Behind Closed Doors
What is good teaching? True, the result of good teaching is often demonstrated in performance. But good teaching, the act, takes place week to week behind closed doors in the private lesson. And, good teaching doesn’t just haphazardly occur because someone is a naturally good teacher. The teacher must prepare for their students’ lessons and always investigate and reflect on how to improve their teaching.
So fill in the blank. Good teaching is _____. Recognizing the makeup of good teaching is the first step. Read on for more tips. Don’t forget to share your two cents in the comment box following the post.
Robert Duke wrote an article entitled Beautiful Teaching, which studies the teaching habits of three superb teachers. I especially love this article because every time I read it, something new jumps out at me.
Students learn to play beautifully by playing beautifully often, and students can only play beautifully if the repertoire they perform is well within their technical capabilities. This is not to say that students should only play repertoire that’s “easy for them” when they begin to learn it. Of course not. But learning to play beautifully requires a routine that promotes students’ demonstrating all of the good habits that superb musicians demonstrate. And for us, that means making sure our students are playing repertoire that permits them to do that every day.
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“…(let) the chief cause of his progress (be) the fact that he had found a teacher capable of fanning the smouldering spark of his zeal and of kindling it into flame.” Philokalia, vol. 1. K.Ware
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