Scene from MTNA, Austin

After our presentation, Dr. H and I converse with a music teacher from the audience. As private, independent teachers, it is great to have an outlet (like a conference...or a blog) for discussing the students in our studio who need a little extra motivation. One new idea may revolutionize our approach to those students! How helpful it is to assess our students' learning styles and gear our teaching toward their needs. In a nutshell, we can't force the student to fit the program, but we can make the program fit the student!

Try a New Teaching Sequence

How do we accommodate our Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic learners? While students will show a preference for one of these learning styles over another, as teachers, we ought to use all three learning modalities in our teaching approach.

Why not build on each student’s strengths AND weaknesses by implementing a teaching sequence including all three modalities?

TEACHING SEQUENCE:
1. Auditory Strategy – Communicate meaning by giving verbal direction and demonstrating the desired sound. You may want to ask the student to repeat your instructions back to you.
2. Visual Strategy – Give a graphic demonstration of the concept you are teaching.
3. Kinesthetic Strategy – Demonstrate the new skill and have the students simulate it away from the keyboard.
4. Performance: Implement the new concept while playing.

NEW STRATEGIES:
Develop new teaching strategies to reach your students on all three levels. The following examples are meant to spark your thinking and to illustrate how to use this teaching sequence:

Primary Level: Teaching Half Notes
Auditory – Verbally explain that a half note equals two beats. Have the child listen as you play half notes. Have the child count with you as you play the half notes.
Visual –Get a large piece of paper and show the student how to draw four half notes on a line. Follow your finger along the line as you count the beats for the half notes. Ask the student to count and follow the line with his or her finger.
Kinesthetic – Ask the student to stand up and move away from the keyboard. Walk along a line on the floor (either real or imaginary), and pause for two beats with each step.
Perform - Implement the new skill on the keyboard. Did the student demonstrate a competent understanding of the half note?

Middle and Upper Level: Teaching Phrasing with Dynamics:
Auditory – Verbally explain the shape of the melodic phrase, and have the student repeat the explanation back to you. Play the sound of the melody as you desire the student to play it, listening for the dynamic shape in the line.
Visual - Have the student draw the shape of the melody on a blank piece of paper, then follow the shape with his or her finger while thinking about the dynamic quality.
Kinesthetic –Let your whole arm be the shape of the melody line. Let your facial expression demonstrate the dynamic level.
Perform: Look at the illustration while playing instead of looking at the notes. Listen carefully to the sound you are creating. How has the sound quality improved?