Re: [Harp-L] advanced?




On Jan 17, 2010, at 6:39 PM, icemanle@xxxxxxx wrote:


(snip-a-dee-doo-dah)
What slows down the class is the one or two students, over their heads, needing assistance where the rest of the class twiddles thumbs while waiting to get on with it..


This is true. As a field instructor for nearly 30 years, I constantly had to deal with a class (maybe 38 people) where there would be 1 or maybe 2 people who would ask questions. Certainly questions were encouraged, but these people would ask a question..and after it was answered, they would ask another, and another, and another. People should FIRST try and ascertain where THEY are in a particular field and THEN apply for a class. In my line, applications were not an issue as the classes were mandatory. So I dealt with it.


Another thing to consider when reaching certain levels is: Some people may be very very good at one facet of a subject while others are not, and in the very next breath the ones who weren't too good at the first facet are now very very good themselves while the superior people on the first facet are now having comprehension problems themselves. It turns out that people learn different things in different sequences and at different times and different progressions and different INTENSITIES.

It would be incumbent on the INSTRUCTOR to make sure that the lesson plan was structured in a logical format in the first place. And while there isn't a large amount of harmonica instruction out there to begin with, a look at ANY instrument plan should do the job. For harmonica, I would suggest horn formats. As they all follow a 'lesson #1, lesson #2, etc. progression, it would be hard to go wrong. People shouldn't get in over their head. They should appraise THEMSELVES honestly.

For example, some might consider me to be an expert, whereas 'I' would apply for lessons as an intermediate. (Which is 2 steps BELOW expert). And if the applicant can't assess themselves, the instructor should (have the guts to) do it for them.

smo-joe











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