My Philosophy
As a student I always learned in the “tactile” style. Along with most things I know how to do, I taught myself the flute. In the beginning, it was difficult for me to take lessons because I wanted to try it alone and not listen to how do something. I believe that as different as each person looks, their learning styles are differ. One's personality can be considered passive, aggressive, or assertive; and just like personalities, you can also be put into a learning style category. Many very young children are visual and auditory learners. Mother Nature intended us to learn from others, so therefore, as babies we learn from watching and listening. Most people grow to become sociological, structural, or, like myself, tactile learners. Others stay auditory and visual. It is the teacher’s responsibility to understand and know how to teach in every style. That is the most challenging part of being a teacher.
Teaching an instrument works exactly like teaching a language. Without knowing the alphabet, there is only auditory learning. Which in music, is known as learning “by ear”? The student should understand their instrument before they learn to “talk”. In this way of teaching, the student learns how the flute works and how to produce a sound. After those two factors have been mastered, the student is taught how to read music like a book, in the sense that they will know how to scan sheet music and have a general idea of the form and how it sounds. This is why I spend a lot of time on teaching sight-reading strategies. With these strategies in mind, the student will always be aware of every detail of the music. They will read what is known as horizontally, catching accidentals, articulation, dynamics, and breath marks- all expression marks. They learn to perfect a piece and take less time doing so because of their attentiveness to detail.
I use many well known books as teaching materials. My favorites include “A Soprano on Her Head”, “The Inner Game of Tennis”, and “Blink”.
