A Student-Led Learning Activity

A great way to get students excited about learning new music is by having them lead their own learning. You can accomplish this by introducing new pieces with an activity focused around student-led learning. Try the following steps to put your students in charge of their learning process:

1. As the teacher, develop a list of questions or topics relevant to the music:
   • What is the time signature?
   • What is the key signature?
   • What scale has this key signature?
   • Are there any accidentals?
   • Does the group have any other questions about the music?
2. Write out the list of questions on the board or a handout.
3. Break the students into groups of four or five to discuss.
4. Give the students about 5 minutes to discuss the questions and write down their answers.
5. Lead a class discussion, having students from each group share their answers. Help the students find the correct answers if needed.
6. Address any additional questions the groups may have. For best results, see if any other students can give an answer before answering it yourself.

This type of group learning should go fairly quickly, taking about 10 minutes total, and allowing plenty of time in the class period to still play their instruments. To save even more time, you can ask the students to check off the correct answers given by the teacher instead of a student-led discussion.

In addition to giving your ensemble ownership over the musical learning process, you’ll save valuable rehearsal time by avoiding the need to unlearn mistakes caused by missing the time and key signatures, accidentals, and other sometimes overlooked aspects of the music.

There are many benefits of students being active in their own learning, and you’ll find that they love to be involved in their own learning.