bar blues to the rest of the class, this will build not only their playing ability, but also confidence when performing, and creativity. I hope that helps out a bit.