Yes Yes Yes my brothers!!!!
I am here!! I've been following this thread and I was going to chime in sooner or later. Everyone here has given great advice too!!!
Through my experience, what works for one student may not work for others. I went through a phase where I tried to get all of my students into the same book. That didn't work at all. In fact, I rarely use any sort of method book. I pretty much hand write out everything or do it on my computer. I will go to certain books if I think my student might get something out of it. Like the Standing In The Shadows book, or a Real Book per se.
The way I develop lessons now is to really listen to the students needs. Of course with beginners it's a different game. You sort of have to guide them more so than an intermediate or advanced player. My first lesson with any student is more of a consultation. From there I start a lesson program geared towards the students needs. Then I try to incorporate that material towards the students needs.
Of course, the fundamentals have to be covered first. If a student can't read music, then that's where we have to start first so that he/she can practice the lesson.
There are fundamentals that the student needs to learn but may not want to learn too. This is where you have to really turn that lesson into something the student will want to learn. Let's say minor pentatonic scales for instance. The typical phrase is why do I need to know that? Well because 90% of any classic rock riff is based off of that scale, and then give examples.
I've also learned to try to budget the time. If it's a 1/2 hour lesson, devote 15mins to fundamentals and 15 mins to say learning a tune. This works with start off beginners, I usually do an hour once my student starts to progress. Like FMM said too, if you have a student that's in a band program, then you have a built in lesson every week for them.
Also, here is one of my biggest pet peeves. Always keep a lesson log for each student so when the student comes into the lesson, you're not asking them so what did we cover last week I'm the teacher, I should know this as well as the student. Plus I usually try to prepare a lesson for them the night before so the log let's me reference back to what they're working on.
I don't give lessons at a music store either for a few reasons.
1. I can budget my time accordingly for each student.
2. I get to keep the money instead of giving half back to the store.
3. I also have all of my materials on hand for my students to borrow or check out, such as books, videos, cds etc. Kind of like my own personal library.
I think the most important thing is to really care about the student. Yeah it is a way to earn some extra cash but, having 20-30 kids a week really doesn't do you or the student any good if you can't really give them your undivided attention. I only have about 8 students at this time and I'll probably never go more than 10 per week because of my shedule. Most of them are beginners to intermediate and when they study with me, it's their time. The phone gets turned off, my family knows not to interupt. They're paying for my time. One other thing that I do that some of you may or may not agree with is this. If a student pre-pays for lessons which most of them do (4 weeks in advance), and then they cancel a lesson, even if it's a 1/2 hour before their lesson time, I don't charge them for the lesson. We just continue on the following week. I don't let it become a habit of course. The reason I do that is because I do give lessons out of my house, I just look at it as time I can use for something else while I'm at home. If I was at a store it would be a completely different situation because I would be stuck there for that 1/2 hour.
My students are very important to me and I do little things to show it. I give a free lesson on the weeks of their birthdays. If there's a player in town I think they should see, we'll go and check them out. Things like that. I had some great teachers in my time that took the time to show me what I need to learn as a musician but also went that extra step too. It's just about them showing a genuine interest in my education.
There is nothing more rewarding than going to a student's gig and seeing the enjoyment that they get out of some of the things you passed on to them.
If any of you collect Bass Player Magazine, there is an article inside the back cover that was written a little while back by one of my teachers, Steve Bailey, about his experience with one of his first teachers. I'll look up that issue for you. It's pretty interesting.
Anyway, Dave, or anyone for that matter, I'm always here to help. I hope this sheds some light on what I do.
Peace,
Dino
