07/17/2022
~~~Eight year-old Sam arrives at Music House for his weekly private music lesson. He greets his teacher, then scoots by her; something is on his mind. Sam dims the lights. He takes an assortment of percussion instruments off the shelf – a tambourine, claves, maracas and a triangle – and methodically lays them out in a row on the couch. “There are finger cymbals if you need them,” says his teacher. “Oh yeah!” Sam locates the cymbals and places them next to the triangle. He chooses a CD, “Selections from the Nutcracker,” puts it in the CD player and presses Play. Sam takes his place on a little box in front of the long mirror and, as the music fills the room, he conducts his invisible orchestra, swaying, cueing, rapture on his face. When Sam loses track of the beat, his teacher silently models the pattern and Sam adjusts. Occasionally he will lunge for a triangle or tambourine and hit it at just the right moment, then fly back to the “podium” where the New York Philharmonic awaits his next cue. His teacher looks on, smiling.~~~
Suppose there were a way to tailor music learning to the needs, interests, innate musical inclination, learning style, readiness? What would this require of the teacher, how would it look, and what might the outcome be?
For an introduction to a groundbreaking approach to music learning, please visit my webisite, blog and Music House pages: https://www.meryldanziger.com/
