I was in a Facebook group recently where someone posted about the situation they were facing for the upcoming school year. This person was going to be a first year teacher on an emergency teaching license, and who didn't have an accompanist or piano skills. Almost every response was : "Then just do everything a capella! Using the piano is a crutch and is bad for your students anyway. Learn everything on solfege!"
Hold up.
If you have learned solfege along your musical training (and how to teach it), and your students have also been taught solfege in their previous education, this may be a viable option for you. If it is, go for it! I'm not suggesting using solfege and a capella singing isn't the way to go in the long term.
But I am saying that there are SO many variables involved in whether this approach will work for you as an immediate solution. Working on your own skills and bringing your students along with you if they are also beginners in this area is a great goal, and probably the best option moving forward.
But what about right now?
I felt like this person who asked for help was reaching out because they felt they were drowning, and the advice most people were giving was philosophical and a representation of what their experience had been. ( And to be perfectly honest, a little pretentious.)
This person didn't need a lecture on pedagogy, they needed a life preserver! They needed to know "How can I get through this hurricane I am in right at this second!".
How do I know what to teach?
I had zero solfege instruction growing up and in my preservice teaching experience. None. And I had a fabulous music education at every level. I am an excellent sight-reader, but solfege was just not the way I was taught to do that. I have no doubt that some of you are in the same boat.
I also know a lot of teachers out there feel 'less than' or not understood in situations like this. I know I have! I have often felt like I was a sub-par teacher for not knowing how to solve this problem. I have been in exactly that boat, and known what the end goal should be but not a single clue in how to get there.
What's the impact of my teaching situation?
Particularly in small and rural schools, there are a variety of challenges that you just can't imagine if you've never been in that situation. I'm certainly not saying that teaching in any given situation is more challenging than another. We all have challenges, and nobody wins a trophy for "Hardest Job"!
But there is a definite impact when you teach without colleagues in your district, you haven't yet made connections with others who can guide you, your district does not have the resources or understand the value of what you are trying to do, or access to training is limited geographically.
How do I start?
This post is the first in a series of strategies for teaching choir without an accompanist, developing your students solfege skills from square one, and working with limited access to resources.
I want to throw you a life preserver! Let's navigate this challenge together, so you can survive the storm of today and plan for sunny skies tomorrow!
Click HERE to get started!
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