Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Teaching Young Children, pt. XI – The Power of Repetition

In this final installment of Teaching Young Children I wanted to remind guitar instructors of the power of repetition. Repetition is the life blood of musicians which helps to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to play an instrument well. No one learns something having never done it or only having done it once. If it takes numerous times of trial and error to develop skills in an adult; why would it not be the same for children?

A number of years ago I was giving a lecture on teaching studio guitar and was approached by a college age student who had begun teaching the guitar. She thanked me for the lecture and for letting her know it was alright to repeat material in not one, but in subsequent lessons. I asked her to elaborate and she informed me that she felt the need to present new material each lesson for her young students!

We discussed the importance of reviewing material each week and not being afraid to cover the same material for several weeks until the student is competent with it. Then introducing new material which builds upon what has been previously learned. Moreover, any previously learned material should constantly be reviewed at the start of each lesson. This is a good “warm-up” and will not only help reinforce skills, create a “repertoire” of songs for the student to play!

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