Traumatic group teaching experience-please help...

[CW]

Today, I taught my first keyboard group class of four, 3.5-4 year old kids...needless to say I am extremely traumatised. I am not one to pass off children as too young to learn piano, but after the kids I had today...well I'm starting to think that perhaps 3-4 is too young.
My primary aim in teaching this group is to instill in them a love for music, a 'feel' for it, internalising rhythm, singing skills etc rather than spend the whole lesson at the keyboard. The result, I hope, is that as they get older and concentration etc improves that I can spend more time at the keyboard and that these kids are better equipped with the skills/knowledge acquired through starting music tuition earlier (hope this makes sense).
Now I know kids at this age tend to have really low concentration spans so I tried to vary the activities between playing games, time at the keyboard etc, but it was a total disaster because they just kept running around the studio or if we were at the keyboard, they would keep banging on them and not listen to what I was saying at all. I mean I was varying activities so often that in the end I think it's just a waste of time as whatever concept I was trying to get across didn't even get the time it deserved...
Even though some of the parents did accompany their children, it is evident that because of their lenient upbringing these children still misbehave even when their parents are around.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can even get through my next session with these kids as I am dreading it so much that I rather have my teeth taken out than go back???

[mark1]

I am not a piano teacher but I am a parent and I work with children on a regular basis. Just have them sing songs together...old mcdonald, itsy bitsy spider..yada yada yada... in a group, kids are relentless! You also must take charge of children! They need direction and they like it. Parents will quite often let a teacher do their thing and sit back and relax... no help to you! If you make a child cry by being stern...oh well, the other kids will remember! Have fun, and be the one in charge.

[bernhard]

He he, welcome to the wonderful world of teaching little brats.

Ok.

These children may not be ready for music lessons. By that I mean the ideal world where you give instructions, they listen carefully, they follow instructions. You give explanations, they understancd your explanations, respect you for your knowledge and are forever grateful and proceed to extend your explanations to other areas and start to draw their own (correct) conclusions.

Wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately it never happens.

So here is what you have to do:

1.      Do not bother with explanations or instructions. Your first task is to show who is top dog. If you are teaching a group, a too liberal approach is doomed to failure, since they will play amongst themselves and have a ball at your expense. You must have rules and they must be extremely clear rules, small in number and reinforced all the time. So no running around in the studio unless you give permission (more about that in a moment).

The only alternative you have here is not to teach a group but each child individually. Individual lessons will solve this problem immediately. Without a support group of peers, the little devil becomes a little angel, ready to please the teacher.

So make a list of rules, stick to them, and make sure they are explained often. Once upon a time I used to teach the recorder at the local school for groups of 3 – 4 children. I do not do that anymore because I do not believe in groups lessons anymore (They are great for making money though). Just as an example, here is my list of rules:

_________________________________________

RECORDER RULES

1. Blowing on the recorder. Only blow on the recorder when actually playing some music. Never when the teacher is explaining something. Especially do not make absurdly loud noises. You may be having a lot of fun, but everyone else is going to be annoyed and irritated by it.

1. Always bring your recorder. Although the teacher may have a few spare recorders to lend, they will not be enough if everyone forgets. But most importantly, for hygiene reasons, you should always use your own recorder and not anyone else’s. Likewise you should never let anyone use your recorder, since it is an instrument you put your mouth in.

1. Always bring your recorder file. The teacher will not remember what he taught you the previous week. He sees dozens of students everyday and cannot be expected to keep track of every single one. That is why teachers have music files. In it they write what they did and what you were supposed to do. If you do not bring your file, your lessons will not have continuity, since the teacher is forced to improvise the lesson. Also, you will have nowhere to put the music/practice sheets he will give you. And most likely you will loose them.

1. Behaviour. Recorder time is time you use learning to play the recorder. It is not extra playtime, or an opportunity to escape from maths class. Do not run around. Do not put on fancy dresses left in the room for the school play. Do not make noises on the piano. Do not beat each other with your recorders. Do not climb on the furniture. Do not practise your dance steps/karate moves. Do not blow loudly on your recorders as the teacher is trying to explain something. Simply sit quietly ready to play, listen carefully to the teacher’s instructions and watch quietly as he demonstrates. Then play to the best of your ability. You are not required to play perfectly. It is all right to make mistakes. But it is important that you keep trying to improve. The teacher will teach you to the best of his ability. But he cannot learn for you. So learn to the best of your ability.

What happens if I do not follow the rules?

Nothing happens. That is, you will not learn the recorder, which is what should happen. However, if you consistently and willingly refuse to follow the rules you will be warned. Three warnings and you will be sent back to class. Recorder playing is not compulsory. No one has to learn it. I assume that if you come to recorder lessons is because you want to learn. You show that you want to learn by following the rules, and by learning!

And have you noticed? All the rules are numbered “1”! That’s because they are all equally important!

________________________________________

Mind you, these were children in the 6 – 10 year old age group. And sorry I do not have a similar set for the piano, as I said I only teach piano individually. But you get the idea.

So make your own set of rules, give it to the parents, and explain it to the children at the very start of the lesson. Make them recite them if you have to.

2.      If they are not ready for formal lessons they may need to just explore the instrument in their own time. Have a lesson (or a few minutes every lesson) where they can bang at the piano with their fists, their elbows, even their heads. Allow them to make as much loud noise as possible. In short, let them arrive at the limits of what they can do in this way. Then show them something else (e.g. how to play one note at a time with the fingers, rather than with the fists elbows).

At this age group, music has no importance whatsoever in itself. You must play games that somehow involves music as its background. In short, you must be sly. If they are into running around the studio, play musical chairs with them (use large cushions in the floor rather than chairs so they can rough and tumble), and use as background music the very first piece they must learn in their repertory. This way they will be learning their future piece by ear and when the time comes to learn how to play it, they will already have it aurally memorised. This is just an example of how to redirect their energy. But you must be the games leader.. Anyone not following your instructions is out of the next game.

3.      Forget the notion that you are a music teacher, and that you are supposed to teach them music. Instead embrace the notion that you are a playgroup entertainer, but with a musical theme to your games. This demands a specialist teacher, where knowledge of children’s psychology is far more important than musical knowledge or superior piano skills. Personally I am not interested in this particular path, so I do not take groups of small children (I will take small children individually in very special circumstances). However make no mistake here: This kind of teacher is worth his/her weight in gold. They believe in fun as the ultimate goal of a lesson, and this is the correct approach for this age group. If you are not into games and fun, and you would be rather teaching music itself, you will not go very far with this age group.

Two good resources are:

Michiko Yurkos – Musical Mind games (Warner)

Rhoda Rabin – At the Beginning: Teaching the very young Child. (Schirmer)

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[faulty_damper]

My immediate thought was that you should not teach group lessons because when you get a bunch of kids together, under the of age of 17 or so, they'll always attempt to "socialize" and generally do not listen, just as Bernhard said.  It happens all the time with teenagers and it's the same with little children.

[CW]

Thanks for all your helpful replies. Unfortunately at this stage, I have no choice but to take on that group of children as I am contracted to work for a music school. For now I spose I will grin and bear it and in my later years of teaching when I am more established then I can say to hell with group teaching...I've tried it, hate it and going to teach individual lessons only...
The unfortunate part is that I can't really oppose the whole group teaching thing as Yamaha music school teachers have successfully(?) taught and controlled groups of up to 12 children...aarrrghhhhhhhhh there's no way out!
that's it, I'm cracking the whip in the next lesson...

[sybre]

Yep..Yamaha has classes for 3 and a half year olds and have been doing those for years..cyl_wong are you with yamaha? Which country are you at? just curious..

[CW]

Hi Sybre. No, I'm not with Yamaha as I don't really like the concept of method teaching which is what they are advocating to some extent.  I'm in Australia.

[will]

The unfortunate part is that I can't really oppose the whole group teaching thing as Yamaha music school teachers have successfully(?) taught and controlled groups of up to 12 children...aarrrghhhhhhhhh there's no way out!
that's it, I'm cracking the whip in the next lesson...

One thing that helps in Yamaha is that the parents are sitting by their child's side! So there is no problem in trying to keep the children under control, the parents do that for you! I take it from what you say that it is just you and your students in the room..

Something that may help (if you have the space) is to designate say three seperate areas where different learning activities take place. An area with the keyboards, an area with a line of seats facing away from the keyboards and finally a larger area furtherst from the keyboards.
   Move the kids into a new area every 5 or 10 minutes.
   When the children first come into the room have them walk (not run) and sit on the line of chairs facing away from the keyboard. Get their attention. Go over the basic theory you want to cover/revise e.g. finger numbers, long/short sounds etc. If the kids are restless then move to the area furthest from the keyboards and do some movement exercises related to rhythm. It is especially important to have to children relaxed and in your control before letting them go to the keyboard. Let them know that playing the keyboard is a privledge that they only have access to if they are nice to you.

I will write more when I can think straight (I've been in front of the computer for a while now) or if you even care since I just noticed the last post was half a year ago.

[pianodude]

I used to teach those little devils  at numerous Yamaha Music Schools.
The dynamic of each class really depends on how many kids came from a broken home. The more you have, the more problems that you will face. In addition, having Asian kids in a class usually helps to naturlize bad influences from those little devils.

If you are new, you will definitely have a hard time. Because you do not know what you need to teach and to control those kids. As soon as the kids know that you are a new teacher (from your behaviors), they will bully you. Eventually, you will know all the routines, and you will have more control over your kids. 

In each class, you will always have one or two kids who will be super misbehave. You need to be mean to those kids. It is not worth working with those kids. Kick them out as soon as possible to save the other kids who deserve your attention and teaching. You will learn very fast in discerning useless kids. It sounds mean, but it is a realty of life.

My students stayed with with for years and they love me till I quit teaching last year. I had taught group lesson for 15 years. Now, I retired from teaching.

[Greg_Fodrea]

Wow!  Some interesting views on this topic...

I've had the pleasure of working with groups of these ages through a program called StarKidz, and I taught the basics of music, rhythm, and the piano keyboard.  I can conclusively say that kids this young can learn music theory - many faster than older children or adults!!!

What helped me was to watch some children's television programs, paying particular attention to the format.  My classes followed the formulas I saw on these programs.  I made use of repeated activities, theme songs, TONS of <a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a></a></a>, and whatever it took to keep their attention.

Here's an invaluable tip.  Make your music <a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a></a></a></a> physical!  Channel some of that energy!  I bought an inexpensive vinyl floor keyboard and had the kids play "musical hopscotch" to teach note recognition.  That's just one example.  There are dozens of books at the library on learning activities for preschoolers.  Don't just focus on the ones about music <a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a></a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a></a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=<a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">Education</a>"><a target="_blank" href="https://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=Education">education</a></a></a></a> - get ideas everywhere.  Teaching kids this young takes tremendous patience, but it's incredibly rewarding.  Keep your chin up and have fun with it.  They will if you do!