Music History: How to

It is a problem I am sure music teachers have all had at one point or another: how do you include music history into a short lesson? You can use all of their lesson time just giving new assignments and listening to the old.

Including music history into a students lessons can take many forms, depending on the teacher's style or the student's learning style. If you have an older student that has access to a computer, you could send them links to articles about the different music periods, composers, or instruments. (Be sure to preview everything you send to you students.) This frees up time in the lesson that would otherwise be taken up with history. Younger students can read short articles that you print off the computer for them. The really young students could color pictures of composers with a little information about the person at the bottom of the page.

During the summer when things are likely to be a little slower, you could give your student an essay or poster board assignment. This lets them be a little more creative when they are less likely to want to practice. Each student could put something together on a different composer and post them in your studio. Then as students wait for their lesson they can look at other students' research projects. Young students can merely answer the questions about a composer. You can assign your older students to do a paper, writing at least two to three paragraphs answering the questions you provide. Below I have included some questions to get you started.

Who is your composer?

When did he/she live?
What period did they compose in?
What country were they from?
What are they famous for?
What is a piece that they wrote?

What instrument(s) did they write for?

Practice

           Purposeful

            Readiness

             Achievement

              Correct

               Time

                 Improvement

                 Consistent

                   Efficient

These words are all related to how someone should practice their instrument or what is needed to make good progress.

Purposeful: Practice must be done with purpose. If practice is done aimlessly, without a goal in mind, nothing will be accomplished.

Readiness:  When practice is regularly done with purpose, it will make the student even more prepared for their next lesson.  This leads to the next word.

Achievement: When a student is practicing well, he will have a sense of achievement by advancing in his lessons faster than if his practice was done aimlessly.

Correct:  Another important aspect of practicing is correct practice.  Even when practice is done with purpose, practicing mistakes inhibits progress.  Thus, care must be taken to avoid making mistakes in the first place.

Time: When practice is done purposefully, it will take less time to learn a piece than when practice is done aimlessly.  However, the more time one spends in purposeful practice, the faster they will learn.

Improvement:  By having good practice habits, a student will show great improvement.

Consistent: A student must practice consistently to show progress.  Also, the more consistently a student practices with purpose and sets goals for his daily practice, the sooner these will become established habits.

Efficient:  A student who has good practice habits, will be making a more efficient use of his practice time.