String

Methods · String Pedagogy

Adam Paul Cordle

CONSTRUCTING THE TEACHING SEGMENT

1. DEFINING THE TEACHING SEGMENT
“A teaching segment is a portion of the lesson in which teacher and student work intensely on a
particular aspect of the student’s playing. It starts when a specific goal is identified and concludes
when the goal is accomplished and an observable change has taken place in the student’s playing.

A teaching segment usually ends with an assignment, indicating that the teacher has assessed the
student’s and the parent/guardian’s understanding and performance of the goal and has ensured that
they can practice the assignment effectively at home. A teaching segment is similar to Dr. Suzuki’s “one-
point lesson.” A child’s weekly lesson may well consist of multiple teaching segments.”

- Suzuki Association of the Americas

2. PLANNING THE TEACHING SEGMENT

A. Objective
An objective must be clearly established at the outset of a teaching segment. It must be identifiable
not only to the teacher, but also to the student, parent, and any other observers. An objective should
be a manageable task that the student can reproduce successfully in practice outside the classroom.

B. Process
A teaching segment should be rooted in the review of previous related skills a/o repertoire; by
returning to polished – and often memorized – music, students can focus more energy on challenging
skills without the distractions caused by too much information. Following review, students should
then tackle etudes and excerpts gleaned from current repertoire before contextualizing the objective
in current repertoire. The segment must finish with a clear assignment.

C. Teaching Methods
Teaching methods should be designed to cultivate aural skills, relating these skills to instrumental
performance. Students guided by their ears will more easily grasp important technical and artistic
concepts. Highly valuable teaching methods include modeling, error detection, singing and
vocalization, coordinated movement, and Socratic questioning, among others. Teaching methods
must include assessment strategies for determining student (and parent) comprehension of the
objective and extension strategies for continued learning beyond the lesson.

D. Learning Strategies
The keys to student success are repetition, positive reinforcement, and the reduction of the objective
into easily-comprehendible units. Every teaching segment should provide multiple approaches
toward a specific goal, at least one acknowledgment of student success, and a breakdown of the
components of the objective.

September 2016