What I Learned from My First Music Teacher

I attended a friend’s birthday party when I was 11. His mother gifted him a violin- he had recently started taking lessons. I had never seen that instrument before, and I was very impressed. For the next few weeks, I remember sitting at my window whenever I could hear him practicing.

I requested my parents to sign me up for lessons, and they gladly did. My elder sister and I (she had signed up for guitar lessons) used to walk our way to class, twice a week. My teacher was a retired man in his late 50s. He could play many instruments- keyboard, violin, mandolin, sarod, guitar- and he loved demonstrating them. I enjoyed learning about this musical culture. Now that I am a teacher with a few years of experience, I want to share my thoughts on this learning experience.

The points in green are the experiences I see in a positive light.

1. Learning about Different Ragas: The syllabus consisted of note exercises, learning ragas, and songs based on the ragas. I learned that a particular raga sounds happy, another sounds sad. I got to see many different instruments and got introduced to Indian classical music.

2. Aural Skills- Since I had to constantly listen to the raga notes when 1) I was learning, 2) when it was being taught to other students, my aural skills really became sharp. I could identify intervals and get tunes rather quickly. I also picked up rhythmic patterns that my sister learned on the guitar.

3. One Syllabus for All- There was a common syllabus for violin, guitar, mandolin, and keyboard- 3 booklets which consisted of multiple ragas and songs based on those ragas. Since I began teaching, I realized that 5-year-old, 8-year-old, 13-year-old, adults - all learn differently. A syllabus with some common elements might work well if there is scope for collaboration with other instruments. But having the same syllabus for all? I don’t know...

4. Some Strong Opinions: I remember an incident where a person had come for inquiry. He wanted to learn guitar- chords, and songs. I remember him being driven away rudely. It was followed by telling us how ‘ridiculous’ is that way of learning music. Students pick up values from you, in addition to what you teach them. They watch how you speak, how you deal with situations. So, it is very important to passively imbibe values that encourage thinking, creativity, and inclusivity.

5. No Improvisations- Improvisation is a vital part of Indian classical music. Perhaps I was too young to venture out into the world of improvisation. I wish I could have gotten a little exposure to this activity early on in my music learning. I regularly ask my students to improvise over a concept to make them understand better, and it works. Check out Tune Factory.

6. Group Classes? - Group classes consisted of the teacher going around the small room and listening to the 3-5 students playing mostly different things, on different instruments. Having such group classes felt more of a business decision than a musical one. A group class opens up a lot of avenues in teaching: musical discussions, how to practice, learning theory & history, composing, improvising, quizzes, etc. The potential of the group was not fully utilized.

7. Limited Scope for Discussions – Earlier today, I looked for my music booklets. In addition to the common material, I found some supplementary theory sheets which were very interesting- they were beautifully handwritten by the teacher. It was given to my sister, who was doing much better than I was. I wish we had discussed those concepts during class. Having discussions is really important. It makes the student think and express themselves.

8. Conclusion- Even though I stopped lessons after 6 months, my musical journey had just begun. It would be 3 more years until I started learning music again- a keyboard. That’s a story for another time.

I am grateful to have had the chance to learn music with various teachers. Critiquing this learning experience has made me review my own teaching methods. If you have similar experiences, I would love to know about them.