Hi, can I pick your brains please?

[CrunchyFrog]

I'm a music teacher.

Just had an enquiry from a family of home edders who would like family learning sessions. They are not keen on formal music tuition, ie, no notation.

What would you expect, or have as an ideal? I'm thinking of start/ finish songs that remain the same each session, then having 4 or 5 week projects on e.g pitch, rhythm, music from around the world, that sort of thing. Lots of interesting instruments and opportunities to make music (percussion, keyboards, open tuned guitars etc.)

Not something I've done before, most of the time I have to encourage parents not to shove children through exam after exam!

TIA for any thoughts!

The main thing which I find professional tutors tend not to "get" about our home ed is the extent to which some of us follow our children's lead. I would go so far as to say that in our family I am not the client: my children are. If they are happy, I'm happy. I am not at all interested in seeing evidence of progress or acquisition of particular skills or exposure to a set curriculum. I want to see my kids' eyes light up when they see you. That's how I know they are learning.

Possibly the family you're thinking of working with feel the same way. In that case, my advice would be to look to the children rather than the parent in assessing how well the sessions are going on and choosing a direction. Unless the children are older and quite articulate, they won't know what they like until they try it. You may need a more responsive, less planned approach than you are describing.

My ideal tutor would share with us the things which she herself loves most, paying attention to what we seemed to find most engaging (or asking us which bits of the session we liked/disliked) and would be constantly tinkering with the format of the sessions to discover what works best.

There's some quote which is popular in HE circles, about how education isn't the filling of a pail but rather the lighting of a fire. I don't care whether you use a match, a lighter, or a hot coal to ignite the fire, so long as it burns.

But all home educators are different. Ask this family how they like to learn.

Thanks for replying!

TBH that's sort of how I work with most of my kids, the fire thing - there is zero point in music in doing stuff kids aren't engaged with. But I am a little concerned that there is theory/ skill sets that need to be acquired, that are gained more easily in childhood, and that will restrict enjoyment if they aren't there.

I'm not talking about exams, I hate them. But things that I found restricted my own progress until I learned them, but that seem quite theoretical until you understand why you need them (scales etc)

And I'm quite attached to notation, not as a be-all, end-all, sacred text, but as a useful tool that is more easily learned as a child (I learned pre-5 years, so don't recall, but adult pupils do really struggle with it.)

It seems that flexibility will be the key!

I think bringing music into an everyday context is good. My son had his first organ lesson the other day and was fascinated by the history of it and the different foreign names. He was also interested in the fact that maths and physics could be used to make noises. The age range may be difficult though but I suppose asking them what they are looking for, and for them to be very specific, may be the only option.

My DDenjoyed scales and actually worked out some of them independent of her teacher. Also there can reach the stage where a child will want to learn notation, or may want to join a group so need those skills.

For us it would be all about engagement with the children, things that would make them want to sing and dance. Unless they are hoping you will turn out classically trained musicians I really wouldn't worry about scales and notation, that's not what they have asked you for. For our family it would be about playing with music, experiencing different types of music, being creative, but not about learning pieces. Could you do any family composition? Improv or other. Depending on age of kids but mine love to be creative and I always felt as a child that music was so non-creative, as I had to work on reproducing pieces rather than creating (I was classically trained on 2 instruments).

We are following a unconventional approach to music and are encouraging dd to mess around on piano as this is good for theory, scales, harmony etc without them realising it. A little bit of improvisation and as mentioned before something to sing and dance to. I like clapping songs and the old fashioned ones we sang at school. Michael Finnegan, A mouse lived in a Windmill, etc.
I also think its important to follow their lead but also agree there is particular knowledge which helps them to understand. For e.g dd playing saxophone dh spends alot of time telling her how it works, the physics involved, the materials, and breath control. This covers 3 of Ks2 topics. So you could also tell the parents that it helps with other subjects too.
Maybe given time when they and dcs gain skills they may choose a more formal footing. Its amazing how the thought of progressing through exams appeals to the most hardened opposition. I speak from experience here.

Sorry I forgot to add, we do also do a lot of formal music, exams, notation, scales sight reading etc. Didn't want to give the wrong impression.

Thanks for the replies!