The first challenge I was faced with in preparation for this module, was to source a work placement. During the COVID-19 lockdown I had used my time to achieve an HND in Music Performance and Rockschool Grade 8 in drums with a Disticntion, so teaching seemed like an obvious choice, and was a career path I had considered for some time in order to monetize my greatest passion in life.

Utilising Gibb’s Reflective Model, I was able to effectively reflect on events that had transpired, my feelings at the time, evaluate them and draw my own conclusions in order to assemble an effective action plan to achieve better results in the future.

I was keen but also extremely nervous to begin a work placement; teaching strangers, getting to grips with different personalities and learning styles, while improving my own sight-reading and relaying information effectively were some of the practical and emotional challenges I anticipated. I was able to evaluate my feelings and concluded that while confidence would likely come with time in the workplace, I would feel better prepared with some research and reading. I was able to refer back to my notes from a module centred on education from my Higher National Diploma, and refreshed myself on Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs, as well as the different types of learners in order to best foster an effective learning environment. Maslow’s Hierarchy is a psychological theory which proposes an interchangeable hierarchy of practical, psychological and emotion needs necessary for an individual to thrive in a learning environment and achieve self-actualisation, ultimately reaching their full potential.

Another learning style theory I was conscious of integrating was the VARK model, theorised by Neil D. Fleming and Coleen Mills in 1992. This model outlines four main learning styles, with some more specific subcategories and some overlapping. The main four types of learning style are Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing and Kinaesthetic. I found this model extremely relevant to my drum lessons as I encountered different students with their own preferences and attitudes toward both learning and music. The vast majority of students I worked with were either Kinaesthetic or Reading/ Writing learners. Kinaesthetic learners would prefer to have a drum beat demonstrated to them and be able to recreate it after a number of attempts. These types of students were typically self-taught or came from a musical family with an emphasis placed on jamming or learning by ear (overlapping with the Auditory style of learning). Reading/Writing students were often times either complete beginners and were more receptive to learning to read notation from scratch, or came from a more classical background and were already accustomed to reading sheet music. Incidentally, it was also very common for a student who relied heavily on listening or demonstration to have an underdeveloped theoretical knowledge and struggle with sight reading, while those who were more accomplished readers would often struggle when it came to improvisation or learning parts by ear. Interestingly, the Rockschool syllabus and exam style engaged all four of these learning styles, requiring students to become proficient readers (Reading/ Writing), but also requiring them to improvise and develop sections, recreate patterns by listening (Aural), demonstrate theoretical knowledge of the different notes (Reading/ Writing) as well as identifying different parts of the drum set (Kinaesthetic/ Visual).

Securing the placement itself was relatively easy and I was fortunate to find a vacancy so close to home. I contacted Belfast Drum Academy directly via Facebook and expressed my interest to the business owner and drum tutor, Phil Duffy who had 30 years of touring experience and had been teaching for 20. Phil was pleased by my enquiry and admitted that he had considered employing a second drum tutor to help alleviate his busy teaching schedule. Later that week, we met and conducted an informal interview where I explained the outline of my course and my own ambitions to pursue a teaching career. While Phil didn’t ask for a formal CV, he was interested to known more about my experience, my drumming career and how he would present me to any prospect customers or parents. He was aware that I had a background in mainly heavy metal, and I explained that in my 15 years of playing I had also accompanied orchestras, singer-songwriters, pop acts and weddings bands. Phil provided me with an outline of my key responsibilities, placing an emphasis on creating a fun environment for young students, who may not be as serious about undertaking the instrument in the long-term, but were more interested in the novelty and overall experience. He briefed me on some of his existing students and the types of clients and personalities to expect, as well as some advice from his own teaching experience. I was relieved to learn that I would be teaching almost exclusively from the Rockschool and Trinity syllabus which would provide materials and uniformity across lessons, with students either working toward a graded exam, or using the books as a guide to generally improve their musicianship, sight reading and technique. Prior to this placement I had limited teaching experience myself, and had struggled to build a roster of students, not to mention sourcing a place to teach and preparing lessons catered to individual students. Joining an established teaching establishment effectively eliminated all these obstacles and being provided with an existing roster of students all working out of an existing syllabus made teaching much easier.

Before my first day of teaching, Phil provided me with a copy of the keys and showed me around the facilities, demonstrating how to properly open and lock up the premises, how to operate the central heating, mixing desk and loud speakers for playing music for students. We also discussed handling of payments from customers and agreed on an amount I would pay Phil for use of the facilities in order to cover rent and rates. He also referred me to a list of terms and conditions I was to send to each student prior to their lessons beginning. The contract states the following:

• Lessons are booked in blocks of three, four or five depending on the number of lessons that month. All lessons must be paid in full at the start of the month. Each session lasts 30mins and costs £15.
• Belfast Drum Academy operates for four terms per year, Sept-Dec, Jan- Apr, Apr-June and a Summer term in August. These terms are of varying length. Belfast Drum Academy remains open on some Public and Bank Holidays.
• Payments must be made for all lessons whether taken or missed by the student. Unfortunately, this includes cases of illness, taking time off for exams, going on holiday etc.
• No refunds are given for missing a lesson.
• Due to the volume of weekly lessons at The Belfast Drum Academy, it’s highly unlikely that a missed lesson can be rescheduled. Missed lessons cannot carry over into the next month.
• Students are not obliged to attend during school holidays.
• For students who cannot commit to weekly lessons within the above school term times, we also offer a ‘Pay As You Go’ option. Lessons can be booked on an individual basis at a suitable time arranged between the student and tutor. These lessons last 30mins and cost £18.
• If you are late for a lesson, we will still finish at the pre-arranged time as to ensure there is no knock-on effect with other students.
• If a student decides to stop lessons temporarily or permanently, a minimum of one month’s notice is required.
• Please do not call or text your tutor before 8am or after 9pm from Monday to Friday.

While this contract seemed severe at first, I soon realised that it was necessary to ensure financial security and smooth operation of a teaching schedule.

 Another challenge I hadn’t fully anticipated was scheduling and managing bookings. While Phil had handed over his roster of weekend students, he also told me that I would be responsible for sourcing new students and managing my time. For the first few weeks I kept a physical diary of my teaching schedule, the level of the student and whether they were on top of their payments. However, managing 24 students from next to no experience was quite challenging and I struggled keeping up to date with cancellations, changes to schedules and fitting in new starts. Unfortunately, this resulted in me double-booking students which was extremely embarrassing and I feared would make me appear unprofessional. Again, referring to Gibb’s model of reflection, I was able to evaluate the situation and concluded that I needed a better time management system. After consulting Phil, we agreed to adopt a shared calendar app so that we both would be able to see my weekly schedule and confirm which slots where available. After analysing the situation, I also realised that I did not have a consistent method of contacting students, and asked each of them for their phone number in order to more effectively reach them and share resources via WhatsApp. After putting this action plan into effect, I was able to schedule and conduct my lessons much more easily with significantly less stress. I feel this was a valuable learning experience and look forward to developing my teaching career.