Hello!

Is anyone doing the teaching diploma this summer?

If so, have you decided on your written submission yet?

I've been doing a lot of background reading and I'm thinking of going for this one -

"'Discuss your choice of material for young beginners/adults in the first year of learning".

However I'm a bit confused as to whether I'm allowed to refer to actual tutor books and support materials by name or whether I'm supposed to discuss different materials in more general terms.

Any thoughts anyone?

Many thanks

S.

You will definitely need to refer to books/resources by name in your discussion. With a topic like this, you'll probably need to focus in a few specific resources, but also refer to other materials in a more general sense, e.g. you might use tutor book 'x' regularly, but you supplement it with materials 'y' and 'z' etc. My feeling is that you'll have to consider these things within a pedagogical framework; it won't be enough to simply say which things you use and why you like them.

I think you need to go over the syllabus a bit more carefully..

Best of luck with your dip.

hello - the important words here are "Discuss" ie what, why, when, etc and "first year of learning" What sort of things need to be taught in the first year or so - what tutor books might help here - think about the speed at which concepts are introduced, whether it takes a middle C approach or encourages a pupil to explore all the piano early on. The clarity of the layout, the reinforcement of material etc etc. Thinking about why you don't use certain books is useful. I would suggest you visit a really good music shop and look carefully at what is on offer. There is LOADS. don't just discuss what you already use go and have a good look at the books out there now and think about their pros and cons.

Good luck

Have I missed something here? How do you know Sioni is talking about piano? If so, where did you read that, because I can't find it.
DerekH

PS Margaret - you have a typo in the webaddress in your signature

Good point. Then again it appears to be pianists who are most likely not to mention instrument when posting on here.

That's why I've put my instrument in my signature. But then a lot of people don't think the classical guitar is a *proper* instrument anyway!
Still, I'd rather carry a guitar up a flight of stairs than a piano <chuckle>

WOOPS! You are absolutely right. That will teach me to reply to a post before I am fully awake!

However my point really is that different tutor books often take quite different approaches when introducing basics. How much time they spend on things and in what order can differ quite a lot.

Note to myself: I must stop assuming everyone is a pianist!

Definitely a valid point - having been taught the recorder and the cello, I know there are different approaches to both when it comes to the order of teaching certain things

So you can go on assuming that everyone is a pianist, and those who aren't can just go on learning to adapt what the pianists say to apply to their own instruments

Such as
"Your instrument will only need tuning once a year, and someone will do it for you"
"There's no need to take your instrument, there'll be one there in the room ready for you"
"There's no need to worry about intonation"
"Vibrato is a waste of time"

<chuckle>

SOME of the points a pianist says can be applied to other instruments

DerekH

Thanks for all your replies.

And yes, I AM a pianist!

Sioni.