Music Workshops - Likes, Dislikes, Suggestions, Experiences
I’m guessing that a few of you have either attended workshops or have thought of attending one.
Although I’ve taught a number of workshops I’ve actually never attended one as a student so my only perspective is from a teacher’s point of view. In this regard I would like to mention some of my thoughts and hear about your own experiences.
One challenge is dealing with the various experience levels of the attendees... in spite of the workshop advertising specific qualifications. To make sure everyone has a good time and comes away with learning something, I’ve dealt with it in the following manner:
I’ll start the workshop out with a song that is familiar to everyone. We’ll run through the basic progression in which everyone at each level can easily play along. After that I’ll start gradually layering new ideas, licks, turnarounds, etc... with each new pass at the song. The ones that can adapt will now have something new in their tool bag and the ones that can’t quite keep up with those new ideas can at least still play along at their own level and hear how the more advanced apply those new licks. Eventually everyone goes home learning something new.
Next I’ll ask if anyone else has any ideas that they’d like to contribute to the mix and what happens next is that everyone starts sharing and teaching each other for a while. I even wind up learning a new thing or two which makes it more exciting for me.
I’ll also, time allowing and given the size of the class, work individually with the attendees on whatever they need help in while the others work on those new ideas.
After the session I make sure to give everyone a link to my website where they can easily download all the materials... sound files and tabs. That way nobody has to try to remember every little thing that I’ve taught in that workshop. I also encourage others to bring along a recording device... however I’ve found that there’s tons of extra noise that sometimes gets in the way once the attendee gets home.
So... what have your experiences been like? What would you suggest?
Has anyone had the pleasure of sharing what they’ve learned on their own from instructional DVD’s with other members of a workshop?
http://www.littletobywalker.com
Although I’ve taught a number of workshops I’ve actually never attended one as a student so my only perspective is from a teacher’s point of view. In this regard I would like to mention some of my thoughts and hear about your own experiences.
One challenge is dealing with the various experience levels of the attendees... in spite of the workshop advertising specific qualifications. To make sure everyone has a good time and comes away with learning something, I’ve dealt with it in the following manner:
I’ll start the workshop out with a song that is familiar to everyone. We’ll run through the basic progression in which everyone at each level can easily play along. After that I’ll start gradually layering new ideas, licks, turnarounds, etc... with each new pass at the song. The ones that can adapt will now have something new in their tool bag and the ones that can’t quite keep up with those new ideas can at least still play along at their own level and hear how the more advanced apply those new licks. Eventually everyone goes home learning something new.
Next I’ll ask if anyone else has any ideas that they’d like to contribute to the mix and what happens next is that everyone starts sharing and teaching each other for a while. I even wind up learning a new thing or two which makes it more exciting for me.
I’ll also, time allowing and given the size of the class, work individually with the attendees on whatever they need help in while the others work on those new ideas.
After the session I make sure to give everyone a link to my website where they can easily download all the materials... sound files and tabs. That way nobody has to try to remember every little thing that I’ve taught in that workshop. I also encourage others to bring along a recording device... however I’ve found that there’s tons of extra noise that sometimes gets in the way once the attendee gets home.
So... what have your experiences been like? What would you suggest?
Has anyone had the pleasure of sharing what they’ve learned on their own from instructional DVD’s with other members of a workshop?
http://www.littletobywalker.com
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