Better Practice Blog- What If Your Music Students Were Meant To Be Groupies?
What If Your Music Students Were Meant To Be Groupies?
Do you find yourself repeating the same thing lesson after lesson, or find that students working on similar material could benefit from observing each others’ lessons? Dr. Robert Pace wrote a great piece on his website about his journey from teaching strictly individual lessons to realizing the need for and implementing group lessons.
“I began to feel that I was repeating myself unnecessarily in the piano lessons. Frequently, I despaired that the student I was teaching at 5 o'clock was not benefiting from the exact same thing that had been discussed with another student at 3 o’clock.”
- Dr. Robert Pace
Among the many changes he discovered, he was most impressed by the improved attention and attitudes of students in group lessons. If one was drifting off, the other would be there to take over and keep the other student in check. If one student came in with reasons with why they didn’t practice, there would be no time to spew out these excuses if the other was already up and ready to play. Here are some more of the amazing benefits of group lessons we’ve discovered:
Responsibility
Even when one student is unprepared, the lesson can (and will) progress if others are prepared. This forces the typically unprepared student to practice at home to keep up. Everyone is held responsible for the level of the top student in the class. This bring me to another point: unprepared students will be more embarrassed - no one wants to be the worst in their class. Think of showing up to a rehearsal with a small group - say, a trio - and being the most underprepared member of the group. It feels pretty shameful when you feel you’re holding a group back or slowing them down. Many people (admittedly, like me) will practice ungodly amounts to not be that person.
Stage fright
Group lessons are great for building experience playing in front of others. For example, traditional piano lessons rely on individual lessons paired with solitary practice. The only exposure to playing in front of others comes from recitals. In group lessons, students become accustomed to having others hear them play, therefore performing at recitals becomes less daunting/nerve-wracking. I used to have stage fright that would make me freeze and shake violently from the knees up - that is, until I started having regular group rehearsals and quarterly recitals (as opposed to once a year). Suddenly, within the first year of this, all the shaking completely vanished. I’m not saying this will work for everyone - but for most that I’ve worked with, it seems that repeated exposure takes the fear out of this previously daunting experience. You get used to it. An important aspect of this is to create a warm, supportive environment in group lessons. With this, even those with the worst stage fright may warm up to performing or even become eager to perform! Have students congratulate and compliment each other, and teach them how to give and take good constructive criticism. Self-conscious students may realize that they are not being judged so harshly all the time.
Manners
Playing with others will allow students to learn manners in music! Winds have band, strings have orchestra, but piano has… nothing. Pianists seem to spend their lives in isolation until they get to a level where they’re playing in trios, duets, etc. I have seen countless pianists enter college and play through a duet as if they are the leading role the entire time. No. I feel it’s especially important for pianists to be introduced to group settings early on. Pianists lack the “training” other instruments receive by being in bands or orchestra - listening to others, giving/receiving cues, or simply seeing how others feel while playing. If you teach in a music school with various instruments, take advantage of that! See if you can pair students up to work on duets, or even small chamber pieces.
Learning through observation
We previously wrote an article on Social Learning; this is the same thing! When one student plays and receives constructive criticism, the others will learn through his/her mistakes before they even play. This cycle allows for quick, continuous learning. This is also a great form of learning because students will be able to hear what the mistakes sound like from a third-person point of view, allowing them to catch their own mistakes more quickly, as they happen.
Financial
In addition to all the great dynamics and student benefits you get from group lessons, it is also financially beneficial. While group lessons are generally cheaper per student than private lessons, your hourly rate improves and you'll also be able to take on more students.
Of course, there are times when individual lessons make more sense, like if a student is preparing for an audition or if your students don’t have clearly matching levels. For the most part however, group lessons are definitely worth a try. Humans are social creatures, after all.