You’ve likely seen countless advertisements for them over the years: “Sign up here for a pitching clinic!” “Register here for math tutoring!” “Get the help your child needs with private music lessons!” Perhaps you’ve even stopped to seriously question. Why is private instruction SO important that people would go to these lengths to convince and advertise to me? We at Vibe Music Academy stand with other organizations in the fact that private instruction is in fact that important. No matter what activities interest your child, receiving additional time with an expert in the area will provide more of a catalyst for their future than we could articulate. But we’re going to try, so below are some of our attempts…
Instant Feedback
Suppose your son or daughter plays an instrument in his/her school band or orchestra. This is fantastic! What wonderful news to report. They are participating in a musically rich environment full of other students attempting to achieve the same goals. However, with growing class sizes, it is unlikely your student is receiving constant and consistent feedback. Teachers do try their hardest to comment on every student’s playing, but as you can imagine it is difficult with often 50 or more students in a class. Allowing your child the opportunity to receive instant feedback every time he/she plays is invaluable to his/her growth on the instrument.
Individualized Training
Back to the example of a child in a band or orchestra class. Again, you might be wondering: shouldn’t this instruction be sufficient? This article is not to lessen the significance of school music education, but to reinforce the importance of a supplemental music education. In a class with dozens of students, teachers need to acquire a mindset of group success, while the private lesson instructor is concerned only about the individual’s success. Therefore, the instructor will place the students’ interests, goals, and learning styles at the forefront and tailor lessons around those items.
Persevering over Frustration
A good private lesson teacher will never allow a student to be overcome with frustration on their instrument. No matter what the “perceived” rate of success is, students will be continuously encouraged by their teacher to persevere. But then, it doesn’t stop there! Great private teachers (which, while surely biased, we believe we have some of the best!) will then diagnose the frustration and assign practice or a new exercise based on this feedback. We care for students first, and so we will always place their needs first.
Like other organizations, we are all about private instruction. We live and breathe it. Therefore, if you have any comments, questions, concerns at all concerning its worth or value, we’d love to engage in a conversation about it with you. Here’s to new ideas, new mindsets, great music making, and great musician-making.
- Tyler Long, Administrative Assistant/Music Instructor at Vibe Music Academy.
