A few weeks ago, I moved from my place to Marseille, a big city from the south of France. As a now long-time active member of the AFSTG, I always look for meeting some stick players around. I met several there (5 to be precise, one of the biggest ratio in France, yeeeepeeeee) , all more or less beginners, and they asked me to organize some teaching courses in group sessions, together with Olivier Chabasse.

I've been always reluctant to be a "teacher", firstly because it's clearly not my job. I don't know a lot about teaching techniques, and I even don't consider myself as a good musician. And even I'm now a long time stick player, I don't feel as "rightful" as the stick masters who are usually teaching in seminars or via Skype.

But I tried to do my best during the four first mini gatherings we organized, and the guys seem happy with those. While I must admit I found the first afternoon a bit boring, it now becomes more and more exciting, because showing the basic techniques and trying explaining them led me to introspect, think about my own technique and the paths I chose to achieve a goal. I'm definitely not a "classic teacher" who has managed to master his instrument but rather someone who can only share his own experience about the Stick, wether positive or not. But all in all, I'm feeling that I'm learning myself during those sessions, and that was pretty unexpected.

I did some individual sessions too, and found them easier, because the interaction between two persons is pretty simple and direct. But I'm still struggling a lot about interaction and group dynamics when several players are gathered in a same place. So my questions are for those who experienced the same problem, in a musical context or not. How to maintain a good dynamic during an entire 3 hours session? How do you manage to maintain a good level of interest, although levels, needs and tastes are so different between attendants?

I've been always very respectful to teachers, but I didn't know this job was so difficult...

I'm not a teacher however it seems to me a 3 hour session is way to long. It's hard for people to stay really focused for that long. I would recommend 1 hour sessions, that way you can focus on a topic or technique and make sure it's fully understood. And the students will better retain what they learned. Just my opinion.

That said, good for you for helping others and learning yourself as you go! I'm sure the process will be rewarding for both your students AND you!

It's indeed long but we are making large pauses to break the flow of information, so the duration is really two hours. But i know what you mean. I'm still so enthusiastic about the Chapman stick, even those 15 years spent on that instrument, that, for me, it could last the whole day without any problem

Teaching has to be one of the hardest jobs to do well. I taught bass lessons briefly a number of years ago, emphasis on the word briefly. It was really really hard!

Hats off to you Bruno, and all the other excellent teachers we have among us!

It's a great discussion. We have got get Dean Kobayashi and Jonathan Korn on this topic as they have a great thing going with the NorCal Stick Circle and people are loving that vibe.

Having a plan is central to success. If you do not have a plan, then it's hard to imagine what success looks like. Start with this thought (said closing eyes)...

What would a successful 3 hour session look like?

You know these guys and what they expect, so just jot that down and then run it by them.

For what it's worth, here are some of my lessons learned.

1. Plan. Create an agenda so that by the time everyone gets together, you all know what you are doing. Ask people what they want out of the event in advance. Themes are great (Hawaiian shirts, SAMBA Saturday, music for coffee shops, Left hand looping, etc). I do love themes

2. Move. Never have people sitting in the same place or doing the same thing for more than an hour. With younger crowds, you might only be able to work together for about 30 minutes as attention spans are short. You don't have to jot this down for them, but in so long as you know the timetable, it all feels connected. If at the end of the night you feel like time was slipping by - it worked.

3. Collaborate. Make sure to involve everyone. That will help to elevate the mood of the event and bring all the pieces together. Create something as a group that no individual could ever have conceived. Lots of pictures and video (or it didn't happen!). I have found that it's good to incorporate other instruments in these events as often the Stick is a secondary instrument and people will feel more at ease and confident with their native instrument available.

4. Eat (drink)! Some of my favorite moments with Stick players have been over a meal. Conversations about related topics can offer great insight into how one approaches the instrument or a style of music.

Looking forward to hearing how others create an inspiring musical environment.

... earthgene had already mentioned the most important items...

...I can only tell you about what is to prevent: make shure that
everyone has her or his task in the group and nobody remains
in the class in a boring matter...

...but just go for it, youre the one who will learn the most...

Some great ideas, thanks for posting. Themes are a great idea, but the guys have so different taste in music that it seems impossible to please and interest everyone.

Until now, I had no real plan. But as I feel I'm enjoying those times more and more, I should really work on planning those sharing moments. When I've been asked to organize those gatherings, I hadn't conceived any plans so the first days were frustrating (for me, and maybe for the "students"). To deal with the emergency of the situation as I still had no plans, I just brought the Free Hands book, explained the points of the first pages the guys didn't understand, and supported those lines with my observations from my own experience. The guys seemed ok with that idea. We deal with RH/LH basic techniques and begin to deal with basic hands independence exercices too.

But I'm afraid that they could be frustrated because at the end of those lessons, they learnt or began to learn some basic techniques but they not necessarily played some music and/or learnt some tunes/grooves/patterns. Should I "force" them to learn and play some basic tunes (at the risk they can be even more frustrated if they don't achieve to play them?).

Perhaps slightly off topic but I'm reminded of a book my brother, a self taught piano player, was into: "Ways of the Hand".

This is David Sudnow's classic account of how his hands learned to improvise jazz on the piano.

http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Hand-David-S ... f+the+hand

Hey Grozoeil.

I haven't read your whole post yet but one thing really occurs..

Good teaching is sharing ones current learning preferences and enthusiasm . Just plain old enthusiasm.!

The second side of the coin is what tools I give to the student and hopefully they are given in a timely and appropriate way.

Students sometimes just need that sharing aspect to feel like they belong to the instrument, or just to push them in new directions. You're probably doing a great job already, the "tool bag" side of teaching improves as we improve.