Nitebob wrote:
Paul E wrote:
David, this is the age group (roughly) that i taught for several years. i had some older, but the majority of them were in the group. They are often excited to learn and are more than capable. Getting them to practice, that is another ball game all together.
I found their attention span was 30 minutes. After that, their fingers were sore, they didn't want to concentrate, and they got a little over it. I charged R50 for 30 minutes.
Respectfully: I might be wrong, but in this scenario, you unpack and tune (5 minutes gone) Q&A...(another 5 minutes) you practise for 15 minutes and then pack away again (totalling 30 minutes) will you be able to do enough in 15 minutes to convince parents you're not wasting their money?
I hear you concerns nitebob, however, I encouraged them to unpack and tune 5 minutes before their lesson, outside my teaching room. So, their lesson is 30 minutes. At that age there is no Q&A, they are too young to have Q&A. Also, remember, when you are just starting to learn guitar at age 10, your fingers are weak and not that easily adaptable. So, learning 2 chords a week is plenty. That means you can only really learn 1-3 songs a week. With just down strumming, D&A chords, and 3 songs. Half an hour feels like eternity. Yet, they leave excited, not bored, encouraged, not demotivated because you overloaded them, and challenged because they didn't master the song in the lesson, you merely showed them what they now need to go and practice.
I taught for over 3 years, had 30 odd students, all loved their lessons and seems to learn a lot and got pretty good. David may find he has a different way of teaching. I was merely pointing out what I felt worked for me.
