I am forever in awe of the way Mendelssohn is able to combine instruments to make such beautiful, amazing harmonies. His work is intricate, but the melodies are simple enough that we feel at ease listening to them. I think I can learn a lot from Mendelssohn to use in my teaching. The way Mendelssohn goes back and forth can be compared to using different teaching techniques. If you're always teaching the same way, not only are you boring, but you are likely missing a lot of your students. Not every student learns the same way, so we need to use different approaches to allow all students to learn. This also helps students learn better, and makes things more interesting.
A good teacher can also weave a beautiful story, much like Mendelssohn's symphony. When done well, this story pulls the students through the lesson, and they can't help but learn.
Next, I'd like to look at something by Mozart. Here's his Concerto #3 in G, K. 216, mvt 3: Rondeau, performed by Itzhak Perlman with the Weiner Philharmoniker:
(blogger would not let me upload a second video, so here it is on youtube.)
What I love about Mozart is the simplicity, transparency, and clarity of his pieces. Sure there's some hard music, but it's very playable because it is also so predictable. Mozart follows very closely the "correct" chord progression of I-IV-V(7)-I, so as you are playing, you know what is coming. This also makes it very pleasing to listen to.
I can learn from this with my teaching, too. If I present clear, simple lessons, they will be easier to understand. Oftentimes we get so caught up in everything we want our students to learn, that we make our lessons far too complex. While these may be really cool, the details tend to get lost and contribute to our students' confusion. However, if I take a page from Mozart's book and teach simple, transparent lessons, they will have better understanding.
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