Learning Styles by Keren Proctor
Are you more Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, or equally balanced? These musical questions will reveal the answers. To each question indicate if the sentence is:
1. Not much like you
2. Sometimes like you
3. Often like you
Then fill in the chart below, and add your scores.
1. I enjoy written instructions and theory.
2. I enjoy playing by ear.
3. I like repeating something until I 'get it in my fingers'
4. For a piece that I am not familiar with, I find it hard to pinpoint an incorrect note if I am not looking at the pupil's fingers.
5. When I have just played a phrase for the first time, I can then sing it back.
6. I enjoy playing pieces that I have already learnt.
7. I find it hard to memorise.
8. I am prepared to experiment with different fingering if it helps the quality of the sound
(or would you rather concentrate your efforts in developing another area?)
9. When I have learnt a piece, I find it easy to change fingering
10. I like to start a piece at the beginning and master each section before moving on
11. I find it easier to learn by imitation and listening to sound recordings.
12. I learn best by demonstration and repetition.
13. If I have a score for some music that I am listening to I:
A. Follow the music intently
B. Listen intently, only following the score casually,
C. Move my fingers as though I were playing or feel the music in my fingers.
14. When playing by memory, I:
A. See the page in my mind
B. Hear what is coming next.
C. Feel the next notes.
15. If I have a score for a piece I know by memory:
A. I still look at the music to help me focus
B. Concentrate on the sound
C. Watch my fingers
16. When teaching scales, I:
A. Use a scale book
B. Teach them by ear, writing down any necessary fingering in a notebook.
C. Teach patterns as in F. Waterman short cut to fingering
Visual |
Aural |
Kinaesthetic |
1 |
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
4 |
|
5 |
|
6 |
|
7 |
|
8 |
|
9 |
|
10 |
|
11 |
|
12 |
|
13A |
|
13B |
|
13C |
|
14A |
|
14B |
|
14C |
|
15A |
|
15B |
|
15C |
|
16A |
|
16B |
|
16C |
|
Total |
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Total |
|
Total |
|
Transfer your score for each question and insert into this chart.
Add up the totals. The higher number indicates your preferred learning style. Now that you have discovered what your own learning style is you can start to be aware of this when you are teaching.
You may be visual in you approach and therefore be inclined to teach your students with a predominantly visual approach.
However, if your student is aural or kinaesthetic in their learning style, they will find it more difficult to learn that way.
One quality of a good teacher is someone who can adapt their teaching style to match the learning style of their student.
