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One thing I used to think made me a good guitar teacher, when it actually might have worked to my detriment, is my aversion to Instant Mentor Validation Syndrome. IMVS is a (rather awkward) term I coined in an article I wrote some time back; and I defined it as the tendency, common among guitar instructors, to teach small sections of riffs to beginning students — like those in “Smoke On the Water,” “Come As You Are,” or “Enter Sandman” — to create in the instructor a sense that he has accomplished real progress, when no actual musical understanding or technical fundamentals have been instilled.

Another guitar teacher with whom I shared a workspace explained to me that he only teaches new students out of method books, because “If they have the patience to get through that material, they’re ready to learn the fun stuff.” This might have had some impact on my own decision to adhere to a curriculum that focused on musicianship, not rote memorization of riffs.

I felt it important to understand music while learning it. Any songs I taught were hand-picked to suit a student’s ability to play them straight through, and I treated songs as études: “Brain Stew” by Green Day was an introduction to 5th chords, “Come Together” by the Beatles is an exercise in blues rhythm and whole-step string bends. I saw no value in teaching only a fragment of a song, solely for a student to find temporary joy in having learned one classic riff.

Wait, back up: What was that about “joy?” Is that truly something to be avoided in a guitar lesson? In hindsight, I fear I may have come off as a bit of a crank with that attitude. What bad could come of a student enjoying his time in my studio? How dare a young guitarist learn something for fun!

I have turned my opinion on the matter completely around. For the guitar instructor, student retention is crucial. There is already a high turnover rate among guitar students, so why should we scare them off with our grave seriousness?

I realized not long ago that I may never meet a student that is as serious about the instrument as I am. If I ever took lessons in, say, racquetball, would I be doing so with the intent to go pro? Most likely not, and likewise I should not expect my students to be committed to bringing their guitar skills to world-class level.

I would suggest to any others who think as I once did: Hook your students early with “I didn’t know how easily I could do that!” moments. Their enthusiasm may carry them further along than you would have had to drag them.

Also known as “studio recitals,” performance workshops are private events; your students perform not for a public audience, but for each other. When these sessions are hosted by a prominent guest artist, they’re referred to as “master classes.”

The scope of a workshop is much smaller than that of a public recital. There is no need to secure a venue; there are no invitations to send or refreshments to serve. You can host the event at your teaching studio or home. If your studio is at your home, maybe even add some fun, by hosting a barbecue or screening a concert DVD. Of course, take into account the range of age and maturity within your student base.

As an undergraduate, I studied under Michael Nicolella. Participation in weekly studio recitals was mandatory for all his students. During these meetings, we took turns performing whatever we were currently working on to the best of our ability, and observed Mr. Nicolella as he critiqued our performances. We also had the opportunity to contribute feedback of our own.

I’m not suggesting weekly workshops, but somewhere between monthly and quarterly is a nice pace. You should assume that it takes the equivalent of one school semester for a student to prepare the most difficult of material he’s currently learning. It would be ideal to allow your students to monitor each other’s progress about two or three times during this learning cycle.

When you offer a student’s critique, try to glean just one key point that may benefit all present. For example, a remark like “after bar 48, the tempo gets a little shaky” doesn’t help anyone in the audience; but tips on using a metronome to develop rhythmic accuracy are something multiple people can learn from.

If you feel a quick rehearsal of a passage will yield instant results, then lead your student through the rehearsal; but avoid merely practicing. Example: Steve plays a passage marked with a crescendo, but he could build to a bigger forte. Show him how you want it to sound, then have him play it back a couple of times. Steve’s performance transforms for the better right in front of his peers’ eyes, and they are inspired. What you don’t want to do is isolate and improve poor technique, or work on memorization issues. Those are “practicey” things. Stick to more interpretive things, like dynamics and tone.

Remember what I said earlier about keeping your knowledge to yourself? In studio recitals, you have an opportunity to expand on the lesson material a bit more than usual. If you’ve been dying to explain where the treble clef came from, or tell that joke about how lute players are always tuning, go ahead and release your inner nerd; but relate directly to the material, keep the pace going, and try not allow yourself more than one tangent per session.

With performance workshops, you are adding value to your lessons. Some places, like small private conservatories, might charge for these sessions, calling them a separate class. Decide for yourself whether you include the experience with your usual weekly lesson offerings. Personally, I would offer them as non-mandatory, free bonus sessions. Set a date and take RSVP’s. If three or more are interested, keep the date.

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have any ideas of your own to share.

In the previous Teaching Guitar article, I related the importance of defining clear objectives. The progressive attainment of goals gives your student a measurable rate of success, and validates their decision to spend money and time on lessons. One excellent way to incentivize your students to practice is to schedule regular recitals.

There are two types of recitals; let’s call them public recitals and performance workshops. Public recitals are full-blown concerts, open to the public. Performance workshops are a chance for your students to showcase their current work to each other, and learn from each other’s struggles.

Here are just a few advantages to hosting a public recital:

• You are reinforcing your image of legitimacy in the eyes of your students and parents. By going beyond inviting students into your lesson studio and organizing a major event off-site, you show that you are serious about what you do.
• You are putting a firm deadline on your students’ projects. Not only are they preparing tunes, they’re preparing them by a specific date, and they know they’ll be under scrutiny on that day.
• You are putting a face on progress. Not only are your students learning progressively more difficult material, they will have printed programs, video footage, etc. of their past achievements.
• You are advertising! Your recitals are community events. Family and friends in the audience who might know someone interested in lessons will be previewing the results of your service. You also may be forming alliances with local venues and organizations.
• Your students aren’t the only ones under the gun. Recitals test your ability to manage your students’ progress and organize public events.

To stage the recital, you’ll need a venue. School auditoriums,lodge meeting halls and community centers are possible choices are likely to not cost anything. If you begin with an empty hall, however, you’ll have to fill the seats through an aggressive invitation campaign — sending letters home, emailing students’ families, and encouraging your students to spread the word. Local news outlets may allow you to submit a press release announcing the event. Another option is to work with retirement homes, schools, malls, or parks to stage the recital where there is a built-in audience. In the case of retirement homes and schools, you are performing a service, so both your studio and the community benefit. Malls and parks often host craft fairs or holiday events, and don’t mind providing a space for martial arts demonstrations, school choir performances, fashion shows, and so on. Contact mall management or your local parks and rec department. One possible problem with these venues is background noise — secure a small PA system, just in case. Also, in parks you must be concerned about weather. Band shells and tents are ideal.

After securing the venue and setting a date, you need to select repertoire. Work with each student to select something you know they are able to prepare in time with some effort. One or two pieces are okay, more than two are overkill. The best pieces sound good as solos. If a student’s main focus is the rhythm part to a metal tune, it might not sound recital-worthy when taken out of context. Some tunes, like jazz or folk songs, make excellent duets. You can create a quick arrangement which has student and teacher taking turns playing the lead voice and accompaniment. If you can coordinate two students in preparing a duet, even better. Those students who aren’t able to prepare anything beyond a simple rhythm part could play along with the original recording; or you can help him assemble a band. The latter option, however, can be difficult to pull off, especially with a deadline. Make your students’ recital pieces the central focus of their lessons during the weeks leading up to the event, and put them through a few dry-runs. During a dry-run, everything is rehearsed as performed, complete with the entrance and bow at the beginning. Error correction takes a back seat to simply getting through the performance.

By the day of the show, you’ll need printed programs. They should include all your students’ names, the names of the pieces they’ll be performing, a note of thanks to the providers of the venue and anyone else who helped make the show possible, and your contact information. Also, secure refreshments. You can bring your own, or have parents send some.

Dress up for the show. If you’re comfortable in a tie (or dress, ladies), go for it; but don’t do anything that seems unnatural. If your students are all rock stars, perhaps something more appropriate might be your cleanest stage attire. A black tee and blazer with fashionable jeans, for example — something a rocker might wear to a press conference. Most of us would fall somewhere in-between. During the summer, I’ll wear a breezy collared shirt with khakis; during the winter, a v-neck and corduroys. The message is “I care enough to look good, but I’m not going to a job interview.”

Introduce the show briefly and enthusiastically. Thank everyone for coming. Congratulate the students on a fine season. Encourage picture taking, but urge that flashes be turned off. Remind the audience that refreshments are available. Thank the hosts. Plug your website. That’s it. 80 percent of those in attendance are probably in a hurry to get things moving, so oblige them. After each performance, lead the applause from offstage.

I’m sure none of these suggestions are new to piano and band teachers, but guitar instructors don’t seem to offer public recitals as often. Do so, and you’re a step above most teachers in your area. If you have suggestions, leave a comment.

In my next post, I’ll describe your second recital option — the performance workshop.

Only a few of us ever study something just for the purpose of obtaining knowledge or skill. For most, that knowledge or skill must be applicable to a certain end. For example, what good is learning a language if you never intend to speak it? What good is learning to sculpt if you don’t produce a sculpture? Why go to school for MCS if you aren’t interested in working with computers?

Your student came to you for a reason. At the outset of your contract, a key part of your job is discovering what his reasons are for taking up study of the guitar. For some, the guitar is do-it-yourself entertainment. They want to sing around the campfire, or join their church band. For others, it may be a profitable hobby. They may aspire to performing at coffeehouses. For still others, it is a vehicle to a full-time career. Those are just three of many possibilities. Are you providing your student a path to his ultimate goal?

Some components of musicianship are constant, no matter what the student’s objectives. Practice is always essential. So is learning the finer points of playing live and playing with others. Some theory and ear training is beneficial at any level of commitment. One of my favorite things I tell new students is, “I understand you may not aspire to be a pro, but I will treat every student as if they all do.” In other words, I expect the best from my students; even the most casual learner must be held to high standards.

However, the actual content of the material being studied depends on the student’s personal objectives. Does she want to be a coffeehouse musician? Then improvisation and jazz theory are of a lower priority than rhythm techniques and self-accompaniment. A curriculum is important; but frame your lessons, however structured, in ways that speak to each student’s personal desires.

So far, I have discussed long-term objectives. Equally important are short-term objectives. These are mostly for you to set and enforce. If, for example, a student’s long-term objective is to start a band with friends, my short term objectives will involve coaching the student on song selection, rehearsal techniques, gig etiquette, and error correction. And I would set measurable milestones.

This is an important concept — measurable milestones. What I mean is that your short-term objectives need to be quantifiable. What, in the above example, would signify readiness to start a band? How about a knowledge of a certain amount of repertoire? Yes? Great, then let’s define how many songs would comprise a show of decent length, assemble a list of specific songs that are within the student’s technical reach, then assess how long it is taking to prepare each song and adjust our practice methods if necessary. That’s a pretty well laid-out plan that can keep you and your student occupied for months. Having that blueprint puts you in the driver’s seat; your student will respect your foresight and organization, and is likely to be satisfied with the outcome of his lessons.

In the next installment of Teaching Guitar, I’ll provide a suggestion that will not only help you define short-term goals, but that will also aid you in the assessment of student progress.

The accumulation of knowledge is empowering, but it is also inspiring: We feel compelled to seek out others who share our knowledge, even if we have to first teach them what we know. This is why fan cultures develop around highly specific topics. It’s why adults seek communities of fellow hobbyists. And it’s one reason why musicians teach.

This urge to share can disrupt the private lesson experience. I often find myself having to restrain an urge to lecture. A mundane topic, like how to bend a note, can easily grow into a dissertation on various bending techniques if I allow it. For me, one of the principal traits of an effective private music instructor is restraint.

As an undergrad I learned that, when directing a band rehearsal, one should only stop to work on one thing at a time. This principle applies to private lessons. If you hear a lot of things that need attention, don’t expect your student to remember a laundry list of corrections. Fix one problem, rehearse it, and then move on to the next. And by “rehearse it,” I mean repeat the living crap out of the passage you’re fixing. I would rather have my student spend a half hour repeating the same passage than listen to me regurgitate facts or expound philosophies.

Speaking of regurgitating and expounding, never assume that your student is interested in the vast array of information that you no doubt are prepared to unleash on the slightest prompt. If you feel that sharing a factoid will enhance the learning experience without distracting your student from just playing, then go for it. As a case in point, I was working with a student on a transcription of a fiddle tune, and suggested that she check out Doc Watson if she wants to see more good examples of fiddle tunes played on guitar. She seemed to appreciate the suggestion. On the other hand, if I followed the urge to interrupt rehearsal of the tune to watch a Doc Watson video on YouTube, or told a long anecdote about my having to learn a fiddle tune for a gig, I would be utterly destroying the pace of the lesson.

Your best students will use lessons as a springboard for further explorations, but your least motivated students are unlikely to find motivation in your demonstrations of superior knowledge. Remember that your best students are practically teaching themselves; you’re lucky to keep them. What can you do to keep the less motivated students engaged? Make them play.

Naturally, there will be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of “learning moments.” But the art of teaching depends upon your ability to sieze only the best opportunities and leave the rest for later. Even learning moments are, at their onset, distractions. Think of the best possible learning moments as climactic points in an ongoing TV series, and each of your lessons is an episode. Leave your audience wanting more.

Remember that every fiber in your web of knowledge and proficiency was woven days, weeks, months, and years at a time. You want to see your students progress, but avoid the temptation to cram all their learning into small periods of time. Let the process of their development breathe. Focus on simple, incremental steps.

Early in my private teaching career, my philosophy regarding the structure of a typical lesson was that it is preferable to encourage the student to practice independently, so that lesson time can be spent discussing finer points. “I cannot provide the experience in a half-hour lesson that a week’s worth of solid practice will give you,” I advised. “My job is to speed up the learning process, but the physical act of performing is developed solely through your efforts.” Wise words, but over the years I learned that simply assigning material and expecting to see progress stems from an overestimation of the average student’s drive and resourcefulness. Students need to learn how to practice effectively. I’d like to discuss some ways to hone students’ practicing skills, beginning with simply letting them play.

As instructors, we are passionate about sharing our knowledge — to a point that it often gets in the way. Some things that we probably do more often than we should:

1. Provide historical or theoretical support for the material under study.
2. Correct an error in the student’s performance.
3. Play an excerpt of the material ourselves, to provide a model for emulation.
4. Point out how a specific learning moment relates to previously discussed material.
5. Instruct the student to skip past a section of material that is obviously well-prepared.

None of the above examples are entirely out of place in a lesson. In fact, each one is quite appropriate in certain situations. But they can easily be overdone.

Allow your students as much uninterrupted time as possible with their hands on their instruments. When they are performing in a lesson for you, they are rehearsing for larger audiences. And concert audiences aren’t prone to hold up their hands and announce, “Oh, you see what happened there?”

The self-taught among us should recall what our most crucial learning moments were like. For me, they were usually enjoyed in solitude, under quiet reflection. If I made a connection between a passage I had just played an some abstract theoretical concept, it was through discovery, not instruction.

Your job as a private lessons instructor is easier than you probably expected, or even wanted it to be. Be there to field the tough questions, and guide your students through the moments that truly need hand-holding, but otherwise get out of the way and let them play for you.

The chief benefit of giving your students as much performance time as possible is that you will learn what they need to learn. When you are talking, you are dominating the lesson agenda. But when you are listening, you are allowing your student to set her own agenda. You are allowing the student to reveal her areas of opportunity. Ask your students to play their assigned material, then patiently listen and take notes. That last part is very useful; take real notes, with a pen and paper. It shows you’re listening, and it gives you some bullet points to address.

With regards to the above list of well-intentioned pitfalls, here are some countermeasures:

1. Remember that your student has a lifetime to learn minutiae. Keep nerdy details to yourself unless you can offer knowledge that helps your student with his immediate objective. And even then, try to limit yourself to dispensing about one factoid every few weeks. You don’t want to create a guitar lover, you want to create a guitar player.
2. Correct weaknesses, not errors. Students are quite likely to recognize errors on their own. Telling your student, “You slowed down here” is merely pointing out the obvious. Do you tell your spouse she gained weight? If you must correct an error you feel a student missed, try opening the discussion with a question: “What happened here?” or, “Let’s play this phrase again. I’d like to see if you hear what I heard.” Weaknesses, or bad habits, on the other hand, are worth pointing out: “I just wanted to hear that a few times to make sure it wasn’t a one-time thing, but let’s talk about the intonation on this bend.”
3. Are you demonstrating, or showing off? I understand how important it is for students to hear exemplary performance; they need models for good sound and execution. But don’t play for the sake of hearing yourself play. Your students already know you’re the pro, or they wouldn’t be coming to you for lessons. There are indeed situations in which a student would be grateful for hearing something played properly. Ask yourself, what are these situations? How can I recognize them?
4. Don’t force connections. Have you ever noticed that you can create a diminished seventh chord by forming a dominant seventh chord one half-step lower and simply changing the root? When I noticed this during a practice session, the experience was more meaningful and the knowledge I gained was more lasting. I’m certain that if a teacher spelled it out for me, I could have easily forgotten it as soon as I heard it. You’re not cheating your student out of a learning experience by withholding unsolicited knowledge; you’re providing a chance to discover it independently. Remember point one: Your students’ journeys are in their early stages. Each of the myriad of patterns that exist on the fretboard will reveal themselves when the moment is right.
5. Avoid the phrase, “Sounds good, moving on…” First of all, you’re trying to teach good practice habits. I believe that if you’re playing through a selection (versus repetitious drilling of smaller fragments within the selection), you must play it as you would on stage. That means slow passages aren’t rushed, repeats are observed, and easy sections are not skimmed or skipped. Naturally, if assigned material is mastered, you should move on to the next item in your curriculum. But allow run-throughs to be performed in their entirety, uninterrupted. Look for opportunities to discuss finer points that usually don’t come up when you’re drilling smaller fragments, like variation between repeats, dynamics, and rubato. In short, if the material is under-prepared, focus on tiny fragments (more on that later); but if the student can play a piece comfortably, for Pete’s sake, sit back and enjoy listening to it for a while!

You can sum up this whole article with one simple rule: Let your student play as much as possible. The weak students might be practicing more in your lessons than during the week, in which case they’ll leave with a sense of accomplishment; and your stronger students will benefit from the more informed insight you can give after listening very intently to their performance.