Teaching/Training tips

[Adrian]

I have observed that quite a large minority of the active posters here seem to be teaching professionals at various levels.

Do you find your teaching skills help/hinder the encouragement of singers & musicians you work with at church? If they do help, are there any tips you could pass on to a non-teacher like me. Tips on training cantors would be especially welcome.

I’m sure there will be an SSG workshop I should attend, but I was hoping to blag an online tutorial on here in the meantime!

[musicus]

Welcome to the Forum, Adrian.

What a great first post! As a teacher, I can almost feel the urge to respond right away - and then I remember that it is Friday afternoon, and my brain is fried. But I hope you do get a good response; I'll chip in too when I have had some sleep. I am sure that between us we will come up with lots of Good Advice and many Things Not To Do.

[Nick Baty]

I know lots of great cantors, choir masters and music leaders who are teachers and, yes, you can tell they're used to leading a group.

And I know lots of terrible cantors, choir masters and music leaders who are teachers and, yes, you can tell they're used to bossing people around.

A good teacher should be a good music leader but it doesn't always follow.

Surely your job involves excellent communication skills. There must be attributes you can bring from soliciting!

[docmattc]

Tips and suggestions in this thread from the dim and distant past might be useful.
I'm not a teacher but I found the Bertalot book referred to a particularly good read.

[musicus]

I know lots of great cantors, choir masters and music leaders who are teachers and, yes, you can tell they're used to leading a group.

And I know lots of terrible cantors, choir masters and music leaders who are teachers and, yes, you can tell they're used to bossing people around.

Good teachers and bad teachers, then...

[JW]

Hello Adrain,

My 3 main things would be:

1) Inspire them by your enthusiasm and personality. There is research around that suggests that the main reason children have music lessons is because they get on well with the teacher. That doesn't just apply to children! If you are are grumpy old man like me, hide the grumpiness away when you are with your group.

2) Give them lots of confidence - try to say more encouraging things than corrections. Two hundred years ago singing was the main form of entertainment. Everyone sang, like everyone talks. Nobody cared if you had a good singing voice or not, like you don't worry today if you don't have a good speaking voice. Now nobody sings so we have to get over the self conciousness that comes from doing something that our peers aren't doing.

3) Help them to understand that mistakes in performance are quite normal. With the advent of recordings where every note can be adjusted to be in perfect pitch and time, musicians can get very discouraged when they are unable to reach those heights.

[organist]

Always try to be positive and smile! Smiling helps singing so much. Aim for good tone so use exercises. Read John Bertalot's books and David Hill's too! Don't be too ambitious but do introduce new repertoire. Know the group's strengths and limitations. End practice on a positive note. Don't neglect prayer, gospel meditation and explaining why the music was chosen, the social aspect of the group.
My weaknesses - I'm probably too easy going at times, I don't speak loudly enough, I don't like upsetting people so have to be careful about solos and make sure they are fairly distributed! I don't always hear what people say but wearing my hearing aids at practice was awful - I heard too much!

[Adrian]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll order the Bertalot book and work from there.

[docmattc]

Best tip of all: Come to Summer School and have a pint with lots of other people who are in the same boat.