Music is not a theoretical subject like Science or Math that is why it is arguably more challenging to teach such. Music teachers must then tap resources to further augment, enhance and improve their teaching competence. Instructional strategies, methodologies and materials, including various music teacher resources have been developed through the years that most music teachers use for their lessons.

One such approach is the Kodaly method, which stresses the benefits of physical instruction and response to music. It resides within a fun, educational framework built on a solid grasp of basic music theory and music notation in various verbal and written forms. Trademark methods include the use of solfege hand signals, musical shorthand notation (stick notation) and rhythm solmization (verbalization).

Another is the Orff Schulwerk, which begins with a student’s innate abilities to engage in music, using basic rhythms and melodies. It encourages improvisation and discourages adult pressures and mechanical drills. To accommodate the requirement of the approach, a special group of instruments was developed from modifications of the glockenspiel xylophone, metallophone, drum, and other percussion instruments.

The Suzuki method, meanwhile, uses music education to enrich the lives and moral character of its students by creating the same environment for learning music that a person has for learning their native language. Love, high quality examples, praise, and a timetable set by the student’s developmental readiness for learning a particular technique make up this said environment.

Swiss musician and educator Emile Jaques-Dalcroze also worked out a method divided into three fundamental concepts – the use of solfege, improvisation, and eurhythmics. The last, the method’s trademark, teaches concepts of rhythm, structure and musical expression using movement. It allows the student to gain physical awareness and experience of music through training utilizing all senses, particularly kinesthetic.

Other notable methods include Gordon Music Learning Theory, which provides the music teacher a comprehensive method and resources for teaching musicianship through audiation, the developer Edwin E. Gordon’s term for hearing music in the mind with understanding. Another is Conversational Solfege, which views music as an aural art with a literature based curriculum. The scheme consists of rhythm and tonal patterns and decoding the patterns using syllables and notation.

The Carabo-Cone or Sensory-Motor Approach to Music, on the other hand, involves using props, costumes, and toys for children to learn basic musical concepts of staff, note duration, and the piano keyboard. In Manhattanville Music Curriculum Project (MMCP), meanwhile, students are given freedom to create, perform, improvise, conduct research and investigate different facets of music in a spiral curriculum.

New methods for community music education in urban setting are Applied Groovology and Path Bands. It advocates parents encouraging their children to more freely experience the natural joys of improvised music and dance though “grooving and dandling”. Path Bands, in particular, use improvised multicultural brass bands for active lifelong participation in music.

New methodologies and strategies are sure to arise. These will be welcome addition to the accepted set. Yet, no matter how many choices there exist, any noble music teacher would choose only what he thinks is best.

Stand Up, Sit Down, Turn Around

This is a great review game for shapes, angles and more.

1) Draw the various shapes on the board.

2) Point to each shape and say its name.

3) Students repeat the shape’s name.

4) Say the wrong name for some shapes.

5) When you say the wrong name students must stand up, sit down and turn around at their desks as fast as they can.

6) The side that does this the fastest gets the point.

7) Play until the class seems confident naming the shapes.

If you have some slower kids just choose someone from each side to play rock, paper, scissors for the point to avoid embarrassing a slow student that is last every time. This is a great game to get kids moving and to review terms.

Draw the Teacher

This is a fun game especially for younger students.

1) Draw two blank bodies on the board.

2) Have two students answer a question.

2) Students answer and come to the board to draw a body part.

3) The team with the craziest looking teacher wins the game.

4) I usually tell them which body part to draw.

If you want to extend the game make the students draw things like earrings, facial hair, hats, shirt logos etc…

3D Tic-Tac-Toe

This is a fun review game that involves everyone.

1) Draw three blank tic-tac-toe boards on the board.

2) Divide the class into two teams.

3) Choose two students and ask them both a question.

4) Students answer the questions and then come to the board.

5) With the help of their team students choose where to put their X or O.

6) The team with the most lines at the end of the game wins.

If you want to extend the game add more tic-tac-toe boards.

I admit it. I was very scared of being visited during my first year of teaching. I distinctly recall when the English inspector came around to visiting me. It was in 1997. I had prepared and laminated tons of visual aids in brilliant colors along with posters I had ordered. One side of the class was reserved for students’ work. I wanted everything to be perfect. I rehearsed my lesson plan twenty times over. My fifth grade students were ready for the visit having being told about it by their homeroom teacher. All twenty four students were sitting in a “U”, books and notebooks on their desks.

I ran to the teacher’s room which was a stone’s throw away from my classroom. I saw the inspector’s car pull up and slowly her green trolley suitcase was in sight. I ran back to the classroom and back again to the teacher’s room because I had forgot some last minute things for the lesson. By the time I was back in the classroom, the inspector had arrived. She said, “Why are you so breathless?” She sensed that I was anxious and saw right through me. I wanted the lesson to work exactly as it was written. I was a new teacher. I did not have experience in listening to my teacher voice and intuition. But I wasn’t getting a grade on that.

The lesson went well. She liked the diversity of the lesson and my classroom management approaches. She complimented me on the attractive bulletin boards and the students’ work. In the end I got a good report. And I learned a couple of important things along the way.

If you are looking to be more spontaneous, well, that’s all very well and good. But keep the following in mind:

Much of the success in the classroom for a new teacher depends on how much a teacher is willing to go beyond what is written in her lesson plan and to read the students. This takes many years of practice and persistence. But it is important to get into the training of learning to listen to teacher intuition. Having a bank of activities is not always enough. The same goes for sticking to the book. It is important to experiment and try new things. Reach out to the students. They will provide you with the answers.

Spontaneity is putting your lesson plans aside and do something on the spur of the moment. While this assumes considerable classroom experience and perhaps some guts to an extent, a (new) teacher has got to start somewhere.

OK, you got your TEFL certificate, and now the world is yours to teach! Then you got your first teaching gig only to realize that the formal teacher training classes you got were background information and not applicable to the teaching reality of getting students to speak. Moreover, the middle school wants you to pull rabbits out of your hat to keep students happy regardless of learning. Or, the training center requests that you follow their outdated materials, killing off any chance for student’s increasing language fluency. What to do? Do you fall in line following the backward teaching ways given to you to become a “so-so” teacher, or do you make an effort to really learn your craft? If it’s the latter, then here are 8 tips that might come in handy from an American ESL teacher of 13 years in China, Jiayou!

1. Put the students in a situation to get them to speak: You should know by now that, in Asia, asking a student directly for their opinion will probably get you a blank stare. In reality, language learners from any country might, as well, have the same behavior, but perhaps, it’s more common in homogeneous societies. What to do? Simple, understand their cultural collectivist mindset or, in other words, make them work in a group because that’s what they’re used to. So, you might want to put them in a role-play scenario where students respond to the question in pairs or groups and where their individual opinion is heard in a round robin way. The great benefit of this is that the situation dictates their action verses as you’re directly calling them out. Trust me; this will work because they’ll feel more comfortable seeing others and following the same pattern.

2. Give them the steering wheel to drive the car: In life, there are passengers, and then there are drivers. The same applies to language speakers; some students would like to be the lead speaker to manage the conversation. Therefore, turn over the communication keys to them by encouraging them to be facilitators in the discussion. Of course, you need to provide the outline for managing the discussion with key expressions, speaking points, or dialogue. When you do this, they will love it and be very motivated and thankful for the opportunity to be the “speaker for the day.”

3. Correct only when necessary: Depending on their level, students will make a lot of mistakes relating to pronunciation, grammar, and content. But save yourself and them a lot of trouble and learn to hold back correction unless it’s a major issue. Moreover, if your class focuses on fluency, then avoid having to stop the class because of little issues. Student correction depends on time remaining, class focus, and the recurrence of the problem. There are different ways to correct a student, but here are two common ones. First, you as a teacher might look at them with an inquisitive look while repeating the wrong word and the correct word, such as “informations or information?” and usually they will give you the correct word. The second way to correct a student is at the end of the class. Just briefly point out the mistakes on the board; “one correction, information is the right word.”

4. Build your toolbox of interactive communication aids: If you ever tried to learn a language, you will know that there is a lot of processing to even simple questions. For the Chinese learners, there may even be more challenges. In the learner’s mind, they intuitively translate words or questions, spend some time to think of the right words, and then try to answer the question in their own logical way. Hence, their response is sometimes half-right. Or another more common problem that learners have is not knowing how to start answering questions. So, to save time and give confidence, provide them with speaking aids. Use talking points, outlines, diagrams, or a stem sentence to get them to speak quickly and respond logically. One simple approach I recommend is turning the question into part of the answer, such as, “Is chocolate a healthy food?” and “Yes, I do think chocolate is a healthy food because… “

5. Timing is important: I often hear from teachers that students just don’t want to speak in class. But from my experience, that is not the case. They actually want to speak in class, but they require time, confidence, and support. As a teacher in Asia, you should understand how important it is to be extra patient and learn to work with a learner’s behavior. Keep in mind that it’s the teacher’s role to find the best way to help a student sort of like working with a rubrics cube. It’s important to show patience while you try different things. You can use scaffolding techniques such as a stem sentence or a prewriting activity to assist. Subsequently, they can take the time to process and where you can return to them later, giving them another speaking opportunity.

6. Avoid being Einstein on the white board: I could imagine that in some fields, writing endlessly or sketching ideas on a board is beneficial. But in the ESL field, it’s more about talking, so don’t write many words; perhaps like over 15. I remember seeing a teacher who had the habit of wasting ten minutes to write over thirty words on the board to prepare students in a speaking class. The white board should be used like a PPT in that key wording, an outline of ideas, or corrections should be presented; and of course, sketches are also helpful. Depending on the subject I teach, I may write a standard agenda list or create a circular word map to guide the flow of discussion.

7. Setup your own dining table: Establish your own teaching format that you can use repeatedly. Very often at training centers, work is given to teachers at the last moment, or frankly, you might not be prepared sufficiently for a class. As a result, you might get a panic attack silently having a “what do I do next,” moment. To avoid such a headache, develop a framework that you can use routinely regardless of the topic. With the right format, you can plop the topic into your outline and go through the class not worrying about what to do next, but actually facilitating student speaking opportunities and corrections. For me, when I teach a communication skill class, I always go through a preset list of six areas in a clockwise manner that keeps the flow going for fluency purposes.

8. Energize your lessons: In ESL, students get the most out of class when they are active and interested. This is a reality because of endless educational theories and the fact that the student’s prior language learning experience was passive. Essentially, students had “workbook English” classes without actually speaking it. Therefore, teachers must contrast the previous students’ dull learning experience and show enthusiasm. To help you do this, you need to bring out the energy either through your personality or by class format. Naturally, some teachers are extroverts and have a great rapport, but others do not. So, basically, I recommend bumping up your persona to create classroom energy for student motivation and being engaged in your learning. However, if you’re an introverted teacher, then consider bringing out the energy through activities to keep students interested. Simply, plan a diversity of activities and be aware of their timing. I’m not suggesting that the classroom experience should be a fun endeavor hosted by a hyper personality or implementing a quick running list of activities. There should be a balance. But there is a reality that an enthusiastic teacher or when there are many useful activities to do, students are most receptive to learning and also prevents any issues down the road. Happy teaching!

Teacher education is a wonderful tool for teachers to understand the right way to teach the youth and adults of the world who are attempting to make changes in our society based on knowledge. Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the school and classroom.

The question of what knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills teachers should possess is the subject of much debate in many cultures. This is understandable, because teachers are entrusted with the transmission to children of society’s beliefs, attitudes and deontology, as well as of information, advice and wisdom.

Generally, Teacher Education curricula can be broken down into these blocks: knowledge and skills about teaching and learning, knowledge and skills concerned with the subject taught and knowledge about teachers’ deontology

Teacher education is divided into initial teacher training or education, which is a pre-service course before entering the classroom as a fully responsible teacher. Another category is induction, which is the process of providing training and support during the first few years of teaching or the first year in a particular school. Lastly, teacher development or continuing professional development (CPD) is an in-service process for practicing teachers.

Initial teacher education is organized according to two basic models. One is called the constructive model. In the consecutive model, a teacher first obtains a qualification (often a first university degree), and then studies for a further period to gain an additional qualification in teaching. In certain systems, this takes the form of a post-graduate degree, possibly even a Masters. The alternative is where a student simultaneously studies both an academic subject and the ways of teaching that subject, leading to a qualification as a teacher of that subject.

There are other options available as well. For instance, in some countries, it is possible for a person to receive training as a teacher under the responsibility of an accredited experienced practitioner in a school.

The world is full of terrific music teachers, but unfortunately, there are also bad ones.

I met my worst music teacher in New York City, at 19, when I was studying violin at a conservatory. The school sent me to an internationally-famous violinist who taught out of his posh Greenwich Village apartment. I was thrilled.

As it turned out, this teacher had a unique way of communicating: When I played something wrong, his foot would lash out in a reflexive kick – landing on my rear end (luckily, he wore house slippers). After a few lessons, I was out of there.

A year later, I found one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. This man was not famous, rich, or even a world-class violinist. He was a rumpled new immigrant, living in a tiny walkup apartment in Queens.

He turned out to be a fantastic, creative and inspirational teacher. At 20, my playing blossomed almost overnight. Thanks to him, I passed my very first audition for a professional symphony orchestra.

Many adults have anecdotes like this. Sometimes, the worst teachers make the funniest stories. What isn’t so humorous is that they can drive talented youngsters away from music, sometimes forever. We do not want this to happen to our own children.

Now I am a director of a music school, as well as parent of musically-accomplished children. I know that anyone can hang a shingle declaring themselves a music teacher. But to find the gems, you have to proceed carefully and do your homework.

Beginnings are Important

Start with research.

1. ASK EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Aim for at least three recommendations, just as if you were choosing an orthodontist. While collecting names, also ask what they charge.

2. LOOK ON THE WEB. When you reach the website of a music teacher or school web, look for student performance videos. Watch them for high standards. If you know nothing about music, email the link to musical friends and ask them whether the students have a good teacher.

3. ATTEND A RECITAL. If all the students play badly, head for the hills! A few struggling beginners in a recital is absolutely normal and appropriate; but there should also be beautiful players.

If the teacher does not have student recitals, that’s a red flag. The teacher may be hiding something (or even worse, lazy).

Interview the Candidates

Have an in-depth conversation, with your child present. You should all be interviewing each other.

The important questions

• ‘WHAT’S YOUR AVAILABILITY?’ You want a sense of the teachers’ schedule. Teachers who are frequently out of town may not be the best choice. It never fails: Cancelled lessons = less practice. Too many breaks will hinder progress.
• ‘ARE YOU A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN?’ It would concern me if the teacher isn’t in the music world, but just picking up a little extra money.
• ‘DO YOUR STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN OUTSIDE MUSICAL ACTIVITIES?’ A good teacher exposes students to the wider world of music, and is not afraid to send them to outside venues: ensembles, camps, workshops, etc. It’s even better if their students play in top-quality youth orchestras, and win competitions.
• ‘WHAT LEVELS DO YOU TEACH?’ You want a good fit. If your child is just starting out, look for a teacher with an organized beginning method, and a proven track record. Other teachers may take only advanced students, for pre-professional training.

“Many levels” can also be a good answer. I chose my daughter’s violin teacher after attending his student recital. He headed the strings department at an excellent school, and I was impressed that he taught a wide range of students, from advanced beginners through highly accomplished.

• ‘DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC APPROACH TO TEACHING?’ It’s good if they can articulate their methods and ideas. If they can’t, however, that’s not necessarily a reason to cross them off. Musicians tend to be right-brained and ‘out of the box’. Some can’t explain, but can ‘do’.
• ‘WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF STUDENTS?’ Look for long- and short-term expectations. Long-term goals might be “Participate in recitals every three months.” Short-term goals relate to daily practice.
• ‘DO YOU PUT ASSIGNMENTS IN WRITING?’ A teacher who supports goals in writing – with practice charts, notebooks, and entries at every lesson – is a good teacher.
• ‘WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF PARENTS?’ One teacher asked me to be the stenographer during my daughter’s lessons, so she could focus on teaching. Consider whether you are willing to do what is asked.
• ‘WHAT IS YOUR FEE?’ From talking to other parents, you should have an idea of the going rates in your area. But don’t judge a teacher by the price. Subsidized programs (through schools or cities) will be less expensive, while in-demand teachers charge more. If you find a great teacher with fees beyond your budget, ask whether they have an assistant or protégé who charges less. You’ll still have access to the main teacher.

A less important question:

o ‘HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING?’ Some of the best teachers I’ve worked with are young. A year of teaching experience is not a reason to rule them out. It’s safer to take a gamble on a less-experienced teacher if they’re part of a larger music school, with a strong director.

Questions the Teacher Should Ask You

An interested and responsive teacher will ask questions like, ‘Does your child express an interest in music?’ ‘Does he have the ability to focus for 20 minutes?’ ‘How does she do in school?’ ‘Do the parents or grandparents have a musical background?’ ‘Is there a piano (or other instrument) in your home?’ ‘Do you (the parents) have time and energy to help children practice daily? ‘

The teacher should ask to hear your child play, if the student is not a beginner.

Put it All Together

Now think about all the factors we’ve discussed. To recap, ask yourself if the teacher offers:

• High-quality teaching?
• Recitals?
• Networking with outside musical organizations?
• Rapport with your child and you?
• Inspiration?

Plus, consider:

• The availability of the teacher
• The cost
• The location

For my own children, quality training, and an inspiring teacher are the two most important factors, and I’m willing to go the distance for them.

© 2008, Susan Pascale, All Rights Reserved.

Learning on our own is possible if a person is persistent and determined to reach goals. But learning with teachers is loads of fun and you never know how naturally and easily the learning takes place – I personally have under gone a lot of both types of learning – but prefer learning with a teacher whenever I get an opportunity for that. This is because learning by ourselves is one of the most challenging tasks as we have to get organized ourselves, keep the self-discipline, time management, persist and keep up the dedication.

When a learning takes place with the help of a teacher, he would make the class room session interesting by display of flash cards, charts, team activity wherein learning is not only gaining of knowledge but also fun-based learning. Besides, in a classroom, there’s a healthy competition within our classmates where the motivation could be higher than individual learning.

Not all can learn by themselves but with class room based learning with the help of teacher or tutor, learning is easy and relaxing. Anybody can learn with the assistance of a teacher.

Learning on our own is a lot of pain, hard work, needs lots of dedication, also need to be highly disciplined. Whereas learning with a teacher is more an easy way out.

The reasons for my preference to learning with a teacher are as follows:

1. Far easier: It is far easier to learn while a teacher is supervising and teaching as someone is taking the lead to teach who is already specialized in that particular field and has come prepared in that particular subject.
2. Doubts clarified on spot: All the doubts can be clarified on spot. Any doubts pertaining to the subject can be easily be clarified if the teacher is there to attend. Otherwise, we might have to refer the net or library and dig into the matter. In spite of all that efforts, there’s still a chance we might not get the genuine clarifications that we may need.
3. Improves social skills: Socializing with our peers boosts our morale and helps us to take more interest in the subjects. There’s a healthy competition. We might be more motivated to learn as there’s lot of discussions which could be done. Classroom activities are definitely an interesting and helps interact with our peers.
4. Interesting and fun: There’s a lot of enthusiasm that might come from a teacher plus responses of other students. Learning becomes easier, fun and interesting and frivolous.
5. Stress free: Learning is stress free and relaxing whereas if we had to do it by ourselves, it is rather more stressful.
6. Effective time management: Time management is effective as the teacher is planning most of the time.
7. Needs less dedication and self-discipline. Learning with a help of teacher is preferable especially for those of us who are less dedicated and do not have the discipline to stick to their work.

As there are more advantages to learning with the help of a teacher than learning alone, I must emphasize that learning with the help of a teacher should be first sought. Learning by themselves should only be done only if there’s no facility to go to a classroom and learn or if a person cannot afford to do so due to his or her circumstances.

In time with World Teachers’ Day celebration, we have here a Filipino teacher teaching abroad as our special guest. With his courage and kindness, he was able to achieve his dream of broadening horizons, and now a passionate ESL teacher in Mongolia.

1. How long have you been teaching abroad?

I’ve been teaching abroad for almost 2 years. Technically, I’m here for a year and 8 months now.

2. What made you decide to leave the Philippines and look for greener pasture?

It was my desire to explore more about life, and challenge myself further as to what else can I do other than teaching under the DepED umbrella that made me decide to work abroad. I thought that my professional growth would have been limited if I continued to stay in the hinterland schools of the Division of Bukidnon.

3. What, to you, must be prerequisites in going abroad?

In going abroad, I consider having a brave heart, strong mind, and English communication competence as pre-requisites for one who aims to work overseas. A brave heart would counter homesickness; a strong mind would keep you focused in what you do and on your duties; and English competence would make you employable person internationally.

4. How did you adjust to foreign land? Students? Culture? What challenges did you face?

Adjusting to foreign land, students, and culture is a matter of positive attitude and flexibility. We, Filipinos, are known to be optimistic and well-mannered. So adjustment in both the physical and social environment has not become such a total barrier. Nevertheless, I faced more challenges on coping with language differences. Living in a community that speaks strange language to you was hard especially that even in English the people couldn’t communicate intelligibly.

5. Compared to your workload, income and fulfillment-wise in the Philippines to the one you’re having in Mongolia, what would you say?

Here in Mongolia, I only teach 21 hours a week with additional 2 hours for club moderatorship. As to income, I just earn a little higher than the current Master Teacher 1 rate (Salary Grade 18). And fulfillment-wise, I feel more fulfilled here because I could maximize my teaching skills in English language teaching compared to my experience back then in the Philippines.

6. Was it hard, the adjustment? Why do you think so?

For me, adjustment wasn’t hard at all maybe because of my personality. I am too flexible brought by having been well-exposed socially even during my student leadership to employment years. Perhaps, it was hard at the first three (3) weeks due to language barrier.

7. As a foreign teacher, how do you share your own culture to your colleagues and students alike?

I show Filipino values and traits all the time such as: politeness, being hygienic, inclined to music, the virtue of patience, diligence, punctuality, and thoughtfulness. I believe that in those simple ways I was able to share the Filipino culture to my colleagues and students, as well.

8. What would you tell a kababayan who is planning to try his/her luck teaching abroad?

To all my kababayan who want to work overseas, think a number of times before making up your mind. Consult your loved ones and retrospect whether or not leaving the Philippines is worth a go.

9. World Teachers Month is September, right? How do you celebrate, and with whom?

We also do have world teachers’ celebration here similar with what we do in the Philippines like having big gatherings and stage performances, parties, and card/gift giving. All teachers in the country do hold varied activities in their respective localities, schools, offices and the like.

10. Parting shot to all Filipino teachers around.

To all Filipino teachers all over the world, HAVE A BLASTFUL AND MEANINGFUL HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY! Be proud that you are one because our life is our legacy to the next generations. Mabuhay tayong mga guro!

Teacher Alfred B. Caamino, Jr., 32, a licensed teacher for more than 11 years now. He left serving in the Department of Education with the designation of Master Teacher 1 in the District of Talakag III, Bukidnon Division in pursuit for further professional growth overseas. He found his luck in Mongolia as an ESL teacher at Darkhan Empathy School (S.Y. 2018-2019), and teaching at Terelj Boarding School (S.Y. 2019-2020) with the same position. Also, he works part-time as an IELTS Trainer in EDX School, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He finished Bachelor in Elementary Education with concentration in English, cum laude, and Master of Arts in Education major in Educational Administration, with special distinction in research. Due to overseas employment, he ended up earning 12 units for his degree in Doctor of Philosophy major in Educational Management.

“I think that a large part of the problem is that people are taught how to be taught by someone else, but they are not taught how to be their own teachers.”

—Vladimir Horowitz

Finding the Right Music Teacher

The music teacher understands the student on a deep emotional level that is only possible through the personal expression found in music. The teacher become the students friend, mentor, confidant, and the most influential figure in their life.

What to Look for in a Music Teacher

• A good reputation as a teacher in the community
• A college degree or certification from a recognized music program
• Sufficient teaching experience
• Experience teaching students of different age groups
• Excellent references from other parents or students
• A career as a full-time musician and/or teacher
• Extensive performing experience
• Good studio location and lesson time availability
• Comparable rates based on their education, skill level and reputation
• The ability to play the piano at a high level
• Punctuality and professionalism
• A history of successful students

When searching for the right music teacher try to learn more about their personality and demeanor. Converse with them about everyday events. If you are a parent of a student, have the teacher interact with the child and observe the interaction. Quality music teachers will often want to interview the student to see if they will be a good fit. A good music teacher won’t accept just anyone, especially since they may be teaching them for years to come! A good music teacher will want to understand you too.

When conversing with the music teacher try to discover:

• Is the teacher outgoing, cheerful and energetic? or jaded and grumpy?
• Does the teacher genuinely like your child and vice versa?
• Are they teaching because they love to teach?
• Do they have a history of successful students?
• Are the majority of their students long-term?
• Are they actively contributing to the music commmunity?
• Do they extend the students education beyond just the lessons? Do they organize recitals, performances and examinations?

The way a person plays music is reflective of that person on the deepest level.

The Role of the Music Teacher

I have had accomplished students come to their lessons completely incapable of playing the piano because of emotional turmoil from personal issues that gripped them that particular week. The only way to spend the lesson was in counsel, discussing anything but music.

A good music teacher helps the student get through their personal struggles. A great music teacher helps conquer them.

Wait for the Right Teacher

Base your decision not only on convenience, price, and good looks but a quality personality, character and reputation.

Investigate and be informed!

“There are two ways to teach the piano: One is to build up a student over a long period and be totally

responsible for them, not only musically but psychologically so that the teacher is his confidant and his

motivator. The other way is to teach master classes.”
—Alfred Brendel

It is important for every teacher to have a personal philosophy of teacher education based on a set of values and principles. It should reflect the person’s ideologies and philosophies of teaching and the overall development of the children. It becomes a crucial element in guiding the children towards a successful life.

The most famous and important people who contributed to the development of the world had personal, deeply insightful educational philosophies on their own. Albert Einstein, Paul Freire and Rudolf Steiner were some people who wrote and followed powerful educational philosophies in their careers.

John Dewey, one of the most prominent educational philosophers, in his book ‘Democracy and Education’, even devoted an entire chapter on teacher education philosophy and talks about various aspects that play a formative role in the education of children. Philosophies of teacher education can be classified as Liberal, Behaviorist, Progressive, Humanistic and Radical. Each of these has specific purposes in education and defines the role of a teacher and his relationship with the learner, in the unique perspective of particular philosophical contexts. The liberal philosophy aims at developing intellectual powers, while the behavioral ideologies focus on the survival skills of a human being and the role of education in teaching them. The Progressive philosophy motivates cultural development of an individual in order to bring about societal change, whereas the Humanistic trends look at the overall development of the personality and characteristics of an individual. And the radical philosophers are interested in beneficial changes that should happen in a society from time to time, and the role of education in bringing about political, social and economical changes.

Teacher education philosophy is now used as a major marketing strategy by teachers and has become an essential component of a teacher’s resume. This has evolved to become part of the teacher’s personal profile, which outlines all of his essential skill sets and unique qualities, and highlights his specialties.