Mike Smith:
Dr. Hodge, how can parents discover their child’s music learning style?

Dr. Ian Hodge:
Well, there are various learning styles identified in education. But when it comes to dealing with music, you’re always dealing with auditory issues. Students must be first of all able to imagine what the music should sound like, then they need to develop the muscular and the other bodily controls, such as breathing, that allow them to maximize the sound of the instrument that they’re playing.

On the other hand, students cannot learn an instrument without actually playing it. So they have to do something. They cannot just sit and read about it. There are certain things that a student must do in order to become, you know, proficient at a particular musical instrument.

You know, what needs to be done, I think, to have the students learn, is to go toward the music that the students prefer. And it’s been my experience that students like a certain kind of music. It needs to have some basic characteristics: it needs to have a good melody. It needs to be fast, because young kids like playing fast music, and it needs to be playable. Asking young students, especially, to play music with irregular and often-changing patterns makes learning harder. All the students can handle it better if—the piece can be extraordinarily difficult, but if it has a regular pattern, it can be easily learned, sounds great, and the students enjoy the successful outcome.

Mike:
Well, these are great ideas, Dr. Hodge. Until next time, I’m Mike Smith.