Music Teaching Tips

What do Andrea Boccelli, Evelyn Glennie, and Hitoshi Oe all have in common? Each of these people is a successful professional musician (a vocalist, a percussionist, and a composer who is a pianist), and all are special learners (visually impaired, hearing impaired, and mentally challenged). These people were able to realize their musical talents because music teachers adapted their instruction to meet their special needs as learners.

Teaching special learners in general music generally has been accepted in music education, but the idea of teaching piano to special learners is less common. The cognitive, physical, and social abilities and disabilities of a "special learner" provide significant challenges to a private or group piano teaching situation. The teacher will need to be aware of the instructional adaptations that will need to be made in order for these students to succeed in piano study. However, through minor modifications and adaptations of traditional piano teaching techniques and by borrowing techniques used primarily in special education, piano teachers can teach many special learners and include them in their piano studios.

• Watch students
• Consider different students' learning styles
• Keep explanations brief and to the point
  
• Keep lessons active and moving--less talk and more action

Nandhu Radhakrishnan, an assistant professor of communication science and disorders at the University of Missouri, said exercises can help people who want to sing better or people who depend on their voices to earn a living.

"There used to be a notion that good voice is only for singers or people who have to show their voice off to people, but nowadays, voice is what you are," said Radhakrishnan, who specializes in speech pathology and vocal problems. If a person loses "their voice, or even if they have the slightest problem with their voice, they may lose their job or be unable to function adequately." . . .

Muscle tension dysphonia is the most common condition, Radhakrishnan said. It involves tension in the neck as the body reacts to voice over-use by restricting range. Those who depend on their voices will force their vocal chords to continue working, which results in damage. Calluses or blisters on vocal chords are some of the problems that might require surgery or therapy.

Radhakrishnan said the way to improve your voice is to understand voice production, know risk factors and vocal hygiene, and use vocal exercises. He recommends visiting VoiceProblem.org, taking his upcoming professional voice course - which is only open to MU faculty and students - or seeking professional help from a voice coach.

"I recommend at least 20 minutes of vocal exercises twice a day for professional voice users who use their voice a lot, who want to train their voice and withstand the work pressure," he said.

Radhakrishnan said a simple "yawn-sigh-hum" exercise - which is done by vocalizing a yawn, sigh and hum - can help with pitch range. He said voice exercises also can slow the aging of the voice. . . .

[S]ometimes at lesson or piano group get-togethers, we play a game involving sight-reading.

I get out a bunch of easy beginner books usually 5-finger, or a little harder for more advanced students. We take turns rolling a dice (I use a cloth dice I found at the dollar store). Everyone is assigned "even" or "odd" for numbers.

If it lands on your own number if you are "even", for example, you get to pick any song and assign it to the next person. If it lands on an "odd" you have to pick a song and play it yourself.

* Hearing health. Exposure to loud music for long durations can lead to noise-induced hearing loss, a problem that is increasingly prevalent among children due, in part, to changing listening habits associated with personal listening devices.

* Physical health. Overuse or misuse of the body when playing a musical instrument or singing can lead to health problems. Musculoskeletal and vocal performance injuries are preventable. Healthy playing and singing involves the correct physical manipulation of the voice and of instruments.

* Psychological health. The performance of music, especially the public performance of music, involves a host of social and emotional factors that are key to the importance we place on music—and a potential source of stress in the student.

* Recognize that noise-induced hearing loss is a widespread and serious public health issue and that music is implicated as a causal factor. Music teachers can contribute significantly to resolving this growing problem by addressing it in lessons.

* Arrange lessons and teach children how to practice in ways that avoid injuries. These strategies can include using appropriate warm-ups; breaking up intensive, repetitive practice sessions with short rest periods; and insisting on proper posture while playing or singing.

* Provide good musical preparation for students and encourage appropriate attitudes toward music so that students’ stress is kept to manageable levels.

* Actively monitor their students for incipient physical problems and insist that students adopt good practices to stop the development of severe problems.

* Seek more pre-service and in-service education in the health aspects of music, which is consistent with the Health Promotion in Schools of Music (HPSM) project and the National Association of Schools of Music.
* Be a source of information to colleagues in other fields. Music teachers need to know when and where to go for help. While the music teacher will likely be the first “go-to” person for problems, other professionals should be aware of performance injuries and available to assist students in dealing with them. Local physicians, speech and hearing centers, mental health counseling centers, school nurses, and others need to know that music students may have unique and challenging health situations and that there are resources and performing arts medicine experts willing to help if needed.

* Demand high quality teaching materials. As practices designed to address health issues among music students are developed and refined (recognizing that each music teaching scenario is unique), high quality teaching materials will need to be designed and developed.