Abstract :
A survey of final-year music students at the University of York for the Investigating Musical
Performance research project1 found that 45% (23 of the 51 students in the year group)
regularly gave instrumental or vocal lessons. Semi-structured interviews with 16 students
revealed a range of teaching activities including workshop leading, one-to-one lessons and
group teaching. This paper examines the attitudes of the nine students engaged in giving
instrumental2 lessons and explores their development as teachers and their understanding
of some of the key concepts of teaching and learning. Findings suggest that students learned
to teach through increased experience rather than formal training, and although they were
enthusiastic, reporting benefits to their own learning and performing, they could have
been more pro-active regarding their development as teachers and more resourceful in
their approaches towards lesson content and materials, strategies relating to modelling and
motivation and the teaching of practice techniques. Increased provision of support and
training opportunities could be made by Higher Education institutions, by giving students
feedback regarding their effectiveness as teachers, opportunities to discuss their teaching,
and enabling learning through mentoring partnerships with more experienced teachers.
