Everyone learns the songs differently.

I am a firm believer in public education. But, it does have it's share of flaws. I think public school does a great job teaching 30 kids at a time. It's lousy at teaching 1. I love that public school takes on all comers. As long as you've got a pulse and are in the school's boundaries, we'll take you. This open door policy creates a great diverse population of kids, and all of them learn differently. That great lesson you've planned is only going to be great to a part of the kids. Everyone learns the material differently.

This struck me while playing in a band. We were preparing for a gig. We needed to learn about 30 songs to fill 3 sets. Even though we were about the same age, listened to the same music, we all had our own methods to learn the songs.

Our bass player had to hear the song. He needed to have a copy of each song to hear it over and over again so he could learn it.

The lead guitarist needed the tabs. Tabs are a note for note transcription of the song.

I (rhythm guitar) needed the songs in chordpro. This showed how the chords changed when compared to the lyrics.

The singer lyrics. She needed the lyrics in large font. She just said 1 2 3 4 and started belting it out, and never missed a note.

The drummer was a seasoned pro. He'd ask me questions I did not know (like Does this swing?), and then just go for it.

Half of us did great learning in a group. They'd learn the song while we practiced it.

The rest had to go home and spend some time alone with the piece. We'd return to the next practice ready to roll.

Time spent with band members taught me a lot about learning styles, mainly that there are a lot out there. I also learned that it took all of us some time to figure out which learning style suited us best. Once we figured out our learning style we were off and running.

In school we assume too much about learning styles. We think all kids learn the way we did, or the method described in the curriculum guide, or the prepackaged program purchased by the school system. The classroom teacher needs to begin looking at the students as individuals in a group. Band members if you will. Each has their own method of learning the material. We learn the same material, just in a different style.

In a band I could learn using other methods. It was helpful if I had a better ear, or learned to read tab. But I was not an efficient learner. So I fell behind the others.

From this experience, I learned that it is good efficient teaching if students are taught to identify their learning style. It is good if teacher learn to differentiate instruction according to the learners in the class. It is good if teachers introduce new learning styles to the students. They may not be efficient at first, but could open another avenue to learning.

Bad Practice=Good Gig Good Practice=Bad Gig

I am a firm believer that you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your correct actions playing in a band I found Rule #3 to ring true. We would have practices that were awesome. After a few of these we would feel good and overly confident. We would then hit the gig, have a train wreck mid song and then we would stand there and look at each other and wonder what happened.

No one would have an answer.

When you play out, play live or do anything, you are going to make mistakes. Perfection is not meant for this world. The best we can do for ourselves and our kids is to prepare them for less than perfection. Prep for mistakes.

It is better to prepare for mistakes in practice, not at the gig. You make the mistakes, adjust, move on. If done properly no one but the band notices. In practice we could stop, laugh hysterically, analyze, learn and do over in privacy.

Later as we improved we would build in mistakes to keep us on our toes. We'd do a metal song as a ballad, a country song as a reggae song or punk. We'd switch instruments. Anything to cause a mistake would make us stronger.

Being a family band (everyone had or is having kids) our practices were constantly interrupted with phones ringing, juice box requests, diaper changes and video failures. We could finish any song with babes on hips. At the gig, nothing threw us. Rowdy or inattentive crowd were nothing like what we faced at practice.

At school many expect perfection from the get go. We believe our lesson was so great, students will perform perfectly from the start. How many of us picked up an instrument, golf club, tennis racquet and played like Clapton, Woods, or McEnroe?? None. The learning curve in Math, Science, Social Studies and English is just as steep.

The class needs to mimic the practice session. Students need to play, make errors, get instruction and assess and do it again and again to get close to perfection. Classrooms need to be a place to try and fail. We must get kids prepared for the test, and life like a band practice.

Be In Tune

A guitar is a very delicate instrument. Inspite of the fact that players like Townsend, Hendrix and Cobain smash the crap out of them, they are delicate instruments. Made of wood, metal with many knobs to adjust, tuners to manipulate, guitars are tough to keep in tune. The weather effects the wood, expanding and conracting it with temperature and humidity to change the tone of the 6 strings. Strings wear out. Hell, just playing the thing gets it out of tune. I remember trying to learn to play with an out of tune guitar. Everything sounded the same.

The same is true in the classroom. So many variables can get your class "out of tune". The weather, the mere thought of a snowflake turns a great class into animals. A class has more strings and variables than the guitar. Students, teachers, visitors the lesson all have an effect. You have to think of each lesson to start in tune. Make the start good and you should be good for a while. It is important to set the tone from the beginning and refuse to start until you are in tune. Even as the lesson progresses you find that you need to tune up as the lesson continues. It is important to stop, tune up and then proceed. You see musicians do this constantly. Good ones can tune in mid song. Other can banter with the audience and tune up. I've seen BB King break a string, install a new one, tune it and never miss a note of a song. It takes years to perfect but that is the goal we are trying to achieve. To be in tune the entire class and make adjustments along the way.

Chapter 1 Make the Singer Look Good

Much to the chagrin of drummers, bass players and especially guitarists, the job of the rock band is to make the singer look good. That is who the audience looks at the most, and connects with. The band's role is to find songs that make the singer look good, play it in a key, tempo, and provide the best instrumentation to make the singer look good. Even if he is not that good the job of the band is to make them look good. If the singer doesn't look good, neither does the drummer, bass player or the guitarist.

The converse is also true, the singer makes the band look good. If he is happy then the audience is happy and so is the band.

In the classroom we must figure out who has the role of the singer. It could be the teacher or the student. From the teacher's viewpoint it is the student. The teacher has to be the band that makes the student look good. Especially is this era of NCLB, where learning is mandated. Kids legally have to learn or punishments will be handed out to the teacher. Teachers need to make the student look good. Teachers need to provide the platform where the student can shine, be successful, feel confident to perform their best.

Introduction

If asked what I wanted to be when I grew up at 18, I would have proclaimed "Rock Star". But as time moved on I felt needed to have a backup. Teaching was my backup. I have taught for 15 years now and for the last 5 spent my free time knocking around in a part time have fun cover band. What I discovered was, what I learned from the music, directly helped with my teaching. I found playing practicing and learning music made my teaching very insightful. I found working with a group made my teaching better.

I sat down and made a list of lessons I learned from the band and found them analagous to my teaching. So, here is my list of understandings that I have discovered with my duel life Rocker and Teacher.

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TEACHING I LEARNED BY PLAYING IN A ROCK AND ROLL COVER BAND.

Here are some lessons I learned while playing in a Rock and Roll Cover Band.

1. Make the singer look good.
2. Be in tune.
3. Don’t break the instruments.
4. Bad Practice=Good Gig.
5. Good Practice=Bad Gig.
6. Everyone learns the songs differently.
7. Invite your mom to the gig.
8. Do the hard stuff first, then do the easy stuff when your tired.
9. Warm up with an old favorite
10. You can’t rock all the time sometimes you need a ballad.
11. You need a gig you can’t just practice.
12. Everyone has a different role.
13. Most bands break up and move on.
14. Remember you play for the audience.
15. You play music it’s supposed to be fun.
16. Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate David Baker.
17. Practice parts, Put parts together, practice putting parts together.
18. Your band is only as good as the weakest member.
19. The whole is better than the sum of its parts.
20. Always play with people better than you or you’ll never get better.
21. Woodshed
22. Build a repertoire, practice it and build on it.
23. Gig with other bands.
24. Super groups always break up.
25. Do a Sound Check
26. Never stop taking lessons.
27. This is what I've got so far. I'll explain my connection to teaching with these in the coming months.