Every teacher strives to make their students independent as soon as possible. That is, of course, the case with music teachers as well. However, they also have some challenges that are unique to their discipline.
One of the major challenges for music teachers is how to get their students ready to both follow the music, while at the same time following all good playing habits on their instrument. In my case, as a clarinet teacher, I want my students to have a constant and consistent air flow, good posture and good embouchure (among others), but also to be able to read and follow music. That is a hard task, especially for beginners. The way I try to separate this task into two segments is by having them practice long, repeated notes and looking at themselves in the mirror. By doing so, they will only focus on establishing good habits, without having to worry about the technique in a particular piece. The second step is to have students articulate the notes that are on the page without having their instrument in their hands. This way they don’t necessarily need to worry about good playing habits, at least not that very instant, and their focus can be on the actual notes. When I say “articulate” I do not mean that they need to sing the pitch, because that concept doesn’t come until later. My concern and emphasis is only for them to learn the notes and be able to recognize them without the technical difficulty of the particular instrument. Note recognition should become second nature, much like how people can read different magazines/newspapers once they learn all the letters of the alphabet.
Another, equally common challenge that some of my students have is proper breathing. It is
This is obviously not the end of the list, but I believe that once a student gets confident with these two concepts, s/he is ready for making music and focusing on phrasing nuances. Some teachers tend to rush into the “music making” which I believe can cause too many issues in the long run. Only good basics can produce a good musician, who is aware of what exactly s/he is doing once the music becomes really challenging.
Milos Tosic, Clarinet Instructor