Instrumental Music Teaching

Playing a musical instrument is not only immensely enjoyable and satisfying but has far-reaching implications for educational achievement and personal development that can last an entire lifetime. Yet, of the thousands upon thousands of young people who begin to learn musical instruments every year, only a relatively small proportion continue playing long enough to reap the untold, undisputed benefits. 'Instrumental Music Teaching' provides experienced and inexperienced teachers alike with remedies for this no less than tragic state of affairs, based on the author's extensive experience as a music educator.

This approachable but thought-provoking book proposes simple, straightforward strategies for ensuring that learners' initial motivation for taking up their instrument is nurtured and maintained from the very first lesson. While outlining accessible approaches to developing instrumental technique within a vibrant musical context, the author provides workable solutions for teachers who, more often than should be necessary, are obliged to deal with the disillusionment that results from a realisation that playing an instrument is not easy: a realisation that, all too frequently, leads to loss of interest and eventual withdrawal from an activity that could be life-enhancing if only it were continued a little longer. In addition to teaching techniques that combine the essential elements of instrumental playing with broader competencies such as improvisation, composition and aural awareness, imaginative methods of teaching musical notation together with means of ensuring effective practice, and of communicating with students in ways that are meaningful and motivating, are proposed. All are underpinned by sound rationale resulting from the author's extensive interest in, and research into, the educational value of musical activity, as well as established psychological theories and more recent discoveries in neuroscience.

This eminently readable and readily comprehensible book will provide any aspiring or established instrumental music teacher, who is open to some re-evaluation of conventional dogma, with a means of approaching their critically important role with confidence, and of deriving the greatest possible satisfaction from their teaching, whether it be of beginners or more advanced players.

This work is derived, in large part, from an earlier, no longer available, book by the same author entitled 'Teaching Young Instrumentalists'. In the present volume, the shared material is refined, developed and restructured, omitting the sections on group instrumental teaching which form the basis of a separate title.