Each month, we take a closer look at one of the teachers involved in our Teacher Integration Project.
This month’s teacher in focus is Manfred Hausleitner. You can learn more about Manfred by visiting his myspace site: www.myspace.com/hausleitnermanfred or hispersonal site: www.schlagwerk.eu
Read on to learn more about Manfred and his teaching practice in Vienna, Austria
Where are you located, andwhere do you teach?
I am located in Vienna, Austria. I teach at: High school Vienna, Sir Popper Gymnasium and Education center in Gablitz.
How many students do you teach, and what is their range of ability levels?
I currently have 104 students. (Some of them have 30 minutes lessons, some 60 minutes and some stundents come every 2 weeks). The age range is: 48 beginners, 29 advanced, 27 professional. Some of my students are from Germany and Switzerland. (2 of my students are currently at Berklee, 1 at Drummers Collective).
What are your favorite teaching materials?
I generally use my own teaching materials. Furthermore the traditional stuff like Jim Chapin, Dante Agostini, Tommy Igoe (Books and DVDs), Jojo Mayer, Thomas Lang. For Beginners I use my “Matrix method”.
How are you incorporating new media (DVDs, Mp3s, Internet, etc) into your teaching?
Depending on the students, I use playalongs for beginners (easy songs like”we will rock u” etc…). I also use some stuff from the internet, and have bought lots of DVD’s (Igoe, Mayer, Lang ….) which are part of the lessons…
Any funny anecdotes/stories from your teaching?
3 years ago a 52 year old student asked for drum lessons. He quit his job and was not able to get a new job. He came in and said “I don’t get a job- I wanna be a professional drummer”. He studied 2 years (daily 4 hours training) – 5 month ago he found a great band and is now on tour in Europe and Japan.
Your general thoughts on drumming, teaching, music…
I seek to serve my students by teaching them not only how to play, but howto learn. I do not just teach “fills and beats” to my students. If that is what a student is after, I am the wrong teacher. Rather, I teach them how to understand what drumming and rhythm are, so that they can learn things for themselves. I believe that a student’s course of study should be clearly planned and directed, with weekly assigned objectives and goals. This eliminates any confusion and wasted time. I setup a training plan with my students. I want my students to get results, quickly if not easily. I want the skills they earn to last, and to lead them to higher levels of enjoyment and self-expression. I expect a lot of hard work from my students, and I expect their trust, knowing that the things I assign them to do will achieve lasting results in the shortest time.
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