Question:
the guitarist in my band recommended me to teach bass guitar
lessons at a family owned guitar store. The guitarist previosly taught
there and offers lofty praise in my favor, but I have my insecurities.
Please, write me a summary of the material I should be comfortable with
in case there is an audition. Basically, things to be prepared for (12
bar blues, mode runs, etc.), and perhaps anecdotes of your time under
the gun for a bass position interview, teaching or performing. Thanks a
bunch, wish me luck, I really need to score this job.
My self evaluation places me beneath the theory curve and above the
technique curve. And if you have any lesson plans to help get me
started, kudos my friends
Answer:
I can offer you some general advice, not as a bass teacher per se, but
as a fairly experienced ESL teacher.
While lesson plans are important for managing the lesson time and for
the longer goal of getting through the contents of a syllabus, they
only work if they are tailored to the students. Trying to bulldoze
through stuff that the students are incapable of absorbing, or dragging
them with remorseless pedantry over stuff that bores them, will be at
best inefficient and at worst will put them off. You need not,
therefore, feel compelled to stick to the plan come hell or high water.
Instead, use it as a vague guide but improvise the details.
At the same time, though, if you're a pushover and just do whatever it
takes to make the class fun for them then you will be failing in your
task as a teacher by *not* pushing them to learn the things they need
to know. As in most things in life, there is a balance to be had.
I have a sort of a "gas pedal" in my head, where I apply a controlled
amount of pressure to the students from time to time to get them to
make an effort (to achieve some specific goal) that they would
otherwise be unwilling to make, and then I reward them afterward. The
operative word here is "controlled": if it's too much then their minds
freeze and they sit there, catatonic, waiting for me to let them off
the hook; if it's not enough then they'll come away with the impression
that it's OK not to bother. They have to know that it's not OK not to
make an effort.
The most important thing that I do, therefore, is *observe* their
reactions and tendencies, as well as their current abilities and
knowledge. Watch them intently and observe how they respond to
different approaches. And always, always verify that they have
understood by making them demonstrate it in some way.
In a language class, the students should be doing at least two thirds
of the speaking, with the teacher doing one third. I imagine that this
rule of thumb would also apply to a bass lesson.
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