curtisbrady
Registered user
Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 18
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Minimum age?
Does anyone have a policy of not accepting students under a certain age? It seems as though a child under 10 or so might have a hard time with the hand strength and coordination needed to make any progress on guitar.
|
3/5/2004, 4:38 am
|
Link to this post
Send Email to curtisbrady
Send PM to curtisbrady
|
PacificCoastHighway
Registered user
Registered: 03-2004
Posts: 3
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Minimum age?
I have a 10 year old that I've been teaching for about 3 years. It was rough at times but when as she developed the concentration and stamina she got better and better, and now she's ahead of other kids her age. 7 would definitely be my absolute minimum though, and it depends on the individual, I've also had kids that age really not work out. I can definitely see your point.
|
3/5/2004, 6:05 pm
|
Link to this post
Send Email to PacificCoastHighway
Send PM to PacificCoastHighway
|
leotheguitar
Registered user
Registered: 10-2003
Location: California
Posts: 18
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Minimum age?
it probably varies from child to child, and also with your own skill and knowledge as a teacher. grade school music teachers are given at least some training and resource / material ideas for how to teach students probably in the range of 7+ years of age. Of course that is general music, and not focused instrumental music. I think some teaching methods for kids, kodaly for example, do recommend certain age minimums for actual instrumental specific music instruction, but off the top of my head I don't remember what that might be---but I believe it was somewhere around 4th or 5th grade level, so around 10 yrs.
and then of course you do have some unique situations when a student is highly intelligent and coordinated at a very young age, and becomes somewhat of a 'child prodigy'. I've heard of extreme cases of kids of this type starting as early as 2 or 3.
Realize that just knowing how to play guitar yourself, doesn't automatically give you the knowledge and skill to teach, or more specifically how to teach young children, which is a whole other category and level of difficulty than teaching an adult. So try to honestly assess your skills as not just a guitar PLAYER but as a teacher first, and as a teacher of young children.
|
3/30/2004, 2:02 am
|
Link to this post
Send Email to leotheguitar
Send PM to leotheguitar
|
guitarman
Registered user
Registered: 07-2004
Posts: 10
Karma: 1 (+1/-0)
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: Minimum age?
Hi the best I can offer on this subject is to put yourself in their shoes.
They need encouragement, shed loads of explanation and don't forget to write everything down, your average 8 year old has a brain like a seive.
p.s. If you don't have kids, don't go there it's a mine field.
Ray
|
7/4/2004, 12:46 am
|
Link to this post
Send Email to guitarman
Send PM to guitarman
|