How can I tell a good teacher from a bad one? Unless you go to a teacher who is recommended by someone, perhaps you can’t. Having said that, if you ring someone out of the local paper or the yellow pages, most people can get a fairly accurate idea of what a person is all about by just talking to them. Ask some questions. In all the years I’ve been teaching music, the number of times that I have been asked for my qualifications can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And I have to tell you my qualifications are minimal.

My strong point is that I can communicate. What good is a teacher that has a string of letters after his name, if he can’t communicate? I find that sometimes I have to explain something three different ways and still the student doesn’t quite understand. Then when I make the same point in yet a different way again, all of a sudden, a light will go on in their head and bingo, we have understanding. And that is worth more than a qualification on a piece of paper.

Even if you are one of these people who can sum someone up over the phone, at the end of ten lessons you may have doubts as to whether the lessons are going the way they should. If that’s the case don’t continue. There are many many teachers out there and one of them is sure to be the right one for you or your child. It just means that you have to go to the trouble of searching all over again. But believe me, it’s worth it.

I have to say that over the years, the general approach from a parent has been, “Where are you?” and “How much do you charge?” And then, if I’m not too far out of their way and if the price is right, they’ll book in. I would have thought that people come to me because I’m a good teacher and not because I’m close, handy and cheap. It’s sad but true. Most people will do more homework when they are buying a new microwave or motor mower than when they are dealing with their musical future, or the musical future of their children. How do you know that your child is not going to be the next Tommy Emmanuel? Being a musician no longer carries the stigma that it once did, and even if your child never uses music for anything other than relaxation, does he or she not deserve the best tuition that you can find for them?
Heinz Dabernig
ESSM Principal.

What is the easiest instrument to learn?
I don’t now how many times I’ve been asked this question? Twenty minutes later as the mother or father hand me their credit card to pay for the guitar they have chosen for their little Jason, they say something like, “He really wants to play the drums, but there’s no way I’m having that noise in the house”. Now, if young Jason wants to play the drums, why are we buying him a guitar??????

The easiest instrument to learn, is the one you want to learn. If you were very wealthy, you could spend a fortune teaching me how to sky dive, I would never be any good at it, because I have absolutely no desire to throw myself out of an airplane.

As a child however, all I ever wanted to do was learn the piano accordion, and that’s what my parents bought, and that’s what I learnt. Since those early days, I have spent most of my working life earning a respectable living playing the piano accordion. Because that is what I wanted to do. The biggest thing in a students favor is the desire to do something. So mum and dad, sound your kids out. Talk to them and better still listen to what they have to say, and then act accordingly.
Heinz Dabernig
KC’s Rock Shop.

So you need to buy an instrument:
The advice that we give our customers at KC’s Rock Shop is always the same. Don’t buy anything expensive to start with. However, don’t buy the cheapest either. And above all, buy from someone who knows what they are talking about. The cheapest instruments are usually found in a junk shop, where they sit between the golf clubs and a toaster, and someone who doesn’t know anything about all three of those items serves you. But, you’re pretty pleased with yourself because you beat them down another $30.00 and it looks in good condition. You then proceed to try and learn to play. If you are lucky you’ll go to a qualified teacher and he’ll tell you that you’ve bought a piece of junk. If you’re unlucky you will try to teach yourself out of a book and after three months of frustration you’ll come to us and ask us why this business of learning music is so difficult? We’ll then test the instrument and inform you that we need to spend $250.00 in order to make it roadworthy. Suddenly your $175.00. bargain, is no longer a bargain. You are now $425.00 out of pocket, not counting the three months of frustrated effort, and as you look around the shop while our staff are booking in your repair, you notice that you could have bought a new one for $399.00.

INSTRUMENTS FROM K MART EBAY AND ALDI:
Many many people are being cought out by the above three. These items are temptingly cheap and to the uninitiated they look the same as "REAL" instruments.

However, they are built to a price rather than a specification. They almost always use non standard parts, so that replacement of a broken part is impossible. The neck scaling on the guitars is never accurate and therefore the intonation is never correct across the whole length of the neck and that is something that can NEVER be rectified. In laymans terms this means that the instrument is out of tune and if you give a student a guitar that's out of tune, we are not doing his musical hearing any favours. It has been well documented, that to produce a tone deaf person, one only needs to sing out of tune to them from day one. It will work every time.

Most people, particularly parents, do not realise that the moment their child picks up a guitar and starts strumming they are developing their musical ear. If that guitar is out of tune, and the above instruments all are, then their musical ear training is not correct. The end result is cumulative and often is not diagnosed until it's too late.

BUYER BEWARE! YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Even if you are tempted by the prices, go to a real music store and educate yourself before jumping in. You'll find that a REAL instrument that is playable, is not that much more expensive.

A message to mum:
Or dad for that matter.
One of the biggest obstacles for students, particularly young ones, is getting a practice started. Often the student has to get the guitar out from under the bed, out of the bag, set up the music stand and where applicable the foot stool, get the music out of the guitar bag and onto the music stand, and so on and so on. What needs to be done before even one note is played seems an endless task for a young person. If at all possible, set aside a little practice area, with a chair, music stand with the book already open, the guitar on a guitar stand ready to pick up and play.

With this sort of arrangement the student will already have practiced for five minutes before the other student is even set up. Furthermore, if mother says “OK guys, dinner is ready in five minutes” our music student can wash up, sit down and practice for several minutes, and still be at the dinner table on time. It just makes getting started easier.

Remember that the regularity of the practice sessions are as important as the practice itself. It’s no good missing out on the weekdays because of school homework, and then practicing three hours each on Saturday and Sunday. Music practice, like eating and sleeping, needs to be done regularly and not all at once. We often get asked, “How long before I can play songs?” It doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to work out that the student who does 30 minutes practice every day, will make twice the progress than the one who only does 15 minutes. More practice, more progress.