A common question I get asked is "My child has ABC, have you taught anyone with ABC? Will it stop them from being able to play?"
The short answer is yes, I have taught students with many different needs, and no, it won't stop them from learning something they really care about.
That said, go ahead and ask! Let me know what your or your child is dealing with. If I haven't taught someone with that need before, I might ask a few questions, but it can always be done. I love coming up with creative ways to teach.
I have taught many kids with ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, Tourettes, and have no problem working WITH them to reach their goals and help them focus. I learned that if it is MY goal, they might feel left out, or disconnected from the music. But if I have them make a goal, we are working together to create music.
We also turn practicing into a game, with rules, and even dice to randomly pick what measure of music a student should practice!
I try to check on every student to see if they need a mental or physical rest, and to check and see if the really understand what I just said, or if I explained it weirdly. And, yes I explain things weirdly. A. Lot.
I have a metaphor problem! I think most orchestral musicians do, because we are asked ridiculous things, to play the passage lightly like tip-toeing fairies, or a mix of heavy and light, like, and I quote "Raspberries, not beets." That makes sense right?
So I can get carried away asking students to play like the notes are popcorn or a rocket ship blasting off!
Because of this metaphor problem, I always double check that students understand!
I also make short videos of what ever piece we are working on, and post them unlisted to youtube so I can share they with you and your student. It helps so much to have a personalized video of your piece!
I write things down in little note books for each student, so they know what we talked about, and what I want them to practice. This also helps ME remember what we were working on!
For vision-impaired students, I build up the tapes on their instruments until they can feel them, similar to frets on a guitar. I also purchase (or make out of large straws) a Bow-Right so the can learn where the bow goes on the violin. Then we learn notes and music by ear, and I send them videos so they can hear the piece again and again.
I am constantly learning and dreaming up new ways to teach something, and it is what makes teaching violin so rewarding.
Talk to you later,
Susan
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