Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
As (A) attends Drum lessons at the New City School of Music I continue to be impressed by their program and how efficiently and expertly run the school is. We have already signed up for our times for our performance in June, lessons and makeups are easy to schedule, and communication is clear.
Well, this past week we were able to see another dimension of what they offer. As (A) has been working hard with Andrew it had come time for him to complete his first level test. You see, The New City School of Music uses the Musical Ladder system. The idea is to set attainable goals for students and encourage them to keep working towards them. As they do, they take a skills test, and upon completion they earn a colored bracelet, certificate, and later on even trophies.
Two lessons before the test Andrew mentioned that it was time, but didn’t put excess stress on (A) they told him that if he wasn’t ready, he could wait. I like this flexibility because we have been involved in programs that pushed very hard, and stressed him out. No 7 year old should be stressed, and we appreciate how this fits into the philosophy that (A) isn’t just learning an instrument, he is learning to love music, and enjoying each moment.
To test Andrew gave (A) some new rhythms that he needed to work on. In order to pass, he needed to be able to do 3/4 of them without mistake. The day of the test (A) was nervous but not the way I had seen him in the past, he was focused. Andrew gave him a minute to get acclimated and then he began. He did it without any problem and earned his first level “Apprentice”.
We still had time left in the lesson so Andrew used it to move (A) on to his next challenge. Reading “real” music. Up until now Andrew had been modifying it for (A)’s ability using a special “tab” (a simplified representation of music) that tells him which drum to hit on each beat. When he first brought out the book and (A) looked at it, his response was that he couldn’t do it, it was too confusing. But then Andrew translated it into the system they had been using. He recognized it immediately, and then Andrew did something awesome. He showed (A) how to transform it into real music, which unbeknownst to us was just the addition of a few extra “lines”. HE HAD BEEN READING IT THE WHOLE TIME!
As an educator I was blown away. This is the perfect was to scaffold teaching for kids, instill confidence and help them to achieve goals. Its still taking a little getting used to, but (A) is now responsible for writing in the “beats” for himself and read the music. I CANNOT wait to see where this progresses to.
If you call New City School of Music, please let them know that we sent you, we are always happy to hear that our readers give people a call.
