Join Our Practice Groups

Whenever I am able to open my waiting list to welcome new students I notice that while I customize content for each individual student quite a bit, I also draw from my sizable library of programs in very similar ways. I started thinking about possibilities to cater to students and get them in with me rather than have them sit on the waiting list for so long.  I asked myself: Would it be possible to pool students of similar levels and needs together?

We tested it in a few beta groups and by me going over several of the individual lesson-notes that I always prepare for students so they (and me, too!) always know exactly what to practice and what the next steps are. And I discovered – also thanks to a lot of feedback from the beta testers and my own students –  that there are actually quite a few things that one learns even better in a group. And that this can work very well, if levels are carefully matched.

One-on-one lessons can be a bit intense for some because the focus on them is illuminated when the teacher asks them to play an assignment or answer a question. Our own minds can start racing and tell us what might be expected at that moment.

The group setting provides some great advantages here:

• Many learners are in a more relaxed mindset to absorb new material when the attention is not only and not always exclusively directly on them.
• Someone may ask a question they never even thought they had!
• Supporting others equals supporting themselves!
• Seeing others stretch and take risks is inspiring.
• Practicing and preparing becomes fun and motivating because you meet once a week and want to show up prepared!
• By watching others stumble a bit (as they, themselves,  might stumble!) they realize that stumbling is a perfectly normal (and welcome!) part of the learning process!
• When volunteering to play in front of the group, it is less scary.
• If learners never “stumbled” I would not be doing my job right as a teacher. It’s easier to embrace that fact when there are others in the same boat!

New Groups of various Levels starting all the time, for example: 

• A Beginner’s Group with the main topic: Basics, Grooves, How Music and the Bass is organized and how to be creative
• A Higher Intermediate Group with the main topic: Fretboard Harmony, Improvisation, Grooves and Mental Practice