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trumpetmike · 02-20-2007, 09:14 AM

There are NO certainties when teaching and you should NEVER try the "one size fits all" approach when dealing with new students.

There are those players whose natural first open note is a C below the stave, for others it will be a G, for others it could be third space C - all of these are "correct" yet won't necessarily be the same as any other student.
You can then use any one of these notes as a starting point to expand to the others.

This is one of the many, many reasons I prefer to start students with individual lessons, as opposed to groups, classes or band beginnings.

Most of the beginner books start with either the low C or the G, then expanding on to the other.

There are also no rules about how fast a beginner student will catch on to what is needed in order to change between these notes. I would love to be so confident as to say that all my students leave after their first lesson being able to play all of these notes, but when you are dealing with young beginners (my youngest has so far been seven years old) it is unrealistic to expect anything like that. Some leave after their first lesson being able to play one note, some leave with over an octave - there are NO rules as to what is expected, they are going to learn at their own pace.

For the record, I probably start between 10 and 30 students each year, usually aged 7, 8 or 9, most of which will have no musical knowledge beforehand so will also need to learn how to read music. These lessons are often only 20 minutes long and frequently in groups of 2 or 3 (NOT my choice, the organisation I work for swears that it is better this way).

I think many people (myself included) prefer to start beginners on open notes because it gives the student one less thing to think about. They don't need to worry about their fingers, they can devote their thoughts to making a pleasant noise.

02-20-2007, 09:14 AM	#8 (permalink)
trumpetmike Forte User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Farnham (a place too smal Posts: 1,202	Re: What note to start on??? There are NO certainties when teaching and you should NEVER try the "one size fits all" approach when dealing with new students. There are those players whose natural first open note is a C below the stave, for others it will be a G, for others it could be third space C - all of these are "correct" yet won't necessarily be the same as any other student. You can then use any one of these notes as a starting point to expand to the others. This is one of the many, many reasons I prefer to start students with individual lessons, as opposed to groups, classes or band beginnings. Most of the beginner books start with either the low C or the G, then expanding on to the other. There are also no rules about how fast a beginner student will catch on to what is needed in order to change between these notes. I would love to be so confident as to say that all my students leave after their first lesson being able to play all of these notes, but when you are dealing with young beginners (my youngest has so far been seven years old) it is unrealistic to expect anything like that. Some leave after their first lesson being able to play one note, some leave with over an octave - there are NO rules as to what is expected, they are going to learn at their own pace. For the record, I probably start between 10 and 30 students each year, usually aged 7, 8 or 9, most of which will have no musical knowledge beforehand so will also need to learn how to read music. These lessons are often only 20 minutes long and frequently in groups of 2 or 3 (NOT my choice, the organisation I work for swears that it is better this way). I think many people (myself included) prefer to start beginners on open notes because it gives the student one less thing to think about. They don't need to worry about their fingers, they can devote their thoughts to making a pleasant noise.