All Ages Learning by ear

[GemmaRowlands]

Hello everyone!

I am a music teacher, and one of the best things I like my students to do is learn things by ear. I am always trying to make music seem cooler, and to do this I will use chart songs that the kids love, and ask them to learn a part of it for the following lesson.

I usually get a surprisingly good reaction from them this way, and it means that they are able to play something that they really enjoy in addition to learning the drier aspects of music theory.

For the experienced music teachers amongst you, what do you think of this? Of course, I'm not suggesting that it's ALL I teach, however I do like to include this in my methods, and get the students to work together to come up with the solution of what the notes and rhythms are etc.

For the older children, I also ask them to try and notate what they have worked out, which develops their theory skills too!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

 

[briannagodess]

I love your approach on this although I admit that I'm not a music teacher. To be honest, our former music teacher in high school doesn't seem like an expert in music at all. She just left us to learn music all by ourselves. Honestly, I don't remember anything I learned from her at all.

So I really commend you for being novel and invested in your subject. It takes a real teacher to be able to help their students learn in a fun way. Sometimes, teachers focus so much on teaching that they forget to make it fun. And kids, most often than not, have short attention spans. If you cannot keep them engaged for a long time, the hopes of them learning is low.