WSMTA membership records show that the majority of our Vocal and Instrumental population teach more than one instrument. Not surprisingly, the most common additional instrument is the piano. WSMTA includes many Piano + Voice, Piano + Flute/Winds, and Piano + Strings studios. Of course there are other common multi-instrument combinations, such as more than one instrument in the strings family (violin + viola or cello + bass) and complementary instruments in the winds (single-reeds, double-reeds, brass family etc.). Then there are the Superteachers who can do it all – most of whom probably have a MusEd degree and teach or have taught band/orchestra/choir in schools.
I’m looking for your feedback from this column! The first thing I’d be interested to know is: what is the split between your two (or more) instrument populations, IF you teach Piano And something else: 50/50? 60/40? etc.
I’m also interested in how teaching more than one instrument informs your instructional practices and studio environment. It might be reflected in choosing methods that use similar pedagogical approaches for widely different instruments (example: Suzuki strings + Suzuki piano). Maybe you have found effective ways to create collaborative learning through shared repertoire. (Holiday music is a goldmine for this!) Maybe you use keyboard-orientation lessons for non-keyboard students to help them understand intervals, intonation, chords, clefs, etc. These are all things I’ve done in my Violin-Viola + Piano studio.
There are certainly also challenges in wearing multiple-instrument teaching hats. Is piano your secondary instrument, but you find more inquiries interested in piano lessons than in your primary instrument? How do you hold spaces for potential students in your primary instrument while also striving to maintain a full studio? How do you create a cohesive studio “family” when different-instrument students may be involved in different activities? Do you have different expectations for memorized performances depending on the instrument? How do you program your recitals, or prepare students for MAP and MLP? I’m sure you can think of many more.
If you’d like your thoughts on this topic to be included in a future column, please send me an email: [email protected].
Happy New Year!
Jane Melin, NCTM
WSMTA Vocal/Instrumental Chair
[email protected]