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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
How To Teach
How To Teach
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TBird
68 posts
Aug 10, 2014
3:15 PM
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Maybe the idea of teaching harmonica is something that has been overly discussed here in the past, but I haven’t seen much discussion about it, and I bet some of you some great insight on the matter.
Recently, I’ve been approached by a few people who have asked if I would be willing to teach them to play. I’ve told them that I might be able to help them out, but have yet to actually make it happen. The more I think about it, the more I think it could be a fun thing to do and beneficial to my own growth too. I have a fair amount of teaching experience in non-musical settings and have always enjoyed that type of interaction with people. I just have no idea where to start when it comes to the harmonica. I figured out the harmonica on my own (with the help of a few books and the internet!) and only after I had a substantial foundational grasp on the instrument did I seek out the one-on-one support of a teacher/mentor, so I can’t easily think back to how a teacher was able to guide me when I started out. I am certainly not an expert player, but am confident that I am advanced enough to be able offer something to a beginning player. I’m just not sure how…
Thoughts?
T.Bird
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kudzurunner
4855 posts
Aug 10, 2014
4:52 PM
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I started teaching privately in 1985, and I probably didn't have the right to do that, based on my playing ability and actual professional performance experience. I taped circulars with those little pull-tags to lamp posts in the Columbia U. neighborhood. I started teaching in a music school in NYC in the fall of 1986, around the same time I started playing with Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee."
Point is, you don't have to be the best player in the world to decide that you've been called to the ministry. It's important, though, to take the ministry seriously. What's your core mission? What techniques to you believe beginners need to learn, and in what order? How will you conduct individual and class sessions? How long will a session last? How will it begin and end?
You're 100% right that you've got something to offer. Your purpose will partly be to spread information: the recordings that your students should be listening to, the clubs in your town where they might hear some good live blues, local jam sessions that they might attend. Trust your instincts, but keep gathering information--as you're doing here--and keep on learning yourself.
If you're an active learner yourself, and you let your students know that, that's one of the most important things you can teach.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 10, 2014 4:53 PM
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The Iceman
1914 posts
Aug 10, 2014
5:17 PM
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There usually comes a time in ones personal harmonica growth where teaching someone else proves to be very valuable to your advancement.
You don't have to be a very advanced player, either - just as long as you are a level or 2 better than your student.
Teaching forces you to put your knowledge into words as well as re-examine your technique.
You can also learn to teach as you teach - you are free to constantly change your teaching technique the more you teach as you find more effective methods.
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The Iceman
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Frank
5091 posts
Aug 11, 2014
7:38 AM
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double post
Last Edited by Frank on Aug 11, 2014 11:54 AM
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Frank
5092 posts
Aug 11, 2014
7:43 AM
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double post
Last Edited by Frank on Aug 11, 2014 11:54 AM
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Frank
5098 posts
Aug 11, 2014
11:59 AM
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2 step process :)
1) Ask what it is they want to learn...
2) Help them discover how to learn it,
Once you meet and figure out their true ability; strengths and weaknesses -
Let the learning begin :)
--------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics sacrificed to spamnobot...
It's cheaper to keep her
It is cheaper to keep her
When your little girl makes you mad
You get an attitude and pack your bag
Five little children that you're leaving behind
You're gonna pay some alimony or do some time
It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
See when you get to staring that judge in the face
You're gonna wanna cuss the whole human race
It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
Too much to leave that little girl (Cheaper to keep her)
It's cheaper, it's cheaper, cheaper, it's cheaper
It's cheaper, it's cheaper
It's cheaper cheaper cheaper cheaper, yeah
You didn't pay for two dollars to bring the girl home
Now you're about to pay two thousand to leave alone
See another woman out there, you wanna make a change
She ain't gonna watch you
'Cause you won't have a damn thing
It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
Cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
The time you get to looking at the judge in the face
You're gonna wanna cuss the whole human race
It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her)
Cost too much to leave (It's cheaper to keep her)
It's cheaper, cheaper, it's cheaper, it's cheaper
It's cheaper, cheaper
Cheaper cheaper cheaper cheaper, yeah
If you decide to roam
and leave your happy home
You gotta pay the house note
The child support, your insurance
Alimony, morgage 1, morgage 2
It's cheaper to keep her
It's cheaper to keep her...
It's cheaper, to keep her!
Last Edited by Frank on Aug 11, 2014 12:01 PM
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mr_so&so
852 posts
Aug 12, 2014
9:57 AM
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I am gearing up to teach (gratis) a small group of fellows from my work. I am writing down the jewels of my wisdom accumulated so far, and find this to be a useful starting point. I'm also writing down my curriculum will also make notes on each lesson.
While one of my goals is to provide some of the critical info that I was ignorant of when I started, I am also going to try to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone learns the same way that I do, and that perhaps some of my students may know some things that I don't (some are musicians who play other instruments).
I'm looking forward to it. Also, having some fun with this will be important.
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boris_plotnikov
994 posts
Aug 12, 2014
11:35 PM
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I found it's very important to give my student ability to make a product from the very beginning. First it's children melody played with auto accompainment. But they can play it on a friend's birthday.
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Excuse my bad English.
My videos.
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Slimharp
369 posts
Aug 13, 2014
8:31 AM
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I have been teaching for 8 years. A couple things I have learned along the way.
1. Get the student to relax.
2. Dispel the fact that the harmonica is easy(or hard). It is either familiar or unfamiliar.
3. Correct and consistent grip is important.Start with a decent harp !!!!
4. Use a white board to illustrate on.
5. Set steps but let them set their own goals. If they don't practice it can be frustrating to you but you are still getting paid.Dont measure them by what you did. Some will take off and some will creep.
6. Use tabs sparingly at first only as a guide. This helps train the ear. They cant see the numbers when they play anyway.
7. Add some laughter and fun.
8. Half hour once a week works unless they are really working on it. Then twice a week. I put some of the lesson on a cassette so they have a reference.
9.If they get stuck in a lesson dont keep hammering on it. Switch to doing some chugging or rhythm patterns for a while, then try it again.
10. Let them know at first that a draw is no " harder " than a blow or vice - versa.
11. Dont freak out when after 6 months they still have a problem hitting a clean draw 2.Dont know what it is about that hole.
12. Enjoy.It is very rewarding to see the lights come on when a student gets a song, or a part, or a feel.
Last Edited by Slimharp on Aug 13, 2014 8:32 AM
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nacoran
7929 posts
Aug 13, 2014
10:31 AM
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I can tell you, from my very brief foray into teaching harmonica, and more generally from trying to teach anybody anything, that it's all about paying attention and customizing your message to the student as specifically as you can given the format. I know the exact moment I lost my student. He wasn't really practicing (so maybe I'd lost him already?) but he didn't have any real concept of notes- he was a drummer. He could keep time, but he wasn't getting concepts like chords. I suspected he was a little flakey (nice enough guy, but he called himself flakey) and I'd been shying away from giving him anything to 'study' that didn't seem like a game, because he wasn't doing the things like putting in time just honking on the harp to get an idea of what chords and intervals sound like but he was still complaining he couldn't 'play' anything yet. Learning by osmosis? I don't know. I gave him a one time only worksheet. I was trying to see if he'd retain things better in a written format. All I wanted him to do was, looking at a sheet that had the list of notes in each chords and a picture of a harmonica, fill in the chords. Boring monkey stuff, but I'd tried a million ways and one to get him to get the idea of playing I chords and IV chords and I figured it might, if he was willing to do it, at least crystallize the idea in his head. I could see I was losing him. I hate those exercises years ago in music theory, but you either have to play the harp enough to learn intervals or learn it mechanically enough to play songs and he wasn't putting in the practice time to learn it by ear. I could tell as I handed him the sheet that it might be the last time I saw him, and sure enough it was. He got an infection and blamed it on the harmonica because it smelled funny (to be fair Hering's do smell a little funny, but also to be fair, the infection was a leading side effect of the medication he was on). I didn't read the student well and tailor his lessons to his style of learning, or not learning. My bad. It's a shame. We were swapping harp for drum lessons and I was really enjoying the drum. I suspect, given a teacher who had been through the process a few more times someone could have figured out how to connect with him a bit better.
The hardest single part about harmonica lessons, both as a (1 time teacher) and as someone who has tried to learn about this silly tin can, is teaching what is going on inside this little tin can and inside our mouths. The human body is very good at sensing where, say, your hand is and what position is in at any given moment, even without being able to see it. The tongue? My spacial awareness isn't as good there, and I suspect that is the case for most of us.
If I had it to do over I think I'd use the Harp Ninja software. I don't have perfect pitch. I can roughly translate in my head between tab and a melody, but it's a slow process for me (much faster by ear). I found myself having to refigure what he was playing in my head. I'd do things like play a riff and break it down for him, but when he'd play something wrong I'd have to pick up my harmonica to figure out exactly what he was doing wrong. That's all stuff Harp Ninja can do, if you have a motivated student, without you having to manually correct notes, which lets you focus more on things like embouchure and tone and feel and all those other things that are more interesting and esoteric.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Slimharp
371 posts
Aug 13, 2014
10:49 AM
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nacoran, some dont get it. What I try to do is allow them to draw it out of themselves with me doing a show and tell. I really cant teach them anything. I show by example. I think it boils down to getting past the fear of harp and desire. Desire = progress.I have had some students that were too dam smart to learn. I let them do it their way until they see their results. I can show and tell until I am blue in the face. Use everything I got. If they dont keep the harp in their mouth and have the desire ( hate to say it but true ) just keep writing the check. If they refuse to practice, keep writing the check.
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