Polyphony: group teaching, busy schedules and phrasing

American Music Teacher, August-Sept, 2006 by Jane Magrath

Q: What are some various aspects of lessons that can be successfully mastered in a group teaching setting and how?

A: Group teaching can provide situations for students to reap wide-ranging benefits through peer learning and can facilitate teacher opportunities for review, reinforcement, presentation of new concepts and other aspects of teaching. Group lessons provide an opportunity for students to assess their own progress in relation to their peer group and in relation to others with similar interests and commitments. Students in a group often learn much from their peers. Since students in today's society are keenly interested in what their peers are doing, a group lesson provides students an opportunity to form a bond with each other through the study of music. These students often remain in music study longer than those individual lessons only. That being said, many teachers are highly successful with teaching only private lessons. Yet the change to teaching in groups (weekly of during selected weeks) can revitalize the teacher, as well as the students involved. Since our teaching careers often span 30-50--or even more years--periods of committed change are essential to keeping us alive and motivated as teachers.

Several schedules for group teaching are proving successful for many teachers today. Especially for the beginning-and early-elementary students in a studio, group lessons that provide a weekly accompaniment to the private (or partner) lesson can be ideal. Often, the group lesson is one hour; the private lesson is 30 minutes, and ideally the student comes for instruction twice during the week. From the beginning, students become accustomed to group interaction and performing. Parental commitment is certainly key. Teachers who work in this format believe whole-heartedly in it based on the growth of their students, the student enthusiasm and successes, and the active learning situations that occur between peers in the group and between teacher and student. I do not know of any teachers who teach weekly groups who regret this arrangement. The biggest issue for most teachers is scheduling, and once that is done at the beginning of the year, the year's schedule is set.

Ideally in this situation, the students are presented with new concepts during the group lesson, and students also perform for each other during the group lesson. Students are at the same or similar level of advancement and usually have the same of similar assignments for the week. They have the advantage of hearing their peers perform the same pieces, and of receiving motivation from the group accomplishments and advancement. They perform each week in front of their friends, and thus learn to perform with ease, security and through frequent practice performing. New concepts are introduced to the group simultaneously and students interact with each other throughout the group lesson. The private lesson is set as a time to work on refinements in the student's playing and to further discuss practice habits with the student.

Group lessons, held weekly, can also serve as a complement to the private lesson for students of similar, but not the same advancement. Here, the key grouping is to combine students of similar age groups, perhaps two consecutive school grades, to work together in a group each week, perhaps for 45 minutes or one hour. In these group situations, a teacher can delve into performance skills, music history, improvisation, technique and other fundamental skills--just as in the situation mentioned for beginners in weekly group/private study. A primary difference is: new concepts for the individual student are usually not introduced in the group lesson (since all students are not moving uniformly through the same materials) but rather are introduced in the private lesson. The emphasis is on reinforcement. Inevitably here too, the students form a bond, are reinforced as to what is expected, and can grow in musical studies with others at their approximate age. Students in this situation still have a weekly private lesson as well.

A third schedule that many teachers follow is to hold group lessons during the fourth week of a month, with no private lessons taught during this week. All students are in an appropriate group, again age being a key factor in the grouping, and students may spend time performing for others in the group setting. Many of these classes may deal with performing for each other and developing listening skills and analytical skills. Additional activities can include the performance of duets and ensemble music, music theory studies, ear training, rhythmic reinforcement, improvisation studies, various drills and games, sight reading activities, jazz activities and additional skills.

Most students will need some private lessons, but the benefits of the group lesson in terms of peer motivation and clarity in what peers are expected to achieve cannot be over-estimated.

Q: When students and parents genuinely want to study music in an independent studio but practice time is so limited by busy schedules, what is the best way to structure practice time?