During these lessons I implement different methodologies of teaching in order to cater them towards my pupil. Before teaching began, it was important for me to gauge how much prior musical knowledge he knew and if he knew anything about the trumpet or brass instruments in general so I could decide what I should be teaching first. As he is a beginner playing the trumpet, my primary aim across each lesson is building his confidence when playing. Dodgson (2016) states that ‘Confidence isn’t necessary, but you still might want it. That’s both understandable and obtainable’ which is true in this instance. It can be daunting learning a new instrument even with prior musical experience, building Tom’s confidence from the first lesson is important as it can help motivate and encourage him to learn and practice. The lesson clips here are from our first three lessons, where we see him develop skills learnt from the first lesson.
Below is my first lesson with Tom where I introduce the fundamentals of the trumpet. This ranges from how to hold the trumpet to getting your first note out. A key aspect of this lesson is assessment of what I have taught him. Formative assessment allows me to track progress being made during the lesson, where there are gaps in his learning and what he already knows which will aid me in planning next steps (National Foundation for Educational Research, n.d). Getting Tom involved as much as possible also plays a major role in his progression. This lesson, and the ones going forward, demonstrates the use of accelerated learning which ‘focuses on total learner involvement, because people retain more and learn better when they actively participate with the material’ (Yaros, 2017). This comes in four different stages: stimulation, amplification, learning and understanding and finally transferring and effecting. For the first stage, I would often encourage and praise Tom after he demonstrated what was taught, this is to create a comfortable environment ready to learn in. Whenever I had something to critique, I would follow up with examples that might help him improve. To amplify his learning, a specific example is looking at our reflections in the mirror together when playing through the mouthpiece, utilising multi-sensory teaching, visual and auditory, (Fleming and Mills, 1992) to aid him. I noticed that Tom would sometimes struggle hitting the note C without splitting it, to help him have a greater understanding, I suggested imagining the note in his head before playing it. MacBride (2021) found that ‘our brain attempts to predict notes even when no music is playing’, by playing the note for him before he plays it, it allows him to hear it in his head in an attempt to connect the mind to the muscle. And finally, we would play the activity I set him together before asking him if he would like to play it by himself, enforcing encouragement.
For the first lesson, I thought it went well as it was evident that he was willing to engage and improve almost immediately. By maintaining a positive attitude in the way I delivered instructions, and adding in a healthy dose of praise as well as critique, it was evident his confidence in playing improved. Having a teacher-directed lesson is most suited in this instance as Tom is a beginner, ‘the first lessons can be so crucial to the musician’s potential development’ (Harris, 2007) and I want to ensure he has the guidance he needs to improve and develop in future lessons.
The second lesson acts as a continuation of the first, still implementing formative assessment to track how much information he has retained. Unlike the previous lesson, there is more emphasis on technique as well as solidifying the importance of breathing. Another difference between the lessons is more frequent use of formative assessment, especially at the start of the lesson, just to reaffirm what was taught previously, implying the importance of the fundamentals.
As the lesson progresses, it comes natural to Tom to improve. Whenever I have feedback to give he is observant and inquisitive which demonstrates intrinsic motivation. In other circumstances, perhaps if I were to teach a younger pupil, there may be a need to include tangible rewards, such as sweets, to help them stay motivated, however, Tom has an innate desire to improve his breathing technique as shown in the video. A study conducted by Morris (2022) shows that adults pick up new hobbies out of their own will even without clear extrinsic reinforcers which applies well to Tom. If it were necessary to include, I personally would have no issue with that as both are fundamentally similar ‘as they both strive to maximise reward value and minimise punishment’ (Morris et al.,2022).
In this lesson, I try and emphasise the importance of breathing, a technique incredibly important to the trumpet. ‘Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument’ (Evans, cited in Lyons, 1983) can be applied to breath control as for wind instruments, that is the foundation of anything you play. I began to notice correlations between the vocal lessons I received from Tom and the trumpet lessons, particularly with breathing. Despite the obvious difference between vocal and trumpet lessons, breathing technique is important to both, I was able to draw similarities and state them in the lesson to aid Tom in improving his air flow. A big difference, which was evident in his struggles, was being able to immediately get sound out of the instrument, ‘sound exits the vocal chords almost instantaneously, whereas, when playing an instrument, there is a slight delay due to the air having to leave the body, go into a mouthpiece of some sort, and then disperse out from the horn’ (Palavicini, 2015). In order to combat this issue, I referenced techniques that Tom taught me that could be applied to his trumpet lesson, reinforcing the idea of creating an encouraging environment to improve in.
When asked, Tom was also able to identify and reflect upon what he was previously doing before when he was struggling, a strong demonstration of him learning and understanding. As a teacher, this felt extremely rewarding as it indicated that he has progressed to the point where he is now able to verbalise what he found difficult and how it made him feel to be able to resolve that issue.
| Name of Student: | Tom Coghlan | Name of Tutor | Juliana Cortez | |||
| Date | 22/04/26 | Time | 13:00 | Room | 217 | |
| Aims | To be able to read notated music- crotchets/minims (low) C and D. |
| Objectives | Recap the notes C and D. Aurally learn the phrase. Play the phrase together |
| Extension | Increase the BPM on the metronome. Even further: Introduce the note E and integrate it into the phrase. |
| Time | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 5 mins | Ask my pupil how he’s doing and what he has been up to- forming a strong teacher-student relationship. Warm up- semibreves of C and D, making sure he is breathing adequately. | Before the warm up I will ask if Tom remembers the correct way to hold the trumpet and insert the mouthpiece. Ask if he remembers the correct valves for the notes C and D. | Trumpets and metronome on phone or laptop. |
| Time (approx) | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 10 mins | Above is the page this lesson will be based on. We will break down the first bar before moving onto the second bar with the minims. My pupil should be able to remember what the correct valves for C and D are and I will point out which note is which. To help memorise the duration of a crotchet, I will have a metronome playing at about 60bpm and have my student assign a word to it. Furthermore, clapping along to the metronome will also help. The example above breaks down the syllables which indicates the length of the note, although having him choose his own word will form a personal connection and hopefully help with memorisation. After practicing that, we will play the exercise together on our instruments, the metronome still on to give a steady pulse. When he is feeling confident with the first bar, we will move onto the second bar and explain how a minim is twice the length of the crotchet and have him assign a different word to it to help him remember. We will practice the whole phrase together and then I will ask him to play it by himself. If he is able to achieve that confidently, I will increase the BPM to test if he can switch between the notes faster. Again, if he can achieve that, I will change one of the crotchets to an E, which I have taught him in our previous lesson. | Reaffirming he remembers the valve positions for C and D. Ask him how long a crotchet and a minim is and have him to demonstrate it through clapping. | Wild About Brass (2021) workbook, metronome, trumpets. |
| Time | Activities | Assessment Methods | Resources |
| 5 mins | To finish off the lesson I will go over what was taught and then ask him to empty the spit chamber in the trumpet. This is to reinforce the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the trumpet. For practice outside of the lesson, I will give him a handout of the page he learnt today. If he is feeling confident, I will also ask him to practice with a faster metronome, aiming for between 70-80BPM. If the extension tasks were met during the lesson, instead of giving him the sheet we did, I will only give him the one with the note E on it. | Ask what he learnt during the lesson, how confident he feels about reading the notes. | Handouts of the exercise. |
Above is the lesson plan and video for one of the lessons I taught Tom. As this is our third lesson together, in our previous lessons, I taught him some of the fundamentals to start learning the trumpet, this plan aims to put his basic knowledge in context. Prior to this, I taught him how to hold the instrument, the importance of breathing and what the notes C and D are. In order to develop this, I planned to introduce him to notated trumpet music, although it was a new, unfamiliar concept, he already had the skills to read music. I was able to discern what kind of learner Tom is based off the VARK Modalities (Fleming and Mills, 1992) and Honey and Mumford Learning Styles (1994) which aided me when preparing the lesson plan and any other relevant materials. For example, during teaching, I would ask questions such as “would you like us to play together?” or “shall I explain this first or would you like to have a go?” in order to gauge how to move forward in our lessons. I gathered that Tom learns best through ‘doing’ and ‘watching’, he leans towards reflectors and activists (Honey and Mumford, 1994). I reinforced this conclusion with the VARK modalities, where I fit him into the auditory and kinaesthetic categories. When presenting him with the work sheet, he initially struggled to read the notes and played with less confidence than he did without something to read. When I would explain what he is seeing, I noticed he was able to retain the information better (Cloke, 2024), demonstrating strong auditory qualities. Playing an instrument is inherently kinaesthetic as it is quite hands-on (Cloke, 2024), compared to singing, there is a physical difference. A worry of mine during these lessons was Tom potentially being overwhelmed with the physical nature of the trumpet and the different aspects you must think about when playing. Despite that, he excels when having time to practice certain tasks. These learning styles are integral to teaching as it enables you to create the optimal environment for your student, knowing your student is vital to producing positive results.
In the main activity of the lesson, we were able to follow Bruner’s (1966) theory of learning. McLeod (2025) suggests that following Bruner’s theory is particularly effective when presented with new material, that progressing from enactive, to iconic, to symbolic is a natural process. Questioning if Tom can remember the valve positions for C and D, and then asking him to show me is an example of enactive learning, going forward, this should become muscle memory. Showing him the notated C and D is moving onto iconic learning, he now has a visual representation of the notes which he can read. In this setting, symbolic learning ties into the iconic aspect as the notes’ rhythmic value also has a representation. Symbolic learning is flexible (McLeod, 2025) as it is stored primarily in words, having Tom assign his own word to a rhythmic value would help him memorise the duration of the note.
At this point in our lessons, I felt that he had sufficient knowledge to practice the exercise in his own time. Unlike the previous lessons, I did not set him with worksheets to look at as he was still familiarising himself with the trumpet and playing notes, I wanted to be sure that he felt confident enough to play it by himself. A key factor of effective practice is motivation, as mentioned earlier, Tom is an intrinsically motivated pupil, when I asked if he felt comfortable to practice the exercise, before even answering I knew it would be a positive answer as he has demonstrated his own interest in playing. Initially I had the metronome set to 60bpm, however, I later changed it so that he could feel more comfortable and secure in his playing. I felt that setting this as his practice is more beneficial than, for example, setting a completely new task, as it would reinforce the knowledge of all previous lessons. Also having practiced it together enabled him to listen to how it should sound in his own practice. During the lesson, we did not move onto the extension tasks I had planned, therefore, part of the practice task would be choosing if he wants to either speed up the metronome or use the other hand out with the note E in, which I have taught him in a previous lesson.
This lesson felt like a culmination of the previous two as now everything he has been taught can now be put into context. Luckily, he had some music theory knowledge, such as being able to read rhythm, however I wanted to make him feel more secure and confident when reading rhythm and notes, hence why I asked him to assign his own words. Being able to see him play notated music filled me with confidence for further lessons, his response when asked how he found the exercise was positive and encouraging to hear as a teacher.
Overall, I think a lot of great progress was made in these three lessons. When comparing the first lesson to the third, it is clear that Tom’s confidence in playing has bloomed, his desire to practice and improve massively helped my teaching and would benefit him moving forward as well. Progress is not determined by concrete, specific factors, ‘musical progression is as individual as the young person’s musical journey and cannot be defined in one way. Progress on an instrument is not in itself a measure of progression. Progression is about an individual’s progress into new stages of learning and experience. It is not linear, or on a consistently upward trajectory’ (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, n.d.). With this in mind, I can conclude that Tom was progressing wonderfully, by utilising different methodologies and teaching methods I was able to craft each lesson towards him as a person to bring out his best, all the while creating a comfortable environment for learning. Upon reflection, there would be a few aspects of my teaching I would change. For example, I would have liked to include an exercise to memorise valve positions as sometimes Tom would forget which ones went down. This would take inspiration from Colourstrings (2024) wherein the valves themselves would be coloured as well as the notes on the hand out. For future lessons, I would set more frequent homework as he is at the point where he can now read basic notation. As mentioned earlier, these lessons only focus on summative assessment, but for a future lesson, I would ask him to sight-read an exercise, having a metronome playing to aid him with rhythm and pulse, to test all the knowledge he has retained, this would be the first instance of summative assessment (National Foundation for Educational Research, n.d). Despite these lessons being heavily based on learning the fundamentals of the trumpet, I was able to plan and execute lessons catered towards my pupil, I felt that I was able to deliver an educational yet fun environment for Tom to prosper and improve his abilities.
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