When I talk passionately about my pedagogy with people the same thing always pops up. DON’T GIVE CHILDREN AN ADULT APPROACH TO MUSIC! If I have said it once I have said it a million times, the main learning objective with music lessons should be getting the students to want to come back next week. 9/10 times I have heard the reason why kids have given up music in the past is because they did not enjoy working through the RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) levels. Therefore I had it in my head that strict, RCM levels were bad and loose student led lessons are good.
Although I still firmly believe in the latter, I have recently softened my stance of the RCM. In a recent conversation with my mother I realized something. If I do my job right, meaning kids start to love music, then wont they want to be challenged, work hard and have something to show for it? I decided to ask some of my students who had been with me for a while if going for their grade 1 or 2 percussion is something they would be interested in. I was pleasantly surprised, and maybe even humbled, to learn that they were! They were also very excited to learn that they already knew how to play the required rudiments and that their snare ability was already at the appropriate level.
The RCM grades are not evil as I once thought. But rather a step in a child’s education journey that can have great benefits, after they have learned to love music of course.
-Hilary