Teaching by the Principles

[chefrusso]

Hey Jamie,

I was thinking that it would be really cool if you had some sort of manual or guidebook for people who wanted to teach guitar using the Principles. You know cover the things we should be looking for in our students, lesson plans and strategies, common pitfalls that students fall into and how to correct them, maybe even tips for evaluating progress. Anyway, it was just a thought I had the other day, so I figured I would post it here.

[Jamie]

Yes, that is a good idea. I actually devised three lesson plans years ago for a number of people who were beginning teaching careers based on the Principles. I kind of got soured on expanding on that when those particular folks started taking my work and publishing it with their names on it!

Actually, the best way to learn how to teach with the principles is simply to study the workshop forum where I give corrections. That pretty much tells you what to look for.

[chefrusso]

Actually Jamie, I have been studying the forum with great intensity and watching and internalizing the responses and advice that you've been giving me as well as other students. I've also been trying to get into the arena and identify some of the stumbling blocks myself. I guess I'll just continue to be involved and be mindful of the things I see and hear in the forum.

I totally understand your trepidation because, as you might suspect, thievery is quite common in my industry as well. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone represent an idea or a recipe as their own when I've seen it done somewhere else.

[Guillaume]

The way I experience it, teaching someone else is an extension of teaching yourself. The challenge is to know at all time the level of understanding of your student, and the only way to do that is to look at what they do. Like Jamie wrote (let me paraphrase) : "if you want to understand why someone does something, look at what they do, not what they say".

For example, if I want to know if my student understands how to practice a chord change, I just have to tell them to practice it in front of me and -look- at what they do. If they don't do it correctly or slow enough, it means that I must reinforce their understanding of how the body learns, tension, and all that good stuff.

It also helps to tell them that they are not going to get away with bad practice, no matter how many times I have to show them how to do correct practice

Another strategy that I use is to reverse the roles. I play the student role and exhibit terrible form and tension everywhere. They play the teacher. And they have to correct everything.

So I say "how should I put my hand?", and they say "huh...... I don't know". I make them think again and remind them that I'm paying 500$ for a 30 minutes lesson. They think harder and say "huh..... your hand has to be kind of like that... and the pinky finger should be like that". And they have to be precise because I play the role of a really slow student that has to have everything spelled out for him to do it right. This is a lot of fun!

I hope these few things help, Chef

[chefrusso]

Those are awesome strategies Guillaume. Now if I could only get my hands on some willing victims... er, I mean students. LOL

[AXE]

This is a lot of fun!

Definitely sounds like that!

[Jamie]

Great ideas Guillaume.

And yes, the most frequent thing I say to a student is simply....."show me the bottom of your practice on this passage". That tells me everything about why they play the passage the way they do.

Actually, I already know how good or how badly they are practicing it, because I can tell from the way they play it. But I do it to demonstrate to them the insufficiency of their practice. 80% of the time, when I ask for the bottom of their practice, they play at a medium tempo! I inform them that, by definition, that is NOT no tempo practice---which should always characterize the bottom of our practice.

[chefrusso]

You're right Jamie, of course! I think the most evasive concept to internalize is the bottom of your practice. It wasn't until I really started to visit that space often that I really started to grow vertically. Prior to that point, what I thought was the bottom was more like the middle. I guess the challenge and the goal of a teacher is to get your students to understand and internalize that concept themselves and promote growth from within.

At the very least, I know right where to go to get help and advice if I'm struggling with a student!

[Jamie]

Well, the thing is Chef that if we are related to this whole thing "correctly", or to use Buddhist terminology, if we have "right thinking" and "right action", then the "bottom of our practice" is constantly deepening, throughout our lives.

That is my experience, and I know it is Ney's experience as well. As I have said "Life is endless discovery through infinite mystery"....if we know how to travel!

[chefrusso]

So, I guess it is better to think of it as a "bottom-less" practice (as in bottom-less pit) where you never actually reach the bottom, but you strive to go as far as you can go at the given time (i.e. the deeper I go, the deeper it gets). Being a true teacher means that I've gotten a little deeper in my own practice and I'm charged with showing my student how to get there also, within their present abilities, through guidance and instruction.