Individual Music Lessons: Clear Example of "Good Educators Share Knowledge. Great Educators Make an Impression That Stays in Their Students Hearts Forever." Part 3 of 5

Now almost a month into school, have any new teachers started to have that profound impact on you?  Are they a teacher you had before?  Or is it a new teacher and a new way of learning that make you appreciate them more? 

Last week I shared 2 teachers who made a large impression on me and there are more.  My 5th grade teacher had one year to make an impression on me and did so in a big way.  He was there when I needed someone.  My voice teacher had many years to make that impression because learning singing is a lifelong skill in which I have invested much time in lessons.  My band teacher, choral teacher, drama instructor and future voice teachers also had a large impact on me.  In study of these areas, I had many of the teachers for multiple years AND ongoing guidance in areas that interest me.  The same is true of a coach in a sport which students get to learn across many years.  They can shape our path for years to come. 

This week I want to address Individual Instruction in music and the impact it has on a student (and next week group instruction).  Individual instruction in music (voice lessons, guitar lessons, piano lessons) has a very powerful connection between student and teacher.  The teacher is sharing their knowledge with the student but moving at the students pace and addressing their individuality along the way.  Taking time to talk about individual posture for singing, where THAT student feels resonance, learning about reading music, discussing music preferences and what style or music suits THAT students voice.  

As Independent Voice or Instrument Teachers, we work on building the individual through years of study in many areas.  Here are some of the benefits of individual voice lessons (or music study in general)

* Teach Individual skills including fine tuning the instrument and musicality

* Develop a person and character through one on one interaction and teaching responsibility 

* Build Confidence 

*Teach discipline to craft their art 

* Explore the INDIVIDUAL voice and the changes it may be enduring as a student has vocal demands of both choir and the musical, going through puberty, how the voice responds to singing different styles of music or languages.

* Through many years of study, continually develop musicianship skills and the person.  We get to interact over a longer span of time and do have an impact on the student as they develop as a human and musician!

* Specific to singing and chorus:  There is a human heartbeat to singing.  A sense of belonging, of making music with YOUR voice, the person playing the piano, or the human singing with you (choir)

Many of these characteristics are present in the teaching of the arts in a larger group as well, which we we explore next week, but in the day and age we are living in with so many restrictions to publicly making music together, I wanted to address the many benefits to taking SINGING LESSONS (even if online for a while).