| You don't need to be a great trumpeter - you need to be a great teacher.
I am not saying that having lessons of great trumpeters isn't inspirational - it is (especially for the likes of us who have been playing for years and years and therefore appreciate their wisdom and help).
Get them enthusiastic, get them to love the trumpet, get them to enjoy the lessons, turn negatives into positives by suggesting alternative methods and ways to make them sound better rather than saying thats wrong or you sound bad, and when they do something good really praise it, make them look forward to their lesson each week by using your enthusiasm and by making the lesson interesting, get to know them to build up a good relationship.
Do all of this while setting good standards of practice from the beginning in terms of a mini warm up, some technical stuff and then repertoire. A 1 minute warm and a few technical studies gets them into the idea that you need to warm up and practice technique so it will become routine for them and later they can extend this idea. Make it fun though.
Vary the lessons - play duets with them as they enjoy this and it helps them tune/centre their notes because they can hear when they are out of tune, use play alongs for variety. Get them to listen to a variety of trumpet players to see which they like the most - get them hooked on the horn!
I teach maths for a living but a past head of Music at my school encouraged me to teach trumpet to the students at lunch and after school which I have done for the past 7 years, so I am not a great trumpeter and was very apprehensive at the beginning but my students have done really well reaching very high levels of performance. When they get pretty good I encourage them to take a one of lesson with a pro or a 1 week summer course (usually jazz). Don't be proud about sending them to a pro once in a while - its good for them and puts your mind at rest that no bad habits have developed and you have avoided many pitfalls.
I use the Arban when they are more advanced - there are plenty of good books out there to start on but don't just teach from a book (save the Arban for later - they don't appreciate it and find it boring when they have just started - wait until they will appreciate it for the great book it is) - play by ear, play a longs (all the stuff mentioned above) to keep it varied, interesting and so they are learning something new every lesson. So save the Arban and Clarkes etc for later. Get great repertoire thats varied (jazz, modern, baroque etc) so they learn the different styles and again keeps it varies and find out what they like the most. Get some repertoire with piano accompianiament so they can play a duet with a pianist. If you can play piano thats even better -I can't but wish i could. I use recordings in my lessons forthem to play with but its not as good as a live pianist.
So go ahead and teach - don't be worried about your playing - when you can teach a student to go beyond your level of performance I would say you are then an excellent teacher.
Good luck and enjoy teaching them as that will transmit itself to the student. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask.
MM |