Teaching?? I don't think so.

By answering questions, giving advice, sharing videos of songs and giving reviews.. even by asking questions you are learning and teaching. Both are hard to avoid while actively participating in a forum like this...
That's not what I'm talking about really. People are stretching things here. What I'm talking about is actually teaching a student to play the ukulele. Giving lessons. Having someone ask you to take them from the ground up. Not just sharing bits and pieces of knowledge. Bits and pieces do not teach someone how to play the ukulele, it teaches them how to do those bits and pieces. Two completely different things. And I'm saying that not everyone can do that. I'm one of many of those who does not have the qualifications or the ability to teach someone else how to play the ukulele, and one of the few of those that actually realizes it.
 
That's not what I'm talking about really. People are stretching things here. What I'm talking about is actually teaching a student to play the ukulele. Giving lessons. Having someone ask you to take them from the ground up. Not just sharing bits and pieces of knowledge. Bits and pieces do not teach someone how to play the ukulele, it teaches them how to do those bits and pieces. Two completely different things. And I'm saying that not everyone can do that. I'm one of many of those who does not have the qualifications or the ability to teach someone else how to play the ukulele, and one of the few of those that actually realizes it.


True, not everyone is able to for several reasons.
I started learning musical instruments far to late in life to Get beyond intermediate
But if someone asks me for help, I will help... I am however not the best choice for a teacher.
I would not be a good choice for a teacher, but might be a good choice for someone to learn with.
 
I took mds725's post as another way of asking, what's the point of this thread?

:uhoh:
 
I think this is an interesting topic. Many folks who go to jams might be asked to help out on some beginning instructional level and it's interesting to hear what different experiences people have had when they are put in that situation.
 
It's sometimes difficult to get across to interested people that only because you are decent at doing something, you can't automatically also teach it to others. At least not in a structured, pedagogic way. Teaching is a skill of its own.

Over the years, I have had various people ask me to teach them German, but I didn't even know where to start or how to do it in any efficient, focused way, and when I honestly explained this, the reactions were sometimes along the lines of "you just don't want to do it". No, I couldn't do it, because I'm not a teacher of languages. I'm happy to converse with German learners, offer corrections and explanations to specific questions, but real teaching goes far beyond that.

I think that is the point of this thread, and I think it's a good one.
 
I taught band and violin for the bulk of my 34 years in public education. Recently retired and loving it. I learned something every year I taught right to the very end. I had a very demanding band director when I was in high school and we butted heads a lot. Two stubborn Irish men! Something clicked the last half of my senior year and we got on pretty well. I am in contact with him from time to time. I wrote him when I retired to thank him for all he taught us. I also found myself channeling him from time to time over the years and told him that.
He taught by example and hard work. As hard as he worked us, he worked harder. We often teach without knowing it.
 
Last year I took a job teaching beginners. After a 6 week.term of hourly lessons, 6 folks are coming along nicely. The new term has brought 6 more students. The admissions is not up to me. I am finding it difficult to incorporate the absolute beginner lessons alongside the beginner/improvers.
Do any more experienced teachers have a good fix that will keep everyone happy; new folks learning basics, tuning, simple chord etc and others eager to move forward.
Thank you
 
I taught school for thirty some odd years. When I retired in 2001, I taught guitar, banjo and mandolin in our local music store one day a week. About ten years ago, I added ukulele to my arsenal and now have a few uke students as well. I love it and have brought some students to our local ukulele club to perform.

Here's a video of my first ukulele student, filmed by his mom. I like to have the parents of my younger students come in for the last 5 or 10 minutes of the lesson to see what we've been doing. Kyle is a teenager now.
 
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