There is never enough time to get everything done in a music lesson. And even if there is enough time, it doesn't necessarily mean that the student is mentally on board. All your grandiose plans can easily go out the window the moment the student walks in sobbing (for something totally unrelated to music, of course).
So it's always a balancing act. As a musician and teacher you feel a need to pass on all of this knowledge floating around in your head. As a business person you are also cognizant of the fact that the parent sitting in the room with you is paying for violin lessons and not spending every week discussing counterpoint.
The moment I first took on private students I was pretty adamant about spending at least some time teaching each student some sight reading. It was something that none of my own private teachers ever spent much time on and, as an adult, I always felt was a resulting weakness of mine. While I could read music on a basic level, things like key signatures largely remained a mystery to me until college when I was forced to take music theory.
As my own knowledge of music theory has deepened over the year along with having to teach students the basics, I've begun to value more and more how much it truly helps with playing an instrument. It has evolved on my list of priorities from "ok, this is a thing that is nice for students to know" to "ok, this is something that students need to know."
Yes, you can play a piece without any concept of music theory. But this does not lead to ownership of a piece. It's like reciting someone else's speech without really understanding the words that are being said. Everything from learning how to tune yourself (without a teacher nagging) to deciding how how best to phrase a passage all stem from music theory. It's more than just knowing "the math side" to music. It's about having the tools to understand the words that you are saying.
So it's always a balancing act. As a musician and teacher you feel a need to pass on all of this knowledge floating around in your head. As a business person you are also cognizant of the fact that the parent sitting in the room with you is paying for violin lessons and not spending every week discussing counterpoint.
The moment I first took on private students I was pretty adamant about spending at least some time teaching each student some sight reading. It was something that none of my own private teachers ever spent much time on and, as an adult, I always felt was a resulting weakness of mine. While I could read music on a basic level, things like key signatures largely remained a mystery to me until college when I was forced to take music theory.
As my own knowledge of music theory has deepened over the year along with having to teach students the basics, I've begun to value more and more how much it truly helps with playing an instrument. It has evolved on my list of priorities from "ok, this is a thing that is nice for students to know" to "ok, this is something that students need to know."
Yes, you can play a piece without any concept of music theory. But this does not lead to ownership of a piece. It's like reciting someone else's speech without really understanding the words that are being said. Everything from learning how to tune yourself (without a teacher nagging) to deciding how how best to phrase a passage all stem from music theory. It's more than just knowing "the math side" to music. It's about having the tools to understand the words that you are saying.
Amen! Preach it, Suzuki Sistah!
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