this is something that lots of musicians don’t think about. and if they do it, it’s often for the wrong reasons. i know a lot of musicians who teach, but most of them do it for the money and that’s just wrong. you shouldn’t become a musician to make money and you shouldn’t become a teacher for that reason either. if it’s money you seek, work as a banker (maybe now’s not the right time to start…), lawyer, doctor or whatever else. if you’re a musician because you want to make money, you’re either a moron or Paul McFriggin’Cartney. don’t get me wrong, if you happen to make money as a musician, that’s great! if you make a living by playing music – awesome!!! this is the no.1 dreamjob. period. but if you are even thinking about money during ‘work’ – you’re in trouble.

well, why teaching at all then? first of all, to spread the art – to enlighten – to help others grow. not your cup of tea? alright, the next reason is for the me-people out there: to learn something! ahuh. i’m serious, since i started teaching (back then it was for the wrong reasons, i admit) i have learned so much, it’s still hard to believe for me. when i started, i thought ‘hey y’all, i’m so good at what i’m doing that i’m gonna show you how it’s done and you’ll pay me to bathe in my wisdom.’ ugh.

the first thing i learned though, was that i was not half as good as i thought. i guess today i’m half as good as i thought back then (and that’s a lot :-) :-) :-) ). then i learned that teaching is more than just talking about how you do it – you need a plan, a concept. you need to set goals and you need a way to achieve them – and, most important, you need to have a plan b for everything. because in almost ten years of teaching, i never ever had a single student whom my concept worked on without adjustments. every student is different, especially when it comes to the voice. so by adjusting, improvising and figuring out new ways to deal with problems you’ve never encountered before, you learn. and not just as you would learn from a book or something – more like new horizons. we always get used to things, it’s our nature. but that means once we have found our way of doing something, we don’t think about it anymore – and therefore, don’t learn anything. but dealing with problems we never had ourselves forces us to think and to make up alternatives and that’s how we learn.

i would even venture to say that teaching is the next step in learning music. once you’re a decent player/singer, it becomes the next thing to do.

i should mention that not everybody makes for a good teacher, and if you simply don’t like the idea, then you probably shouldn’t teach. but there’s still two things you should do. first, learn about teaching – or better: learn about learning. learn how learning really works, that alone is worth so much… and second, create a concept on how you would teach someone. yes, even if it doesn’t come to it….

and who knows, maybe you even make some money ;-)

Tags: education, Kids and Teens, learning, Music, Musician, student, Teacher, teaching