Can video recording change music education? (Part I of III)

Oclef teamOct 09, 2016 Education, Teacher No Comments

Can video recording change music education? (Part I of III)

Education, Teacher

The feedback loop is one of the most fascinating aspects of learning. It’s a simple, but powerful process that happens hundreds of millions of times in our life. We learn We change We improve It’s this process and the forces that live in and...

Read More

“I did it because my friend did”

Oclef teamOct 06, 2016 Education, Music Education Advocacy, Teacher No Comments

“I did it because my friend did”

Education, Music Education Advocacy, Teacher

I hear this a lot. I’m a big believer in the positive use of peer pressure. There have been so many successful studies to show how social proof and peer pressure can change our behaviors and thoughts. One of the areas that education hasn’t...

Read More

Why do we teach?

Oclef teamOct 03, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Why do we teach?

Teacher

At the end of every teaching day, I’m exhausted. Just like any other job you love, you’re depleated emotionally, physically and mentally. Teaching music is particularly rewarding since you see your students grow and develop over the years....

Read More

How to see without looking

Oclef teamSep 30, 2016 Teacher No Comments

How to see without looking

Teacher

Some beginners have trouble with looking too often at their hands. You can tell early on in the lessons because when they start working on reading music, their eyes are always looking at their hands. It’s okay to look when necessary, but if they’re...

Read More

3 ways to improve your music student’s ears

Oclef teamSep 27, 2016 Teacher No Comments

3 ways to improve your music student’s ears

Teacher

One of the toughest things to teach students, is how to listen. Over the past few years I’ve really pushed students to listen and think about listening as much as possible. I find that it’s one of the best ways to help them improve. How do...

Read More

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

Oclef teamSep 24, 2016 Teacher No Comments

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

Teacher

I recently ran an audition for students looking to join our studio. It reminded me of my last audition – the day I was accepted into the Royal College of Music in London. But this time I was the one doing the decision making. It’s really tough....

Read More

The five whys in music education

Oclef teamSep 21, 2016 Teacher No Comments

The five whys in music education

Teacher

Taiichi Ohno pioneered the Toyota manufacturing system back in the 1950’s and he did it by taking the exact opposite approach of American car factories. He gave power to the workers and had managers serve the workers. To this day, workers in a Toyota...

Read More

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence (Part II)

Oclef teamSep 18, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence (Part II)

Teacher

A teacher of mine from a long time ago once told me that mistakes in performance are like if someone walks in front of the TV while you’re watching a show. This always stuck in my mind. The person walking in front of the screen temporarily messes...

Read More

Tough love

Oclef teamSep 15, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Tough love

Teacher

Every so often I need to reach for the tissue box in lessons. Tears happen. Does it mean we’re too tough as teachers? It depends. I often push students as hard as I think they can go. The result is a deeper student to teacher connection in the long...

Read More

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence – Part I

Oclef teamSep 12, 2016 Education No Comments

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence – Part I

Education

One of my first blogs on Oclef was a message that I sent to my students before a competition. You can read it here – The Perfection of Pursuit What I work to make clear to my students in every opportunity is that mistakes and errors are not the...

Read More