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Thread: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

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    Registered User akjed's Avatar
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    Default A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    Does anyone have advice on working with a teacher, setting goals, and having expectations for lessons? I began sitting down with a really good player once a week for 30 minutes. He taught me a couple of fiddle tunes, some arpeggio exercises and a few licks. The sessions are good for me, but it seems like they don't have a specific direction. I want to be a good player, but haven't necessarily identified what I want to work on. I figured that's what I'm paying him for. Should a good teacher have a curriculum? Should I expect anything specific? Or should I just keep rolling with it? (Obviously I'm inclined to the latter, just want to hear some thoughts on working with a teacher).

    Thanks!
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    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    Quote Originally Posted by akjed View Post
    Should a good teacher have a curriculum?
    Yes, of course he should. Ideally, he would understand your long-term goals and tailor his approach to helping you meet them in a logical manner. But even if you don't know what your long-term goals should be, he should still have some sort of structure planned for your lessons, with a series of short-term milestones that lead towards putting them all together at some point.

    Have you asked him specifically for his long-term strategy with your lessons? He may already have a plan, even if it's not apparent to you yet.

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    Can you be specific about your goals. Being "a good player" is a good goal, but not specific enough to sort out specific tasks and skills to work on.

    For example, one might say "I want to be able to improvise killer breaks at bluegrass jams." Or one might say "I want to be able to sight read from sheet music." Or "I want to be able to learn to play fiddle tunes by ear." Or, "I want to learn how to play harmony and back up a lead instrument." "I want to learn chords and rhythm backup and to be able to hear the chord changes on the fly".

    I am not saying a directionless instructor is a good thing, more that the student should have something specific to be going after. Any instructor will be delighted and much more helpful the more specific the student is.
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    Default Re: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    Quote Originally Posted by akjed View Post
    I want to be a good player, but haven't necessarily identified what I want to work on. I figured that's what I'm paying him for. Should a good teacher have a curriculum? Should I expect anything specific? Or should I just keep rolling with it? (Obviously I'm inclined to the latter, just want to hear some thoughts on working with a teacher).
    Well, everybody's different, and that's fine. First I hope we are all adults here. I am told what I am is an old adult. Even if it's simple, I know what I want. What I want might change, the more I understand something, but I know to start off simply, and let my curiosity take me in it's direction. Also, I've been around long enough to measure likelihood of occurrences. Like, I knew I would not find a piano teacher that would teach me how to play piano like folks learn to play guitar, in our very rural region. In this instance, a standard curriculum would not benefit me. So I didn't waste the piano teachers time or my own. But at the time, I was not able to put my desire into one sentence.

    A friend has a son that has dabbled with guitar for a week. Other than the calluses thing, I said the one thing I feel more strongly about, now more than ever, is when you learn a language to be around people that speak it. Even if you're just starting, don't wait. I don't know how populated the area is. Or if there are other opportunities to play with others. But a language won't stick unless you can speak it with others. Would I pay money just to pick with somebody? Yes. I have. Not regularly. But I probably would if I could afford it, and I was getting value out of it.

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    Registered User leotsou's Avatar
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    Default Re: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    For me, have a little background in banjo (self taught) before moving to the mandolin, I decided to get a teacher to make sure I was doing it right. After a couple of months I realized that what I wanted to do was play music with people but with my skill level, I would not be a lead mandolin player. I asked my teacher help me down the road to being a good back-up player which lead to music theory and chord structure along with a few songs like You are my sunshine to teach me certain techniques.

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    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: A question on lessons, working with a teacher

    The teacher that I work with - very happily - is cool with a combination of the two approaches, and I like it that way. He has well established courses of instruction that emphasize different aspects of playing. But if I come in with an 'urgent' question about a song I've heard, or am working on - he's happy to field the question. Most of the time he has insights on any musical topic, that I couldn't have reached on my own. So we move back and forth between the two approaches.
    BradKlein
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