Teaching younger students

[Tubamax7]

My private lesson teacher asked me to be an anchor player in a youth orchestra today and teach a 7th grade trumpet player how to play tuba. I mainly have experience teaching people closer to my own age how to play tuba(high schoolers.) Basically what I was told to occasionally stop playing and stare him down and let him know what he's doing whether its right or wrong. I kind of feel like a 7th grader would be really intimidated by being stared down by a senior in high school. He knows where some notes are but either splats them or plays them too long. Any thoughts guys? Thanks

[The Big Ben]

Get a book of simple duets and lead by example. Play along with the younger one and have a little fun!

[Biggs]

Great teachers mostly lead by example.

Or, you know, staring.

???

[Brian C]

Can you look like this?



If not, you probably shouldn't try to teach.

[CC]

[sloan]

RayBones.jpeg

[pgym]

My private lesson teacher asked me to be an anchor player in a youth orchestra today and teach a 7th grade trumpet player how to play tuba. I mainly have experience teaching people closer to my own age how to play tuba(high schoolers.) Basically what I was told to occasionally stop playing and stare him down and let him know what he's doing whether its right or wrong. I kind of feel like a 7th grader would be really intimidated by being stared down by a senior in high school. He knows where some notes are but either splats them or plays them too long. Any thoughts guys? Thanks

You're right: an inexperience player--regardless of age--is going to feel intimidated by being stared down by a more experienced player. It's demeaning, and nobody--especially not a beginner--deserves to be treated that way.

IF--and I emphasize "IF"--that's really the approach your private teacher suggested (you need to sit down with your teacher and clarify that you understood his/her instructions correctly):

1) your private lesson teacher needs to be b!tch-slapped HARD;

2) your private lesson teacher is setting you up so that when the kid eventually quits--which he will if he's constantly subjected to the sort of "instruction" you've apparently been asked to provide--the kid and his/her parents blame YOU for it;

3) if your private lesson teacher is paid to be involved with the youth orchestra and insists on having another tuba player, he or she either needs to suck it up and teach the kid how to play him-/herself or to PAY you to teach the kid;

4) your private lesson teacher needs to be b!tch-slapped HARD.

IF you decide to accept the role of anchor player, you need to understand that your role is to coach the kid on how to play correctly.

Instead of "occasionally stopping and staring down" the kid when he makes a mistake, wait for the next rehearsal break and say, something like, "Hey, why don't you try this?" and DEMONSTRATE how to do whatever it is he should be doing. The point is, you should be CORRECTING his mistake by TEACHING him how to do something that he's not currently doing, instead of trying to embarrass, humiliate, or demean his for failing to do SOMETHING HE PROBABLY HASN'T EVER BEEN TAUGHT HOW TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE.

[CC]

" To teach is to learn again." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

[imperialbari]

I don't see this as a big deal. Go be helpful and instructive.

I don’t disagree with bloke, when it comes to general approach.

But the private teacher has sent the OP out riding a wild goose. If the young trumpet/tuba-player doesn’t know all the required notes and if he plays the known notes too long, then his playing hardly is at a level where he will benefit from the suggested learning situation. Whether controlled by starring or encouraged by kind words. He simply needs personal instruction away from the ensemble situation until he masters the musical elements required by the ensemble.

Klaus, not quite aware whether my signature illustrates the playing of the young trumpeter-going-tubist or the mindset of the private teacher.

[imperialbari]

bloke, you know I respect you as a musician and as a repairman, but you just proved my view that your general thinking isn’t always that great.

Whenever you take yourself as a sample for ways of useable music education, you are going to make wrong conclusions. Your ears are so much above average, that you never needed good formal training for at lot of musical matters because you figured out the solutions before you really knew there was a problem.

The young player hardly was moved from trumpet to tuba because he was the local trumpet hero. If so he might still miss a lot of tuba notes, but he wouldn’t play the ‘right’ notes too long. If he had been a secure reader of rhythm, he would have more surplus for reading pitches. The young player isn’t necessarily hopeless, he just needs a more adequately planned learning situation, where the challenges are manageable for him.

Klaus

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I'm a little confused about how one student is able to "teach" another student in the middle of an ensemble rehearsal without undermining the efforts of the conductor (teacher) of said rehearsal. Seems impossible to me, and the most well-intentioned "instruction" taking place between two ensemble members will just take attention away from the conductor.

I think the best and only thing you can do is sit there and provide an example of how the part is correctly played and allow the young student to follow your example. Perhaps that's all that was intended (suggestions of "staring down" the younger player being completed ignored, of course).

If you're being asked to teach this 7th grader outside of rehearsal, you should expect to be paid.

[Tubamax7]

My private lesson teacher meets with him 15 minutes before rehearsals and will also work with him an hour a week outside the ensemble. I think what I meant by stare him down was mainly staring down his hand for right notes. And I would have to stop playing to check because I play a front action rotary and he plays a top action piston. As I understand my role, I am to keep an eye on him until he gets it. And Bloke, I was mainstreamed onto tuba as well. One day in 7th grade my private lesson teacher who was my band director at the time, asked me to switch from baritone to tuba. It took me 2 days to get bass clef down on my own then I was mainstreamed into the band on a little pea shooter of a 3 piston top action tuba not so different from the tuba this kids on.

[swillafew]

I had all my first instruction in grade school from a high school trumpet player. We enjoyed playing the Budweiser Beer theme song which was very popular at the time. So much for the stare down.

Before you could get a lesson with him, you had to be able to buzz a long tone on a low, medium and high pitch. The student was issued a mouthpiece and told to practice this for a week. I don't know if that would work today, but I don't disagree with the results.