The School of Feedback Guitar Blog

There is a cliche in the music education world. It's usually said this way: "(name of guitar teacher) can play, but he/she can't teach!" Sometimes we even, unneccesarily, poke fun of music teachers by saying, "(name of guitar teacher) is not a performer; He/She is a teacher, obviously." At the center of these statements lies a crucial ambivalence facing the work of any guitar teacher:

Guitar teachers are paid to teach, and performers are paid to escape.

The best performers are the people who "have it." These are the ones who make a show so fun and enjoyable, so great and awesome, that we can't help but forget all of our problems and cheer them on. We as the audience want to see the performer escape so that we can escape with them. It's like seeing a show and thinking at the end of it, "I wish they would play another song!" Performers inherently know this; The stage is where time doesn't exist. Performers are often as irresponsible, impulsive, and immature as one will see. Drugs? Alcohol? Addiction? Stupid behavior? You name it. When one is paid to escape, when one is cheered on to take the audience to another level and help them forget about their problems, you can bet that it translates to many other areas of their life. To performers, responsibility might often seem like a drag. It seems far more exciting to trash a hotel room. For them it's more fun to just be out of control, like how it is on stage.

Many would-be performers are initially drawn to teaching at first. Why not? So many people are looking to play music that it seems like a logical stepping stone to being a rock star. The operative words are "stepping-stone." Are they there to teach, or are they seeking an audience? If I were looking for a guitar teacher, they would need to convince me that I was the center of their attention, and that they are going to do their best to create a space for me to learn. They would need to convince me that they are there for me. I will not say that all performers are like this, but many are unable to teach because, again, responsibility is a drag.

Guitar teachers are paid to teach, and teaching requires developing responsibility. If you want to perform for a living and teach too, the real trick is how to balance the both of them.

Teachers have a much harder job than most people realize. A short list of their responsibilities:

1. Teaching students.
2. Creating and/or maintaining curriculum.
3. Maintaining good relations with the administration.

Each of these tasks could potentially lead to the dreaded world of burnout, the place teachers go when they give up and collect a check. The less a teacher has to deal with administration, the fewer but more concentrated the student body they are in charge of, the better. Most teachers are not afforded these luxuries. Burnout is a tough thing to contend with, and if the teacher is not in the right frame of mine it will happen. Vitality can dissapear, and for more reasons than the above.

This is one of the reasons I am extremely tough on (admittedly well-meaning) guitarists who wish to moonlight as guitar teachers. When they send me their resumes, I look hard at them and see if they truly want to do this. I tend to be careful because not everyone wants to teach. Many guitar teachers aspire to play in front of 10,000 screaming fans. It was the reason I started playing guitar! However, Nicholas Goluses, the Professor of Classical Guitar at the Eastman School of Music, contends that no guitarist can be a stellar performer without also being a stellar teacher. Nicholas, by-the-way, learned from Manuel Barruecco, a guy who definitely knows a thing or two about teaching and performing guitar.

Burnout is a tough thing, but guitar teachers have it easier than other teachers. There are about a thousand different styles of guitar to learn, millions of people to learn from and teach, and the amount of music created with a guitar is astounding. Burnout is the enemy, vitality is the goal. Your students want that just as much as they want to learn guitar, so how are you going to remain vital to them, year after year? It's a good question to ask yourself.

Forgive me, I've been on a kick about teaching philosophy lately. Yesterday I was telling someone that very few things in my life have inspired more growth than teaching guitar for a living. It's true. It takes a lot of energy to grow while making a space for others. All teachers are confronted with the issue of energy conservation when they open up their door to helping others learn. A really good point to remember, if a person wants to make space for others to learn, is learn how not to be a pushover.

I am pretty convinced that some guitar teachers are there to support a student at any cost. They are there to help them and see them do well. This is great, but it is a double edged sword. By being too open there is the danger of allowing personal and professional boundaries to break down between the two parties. Maintaining boundaries, while being a kind person, is a hard but necessary act for both persons. An example from my guitar education work is this: I am pretty strict about making sure that each lesson starts at the top of the hour and not a minute before. I usually have about five minutes to myself between two adjacent lessons. Those five minutes are precious to me; I use them to group my thoughts, create lesson plans, and keep on top of what I need to do. So therefore, I will ask the next student if I may have a couple more minutes before beginning their lesson if they are a bit early. There's nothing wrong with being eager to learn! I like that people show up early. But stating I need more time means that I am very kind to both of us. After I am ready, it's on to rock and roll, and I am better able to make a space for them and their needs. There is an art to maintaining personal boundaries while being a decent person.

Giving and teaching with kindness does not mean allowing everyone to trample all over your personal needs. I believe it is possible to do that while still drawing lines of what is acceptable and unacceptable. It's true that some people need a bit of guidance on how you want the relationship to work. They need boundaries to be set so that everyone's safety can be established. The sooner the boundaries are respected and maintained, the sooner the work blossoms. It's pretty awe-inspiring to watch this happen in realtime, too.

I am aware of how incredibly cliche this will sound, but I'm going to say it none-the-less: The most satisfying ingredient to use as a teacher is an open heart.

Think back for a moment to all the teachers you have had in your life. I bet you can name the ones that really took an interest in you. What did they do to inspire you? What kind of persons were they? How did act around you? Did they have a complete mastery over the subject matter? What convinced you that they really wanted to see you do well?

I've had tons of teachers over the years, just like most of us. Somehow, I had only two teachers in grade school who really truly inspired me to learn and explore music. I remember these two teachers so well not just because of their breadth of knowledge, which was incredibly staggering. I remembered them simply because of their kindness. To be kind to others it takes a good and open heart.

As cliche as it sounds, having an open heart is the key to teaching.

The teachers who inspired us figured out how to teach with such a good heart that we couldn't help but give ours back. Simply, good teachers know how to give their heart away and inspire the student, and they know how to do that in a professional way. Being around teachers of this caliber who have been willing to share what they know is inspiring to say the least. It's not just what people know (which again, can be absolutely staggering), but it's the kind and open hearted way that they share it.

The act of sharing what you know with another person is one of the most incredibly beautiful things you can do. All a person really has to give is their time and energy. Both of these resources are so precious that truly giving them to another, with sincerity, can be problematic at times. However, the journey of learning to teach with an open heart is worth it, no matter the difficulties.

Teaching is fun because I learn just as much, if not more, than the student I am helping. It's true. I guess this is the sort of learning that can't be done in a classroom, as I am learning more about people in general. Through years of building my school, I finally figured out that I learn the most from being present in that moment, even if it's hard. That might not always be very fun, but it is neccesary. The student appreciates it none-the-less.

I have this personal enemy that I like to call The Autopilot Mode. Autopilot Mode is what happens where I am only concerned with getting the student to learn something about the guitar or music. There is something deeply wrong with approaching lessons with the notion that the teacher loads the student up with information. There is potential for so much more for both! Like many musicians say, there is more to music than the dots on the page.

Every person out there wants someone to relate to. It's part of who we are and it's part of what makes us human. By staying present regardless of what is going on, a teacher will more often than not find that the student stays present as well. It's an odd thing, but the less of an autopilot I am, then the more enjoyable time it is, for both.

I remember a long time ago when a teacher I highly respected, and feared, called me out during class. "Dave, you are going to hate me now, but in 20 years you might thank me. Spell me a fully altered scale starting on A flat." This was in front of all of my friends. I didn't appreciate it.

This teacher was challenging me, and his point was not to embarass me, even though he did. His point was: "Be equal." He wanted me to truly know and understand music theory, and he challenged me to be thoughtful about it.

10 years later, I realize that that SOB was right. I laughed out loud, hard.

Although I would not do something like that to anyone, there is something to the idea of being challenging. For many years, I felt it was the teacher's responcibility to make every challenge beatable. Now, I think that there might be room for being a bit more of an agitator. I'm thinking (and writing) out loud. Why can't a teacher do everything in their power to foster a healthy professional relationship first, and then start to challenge the student later? I'm sure this sound strange, but why not agitate a student to do better after both parties are secure in that professional relationship? If the student doesn't take responcibility for getting better, then who does? After all, the teacher's true goal is to teach their student so well that they don't need them as a teacher anymore, right? Many many thoughts are on my mind right now. I'm not going to be a jerk to anyone if I can help it, but I think this is the next thing to ponder as a teacher. More to follow.

Over the past month, I have noticed a diminished capacity to remain energetic in each lesson for each person. My heart began to sink at this realization. As a result, I took a closer look at the way I structured my lessons and found that changing my approach will benefit everyone. There are now be three main sections to each lesson. Since I was going to send this out to my regular students, I thought I may as well publish it. It will give you an idea of how I operate if you want to take lessons with me.

The Warm Up

All teachers must learn to maintain and manage dozens of professional relationships, one after another or in a big classroom, to be successful in their work. Each student is different, and if they plan upon reaching any number of them, both student and teacher must be on the same page. The Warm Up is intended to do this.

The Warm Up is conducted with as little chatter and with as much music as possible. This helps both of us center our attention on guitar, and not on anything else. The way I plan upon accomplishing this is to steer us to either play a song, play a rhythm, play something that you have totally mastered, or jam. Furthermore, this allows you to really allow a concept or song “get into” you. Mastery of concepts is far more dependent upon playing than it is practicing. The Warm Up allows you to play and just enjoy it. I believe it is critical and besides it just feels good to play music. After I feel we are centered and on the same page, it's time to review.

The Review

After we settle into the space, it's time to review the stuff we went over the previous week and collaborate on the process of mastery of this material. This is the best time to straiten out technical or musical issues about guitar, collaboratively.

I'm very serious about the word “collaboration.” I'm now convinced this is the best way to work through technical problems. It gets both of us involved in resolving issues that keep you from playing guitar. In short, two minds are better than one. I plan upon using both of our brains to make guitar easier for you.

The New Stuff

After settled and reviewed, it is time for the new stuff. If you are wondering why I wait until later in the lesson, this is why:

There have been times that I jumped directly into a new idea or concept, right from the start of a lesson. This not only disregarded what the student was working on previously, but it was a wasted energy when both of us were not settled into the lesson. It also did them a disservice because it didn't help them own the previous material, at all. I believe this to be a terrible waste of energy and an egregious waste of time. We both need to settle into our professional relationship and time together before anything can be accomplished, and we both need to collaborate on solving problems as well.

In Conclusion

Doing both The Warm Up and Review lays the foundation. It acts as a launch pad to learn new stuff and soak in what I have to show you, aka The New Stuff. This is all meant to help anyone get to the point with playing guitar, and help anyone continually build a far better ability. Once again, this is how I teach guitar.

What's the worst piece of advice you can receive from a guitar teacher, ever? "You must have the thumb directly behind the neck."

Why? Thumb length varies from person to person. Advising someone to put it directly behind the neck basically ignores how their wrist looks and how long their fingers are. The worst part is that the thumb position affects the wrist position. If the wrist is messed up, then say hello to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Nasty, and probably not in a good way.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome has everything to do with over-stressing the hand while it is in a horrible position. When the thumb is too high, then the wrist is cocked towards you. When the thumb is too low, the wrist is pushed away. Either way, a wrist that is bent unnaturally will have some problems later. The solution? Ignore everybody. Pay attention to the needs of your hand, and and place your thumb where it will keep your own wrist straight.

I needed to buy a hard drive at a locally owned computer store the other day. The person who was helping was extremely knowledgeable about computers. He knew his stuff inside and out. It was obvious that he thought about computers a lot. It was a perfect fit for him as he works in a highly regarded computer store. However there was something odd about the conversation. Although I got a lot of information all at once, there was no room for me to process what he was saying. It made me wonder. I heard a blur of technical details that I didn't necessarily need. All I needed was a hard drive and his recommendation.

There is something to keeping mum and playing the quiet game. Even if a client doesn't seem to be getting it, they are processing the information. In guitar, simply shutting up when a client's hands look good and while they are working on something allows them to master the work on their own.

I think I will humbly take this advice myself (I babble too much as it is). I also have mixed feelings regarding know-it-alls. I want to tell them, "Well, hello mister fancypants."