general question to guitar teachers

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henrym3483

Posts: 1584
Joined: Nov. 13 2005
From: Limerick,Ireland

general question to guitar teachers

so first of all, ive started giving more private lessons for beginners and intermediate guitar, im teaching mainly pop and folk stuff. the reason im doing this is due to the recession and money being short.

funnily enough after putting an add in the local paper ive gotten a big response.

one of the first lessons i gave this week was with an eight year old boy, and his attention span was pretty low and i struggled to keep his interest but at the end of class he said he wanted to continue taking lessons.which was surprising because he didnt seem that fussed

so how do you teach kids or have you found ways to get them better or up to speed ie musical games etc. in the past i mainly taught teenager youngfella's who wanna play nirvana, metallica, and iron maiden. lot easier, believe me

so its been a bit of a switch.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 12 2009 11:06:03

duende

Posts: 3053
Joined: Dec. 15 2003
From: Sweden

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to henrym3483)

Kids that young often dont listen to music or have favorite bands
most of my students dont even know why they play.

Mom and dad probably wants them to learn an instrument.

in the 5,6,7 grade kids seem to have gotten more into a specific style of music or artis and so on.

Playing, for a kid that young is just a hobby like soccer,skateboard or videogames, its suppose to be quick to learn and funny and not require practice.

i got maybe 5-6 kids out of 94 that can and will play actual songs, the rest play 1 chord songs from beginners guitar books.

I never ever teach privately unless its flamenco or jazz.

_____________________________

This is hard stuff!
Don't give up...
And don't make it a race.
Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.

RON

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 12 2009 11:53:19

Chiste de Gales

Posts: 298
Joined: Jan. 13 2009

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to henrym3483)

I havent taught many kids, but these days the popularity of music acts targeted to the youngsters are quite prevalent.
If a kid wants to learn, Im sure he can come up with some pop music of interest.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 12 2009 12:04:40

terry70

Posts: 26
Joined: Mar. 28 2005

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to henrym3483)

I've been teaching full time for quite some time now. Here's my two cents. take it for what you want.

It's quite a challenge teaching kids under 10 to 11. They have a short attention span, are lacking development in manual dexterity, and have little discipline to practice. For this reason I know many teachers who set an age minimum of about 12.

What I do is show them the foundations of music. First I teach them the fingering pattern for the open C scale. They don't learn the notes by their letter names but rather by their degrees, 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7, 8. Then i teach them how to play simple melodies using these numbers. For example, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is 1 1 5 5 6 6 5 - 4 4 3 3 2 2 1....and so on. We build up a repretoir of simple melodies then I start showing them the scales through the circle of fifths and how you can play these same melodies very easily in different keys just by knowing these numbers (scale degrees).
As their dexterity develops we start to learn chords for each of the keys. I's, IV's, V's, and vii's. We put the chords to the melodies they have learned. This system allows these kids to understand not only guitar but how music works. It is the foundation for playing by ear.

Because kids lack discipline I make sure that parents know that they have to be part of their kid's learning if they want them to succeed. I just ask them to make sure that THEY (the parents) make a practice time for them everyday and supervise it. Encourage and praise - be aware of what their kids should be practicing.

We all know that you can't learn guitar unless you practice, and practice takes self discipline, something kids rarely have. Can you imagine a child learning to read or do math by taking a lesson for a half hour a week then the parents allowing the child to determine when and if he/she should practice during the remainder of the week?!?! there would rarely be success.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 12 2009 16:46:37

minordjango

Posts: 918
Joined: Feb. 26 2005

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to henrym3483)

The best way for the young students is maybe this , it worked for me for a long time !!!.

30 mins lesson.
Great the student with a smile, ask some simple questions about what there doing and what they like to do favourite (If they listen yet) to music , ask what their parents like and what movies they like , (As a teacher be in the know popular movies etc cartoons .

id spend 10 mins -15 on developing skills , exercises simple scales techniques then , i teach them something like say.........inspector gadget, even red dwarf (if they more advanced, teddy bears picknic , or theme music they generally love it , also make a time a goal , to have them perform, in front of others.

they love themes !!

as a slight off topic how much do you guys charge for say 30mins ? in england USA or where you may live ?? whats a fair price ?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 12 2009 18:56:27

henrym3483

Posts: 1584
Joined: Nov. 13 2005
From: Limerick,Ireland

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to minordjango)

Thanks for the feedback guys, really appreicated; i'll try and implement some of these ideas and try them out.

minordjango,

usually costs 15 for half hour,20 for an hour in ireland.

best

henry

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 13 2009 5:59:43

val

Posts: 800
Joined: Apr. 4 2007

[Deleted]

Post has been moved to the Recycle Bin at Nov. 8 2010 12:38:00

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 13 2009 16:37:27

Chiste de Gales

Posts: 298
Joined: Jan. 13 2009

RE: general question to guitar teachers (in reply to val)

quote:

ORIGINAL: val

I have a granddaughter (7) living in a tiny village in France, where they have an interesting approach to teaching instruments. The first thing the kids have to do is attend the local music school (some lady's house basically) once a week after school - small groups. They have to go for at least a year before they're allowed to choose an instrument. For that year, they sing, learn to harmonize, learn rhythms (clapping and percussion), learn the rudiments of timing and notation (colour note system), pick out melodies on the piano, are introduced to a range of instruments and generally have fun within a highly disciplined environment.

Wow- That's a real introduction to music! I think its a great idea to do this method.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 14 2009 11:56:10