I was really excited to do this. I finally get to teach instruments. I really wanted to teach my roommate, Courtney, because she has never played a brass instrument. However, my good friend, Brenton, was the only one who was really available during the times I was available. He was a good sport about me talking to him like he was twelve. It also made it better because Brenton wanted to learn trombone. So his enthusiasm for learning helped feed my enthusiasm to teach him.
Though I didn’t have to, I recorded my first lesson with him. I think the overall lesson went well but I next time I want to change things. The first thing would be to write down what I want to do for each lesson. I knew, in my head, what I wanted to work on but I feel like if I had written down I could have done some things more in detail. For instance, in the first lesson, when I demonstrated Hot Cross Buns on my trumpet I could have had him keeping a beat. Or doing something that would keep him engaged in the song.
Another thing I wished I had done in the first lesson was to act like he was a sixth grade beginning trombone player. He is a trumpet player in real life, so he knew how to buzz and all that. I wish I could have gone through the steps to teach him how to buzz. The same concept goes for my second lesson, when I put music in front of his face. I didn’t take the time to make sure he knew that a half note equaled two beats and a quarter note equals one etc.
This whole experience and after watching the videos I can see that I have grown has a music education student. I am getting better at standing in front of someone and being an educator. I still get nervous for my teachings but not nearly as bad as that very first microteaching in Mused 100. After discovering this, I get excited about continuing on through the major.