Teaching Artistry

Eric Booth describes the particular characteristics of a relatively new role: the teaching artist.

Eric Booth defines the distinction between art and entertainment: the latter confirms what we already know, while the former seeks to expand or go beyond all known possibilities.

Award-winning music educator Eric Booth examines and explains many aspects of being a teaching artist, including defining one's individual teaching artistry goals.

A quick wrap-up and review of each piece of music and activity helps to tie the program together and remind the audience of what they've learned. Time for Q & A is also important, if it's possible. It gives the audience a final chance to connect with the musicians and what they heard. It's also good to build in the time for Q & A as a "cushion" so that if the performance is running late or long, this time can be cut short.

Again, note the personal connection made between a musician and the piece of music about to be performed. Personal connections draw the audience more powerfully into the music than do technical explanations. The musicians close the Interactive Performance with an entire piece of music, one a little more "meaty" and "flashy" than some of the other works performed. The demonstration of the special effects in the piece right before the performance also help to keep the attention of the audience during this slightly longer work.

Creating a "storyboard" is a fun activity for kids—it lets them use their imagination and gives them a chance to offer and share ideas. In this activity, the audience hears short excerpts from a piece that is about to be performed and creates a story that accompanies the music. Storyboards can also be used as good opportunities to reiterate the differences between instruments and/or as opportunities to share in more detail which musical elements make music sound "angry" or "sad" or "happy." Note that in this activity, the audience is asked a specific question about each excerpt—for instance, what kind of character or place the music might depict—not just "How does this section make you feel?" Also note that the ending of the musical work is still left as a surprise, giving the audience something additional to listen for during the performance.

This time, the listening challenge is more simple than the rowdier activity right before it in order to maintain concentration, but the piece of music is a strong contrast to other music on the program, and powerfully keeps the attention of the audience. Notice the way the musicians again make personal connections with the audience ("Who has been to South America? To Argentina?").

This time the audience is presented with a more complicated activity building on the skills developed previously. Note that when inviting an audience to do something like clapping or moving, it's always good to define for them the signal to stop the activity (and with particularly rowdy crowds, it can even be good to practice the "stop" signal). The transition to the beginning of the piece of music (while the crowd is still engaged in the clapping activity) makes the audience feel like they are really a part of the music. They are experiencing the way it feels to have musicians play with the beat patterns they are creating — while also making clear connections between the activity and the music.

What is a string quartet? The musicians lead the audience through quick demonstrations of their instruments one by one. Note that the musicians share personal information about how they started their instruments — this often comes as a question at the end of a performance, regardless of audience age, when it is not shared during a performance. They also demonstrated how each instrument sounds alone, and spoke a bit about each of their roles in the string quartet. The "How low can we go" group scale exercise is often good to demonstrate the different timbres and ranges of each instrument when heard in succession after they have been introduced alone.

An Activity gives the audience something to do while they listen or just before they hear a piece of music. Notice that the musicians demonstrate what they want the audience to do as the activity is explained and also perform the activity with the audience. After this kind of engagement with the music and an activity, an entire movement is performed.

World-renowned violinist Christian Tetzlaff shares personal insights into the importance of effective teaching artistry.

Eric Booth walks us through a live teaching experiment: How obvious is it to students that your "80%" comes from a place of fresh excitement?

Eric Booth encourages teaching artists to reach out to students and help them make a personal connection to the art being explored.

Eric Booth explains how asking great questions has the potential to unlock a wealth of information.

Eric Booth reveals that, though teaching artistry is a very open pedagogy, there is one "law": The majority of what you teach comes from who you are.

Eric Booth discusses teachers and teaching artists and their aspirations to change lives through musical and creative encounters.

Eric Booth discusses the pursuit of deeper engagement by exploring the etymology of the words "art," "connoisseur," and "bravo."

After an Activity, the musicians return to a Listening Challenge, this time presenting the audience with a slightly more complex piece of music. Note the relationships drawn between the audience and the music ("What kind of clothes are you wearing? Do you think they have changed over the last 100 years? What about music—has it changed?"). Also note the review of the previous activity and beat pattern learned.

A Listening Challenge gives the audience something specific to listen for as they hear the next excerpt or piece of music. Sometimes it can be helpful to come back to music familiar from earlier in the program — as demonstrated here — as a way of "warming up" the audience as they learn to listen more deeply. This technique is sometimes also helpful when following a longer section of talking. Also notice that all answers given by audience members are affirmed even if they are not what the musicians might have been looking for or hoping to hear. These unexpected answers can often be used as "teaching moments."

Eric Booth discusses why it's important for teaching artists to encourage open-mindedness and brainstorming in the classroom.

Award-winning music educator Eric Booth distills the practices of teaching artistry into three key elements.

Award-winning music educator Eric Booth discussed his individual journey on the path of becoming a teaching artist.

Eric Booth discusses collaboration with classroom teachers, emphasizing listening, planning and collaboration.

Opening performance of Shostakovich String Quartet No. 3, first movement. It's always good to start with the music, to engage the audience's ears right away and to draw them into the music. It's often harder for the audience when a program begins with talking when they can see the musicians sitting onstage with their instruments.

Award-winning music educator Eric Booth examines and explains many aspects of being a teaching artist. Here, he gives a brief history of the profession of teaching artistry.