Skip to main content
There is so much that I would like to share with my pupils in lesson time,
from the core skills needed such as understanding rhythm, note-reading, and
basic technique to understanding chords and harmony, playing by ear,
improvising, composing……..the list is endless. Being the ‘lesson planner’, it’s
pretty easy to get overwhelmed with all the things I would like to try and
squeeze into a 30-minute lesson, there simply isn’t enough time to cover
everything. The nature of how we learn also means that constant repetition is needed,
particularly for such a complex skill. Of course, where practice is (a-hem) not
quite at the ‘optimal’ level of 5 or more sessions per week, we can so easily
end up spending time recapping what we have already covered in previous lessons
and it becomes even harder to squeeze in all I would like to a lesson.
The solution….. I decided to try out the idea of having a termly
theme. We still be covering a broad range of core skills in all lessons,
but I also try to have a focus which will change every few weeks. This
will allow me to look at one area in more depth by devoting a few minutes from
every lesson to this topic.Our first focus, last term, was rhythm, and I feel having a few minutes devoted each week to improving rhythm skills has been a sucess, as each and every one of my pupils has improved their understanding and playing of rhythm patterns, from the very simple, through to more complex rhythms for my advanced students. I've got lots more themes lined up, from aural (listening) skills, sight-reading, through to playing lead sheets and looking at the history behind the music we play......
