subject: Teaching Music History – Crossing That Hurdle [print this page] Teaching Music History is definitely one of the toughest jobs in the world; especially of you have students who are very young kids. Kids are extremely tough to handle, especially when you are teaching them something like music. Since it is more of a vocation or an optional lesson than anything else, students don't take it very seriously. Most kids learn music because their parents think that it might be good for them. However, in reality, it is very difficult, especially when your course consists of difficult tasks like Teaching Music History.
You can make Teaching Music History much simpler. All you have to do is ensure that the kids manage to retain their interest throughout the course. Also, it must be very important for you to make sure that the lessons are coming alive for the students. This means that they must be able to relate whatever they have learnt to what they see in their real life. You can make this happen for them, as you include some interesting activities and projects that help them in this direction.
Teaching Music History must not be about conformance to the lesson plans alone, although it is a very important aspect. You must be very careful and ensure that the musical education must at no point, become something which students will regard as "work". Music is something that is learnt so that one can become closer to music. The interest should be there naturally, only then will students be able to learn.
Teaching Music History can be made much simpler when you have a good, well thought out lesson plan. Don't include every single topic. Also you can make your classes much more fun and motivating with the help of aids like worksheets, charts, games and so on. As long as students are able to see the connect between musical history and their current lives, they will be able to keep their interest in the subject alive.
