Tami’s Pedagogy
As previously mentioned, after some three years of space in this column devoted to such renowned pedagogues as Heinrich Neuhaus, Ferruccio Busoni, etc, time is overdue to begin tapping into enlightening pedagogy from within our own SPTF member pool.
Meeting and being influenced by Tamara Slobodkin is, without question, one of the absolute highlights of SPTF membership. Tamara continues to genuinely be one of the most beloved individuals in my experience, beyond SPTF. As all teaching is basically an extension of the person, only some of Tami’s very special attributes were detailed during the recent Spring tribute.
Tammy was kind enough to share some of her pedagogical ideas. Here are a few --
- Teaching “aesthetics” is priority. - Keeping what works, yet always being open for change and continued development. - Loaning out books, videos, and CD’s to students. - On-going review and collection of the most beneficial teaching materials and pieces. - Acknowledging the positive of student practicing and performance, prior to further guidance. - Students to listen for a beautiful sound. - “Never play faster than you can play beautifully.” - Sight reading hunting
expedition: students are asked to describe everything they see on a page. - Looking ahead to the whole phrase contributes to sight reading ability, verses the horizontal approach. - Students guided to recognize the target/climax notes of each phrase. - Placing more responsibility on students: listening carefully to their own playing, developing specific practice procedures on their own, etc. - Beginning lessons with the most recent and perhaps most difficult sections of pieces.
- Developing suitable technical warm-up routines at the outsets of the lesson. - Occasional practice without pedal. - Assigning repertoire based on student needs and tastes, in addition to the standard progressive levels. - etc, etc.
Most important of all: “Making the love of music and learning contagious for a lifetime”
-Fred Barnett
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