I grew up in a world where learning to bang out “Fur Elise” on the piano meant you were part of the middle class.
When I became a mother, I assumed my kids would learn to play piano, too. Then, when my son was 6 years old, he used a Toys R Us gift card to buy a three-quarter-sized guitar with a dragon on it. Seeing that he was serious, I signed him up for guitar lessons instead of piano. But his first three weeks were a disaster, and the teacher almost killed my son’s love of music.
The lessons involved my wiggly first-grader watching the grumpy man scribe the notes to “Ode to Joy” in tiny handwriting. There were also stern lectures about posture and the virtues of practicing. I was paying $40 for my son to be miserable for 30 minutes, and that’s no way to learn.
After we switched to 4/4 School of Music in Lynnwood and met Steve Bambrough, misery turned to joy. “I need to tell you ahead of time,” advised the receptionist, “Steve has a lot of tattoos and looks like a rocker. And, he’s excellent with children.”
Excellent with children is an understatement. I have never met an instructor who is more patient with kids. Instead of drilling beginning students with the finger numbers, Steve has them tattooed on his knuckles. Rather than guilt-tripping kids who didn’t practice, Steve will shrug and say, “It sounds like you had a hard week. What do you want to play?”
He has a gentle, encouraging approach to teaching that makes learning fun. Plus, he customizes his methods depending on the student. My daughter, who has dyslexia, takes ukulele lessons from Steve, and I can tell that in every lesson Steve studies what’s working and not working, and modifies his approach so that my daughter is successful.
Each week when I sit in the hallway and listen to my children’s music lessons, I feel grateful that my children are enjoying such a positive experience. As a mom, this makes me happy, and as a former elementary school teacher, it makes me think about pedagogy, which is the theory of education.
It doesn’t matter if you are teaching math, guitar or golf, all gifted teachers do the same core things; they care about their students, gauge emotions, pay attention to learning differences and consistently provide engaging instruction.
My son, almost 12, has long-since outgrown his dragon guitar. In 2015 he saved his money and purchased a gently used Fender Stratocaster. It’s turquoise blue and occupies a prominent place in our family room next to the music stand, acoustic guitar, ukulele and tangle of amp cords. Our Roomba constantly sucks up guitar picks.
“Mom,” my son told me, “when I go off to college someday I’ll leave my Stratocaster at home and take my acoustic guitar with me instead. That’s how you get the ladies.”
Oh, dear. Maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged him to learn “Wonderwall.”
Jennifer Bardsley is author of the books “Genesis Girl” and “Damaged Goods.” Find her online on Instagram @the_ya_gal. , on Twitter @jennbardsley or on Facebook as The YA Gal.
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