Instrumental lessons

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The banjo lesson . Oil painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner from 1893.

Instrumental instruction is a process of acquiring skills and knowledge by teaching how to play a musical instrument .

history

Instrumental lessons became widespread with the emergence of bourgeois society in the late 17th century, at the same time that the piano was invented. As the social history of the piano shows, the piano and the bourgeoisie are closely linked. The piano lessons and domestic piano was a defining part of the education-oriented bourgeois lifestyle that has been filled mainly by women and girls, as personal and working sphere were sharply separated. The appreciation of the piano and classical music has remained a symbol of the bourgeois self- image, although the implications of instrumental instruction have changed over time. Thus, under the impression of the current discourse on upbringing, parents consciously rely on the transfer effects of instrumental lessons, i.e. H. on the possibility of practicing modern educational desiderata such as motivation, concentration, diligence and self-discipline.

distribution

In 2008, the Society for Consumer Research commissioned a study on the possession of musical instruments and on making music, for which 11,900 households in Germany were surveyed. The study showed that 34.1% of all households had at least one musical instrument. More than half of them (54.7%) were households with children under 15 years of age. 49.9% were civil servants' households. Music was actually made in 25.6% of households that owned an instrument.

Of those surveyed who played an instrument, 62% said they started taking lessons between the ages of 5 and 11; only 8.8% had started at 19 years of age or later. 51% said their parents encouraged them to study an instrument; 46% said they took an interest in it of their own accord. 61.2% have studied their instrument in private lessons, 16.5% in school and 14.5% self-taught .

providers

Typical providers of instrumental lessons are private teachers, music schools, general education schools, music schools and music colleges. There are also various other providers; in the United States e.g. B. lessons are often offered by the instrument retailer. In many countries, scholarships are available for schoolchildren who have paid tuition. These are made available by a wide variety of donors.

Private tutor

In the case of private instrumental teachers who settle their fees directly with the student, the majority are professional musicians who do their teaching on a part-time basis. Many private teachers have studied instrumental pedagogy - in German-speaking countries this subject is e.g. Taught, for example, at the University of Halle , the Folkwang University and the Salzburg Mozarteum - others teach themselves to teach. Teachers who teach the Suzuki method have attended Suzuki teacher courses; some are also very familiar with the method from childhood because they were trained afterwards.

Music schools

The offers of public and private music schools are designed to complement music lessons in schools. In addition to instrumental and vocal lessons , they often also offer programs for early musical education and adult education . The approximately 950 public music schools that are organized in Germany in the Association of German Music Schools employ instrumental teachers, the majority of whom are graduates. In order to be able to offer the instrumental students favorable tariffs, group lessons are often given here. In addition, there are many private music schools (e.g. the franchise company Musikschule Fröhlich and the Yamaha schools belonging to the instrument manufacturer of the same name ). The Suzuki schools in German-speaking countries are partly organized as associations and partly also as private schools.

General education schools

Although z. B. Leo Kestenberg had already campaigned in Prussia in the 1920s to have every child learn an instrument at school, instrumental lessons are only offered sporadically at German-speaking schools to this day and mostly only at grammar schools . The reasons for this are a lack of social and educational political will to upgrade music lessons compared to the main and core subjects (especially German, mathematics) that are perceived as more useful, and unsuitable teacher training. The educational initiative " Every child an instrument " is currently playing a pioneering role in the introduction of comprehensive school instrumental lessons. Similar initiatives have since emerged outside of North Rhine-Westphalia , for example at the Schloßparkschule in Völklingen-Geislautern . Instrumental lessons are offered regularly at music schools and boarding schools. There are also regular schools here and there with wind or string classes . This concept comes from the United States , where such instrumental programs are the standard form of school music teaching and are even part of the extracurricular offer in many elementary schools.

The class making music with recorders or Orff instruments , which has been widespread in school music lessons in Germany since the 20th century, aims at ear training and the experience of making music together, but not at a technically demanding game and can therefore be used as instrumental propaedeutics, but not as instrumental lessons in the narrower sense get ranked.

Music schools and colleges of music

Music schools and vocational schools for music - the latter only exist in Bavaria  - serve to train prospective musicians who can provide evidence of at least a secondary school leaving certificate. In addition to special subjects such as music education , choir conducting, etc., instruments can also be studied here. The offers from conservatories and music colleges , on the other hand, are aimed at future professional musicians who usually have a general university entrance qualification .

Master classes and music workshops

Masterclasses and masterclasses that advanced students take from high-profile musicians who normally do not teach are to be distinguished from the lessons that music students receive from a teacher regularly and over a long period of time .

Another form of supplementing the usual instrumental lessons are instrumental workshops, in which students complete a program on several consecutive days that can include various forms of teaching (master classes, individual lessons, group lessons, orchestral work, trial programs in neighboring disciplines) and concerts. Such workshops are common, especially with the Suzuki method.

Methods

There is no uniform definition for the term “ method ” in instrumental education. A comprehensive and school-building didactic concept like the Suzuki method is seldom hidden behind it . Most instrumental pedagogical "methods" and " schools " are simply textbooks for a particular instrument. A syllabus, on the other hand, is not a teaching method, but merely a system of skills that have to be developed in class with a specific instrument.

Playing in a group is particularly easy with children studying according to the Suzuki method, because the children all work with the same pieces of music even in individual lessons.

Suzuki method

The Suzuki method was developed in the 1940s by the Japanese music teacher Shinichi Suzuki for teaching violin to preschool children and is now most common in Japan and the United States. The method is now also available for viola and cello , less often for other instruments such as B. the piano available. Characteristics that distinguish this method from other instrumental pedagogical approaches are the intensive involvement of a parent in the classroom and in the daily practice of the child, the renouncement of early note reading in favor of systematic ear training , the work with a fixed repertoire of study pieces and the regular Playing in a group. The difficulty progression of the study pieces, among which works from the Baroque period predominate, is extremely steep, so that the method - assuming very intensive practice - is notorious for the production of “ child prodigies ”. Well-known violinists who were trained as children using the Suzuki method are z. B. Sarah Chang , Hilary Hahn , Leila Josefowicz and Jennifer Koh .

Doflein

The German musicologist Erich Doflein developed an internationally widespread conventional violin teaching method in cooperation with his wife Elma Doflein in the 1930s. The five-volume work is a very extensive collection of study pieces, most of which are to be played in a duet with the teacher. The musical range of the pieces is considerable and includes folk songs, baroque, classical, romantic and modern. Purely technical exercises are also included, but take a back seat to the actual study pieces. Although the Doflein method is also tailored to technical excellence, the progression of difficulty is much more gentle than in the Suzuki plant. On the other hand, the students play according to grades right from the start.

Bastien

A method of teaching the piano that has been in widespread use since the 1960s comes from the American music teacher James Bastien (1934-2005). The Bastien textbooks are graded according to age groups (from pre-school to adulthood). A characteristic of the method is that it initially dispenses with notes; instead, learners place their fingers according to certain patterns that are noted down as digits. Right from the start, however, emphasis is placed on developing good technique (finger position).

Russian piano school

The Russian Piano School , written by Alexander Nikolajew , is an example of a classic teaching method that focuses on technical aspects and ear training. The learning pieces are characterized by high musical standards, and the students play according to grades from the start.

Content

Violin lesson (Suzuki method)

With the Suzuki method, in addition to ear training and the creation of a beautiful, full tone, the focus is on imparting solid technical fundamentals, on which a virtuoso, highly technical playing is to be built. In the first few years, these include:

  • A fatigue-free and efficient posture and a secure hold of the violin between the collarbone and the lower jaw.
  • A secure grip of the right hand on the bow, which allows coarse and fine movements of the bow to be controlled in the best possible way.
  • Fatigue-free and efficient bow guidance that produces the best possible tone.
  • A fatigue-free and efficient posture of the left hand, which must be as relaxed and flexible as possible for future requirements such as vibrato , position changes and quick pitch changes .

The practice pieces are learned, at least in beginner lessons, by imitation and not by playing from the sight, so that the study of the grading system is not necessary at first.

Factors of learning success

The parents

Various studies have shown that the musical talent of the child is closely correlated with the commitment that the parents show with regard to the instrumental lessons of their child. This commitment on the part of parents is one of the most powerful factors that determine whether a child continues to take instrumental lessons, firstly, and how successful this lesson is, secondly. Children who are encouraged and emotionally strongly supported by their parents in the early phase of their lessons are less likely to drop out of their education than children who receive little support at home and whose parents are neither particularly interested in music nor have a musical interest in the course of the Discover time while your child is studying a musical instrument. The best learning performance can be observed in children whose parents - especially in the early phase of education - are heavily involved in teaching and practicing the child, support the child as much as possible and, in parallel with the child's learning, continue to develop their own interest in music unfold.

The only movement in instrumental education that has formulated fixed role expectations for parents in the sense described here is the Suzuki method.

Practicing

The efficiency of instrumental teaching depends on how B. Shinichi Suzuki has repeatedly emphasized, to a large extent, on the care, amount and regularity of the practice . Learning to use most of the instruments creates a wealth of unusual and progressively difficult motor tasks that have to be carried out in coordinated multitasking . Rapid learning progress that is perceived as satisfactory can only be achieved if these tasks are internalized and automated through stubborn training . Most professional musicians have spent more than 10,000 hours practicing their instruments by the time they turn 20.

In the western world , younger children in particular do not like exercise routines regardless of their musical ability. As Manfred Spitzer has pointed out, particularly gifted, intelligent children who are used to learning new skills quickly and suddenly ( implicitly ) from school, but who are supposed to learn something in instrumental lessons that they work on slowly, gradually and explicitly , often refuse to practice what they dislike because they constantly perceive themselves to be inadequate. Instrumental teachers and parents have repeatedly grappled with the everyday experience that children like to play an instrument but not practice it in the educational discourse in the United States. Cynthia Richards e.g. B. recommends encouraging children to practice consistently in the years when their self-motivation is insufficient, and if necessary with daily rewards. She justified the u. a. with the fact that making music becomes a real need for musically encouraged children only in the course of adolescence. But if the adolescent finds his skills insufficient at this critical point in time, he will likely soon give up the instrument that is so frustrating for him. Amy Chua takes an extreme position, in her book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother she put the benefits of forced practice up for discussion. At the opposite end of the spectrum are educational programs that see their primary task in reducing fears of the threshold and therefore emphasize making musical learning possible with fun and without pressure to perform and not wanting to produce virtuosos.

The teacher

How u. a. Manfred Spitzer has established that, at least in beginner lessons, the training of the teacher and the teaching method he uses are not yet strong determinants of the child's learning success. Much more important is whether the first teacher the child works with offers a sense of personal warmth and whether the student and teacher like and respect one another. If it comes to a trusting alliance between the two, the child is likely to make good progress with the instrument soon. Only in further lessons does the learning success then also depend on the student's ability to differentiate between the personal and professional qualities of the teacher.

Use of instrumental lessons

Under the title Music (education) and its effects , the music teacher Hans Günther Bastian published the results of a long-term study in 2000 that he carried out from 1992 to 1998 at a number of primary schools in Berlin. Bastian u. a. convinced that an extended school music education, which includes the learning of an instrument, leads in children to an increase in intelligence - especially spatial imagination -, intellectual receptivity, peacefulness and self-esteem, regardless of the level of education at home. He explained the increase in intelligence as a transfer effect , i.e. That is, he assumed that intensive involvement with the complex medium of music trains cognitive functions that are IQ- relevant. He attributed the increased social competence of the children making music to the training effects of playing music together. As part of his theory of multiple intelligences , Howard Gardner had formulated similar theses in the 1980s, and Maria Spychiger had already carried out school experiments similar to Bastian in Switzerland in the 1970s.

Against the background of the discourse about the high failure rate in school music lessons and the cancellation of subsidies for non-profit music schools, education-oriented German newspapers such as the FAZ and Die Zeit took up Bastian's findings and theses so eagerly that they soon felt compelled to reiterate the importance of the transfer effects To downplay it, especially since the study's susceptibility to press exaggerations had brought him under criticism from fellow scientists.

literature

  • Anselm Ernst: Teaching and Learning in Instrumental Lessons: An Educational Handbook for Practice . Schott, 1999, ISBN 3-7957-8718-1
  • Elke Gallenmüller: Practically didactic: What makes a good instrumental lesson . Holzschuh, 2006, ISBN 3-920470-88-5
  • Nicolai Petrat: Motivation for music: Basics and practical tips for successful instrumental lessons . Gustav Bosse Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-7649-2683-X
  • Nicolai Petrat: Psychology of Instrumental Lessons . Gustav Bosse Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-7649-2680-5
  • One piano, one piano! In: Die Zeit , No. 2010/12

Web links

Wiktionary: piano lessons  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b And the winner is… music! music distribution services
  2. ↑ Folkwang ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg ; Mozarteum @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.folkwang-uni.de
  3. ↑ Teacher training for violin and violoncello / training courses to become a Suzuki teacher ( memento of the original from November 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.germansuzuki.de
  4. ↑ Make music! In: Die Zeit , No. 49/2006
  5. ↑ Schloßparkschule: With violins against Pisa . In: FAZ , January 11, 2005
  6. ↑ Examples: Belvedere Palace . In: Die Zeit , No. 8/2008. Reichersbeuern Palace / Max Rill School
  7. ↑ Antonio Del Buono Elementary School ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Abingdon Elementary School , Cannon Elementary School ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / delbuono.schoolloop.com @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.danville.k12.il.us
  8. ^ Suzuki Association of the Americas ; Suzuki Student Institutes Ithaca College
  9. ^ Hans Krankenberger: A study plan for violinists . (PDF; 74 kB)
  10. ↑ James Bastien, 71, Is Dead; Wrote Piano Study Books . In: The New York Times , January 29, 2006
  11. ↑ Alexander Nikolajew: Russian Piano School, Volume 1 , Hans Sikorski, 1999, ISBN 3-920880-68-4
  12. ↑ Jane W. Davidson, John A. Sloboda, MJA Howe: The Role of Parents and Teachers in the Success and Failure of Instrumental Learners . In: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , Volume 127, Winter 1995/1996, pp. 40-44; Jane W. Davidson, JA Michael, Derek G. Moore, John A. Sloboda: The role of parental influences in the development of musical performance . In: British Journal of Developmental Psychology , Volume 14, Issue 4, November 1996, pp. 399-412
  13. ↑ a b Shinichi Suzuki : Education is love . Gustav Bosse Verlag, 6th edition 2011, ISBN 3-7649-2301-6
  14. ↑ Manfred Spitzer : Music in the head: hearing, making music, understanding and experiencing in the neural network . 8th edition. Schattauer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 978-3-7945-2427-3 , p. 316 ( limited online version in the Google Book Search USA )
  15. ↑ Musik im Kopf , p. 325 ( limited online version in Google Book Search - USA )
  16. ↑ Cynthia V. Richards: How to Get Your Child to Practice… Without Resorting to Violence! . Advance Arts & Music, Orem UT 1985, ISBN 0-9729396-1-X ; See Edmund Sprunger: Helping Parents Practice: Ideas for Making it Easier , Yes, 2005, ISBN 0-9767854-3-9 ; William Starr, Constance Starr: To Learn with Love: A Companion for Suzuki Parents , Suzuki Method International, 1995, ISBN 0-87487-606-0 ; Philip Johnston: Not Until You've Done Your Practice: The classic survival guide for kids who are learning a musical instrument, but hate practicing , PracticeSpot Press, 2004, ISBN 0-646-40265-X
  17. ↑ For example djso.de , musikschule-musicfun.de ( Memento of the original on 12 February 2011 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , burkhard-hill.de ( Memento of the original dated August 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , akkordeoncentrum.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikschule-musicfun.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.burkhard-hill.de
  18. ↑ Musik im Kopf , p. 328 ( restricted online version in the Google Book Search USA ). Jane W. Davidson, John A. Sloboda, MJA Howe: The Role of Parents and Teachers in the Success and Failure of Instrumental Learners . In: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , Volume 127, Winter 1995/1996, pp. 40-44
  19. ↑ Maria Spychiger: That is a kind of expectation of salvation from music . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Sunday , February 8, 2009; Music goes to school ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ewaweber.ch
  20. ↑ music? It's great fun! In: Die Zeit , No. 14/1996. Music makes you smart . In: Die Zeit , No. 15/2000. Student out of rhythm . In: Die Zeit , No. 29/2002. Music major . In: FAZ , August 19, 2003. Swollen cerebral bars . In: Die Zeit , No. 17/2005. Concert in the classroom . In: FAZ , October 20, 2006. Make music! In: Die Zeit , No. 49/2006
  21. ↑ Hans Günther Bastian: After a long silence: On the criticism of the long-term study "Music Education and its Effects" . Schott Music Education, 2000
  22. ↑ See e.g. B. Heiner Gembris, Rudolf-Dieter Kraemer , Georg Maas (eds.): Does music really make you smarter? Musical learning and transfer effects . 3. Edition. Wißner, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-89639-373-1