Polyphony - Professional Resources - teaching variations for music

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2003 by Jane Magrath

Q: An issue in teaching during the winter months can be sameness. Student repertoire frequently is in progress, and yet seems far from goals I have set.

A: It is always important students have long-term and short-term goals in their performance literature. I always suggest that students be given some "reading" pieces as part of the repertoire assignment, and hence use this as one way of creating short-term goals. This involves literature that can be mastered easily in one or two weeks of study. It is literature that is approximately one level of difficulty above the student's sight-reading level. The goal for the student is to learn it to performance level and tempo quickly and relatively independently. This assures the student knows music he or she can play at anytime of the year, not just around festival, competition or recital times.

If you are overwhelmed with too much to do, make a conscious effort during the days to tend only or mostly to things that are meaningful. Ask yourself that question before tending to daily events, and then alter how you deal with an issue or what you do with your time as a result of your response.

Q: To attend only or mostly to activities and issues that are meaningful to me would make a huge difference in attitude about teaching. I am not sure that this is possible, because so many things need to be taken care of.

A: While taking care of the most meaningful activities and issues, the other activity you may find to be less meaningful somehow either dissipates or is easier to accomplish after taking care of the most important events. This may not always be possible, but its use as a gauge during your daily activity and in teaching can make a huge difference in your priorities and what is accomplished.

Q: I can see that this could ease some of the stress in my day, as well as the feeling that much of what I am doing is of questionable value.

A: This is just an exercise, but one might even follow the four maxims outlined earlier from William James in an attempt to become sufficiently conscious to discover what is meaningful within a day's activities. It can be an experiment and journey that perhaps only you know about, but it holds the potential of changing your outlook on teaching. It serves to eliminate what should not be there in the first place and prompts one to make changes--changes that move toward enhanced meaning within our teaching and professional lives. Perhaps it is not possible to eliminate everything we would like, but taking decisive steps and making choices about what to focus on within the day, or within the music lesson, can render enormous benefits.

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