A concept, a hurdle, a stepping-stone. Sometimes my students get to a point in which they reach a new stage of learning. They hit a wall that is difficult to penetrate. There is a concept they can’t seem to comprehend. There are frustrations that come with this difficulty.
As a teacher, I try teaching the concept from one perspective, and the student doesn’t understand. I teach from another angle, and they still don’t understand. Maybe I try three or four different angles, or even five, and the student still struggles with comprehension. Maybe I can tell them what to do, and they will do it, but they are not quite learning how to do it on their own. They are not yet able to take that concept and apply it in another unique yet similar situation. It is only when I am able to approach that concept in the way that student learns best that the “light comes on.”
You can see it. Their face lightens up, a big smile appears, and the student then proceeds to play the music exactly as you anticipated. The wings of song take off, and the student flies on them. What happened? It is the “light bulb moment”—the moment when the “light came on” that was the turning point.
It is this moment—this moment of frustration—that can be crucial in a student’s decision to continue or discontinue lessons. If as a teacher you are able to carefully guide the student through this learning process, they are yours for life. If you fail to guide them and only add to their frustrations, they will quit and maybe even stop learning music all together. It is important, therefore, to be able to teach from many different angles and use many different approaches. By using a variety of teaching tools and techniques, the teacher can develop a strong love for music in all students, no matter what learning style they may have.
Watch for those hurdles as they approach. Be prepared to treat them as fun, new, exciting experiences rather than hard and unapproachable stumbling blocks. Teach in a variety of ways and enjoy seeing the “light come on” as your students learn and grow.
What is education? Is it telling a student what you want them to learn and then having them copy a sentence 100x? Is it dictating a lesson by rote and demanding he memorizes and then repeats back verbatim what you said? Or is it working with the student to learn how he learns best and then leading the student to discover new things on his own? Is it developing in that student a desire to search out treasures of wisdom he might not have seen without delving further into the mine of knowledge?