How long will my child be in their curriculum books?
This is not a commonly asked question, but a good one worthy of a response. We want our families and students to understand the trajectory and the path of learning that most students take in learning music at TIA. No two students are alike, and everyone has a different pace, but there is nothing willy-nilly about our approach. We do not teach on a whim or without careful consideration of what a student needs to learn on the journey of music. At TIA we have clear benchmarks for musical developments. We discuss these things at our regular faculty meetings, and we make sure our students are on track for learning them.
One of the best ways to ensure that students receive a thorough learning experience in music is to use a solid, well-rounded, and time-tested curriculum. All our beginning students, and most of our students with the exception of extremely advanced students use a curriculum. The length of time spent in them depends on the pace of the learner. As an example, there are six levels to the piano curriculum we use, and we currently have two students in the second to last level. They have been studying with us for maybe four years. They moved quite quickly. We have another student that has been with us for less than two years, she is only seven, and she is half-way through all six levels. Again, she has moved rapidly!
Of the two piano students that we have that are beyond that level, they are now working primarily from repertoire and their faculty also carefully select other projects and materials based on their diverse experience and study. This may include things like transcription work, composition, improvisation, and advanced method books.
We take fundamentals very seriously, but don’t mistake a commitment to serious curriculum as stuffy or a dismissal of having fun! Fun is important too, and so is diversity. We are committed to diversity of musical experience and understanding, and our themes are a ton of fun and provide for excellent well-rounded musicianship. In addition to the curriculum that we use for drums, stringed instruments, winds, piano, guitar, and ukulele, all of our faculty teach theory, scales, and technical fundamentals that stretch way beyond the bounds of the curriculum and are approached based on the need, desire, and ability of the students.