I kid you not. One of my less keen young people has been prevaricating over her theory homework for ages. Every week she 'forgets' her workbook, or brings her sister's, or has some other excuse why the work has not been done. I looked back through her notebook yesterday and found the date when the last bit of work had been set - August 2006!! She did have an 8 week break earlier this year in order to do a show, but even so, this is taking the proverbial!

Im guessing she doesnt like theory????

I too have had a student that 'forgot' frequently to do their theory homework or forgot their book most of the time..... For any of my students who forget two weeks in a row, we spend about 20mins or so, out of the half hour lesson doing Theory!!!! I have found that this works as students prefer to go through their musical pieces during the lesson and achieving more on the practical side, rather than spending most of the lesson doing theory, so they are more likely to bring their theory books now. For anyone who forgets to bring their theory book to lessons, I have lots of theory worksheets ready to hand

No getting away from theory!!

Exactly what I would do...

Ho ho, you have inspired me to become a theory witch!!

9 Months!!! lol

I wonder why school teachers aren't like that.

Since my original post I have had a serious chat with the Mum. It seems the girl is very keen to continue playing, but isn't putting any practice in. We think she may be having some genuine difficulties with note reading, hence the reluctance to tackle the theory. We have agreed to try a different approach after half term with the 'playing with colour' scheme. Maybe a new book and a new start will produce some results - 10 going on 11 is a tricky age....

when any of my students dont do their theory work i get them to do it in the lesson. Therefore losing time on playing. I've never yet had this happen 2 weeks in a row with the same student.

If they struggle to do it in the lesson then chances are they dont fully understand.

that is of course always a possibility.

Hmm, don't be too hard on her. By my reckoning I still have homework projects outstanding from 1979.

I still dread the sound of zimmer frames coming up the drive as the teachers come to collect!

Steve

I have a pupil whose theory was always "not done" and then I discovered that actually she hated academic work, so we have concentrated on practical for a bit. When she's taken her G3 practical this summer, I shall have to approach the parents.

I think that there is probably an underlying problem which you may have to unearth and then deal with.

Turning it around - our excellent music teacher left to get married and the four of us in the A level music group were saddled for our last year with an absolutely hopeless replacement..

Apart from the fact that we never finished the history and set works part of the syllabus, at the end of the year I had over 50 harmony and counterpoint exercises completed - not one of which had been marked.

Three out of the four, including, myself, failed.

I'm so sorry to hear about your bad experience. When I was doing A level music (more years ago than I care to remember!) we had a very nice music teacher, who we liked a lot, but he was very vague about certain parts of the exam preparation - history in particular - and we all failed. I was so embarassed about it when I went to music college that I didn't admit to it. I think I just let my fellow students believe that one of my A levels was music!! I often wonder why he didn't make sure that we covered all the work.

Of course, theory is not obligatory in the slightest. Should you take G5 jazz or practical musicianship instead, theory isn't needed at all, and so you needn't teach it at any standard, so you can be entirely practical! Oh, the joys!

Maybe not, in terms of exams, but I insist on all my students doing it in some form, because they need to understand what they are trying to play. You may not need to do theory in the sense of written work for jazz/practical music but you still need to understand the principles, surely?

Oh, how I agree!! Surely theory gives our students the key (no pun intended!) to understanding music. I always tell mine that music is another language and they need to learn how to understand and read it.
And I LOVE teaching theory!

Even if not studying theory formally I would expect my students to know basics like time and key signatures (including minor keys) and to notice simple modulations in the music they play at the very least. (note names and note values too of course.)

Not in music, but in Geography: At the start of my 3rd year in secondary school I decided that I didn't like the teacher, who wasn't very good, and that I wasn't ever going to do the subject for O level (as it was then) so I wouldn't bother. The next years work covered one and a half sides of one sheet of paper in an A5 sized exercise book. For some reason I managed to talk my way out of trouble every week without fail!