From our agony aunt’s mailbag:
Dear Alma,
I am a graduate student and teach lessons as a part of my scholarship.
One of my students just doesn’t practice. It’s incredibly obvious. Then she gives me sass/talks back to me. She’s a junior biochem major and keeps reminding me she did important violin things in high school. I don’t care that she doesnt practice so much as the attitude she gives me. I do after all have 1.25 degrees in violin!
She has an unrealistic view of her progress and goals. I know she won’t become a violinist and I mostly want her to enjoy it! I assign easier pieces (currently Liebeslied) and she gets bored even though there’s a lot to still explore. I assign hard pieces and she easily gets dejected and gives up. Either way she doesn’t practice.
Frustrated
Dear Frustrated,
I remember having my first non-major students. It is a whole ‘nother ball game. Different work ethic, different styles of teaching. The most important piece of advice I can give to you is to not have any expectations for your student. Release yourself and you will find you can enjoy your lessons, and so can she.
Look at the lesson more like a once a week practice session. If she doesn’t practice in between meetings, it doesn’t matter to you. If she does, it also doesn’t matter. For her it’s just a class she is signing up for, and for you, an easy hour. She is not looking for the same thing as a music major, and you should not be either.
Split your hour up into several timed segments, such as skill-building, duets/sight reading, fun piece, light. For each segment, have several options that she can choose from – you can even flip a coin. Skill building? Scales, etude, rhythm, theory, left and right hand techniques. Mix it up by bringing in new things all of the time. Get one of those huge books by Simon Fischer and just flip to a random page. Duets/sightreading? All styles from baroque to contemporary, try reading a page of Bach Partitas/Sonatas together every week, see if you can through the whole book, or try something crazy like Sibelius or Ysaye! Hard piece? Sure – you’ve got this already. Light piece? How about some scordatura or Igudesman? Light can also be a real duet you work on together, Mendelssohn Songs without Words, Telemann Gulliver Suite or the Bartoks.
Frustrated, you will only be frustrated if you set yourself up with expectations which will be not met, for any number of reasons. Enjoy your time as it happens, with no thought of yesterday or tomorrow.
The desire for improvement can only come from her. Help her find her interest and passion by giving her a wide variety of things to do, and see where it leads.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
The post Dear Alma, My student just won’t practice appeared first on Slippedisc.
