Time Flies: How to Make the Best Use of Teaching Time.(Book Review)

Time Flies: How to Make the Best Use of Teaching Time, by Marienne Uszler. The FJH Music Company, Inc. (Westport Business Park, 2525 Davie Rd., Ste. 360, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317). 73 pp. $9.50.

Time Flies: How to Make the Best Use of Teaching Time is the third installment of Marienne Uszler's Teach Keyboard Effectively series. The first step of Time Flies is evaluating one's own teaching time using a time line and stepping back and evaluating its effectiveness. This can be done with written notes, like the efficiency experts use, or by recording lessons. Uszler explains that music by its very nature is a time art. In the Introduction, Uszler emphasizes that "Music itself is essentially a matter of time management." This stresses the importance of time in both music and in teaching and gives a reason for the teacher to pay attention to the use and quality of this most precious gift. Although specific guidelines are presented for all lessons, she states that flexibility and modification need to be made, depending on the student's advancement level and unforeseen non-related issues.

Two major areas stressed are four to eight minutes of practice suggestions included in every lesson and the use of activities during lessons, such as rhythmic drill. She suggests not excessively dragging each piece by over-drilling or over-verbalizing. However, she, and correctly so, changes this advice when it comes to advanced students and those preparing for a competition. One full chapter is spent on teaching Schumann's Romanze Op. 28/2 as a model.

In each of the eighteen chapters, sidebars of headline-like information are highlighted in green to remind the reader of the salient points. Uszler makes excellent suggestions, such as: "Approach a new technique in the early part of the lesson to allow the student to be successful in that technique," and "Do not waste time on obviously unpracticed or unprepared pieces." But, in the ...