What Qualities Do You Look For in a Private Music Teacher?
Hiring a private music teacher either for yourself or for your children can be a tricky task. Unlike learning music at an educational institute such as high school or college, the freedom of choice to pick your teacher can introduce a lot of concerns and considerations. In this article, we hope to break down a few of the most important factors that should be kept in mind for choosing the right private music teacher.
An understanding of the Student’s Skill Level
The best private music teachers understand the skill level their student is at and adjust their teaching processes in order to accommodate this. For example, a student that is relatively new to music will not understand concepts and terms that an experienced player would understand. As a result, they need to break down simple concepts into easy-to-digest pieces of knowledge and also switch their vocabulary so that it’s suitable for someone that is new to the world of music.
One of the reasons why attending a public music school can be detrimental to the growth of one’s musical ability is that there are far more students in the class and every student is kept on the same level of growth. There’s a sweeping generalization based on factors like age and every student is expected to learn at the same pace, meaning that there’s no room for individual growth unlike studying with a private tutor.
A private tutor will be able to personalize the learning experience and adapt their methods and approach based on your growth. If you seem to be struggling with certain concepts, then they will likely scale back on the complicated vocabulary in order to explain things in more detail to you, and they’ll offer you realistic critique once you’ve reached a more advanced stage of understanding so that they can help you grow your musical ability.
So whether you’re taking guitar lessons with a private music teacher or learning to play the drums, you’ll have a much smoother learning experience because the tutor can change how they teach and what they teach based on your personal ability. If they’re unable to do this and use the same approach for each of their students, then it may be worth looking for another private music teacher.
Able to Develop a Relationship Together
One of the advantages of hiring a teacher for private music lessons is that you have the ability to develop a more intimate relationship which is necessary in order to fully unlock your musical potential. A teacher needs to analyze your progress and also be able to offer you real critique should they find that something about your style of playing feels off or that you should be taking a different approach to certain things in music that will help you grow your technical skill level in addition to nurturing your creative growth.
You should feel comfortable around your music teacher whether it’s because they’re a fun and interesting person or because they’re able to offer you solid advice on your musical ability. If you and your private music teacher don’t develop a comfortable bond with each other, then you might be held back by a lack of critique and a lack of real advice on the problems that you’re exhibiting in your musical ability.
Although you don’t need to be best friends with your music teacher, being able to open up and discuss more critical things about your musical ability is key to fast growth. If you don’t feel comfortable around your private music teacher then they’ll feel less inclined to talk about how you’re playing, what you can change, and also what you’re fundamentally doing wrong so you can get rid of poor musical playing habits from an early stage.
Has the Right Amount of Patience for You
Learning to play an instrument can be a long and tedious process. You may be lost as to what you should learn next, you might struggle with developing the muscle memory needed for certain instruments and you might be having a tough time developing the calluses for your guitar lessons. You may even feel pain in your hands after playing an instrument for too long, but this is all a part of the process of learning to master an instrument.
A good private music teacher will understand that every student learns at a different pace depending on their past experience and how they approach the learning process. Some students will be able to practice at home because they have the instruments, but if you’re attending something like real rock band classes and want to play the drums then you may not have space at home to purchase your own set of drums. There are ways to practice the motions and train your muscle memory at home, but there’s nothing quite like playing on a real drum kit.
If a private music teacher isn’t patient with their students then they may start to take shortcuts just to teach you, they might start to ignore certain concepts which they think will take you too long to understand and they’re not going to offer you an honest and comprehensive learning experience. Instead, they’re going to modify their teaching method so that they can get their job done faster.
However, this can also backfire by stagnating your growth. Some teachers will be more than willing to wait it out and help you slowly learn, but the problem here is that if they’re not strict on you then you’re going to learn at a much slower rate. This means that you won’t be challenging yourself and you’ll feel less inclined to study or practice on your own, thus drawing out the learning process.
This is why it’s important that your teacher has the right amount of patience. Have too little patience and it will be difficult for you to keep up with the concepts and skills your teacher is attempting to teach. However, if they have too much patience, then you will learn at a much slower rate.