Music Teachers (Private Tuition)
Teach students in the practice, theory and performance of music in private training establishments.
Exam day for three students
You are a music teacher at a small music school, supporting three of your students at the exam venue this morning. It is 8am and the waiting room is full of nervous students, instruments and parents. Your three students are scheduled across the morning, and nothing is exactly as you planned.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Aaliyah has been crying since breakfast. She says she wants to go home. I do not want to force her, but we have paid for the exam and she has worked so hard. What should we do?
Sit with Aaliyah and listen first, then let her choose with her mum
Aaliyah says she is scared of her third piece. You talk through the first bars with her quietly. She decides to go in, and plays it with a wobble that no one minds.
Tell her you know she can do it and encourage her firmly to go in
She goes in because she does not want to let you down. She plays, but tightly, and afterwards says she felt she had no choice.
Suggest withdrawing so that Aaliyah is not put under any more pressure today
It sounds kind, but you have made the choice for her without asking. Aaliyah goes home relieved, and then upset later that she did not try.
I have to tell you something. I did not practise the last two weeks. I know the first piece but not the second. Can I switch to an easier one? Please don't tell Mum.
Let him swap to the easier piece quietly, since the exam is in an hour
The exam board has a set list, and the swap is not allowed. The examiner is puzzled, and Ben gets stuck partway through. Quiet fixes can create bigger problems.
Thank him for being honest, and talk through how to play the second piece as well as he can
He plays it unevenly but finishes. You haven't told his mum, which seemed kind at the time, but she is surprised when the result arrives, and he is unhappy with what he did.
Thank him, help him with the second piece and agree to talk to his mum afterwards
Ben gets through it with a couple of recoveries. Afterwards his mum hears the story from both of you, and it is far gentler than he feared. They agree on a practice routine together.
The examiner is running behind by about forty minutes. Your third student, Noor, is booked at ten, so it'll be later. Do you want to keep her waiting here or send her off and come back?
Take Noor out for a short walk and a snack, and set a time to come back
Noor relaxes in the fresh air, but gets back after her new slot has been called. The coordinator fits her in, but she walks in flustered.
Keep her in the waiting room so you do not miss her slot, and have her warm up quietly
She sits in a noisy room with other anxious students for another hour. By the time she is called, her nerves are frayed and her fingers are cold.
Ask Joss for a firmer time, then plan a walk and a light warm-up
Joss gives you a clearer slot, and you plan the time around it. Noor returns calm and warm, and plays well. A good plan for waiting is part of preparing.
How it went
By lunchtime all three have played. One did better than they feared, one did worse, and one learned something about practice. Teaching music is mostly listening, to the notes and the person making them. Do you picture yourself noticing what a student needs before they say it?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The violin student who lost the joy
A fictional case set in a small music school with practice rooms, a piano and a busy waiting area.
The situation
Eliot had taught Soo-jin violin since she was seven. At fourteen she was good, and her exam was in six weeks. But in recent lessons she played correctly and without any feeling, and her bow arm was tense. She stopped chatting before and after. Her mother was keen on the exam, and Eliot knew that every extra push could make it worse. He had to decide whether to focus on the exam pieces or on something harder to measure.
What they did
Eliot spent the first ten minutes of the next lesson asking Soo-jin what music she listened to. She mentioned a film score she loved, and he found a simplified arrangement of it for violin. They played it as a duet, with no exam marks to think about. He kept the exam work going alongside it, but moved it to the second half of the lesson. He also told her mother, kindly, that a student who dreads practice is unlikely to play well in any exam.
How it turned out
Soo-jin's playing loosened in the following weeks, and she did the exam without any great drama. She did not win a medal, but she asked to continue lessons. Her mother later said she was relieved that Eliot had noticed what was going on.
What would you do?
- Why might playing correctly not be the same as playing well?
- How would you talk to a parent who is focused on the exam result?
- What would you ask a student to find out what music they love?