Music Education Articles
For instrumental teachers, ensemble directors, and music educators.
The articles in this section draw on many years of teaching experience across a wide range of settings — from one-to-one instrumental lessons to large ensemble work, primary classroom teaching, and teacher training. Topics include motivation, group teaching, mixed-ability classes, tuning, and more. They are derived from material developed for Instrumental Music Teaching; Strategies for Securing Maximum Motivation and Musical Achievement, a practical guide for instrumental teachers.
The book expands substantially on the themes introduced here — if any of these articles resonates, it is worth a look. Available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions, and as a PDF download from this site.
Browse the articles
How Group Music Lessons Enhance Student Learning: Why group instrumental teaching, though born of economic necessity, turns out to offer genuine educational advantages over individual tuition — and why most teachers fail to realise them. Read…
Why Beginners Give Up and How to Keep Them Motivated: An examination of what motivates beginners to start – and stop – playing together with some simple, practical strategies for keeping them motivated. Read…
Mixed Ability: The Group Teaching Problem That Isn’t: How the inevitable emergence of varied abilities in groups can be turned to advantage — drawing on the evidence of amateur bands and orchestras where mixed ability is the norm and exceptional musicianship the result. Read…
Is Reading Music Really Essential for Beginners? A challenge to the assumption that music reading is the self-evident starting point for every beginner — drawing on evidence from jazz, folk, and non-western traditions to reconsider what musical literacy actually requires. Read…
Beyond Practice Makes Perfect: Why unsupervised repetition so often reinforces mistakes rather than correcting them — and how teachers can structure lessons and set tasks that make home practice genuinely productive. Read…
Imitation, Improvisation then Notation: How teaching by demonstration and imitation — bypassing music reading entirely in the early stages — builds technique, musicianship, and motivation more effectively than a notation-first approach. Read…
The Maths Problem Group Teachers Get Wrong: Why treating a group lesson as a series of short individual ones demotivates students, and how to ensure 100% active engagement for 100% of the lesson time. Read…
Space & Time: Setting Up for a Better Lesson: How room layout, seating configuration, and advance preparation directly affect learning outcomes in group instrumental lessons — and what to do when the teaching space is less than ideal. Read…
Tuning Tips for Student Wind Ensemble Directors: A simple, practical approach to ensemble tuning making use of the acoustical phenomena of sum & difference tones – providing a great starting point for rehearsal & performance. Read…