What is the role of a Music Teacher?

As music teachers, a question we must regularly ask ourselves is: "What exactly is our role?".

Many believe the answer is a simple one, 'to teach', but there are many different interpretations as to what this actually means.

First...

Rhythm, Melody or Harmony?

A very common question from students and one we will ask ourselves from time to time as musicians and teachers:  which is more important when learning a piece of music, rhythm, melody or harmony?

The answer is in fact very simple, bu to answe...

From time to time my work takes my around the country examining music students of all ages; piano,violin, voice and other areas.  I've recently just returned from examining in the South East of Ireland, where I had 6 days of up to 35 exams per day.  Most candidates wer...

When teaching scales, there are a number of questions we should ask ourselves as teachers:

Why should we learn scales?

When 'teaching' scales, many teachers forget to explain the origin of scales, where they derive from, and are in many cases simply being told to memo...