How do we address a variety of skill sets in our classroom?

When teaching a group a students, it seems quite often to be the case that there are varying degrees of skillsets which present themselves to the educator. Whenever this is the case, my goal is to challenge every individual student in the classroom, whether it be the most or least skilled student in the room. I believe an efficient way to this is being able to recognize first and foremost who these students are in terms of skillsets, and secondly by having the ability to react to the students playing, and provide each student the opportunity to experience a positive change in their playing during this time.

How exactly does this happen? Let’s set up a hypothetical scenario: I am teaching a keyboard sectional to six young percussionists, and we are about to go through the daily warm up routine consisting of scales, arpeggios, etc. One student in the room has a very advanced skill set, one has a very beginner skill set, and the other four students lie somewhere in the middle. First thing we are going to do is go through our scales. The student with the lowest skill set plays the notes, with horrible technique, and the student with the highest skill set plays through the exercises practically with his eyes closed. The question here is how can we possibly create a positive change in both of these students, while at the same time challenge every student in the classroom, and move forward as an ensemble. The answer here is to consider the issues you have been presented with, and react to them on a case by case basis. Ultimately, we are talking about how to make appropriate feedback.

Because this is a beginner class, I would make very specific comments to the different groups of students, and provide them with a challenge that is measurable. For example: I would instruct the student with a lower set of skills to “make the first 8 notes sound the exact same,” or “close your eyes and listen to every note as forte,” and the more advanced student would receive different feedback in relationship to his/her skill level, for example “Change these 8th notes to 16th notes,” or “Explain to me where the peak of the phrase is and why?, or “add octaves in your left.” (Please note: I believe there should be a healthy balance between technical and musical feedback. Feedback in regards to musicality and phrasing should never be disregarded in an attempt for clarity). Given that this is a beginner class, the reason I want to give very specific, measurable feedback is so that students can be conscious of the positive change that is taking effect. Moreover, it is crucial to make the students aware of these changes, and this will without a doubt act as a motivator. Although it is fair to say that not every student is going to experience an enormous positive change in their playing during every single session, it is important to outline for them what is or is not changing during these sessions, so they can ultimately begin to assess these changes themselves, and eventually bring these self assessment skills into the practice room.

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