Philosophies of instrumental music teaching

There are many different approaches to teaching instrumental music, and there are as many different situations we can teach in. Over the years, I have formulated many different ideas to approach the teaching of instruments, and landed on a few that seem to suit most people. Here are a few of my ideas:

1. Children (and humans in general) are masters of mimicry.
This is not a trait to be avoided, but a trait to exploit, extend and use in a sub-conscious fashion. These days, educators sometimes avoid the concept of mimicry as it alludes too closely to 'rote learning'.

Many concepts in instrumental music can only be attained through repetition and memorisation. Think about learning note reading, new fingerings and sound production techniques. Even if you allow students to explore these concepts and work them out for themselves, they still need to be reinforced through some method of copying and/or repetition.

We can use the ability of humans to mimic to enhance aural skills. Learning a new scale? Create easy patterns that the students have to play back to you. Learning how to tune? Play a game of 'match my pitch' (i.e. don't use the tuner to enhance their visual skills more than their aural skills!)

One concept I find almost requires mimicry is sound production. I make it a point to play in every lesson in some capacity. Students need to hear what they should be aiming for on a regular basis. They are clever little devils. If they hear the sound, they will instinctively find way to create it.

A word of warning - students will sometimes try to copy everything, good or bad, just like a toddler absorbing and using their first curse word. If you play with poor tonguing and incorrect fingers, they will either call you on it or assume they can do the same thing.

2. Let them play music.
I was teaching a group of beginning flute students a few weeks ago. They had already had a lesson on making a sound, and I was showing them hand and finger placement so we could learn B, A and G. With those notes, they would be able to go home, make different sounds and likely try to work out songs such as Hot Cross Buns (aural training by stealth). The following group, students who had been learning for 1 year already, arrived early and could not believe that in the second lesson that these beginners already 'knew notes'. When asked what they did by the second lesson, they said they had spent the first five weeks on the headjoint only.

There are completely valid reasons for wanting to spend a larger amount of time on the initial production of sound. There is a chance that a higher proportion of students wind up with more 'correct' embouchures (IF the teacher knows what they are doing). But in this situation, where the students have been offered an opportunity they might not have otherwise sought out, we need to appeal to a greater audience. These students have come to learn music, and music they shall learn.

Mimicry will also feature here, because for the student who might not necessarily get a perfect sound out straight away, when they hear their peers getting sounds and notes, they will work just that little bit harder (sometimes subconsciously) to work it out. In 13 years, I have never had a student who didn't work it out after a few lessons. It tends to encourage a more solid practice routine early on, as students try to keep up with each other. Establishing a practice routine based on blowing the headjoint for five weeks cannot be an easy task!

And if you have ever considered starting the students in the first lesson with the headjoint/mouthpiece/reed and not putting the rest of the instrument together at all, consider this. Kids are innately curious. If you don't show them, once they have that instrument at home, they will try anyway. Wouldn't it be best if you show them straight away and avoid any damage that may get sustained without proper instruction?

3. Believe in your repertoire.
My students are completely used to the fact that I don't tend to follow books from beginning to end. I choose the most natural progression, and the one that fits my program and assessment. I am quite upfront about which pieces I choose to omit, and why. I often explain that the following piece has more educational benefits, or that I think the next one is 'fun' to learn. I don't simply follow the book aimlessly because I need to believe what I am teaching is always valuable and relevant.

I also make a point of explaining to students which pieces I really like, and why. 'Why' is another level of understanding, and it is good to encourage students to critique music with justification.

4. The kid you dismiss today...could be the only one who truly wants to be there.
There's always one that lags a little behind the others. Maybe their reading is not as fast, their fingers not as coordinated, their tone not as clear. They probably already know it. And with some encouragement, that kid could be the one who knuckles down over the school holidays and really takes to the instrument. Maybe they are a late bloomer. Or perhaps they are a child who enjoys the escape of music from whatever their harsh realities of life are, whether they are 'good' at it or not. And yes, there are some students out there with much harsher realities than you could imagine.

It is easy to wave these kids off, to not give them extra attention lest they are 'lazy' or 'stupid'. But you don't know what the future holds. Work out what it is that gets through to them. If it doesn't, well, you gave it your best shot. If it does, the student will remember.

5. Make the lesson fit the student, not the student fit the lesson.
Education research has progressed far enough now for most of us to realise that this is obvious. The idea is logical. The execution, however, can be a little more awkward.

In small groups of instrumental students, there are little ways of making sure each student is catered for.

• Know their names. I know it sounds logical, right? If you have a lot of students, try remembering something about them and associate it with their name. They will be grateful!
• Know one thing about them and use each student's 'thing' to relate to a concept. Most kids have out-of-school activities, other instruments, dance, footy, pets, etc. There is usually a way of linking them, even if it is loosely!
• Have multiple ways of explaining things, and be prepared to use at least two methods for each concept. If you have mathematical ways of explaining rhythm, and some non-mathematical students, make it visual as well (I use a 'pizza' analogy to talk about beats and fractions of beats).
• Some kids are happy to fly under the radar, quiet achievers if you like. Allow them to contribute in their own way, but make sure they know you do care about them and aren't ignoring!
• Vary lessons so that you are not just working on one concept, one piece or in one format within a single lesson. This way, you are catering for students who respond to learning in varying ways.

6. Keep it relevant.
In this age of the tunnel-vision focus on academics and standardised testing, students (and, more frequently, parents and schools) want to know why they should be doing something that is outside of these areas. Additionally, we are seeing a generation of students who, in my honest opinion, are conditioned to being entertained in some way at all times.

Relevance can be achieved by:

• Linking concepts back to other subjects (maths and language being common, but history/culture may also feature)
• Using repertoire that students both know and like (not for everything, but perhaps as a reward or a challenge, such as movie themes)
• Linking instrumental music to other areas of life, such as being a team, treating it as another subject to study and improve on, etc)
• Making technical work and concepts more 'interesting' (scale patterns, competitions, naming certain combinations of notes such as 'the ambulance', etc)

*                *                *

These are some of the areas I have come to realise over the years that fit in with not only my personal philosophy of teaching, but work in with our ever-changing education systems and expectations. Use some of my ideas, develop them into your own, completely go in another direction, it is up to you. Just make sure you are always developing and maintaining your own consistent philosophy. And don't forget to love your job!

Don't blame the reed!

"I'm sorry, that wasn't very good, I just have a bad reed today."

This statement just makes me want to throw a reed knife at someone, possibly in the hope they will use it. There are so many things about this that aggravate me.

Part of it might lay at the fault of educators (and the time we can spend with a student). I totally get that. Perhaps we need to focus less on educating the student to play the oboe/clarinet/bassoon/saxophone, and more on teaching them to BE an oboist/clarinettist/etc. Learning to play one of these instruments doesn't just mean teaching notes on a page, fingers on keys and forming a correct embouchure. Acquiring and maintaining your equipment is a huge part of it.

When a student claims to play badly because of their reed, they are actually saying:

• I don't know how (or can't be bothered) to look after my reeds
• I haven't developed the skills to play around a 'bad' reed

I feel, as a musician, if I blame the reed, I am actually blaming myself. It is my fault that I haven't got my reeds in suitable playing condition, or that I haven't catered for the change in climate. Part of my job as a reed player is the reeds themselves. It as important as playing the instrument; you can't have one without the other.

Don't point your finger at the reed - it will probably only point one back at you.

A student's guide to looking after reeds:
1. If a student tells me they have a 'bad reed', the first thing I will ask them is to try the other ones they have. If I had a dollar for every time the answer was 'I don't have any others', I would be able to teach pro bono.

ALWAYS have a supply of reeds with you in your case wherever it goes (and, additionally, extras at home). For clarinet and saxophone players, whose reeds often come in boxes of 10, at least one reed guard full of reeds, plus a couple of brand new ones, would be considered a minimum. For oboe and bassoon players, three reeds in your case would be the minimum. And those reeds should all be playable - four chipped reeds in a case is not a supply. These reeds should be of varying ages (you don't want them to all die at once) and for a variety of situations (i.e. have one slightly softer reed, one slightly harder reed, just in case of weather changes that might affect the cane).

2. Keep them in a case. A properly designed reed case, not the plastic holders they came in.

For single reed players, reed guards are a good, cheap method of keeping reeds flat and protected. Double reed players should use a closed case with ribbon style holders that is well-ventilated.

3. Know your reeds.
If you are a single reed player, use a ball-point pen to number your reeds, in a place where your mouth won't touch but not on the bark. After awhile, you will remember which numbered reeds are better than others (good for concerts) and rotate them more easily.
If you are a double reed player, you might have reeds with different coloured thread, which makes each one easy to identify. If not, you can mark them the same way as a single reed, or you might even paint a dot of different coloured nail polish on the thread of each reed.

4. Know how to adjust them.

These babies didn't make the cut...

This applies mostly to double reed players, but it is possible to adjust single reeds, if you are that way
inclined.

There are some great resources available in the web regarding adjusting bassoon reeds. For adjusting oboe reeds, there is some information on this blog. (you need to make sure you are adjusting for the correct type of oboe reed - short scrape, used mostly here in Australia; or long scrape, used mostly in the US). Double reeds are expensive, and there is no reason why a reed which doesn't suit you all that well should be binned.

Preparing for playing with a bad reed
If all of the above fails you, and you get stuck on stage with a reed that feels like you are trying to blow a brick wall down, it helps to be prepared. Many athletes, particularly those involved in airborne activities such as gymnasts, learn how to fall. This isn't to promote falling, this is to prevent injury in the case that they DO fall. We are preparing ourselves in the same way.

While it is important to practice making a beautiful sound, playing with good technique, etc, these things are much easier to achieve on our favourite reed. Have one practice session a week or so where you play on the worst reed in your case. Aim to make it sound as though you are playing on your favourite reed.

Learn techniques that you can perform on stage that might help the reed. In the case of single reeds, you can adjust the 'hardness' of a reed by changing its position on the mouthpiece. A reed placed higher on the mouthpiece will feel harder, and vice versa. These changes, naturally, need to be pretty small - a large deviation away from where the reed should normally sit on a mouthpiece and you will compromise all aspects of your playing.

Double reeds often have wire - you can sometimes manipulate the wire with your fingers enough to affect the feel of the reed. A more closed opening will make the reed feel softer, and vice versa. Use your fingers to manipulate the cane itself - be gentle and only touch the scraped parts of the cane.

Learning the lesson...
Not long after I had begun making my own oboe reeds, I had been practising in a university practice room. Once I started making my own 'playable' reeds, I refused to play on anything else. I turned up to my lesson, opened my reed case, and my three best reeds were missing. I had left them in the practice room. I looked high and low for them, with no luck. The only reeds left in my case were varying degrees of playable (read: not really). My lesson finished at 10am. Our oboe class was at 11am, and we would get randomly selected to present the orchestral excerpt of the week in this class.

I hightailed it to the reed lab and managed to make a surprisingly playable reed in about 35 mins, from tie to final scrape (note: I do not recommend this!) Lo and behold, I was chosen from the hat to present the orchestral excerpt that week, on my brand new, not played-in reed. Somehow I made it through, and did a much better job than I expected. But it was extremely stressful and the reed (probably as a result of being performed on straight after being made) never played properly again after that.

Lesson learned! I now try to retire my favourite, broken-in and stable reeds before they are dead, and move them to the end of my case. In their place, I put newer reeds. I know that if in a dire situation, those newer reeds don't hold up for me, I will always have my trusty backups. It also has the apparent benefit of making them last longer!

P.S. Flute players, don't think you have got off scot free - your lips are like your reed - look after them! The weather is cooling off, lips will start chapping and tone will start going out the window. Prevention is better than cure!