It's a group thing: getting started in group teaching

American Music Teacher, April-May, 2002 by Joan M. Reist

* Determine ways to elicit contributions from your students; utilize good questioning techniques, encourage discovery, embrace creativity and provide positive reinforcement, all with the goal of making your students excited about learning.

* Establish a class routine so activities can be accomplished without confusion and so students know what to expect, but be flexible and willing, when necessary, to allow the group to dictate the direction--and sometimes the goal--of the lesson.

It is the sincere hope of NPF and MTNA that the attendees at the Indianapolis seminar found the above information--and the many, many additional pages of details too copious to be included here--to be helpful in their quest for new ideas and new philosophies. We hope the dynamics of the Indianapolis group have infused new energy and excitement into each person's individual teaching, and the sincere love for learning that was apparent at the seminar is contagious and has infected all the students who have been beneficiaries of the expertise and dedication of their teachers.

We also hope that all readers will stay tuned to AMT, the MTNA website at www.mtna.org and www.grouppianoteacher.com for information about future group piano initiatives, including the release of the aforementioned videos and subsequent seminars. MTNA and NPF are dedicated to this project; it provides us a giant step toward our goal of developing and encouraging more music makers!

Brenda Dillon, Martha Baker-Jordan, Martha Hilley, NCTM, Mitzi Kolar, NCTM, and Marsha Wolfersberger all contributed to this story; in fact, without their expertise and collaboration, none of the above would have been even remotely possible!--JMR

Joan M. Reist, NCTM, is associate professor emerita at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music. She serves on the Classical Artistic Committee of the American Pianists Association, as district director for professional music fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon and as chair of the Nebraska coalition for music education. She is immediate past president of MTNA.