Teaching the way you learn

Ever have someone teaching you something and you feel like you're just not getting it? Is that their fault or yours?

I like to think that I learn things quickly. Really quickly. And so it's easy for me to dismiss someone's teaching ability when I don't get what they're trying to tell me. That's not fair, however, and I have to think about how they're teaching rather than what they're teaching. And that goes for when I'm teaching and people aren't getting my points or ideas; is it the material or my approach?

There have been countless articles and studies written on this sort of thing, so I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert or quote them, but I'll run down the basics. There are three main styles of learning: Visual, Audial, and Tactile.

• Visual - The visual learner will want you to show them what you want. Consider demonstrating the technique from different angles or at different speeds.

• Audial - For musical things, the audial learner will do best if you play what you want first. Many audial learners will do well if you explain what you want, but that doesn't always work.

• Tactile - A tactile learner needs to feel something to make that mental association. It could be writing down a new pattern, going through movement by movement of a new technique, or literally being moved into position.

Ok, so those are the basic three, but often people are combinations of two or more and it can change depending on what's being learned. But it also goes to follow that people teach with a preference for how they learn. The larger the group taught to, the harder it will be to reach so many combinations of learning types. That's where a teacher has to decide, do I teach my way as best I can or try to appease the masses? Never an easy answer there. You may just have to realize that your way is not everyone else's way and be flexible in stepping outside your comfort areas to help others.

As a student, sometimes you just aren't going to get taught to the way you learn best. You have to be flexible. You may just have to ask for clarification and hope the answer helps, but at times you'll have to work things out on your own.

The better you are at other styles of learning and teaching, the better you are as an artist!