Not a Bonafide Instructor

[Mike t.]

In the acoustic jam I go to, (a little over two years now) I’m the lone piano accordion having taken up playing again about three ago after retiring. I made it through book 4 Palmer Hughes as a kid.
I was asked if I could teach P.A. by a guitarist who gives lessons and leads the group. I told him I could help start a accordion player but I’m not bonafide or certified to really teach, he said neither was he. So that made me start thinking if I had a student that was a young person still in school vs a working age person or old like me, never played anything musical or took years of piano lessons, all this would change how you would teach them, yes? I guess the genre they want to play? If they lived close by, lessons in their home? Is there a list of questions I should ask just to feel them out? The guitar leader asked if he could give them my phone number so it may never happen. There isn’t anyone left that lives closer than a hour to start a beginner. Any tips? Western Washington

 

[Ffingers]

The best educators do not teach their students what to learn as much as how to learn.
Once the 'how' is achieved, the what becomes almost instinctive.
Demonstrate the 'how to' followed by the 'why things need to be done.'
If a student is reluctant to make the necessary effort, determine the 'why' of that, too; many factors in the learner's life, well beyond the actual lessons, play into the willingness and ability to learn.
So, from this old and geriatric ab initio learner - my advise would be to start with a general familiarisation with the instrument and with the kind of music that the student prefers; it may even not be appropriate to the instrument being utilised.
Getting to know the individual's personality and talents by way of playful interaction is a must for every effective teacher and nearly every learner.
Music is first and foremost for pleasure; for the player and for any potential listener.

 

[JerryPH]

I’m a bit of a stick in the mud, I feel that ( correctly or incorrectly), if you haven’t “paid your dues” you have not earned the right to reach someone, but if you have a solid base in the basics and are not going to introduce a bunch of bad habits to a budding new accordionist, go for it.

 

[KiwiSqueezer]

The best educators do not teach their students what to learn as much as how to learn.
Once the 'how' is achieved, the what becomes almost instinctive.
Demonstrate the 'how to' followed by the 'why things need to be done.'

...

Getting to know the individual's personality and talents by way of playful interaction is a must for every effective teacher and nearly every learner.

Learning music ab initio as a scientifically-educated and trained adult is very different from learning as a child. My adult learning experiences were very poor, mainly because my teachers couldn't answer my 'Why?' questions. Like most musicians, they had learned as children. Children will often absorb all sorts of stuff - both sense and nonesense - without question, but crusty old adults won't. We like to understand, and that's where teaching gets difficult. And we don't like being told what to do, unless a satisfactory explanation is offered. The adult learner just doesn't know how to learn this bizzarre new discipline, with its arcane nomenclature and uneven steps between notes, which are notated in a way that hasn't really accepted the existence of the chromatic scale. It's all the fault of the medieval monks who notated the key of C major, without allowing for the fact that the steps between notes were not always whole tones. As for different scales, forget it! (There are alternative, rational notation schemes, but they didn't catch on, did they?)

To my poor teachers, all this was second nature. To me, it was bonkers! I understand the maths, and I know about Hz, and the physics of plucked strings, and so on, but my teachers couldn't engage with me on that scientific level. Books, ostensibly about the theory of music, didn't address things like the circle of fifths in any scientific way - the word 'frequency' wasn't mentioned, nor was the maths. So I didn't find out how to learn, and Ffingers' first requirement wasn't satisfied.

Also, having been in disciplines where I was used to working things out, rather than learning a ritual, I didn't understand 'why things need to be done', at least as far as practice was concerned, so Ffingers' second requirement was a problem. Now, older and wiser, I understand that the brain needs repetition to build its connections - but no-one told me then...

So, yes, entirely different approaches are required for adults vs children, and adults are, I think, far more difficult (in all sorts of ways!). Good luck!

 

[Mike t.]

...


Learning music ab initio as a scientifically-educated and trained adult is very different from learning as a child. My adult learning experiences were very poor, mainly because my teachers couldn't answer my 'Why?' questions. Like most musicians, they had learned as children. Children will often absorb all sorts of stuff - both sense and nonesense - without question, but crusty old adults won't. We like to understand, and that's where teaching gets difficult. And we don't like being told what to do, unless a satisfactory explanation is offered. The adult learner just doesn't know how to learn this bizzarre new discipline, with its arcane nomenclature and uneven steps between notes, which are notated in a way that hasn't really accepted the existence of the chromatic scale. It's all the fault of the medieval monks who notated the key of C major, without allowing for the fact that the steps between notes were not always whole tones. As for different scales, forget it! (There are alternative, rational notation schemes, but they didn't catch on, did they?)

To my poor teachers, all this was second nature. To me, it was bonkers! I understand the maths, and I know about Hz, and the physics of plucked strings, and so on, but my teachers couldn't engage with me on that scientific level. Books, ostensibly about the theory of music, didn't address things like the circle of fifths in any scientific way - the word 'frequency' wasn't mentioned, nor was the maths. So I didn't find out how to learn, and Ffingers' first requirement wasn't satisfied.

Also, having been in disciplines where I was used to working things out, rather than learning a ritual, I didn't understand 'why things need to be done', at least as far as practice was concerned, so Ffingers' second requirement was a problem. Now, older and wiser, I understand that the brain needs repetition to build its connections - but no-one told me then...

So, yes, entirely different approaches are required for adults vs children, and adults are, I think, far more difficult (in all sorts of ways!). Good luck!

I can see myself only teaching to book 3 or 4 in P.H. and then having them move on to a competent piano teacher. Music theory was not my strong point, why play a named music scale when a fiddle song with the same scale is a whole lot more fun!

 

[Alans]

The best educators do not teach their students what to learn as much as how to learn.
Once the 'how' is achieved, the what becomes almost instinctive.
Demonstrate the 'how to' followed by the 'why things need to be done.'
If a student is reluctant to make the necessary effort, determine the 'why' of that, too; many factors in the learner's life, well beyond the actual lessons, play into the willingness and ability to learn.
So, from this old and geriatric ab initio learner - my advise would be to start with a general familiarisation with the instrument and with the kind of music that the student prefers; it may even not be appropriate to the instrument being utilised.
Getting to know the individual's personality and talents by way of playful interaction is a must for every effective teacher and nearly every learner.
Music is first and foremost for pleasure; for the player and for any potential listener.

I was just thinking about this last night. In my lessons my teacher spends most of the hour teaching me how to practise when I am alone between lessons. It’s the first time I’ve worked with someone this way. I’m so used to teachers saying-wrong,right-do it this way. It’s really relevatory to be guided for the time I am on my own.

 

[Rosie C]

I was just thinking about this last night. In my lessons my teacher spends most of the hour teaching me how to practise when I am alone between lessons. It’s the first time I’ve worked with someone this way. I’m so used to teachers saying-wrong,right-do it this way. It’s really relevatory to be guided for the time I am on my own.

I've spent 45 years practising, and last year my music degree had a whole unit on practice methods, and it was heart-breaking how inefficient I've been practising for so long! My current piano teacher is incredibly effective, though we seem to spend half the lesson talking music theory - like discussing why chromatic chords have been used, or spotting 2-5-1 progressions, etc.

 

[Mike t.]

I've spent 45 years practising, and last year my music degree had a whole unit on practice methods, and it was heart-breaking how inefficient I've been practising for so long! My current piano teacher is incredibly effective, though we seem to spend half the lesson talking music theory - like discussing why chromatic chords have been used, or spotting 2-5-1 progressions, etc.

I think the only thing I could really have a impact on any beginner would be the setting up of the accordion, straps, how not to damage it putting it away or storing it, starting them out using 3-4 fingers on the bass, I feel that is a better style at least to start with, how to not get frustrated starting out not seeing the left hand, lesson books, how it will come together with practice and patience. The how to practice will have come from a video. The old lady who gave me lessons 50 years ago (I’m older than she was then!) only brought her accordion once to our house and played it as I remember. It was my Mom who was the driving force for me learning any accordion skills!
I just returned from the Levinworth accordion festival in Washington State yesterday and saw young teenagers who were taking lessons who are better than I’ll ever be! I suppose some older student that just want to play simple stuff I can handle , but not some young kid who is going to have a chance at a music conservatory.

 

[cestjeffici]

I was just thinking about this last night. In my lessons my teacher spends most of the hour teaching me how to practise when I am alone between lessons. It’s the first time I’ve worked with someone this way. I’m so used to teachers saying-wrong,right-do it this way. It’s really relevatory to be guided for the time I am on my own.

Paul Harris wrote a book called "Simultaneous Learning (Improve Your Teaching)" which explains this method.

 

[Ffingers]

I've spent 45 years practising, and last year my music degree had a whole unit on practice methods, and it was heart-breaking how inefficient I've been practising for so long! My current piano teacher is incredibly effective, though we seem to spend half the lesson talking music theory - like discussing why chromatic chords have been used, or spotting 2-5-1 progressions, etc.

Probably more productive than spending half the lesson period philosophising about everything from international politics to excessive wear on a light aircraft's tyres.
(We old fellows have some quite strange ways of digressing from the task in hand.)

 

[Rosie C]

Probably more productive than spending half the lesson period philosophising about everything from international politics to excessive wear on a light aircraft's tyres.

I dare say. I think he works on deeper knowledge, I can look at new music and understand how it's put together. He's an interesting teacher - top notch jazz pianist and he taught me that in many cases a written piano score is just a guide, not to be followed literally. Something that would have been anathema to my previous teacher who had worked as a classical accompanist.

It is a real shame there's no accordion teachers within 50 miles of me.