29th October 2024
Being Smart Lazy
I often tell my students that I want them to be lazy. It really gets their attention. After all, when have you ever heard a teacher saying that they want to you be lazy? I may be the only teacher in Brisbane using the "L word".But I really mean it. However, I mean it in a specific way. I tell my students that I want them to get the maximum benefit with minimal effort. It's just common sense. My teaching is full of strategies that students can use to minimise their effort and maximise their progress.
I call some of these strategies "investments". If you invest a little time up front learning your note names on the clef(s), you'll save a lot of effort later. I have had students come to me at a grade 4 / 5 level, who are still writing in the note names. How much time have they wasted over the years writing in (and then erasing) note names, but for a little hard work up front? Of course, it's not their fault, it's their teacher's.
Other strategies are what I would consider common sense. Spread your practice over the week. Then there's less time to forget what you've done. Too many students do their practice all in one lot, which in my mind is a waste of effort (or at least not the best use of a finite resource).
Another strategy that I like is looking for patterns. Too many students treat a piece of music as a succession of discrete pitches. Patterns are everywhere, and a good place to start with this style of teaching is with Bach's C Major prelude. So many of the bars can be related to something that has already been played. I use phrases such as "the previous bar with the bass note lowered a second", "a 158 chord just like in bar x", or "the first bar, transposed down a fourth". The Bach piece is perfect for this, but patterns can be found in almost any piece. The trick is consciously looking for them BEFORE learning the piece.
So be lazy. But make sure that it's smart lazy!
For previous months, click here.