Choosing the Right Music Teacher

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Green Flag 1: A teacher who is kind, nurturing, and encouraging! 

Numerous studies in psychology and neuroscience have proven that positive encouragement and rewards are more effective for learners towards making great progress in their learning journey. Thus, it's important to find a teacher who believes this in their words and actions! Make sure that you always have the opportunity to do a free trial lesson with a teacher before signing up for any music lessons. It's so important to get to know if your teacher can make the music learning environment a safe space for you or your child to explore, play, and even make mistakes along the way! 

Green Flag 2: A teacher who is fully-committed to their role as an educator

The best music teachers are those who dedicate all their work hours to being the best educator they can be. It just makes sense. Full-time teachers not only teach lots of students, but they also dedicate their other hours to meticulously preparing tailored lesson plans for every student and researching on activities, teaching methods and techniques to make lessons more effective and enjoyable, and learning the songs and repertoire that their students want to learn! In contrast, teachers who can only dedicate part of their week to teaching will have other priorities, increasing the risk of your music lessons not being as great as they can be.

Green Flag 3: A Teacher who listens, engages, and is flexible

You'd definitely also want a music teacher who is sensitive to you or your child's needs, moods, and quirks! Teachers who listen and engage with every learner are able to quickly adapt their teaching style to suit you or your child, ensuring that every lesson is productive, effective, and engaging. For example - if the teacher feels that their student is feeling stressed out from extra school work, he or she should be able to empathise with their student and switch their teaching to include songs or pieces that make the student happy and relaxed whilst still ensuring that they can achieve the learning outcomes.

Green Flag 4: A Teacher who is patient

Not all teachers will have the patience to handle or understand every learner, especially children when they are at a young age of between 3 to 5 years old. This boils down to some teachers having a very different philosophy about education and discipline. Ultimately, you would want a teacher who is truly passionate about teaching and educating, and possesses the right amount of patience and understanding to suit you or your child's needs, as opposed to a teacher who will resort to harsh disciplinary methods or will treat a learner with indifference. This is why it's so important that before you enrol for music lessons, you get to speak to the music teacher - or, better yet, see them in action by sitting into a free trial lesson!

Green Flag 5: A Teacher who will involve you in the learning process

Again, not all music schools or teachers have this philosophy! That's why it's so important that you, as a parent or student, find a teacher who will actively involve you in the learning process. Great teachers have nothing to hide and in fact, will be happy to have you be a part of your child's musical learning journey or answer any questions you have about their methods. They will manifest this in several ways: firstly, by letting you sit into their lessons so you can see how they teach your child and how your child learns, which will then empower you to help your child practice at home. Secondly, by providing you with regular lesson updates so that you are always aware of how your child is doing, and thirdly, they can help pre-emptively highlight any problems or solutions that you can both work on together for your child's continued progress! 

Most importantly - try before you buy! We'd highly recommend for you to do a free trial lesson so that you can verify all of the above! Luckily, at Aureus Academy, this can be done easily. Help us help you start you or your child's musical adventure by letting us find you the right teacher!