The musical diet - solo instrumental edition

Repertoire can become a contentious issue among teachers. There are so many things to consider in order to provide appropriate repertoire. If you can hold up repertoire and answer yes to these questions, then your repertoire stands up to the test.

• Is it at an appropriate level?

Repertoire should be achievable, but should still provide a challenge. If it is pitched too high, a student will soon become frustrated and defeated. If it is too low, the student will be bored.

This becomes awkward for those of us who teach in small groups. The ideal situation is that those groups be as close in level as possible. If this is not the case, here are some strategies for dealing with repertoire:
Add challenges to the existing repertoire. Some students are struggling, but others are sailing through, so add in a new teaching point (perhaps some trills or other ornamentation at cadence points, create more complicated rhythms) or use those composition and harmony skills to create a counterpoint/duet part or an introduction.
Provide a 'challenge for the week'. This is more applicable to younger students who are working from method or repertoire books. If most students are just coping with the assigned work, give out a 'challenge piece', a non-compulsory section of the practice for the week which is pitched well above the current work. (I often don't even give this to the student in question, but the group in general. The students know who the strong one is and do not need it spelled out to them every week.) In this case, depending on the student, it is often okay to provide something pitched much higher than the current work and with concepts they may need to research themselves (a new note, etc).
Provide extra material for the student on a long term basis. This might be a separate piece, it might be a different book entirely. You may choose to hear the student play through it every few weeks (perhaps even during pack up time or before lessons start). It is good to have a knowledge of what is available outside the standard repertoire and books you use just for this purpose.

• Is is balanced?

I will once again be using a food-related analogy here, since food is one thing that has been drilled into us and we deal with every day. Repertoire, a musical diet, is no different to consuming food. A diet that is nothing but vegetables is bland, boring and uninspiring. It is not healthy because it is not balanced. A musical diet consisting of nothing but scales and exercises does not create musicians. It is no longer art. Similarly, a diet of chocolate and cake is going to render us unwell. A musical diet based entirely around Disney playalongs is not going to create musicians with a consistent degree of technique and cultural understanding.

There is nothing wrong with Disney playalongs at all (I find them quite educational in that the students are excited to play them, and therefore practice them, and they often use techniques that students may otherwise have shied away from). But they need to be presented alongside scales, technique building and repertoire that has artistic merit.

• Is it educational?

What are the teaching points in the repertoire? Does it have any?

The best teachers can pull concepts from almost any repertoire. In reality, we should be using repertoire which already has these concepts built in. This particularly applies to students still in the early developmental phase of learning their instrument.

Students need relevancy. If you are going to teach them about semiquavers, back it up with repertoire that includes semiquavers. I often find myself bouncing around a book rather than just blindly following it in order as I like to ensure I am following a path of consistent progression and I like to keep all the 'relevant' repertoire together.

Try to extract extra educational points from the repertoire. Give students the task to find out 5 facts about Mozart during the week you are doing Symphony no. 40. Explain why so many pieces are called 'Minuet'. Demonstrate how a sequence works when it appears and why it is helpful to recognise patterns like that.

• Is it preparing the students for others areas of their musical education?

Students learning in school programs will often be expected to play in band by either their second semester or their second year of learning. For some instruments, this is not an issue - brass, clarinet, saxophone. For instruments in C (flute, oboe, bassoon, double bass), the notes used in a lot of band pieces often do not line up with the typical progression of learning.

There are teachers who insist on sticking to their guns and teaching every student as though they are only ever going to play in lessons. In reality, those students become disadvantaged and frustrated when they can't understand why the band director is picking on them for not knowing the notes. As educators on those instruments, it is important we set the students up for success in whatever environment they find themselves in. If this means creating worksheets and exercises to fill in the gaps that your chosen tutor book doesn't cover, then go for it!

This definitely applies to areas other than band. Your student has been asked to play at their church - do you help them with the music and perhaps give them extra materials to help with any difficult concepts, or do you tell them it's not part of the plan? Some students will always be attracted to performing publicly - make sure they have touched on repertoire that can be used for this purpose. School wants an assembly item? Head off any disasters by making sure students have had a chance to play ensemble music in lessons before you present them with the duet they are going to play in front of the school. Students' instrumental learning needs to be transferrable or it loses relevancy and meaning.

Does your repertoire stand up to the test? Good repertoire is equally as important as good teaching - get the best tools for the job!