2 minute read
The Benefits of Performance-Based Music Education
by Expert Contributors Dave Marsh & Rik Alison, from School of Rock Main Line
If you, your children or your grandkids are considering learning how to play a musical instrument, consider the many benefits of a performance-based music education program compared to traditional music education.
Traditional weekly music lessons have students learning music theory and concepts with no specific “end game.” There’s just the repetitive short-term goal of going home, practicing, and having the instructor check on the student’s progress from week to week.
Performance-based music instruction also teaches students music theory and concepts, of course, but it also gives students weekly opportunities to immediately demonstrate what they’ve learned about “how music works.” Take, for example, a minor pentatonic scale: Instead of an instructor just talking about and showing a few scale patterns that students then play a few times, students instead learn to play songs that use those blues scale patterns, songs made popular by actual bands. A perfect example is “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin. As students experience first-hand how and why music theory and concepts are actually used, the fun that can come from performing such real music can significantly speed up the learning curve.
And team sports is alive and well with performance-based music instruction! Throughout the year, groups of about 25 students work as a team on many songs that they perform frequently in live shows. This gives each student opportunities to play the musical instrument they’re learning in small bands made up of different combinations of students. So, over the course of the season, each student is likely to play in at least one band with all other students.
Additional benefits for students — life skills — from this type of learning and performance-based environment are cooperation, teamwork, communication and public speaking skills, and goal-setting. As students achieve their goals for performing all the songs for each new show (every three months), their self-confidence grows exponentially. Students who started out too shy to go on the stage are, within a few seasons, “rock stars” in their regular lives as well as with their music instructors and fellow students. Songs aren’t learned for simply the instructor’s satisfaction; they’re learned to entertain large live audiences (in-person or on streaming video).
Performance-based music instruction may seem revolutionary compared to traditional music instruction. But it’s not really if you think about why people invented musical instruments and music theory and concepts: To create and share the joy that music adds to life!
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