Group Lessons vs Private Lessons
Three Differences
There are 3 striking differences you will find in a small group classroom versus a private lesson.
- Students develop a camaraderie and start looking forward to coming to class.
- Learning with friends propels progress.
- Hearing how others struggle validates a student’s own struggle to learn, but assures them that they can do it.
Gathering with friends makes coming to class fun
Even if you don’t know each other before class starts, students end up considering each other good friends inside of 4-6 weeks. We play games, cheer each other on, see real triumphs and lift eachother when things are hard. Watching my classes walk in the door and catching up since they were together last is part and parcel of the benefit when gathering to learn. We sing Happy Birthday on the big day and get treats if anyone can play it while we sing too.
Learning with friends propels progress
If you’re going to learn the Circle of 5ths, seeing your classmates engage helps you to do it too. The same goes for learning phrasing or crescendos. Having friends provides support and motivation. If you didn’t care about reading key signatures before, seeing your friends clamor for the rules of reading them off flashcards helps you see the pattern and join in the game. It makes learning fun. Fun propels progress.
Hearing and seeing someone else struggle
Remember when doing your homework in the days without cell phones how stuck you could feel when you couldn’t figure something out? I used to think I was dumb, that everyone else could figure this out, but not me. Well in piano class, one student struggled with getting the rhythm for a piece. So the entire class learned how to read and clap it out. After the clapping finished, a student who was not working on this piece
commented, “man, that was tough with the syncopation.” It validated the student who struggled during private practice and then lifted everyone when they all learned to do it together. Seeing someone else struggle with something that was hard for us validates the challenge and also assures an individual they can work through hard things too.
I took private lessons as a child. I really wish I could have learned like this because I would not have felt so alone. Small group classrooms benefit everyone.
