INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: VIOLIN LESSONS TEACHER FOR YOUR CHILD

Parents may have the tendency to shy away from conducting an interview with the prospective teacher for your child.  You may think it would not be necessary to interview theviolin lessons teacher as he was highly recommended by a friend.  Or, you may have seen him perform and you think that his credentials speak volumes.  However, there is always reason to think that what looks good on paper may not necessarily bring satisfactory results.  For sure, there are a lot of good teachers, but a lot of bad ones too.  You can weed out and pick the best through an interview.

You may feel hesitant because you may not know how to start.   If you don’t play a musical instrument, you may find it difficult to figure out what questions to ask.  Here are some guide questions on how you could have a fruitful interview session with a prospective violin teacher:

1. What are your lesson schedules?  This would help you manage your child’s schedule, making sure that it does not interfere with his school work, nor take away his weekend break and family time.  Also you would want to know if the current teaching load of his teacher would not compromise the quality of teaching time spent with your child.

1. What physical ages and levels of violin skills do you teach? This is to find out whether the age and skills of your child matches the capabilities of his teacher.  It takes a particular degree of patience and a different method for very young kids and beginner levels students in teaching violin lessons. Singapore teachers often take supplementary courses in child education and psychology.  This helps them not only in developing teaching skills, but also in fostering creativity, discipline and motivation during the lessons.

1. How would you describe your teaching method?  It would be good to find out what the teacher’s ‘game plan’ is.  You can ask and think of ways you can help your child cope with the lessons.  You know your child better, so you can work with the teacher on so that his methods would compliment your child’s personality.

1. What are your goals and expectations from your students and from their parents?  This would help your child establish rapport with the teacher.  Allow your child to set goals based on his teacher’s expectations and lesson plans.  Establish an open communication with the teacher on how you could help in monitoring and reaching these goals.

1. Do you have out-of-class activities to supplement your lessons?  Do you have activities like recitals or shows where the child can showcase his skills before an audience?  Learning takes place in and out of the sessions.  It would be good to find out if the teacher could recommend concerts or violin music collections that your child could enjoy.  Public performances could boost your child’s confidence.  The teacher could organize a recital featuring all his students.

An interview is a not an assurance that you will get the perfect violin lessons teacher. Yet you could use this opportunity to get more information about the teacher and decide who you think would be most effective for your child.