Every ensemble has a mix of skill levels — and every teacher knows the challenge of helping struggling students without slowing the whole group down. Every year I get a few new students who aren’t as skilled or experienced as everyone else. Whether they haven’t been playing as long, or they somehow missed out on key skills, they just need extra help, and often they need more help than I’m able to give them. When I’ve asked other teachers for advice, the most common suggestion I get is to pair them up with another student. Peer tutors to the rescue, right? Unfortunately I’ve learned that there are a lot of ways to do partners wrong, but I’ve also learned that there are a lot of ways to do it right.
The Problem with Peer Tutors
When you ask a more advanced student to help a less advanced student, you are placing both of them in a potentially awkward situation, especially if you do it without warning. The more-advanced student may not want to come off as bossy. The less-advanced student doesn’t want to feel inferior or singled out and may get defensive. That’s not a great situation for learning.
The second problem with peer tutors is that students don’t know how to teach. I’ve had some students who are incredible musicians and can play anything I throw at them, but they don’t know how to teach those skills to someone else. They don’t know how to explain things in different ways, or break concepts down to make them more manageable, or scaffold learning appropriately. Peer tutors can be helpful if used correctly, but ultimately you are the teacher and you are responsible for your students’ progress.
Three Ways to Use Peer Tutors More Effectively
Quick demonstrations
The other day we were going through some shifting exercises and I had a cellist who wasn’t getting it. She didn’t understand which string to play on or which finger to use. I asked the student next to her to quickly show her where to play the notes and then we moved on.
Using peer tutors for quick demonstrations like this can be really useful. I didn’t have a cello handy in this situation; the student did and could quickly show the struggling cellist what to do. Sometimes struggling students just need a quick explanation or demonstration and then they can figure it out on their own. To make this work, however, you need to have stronger players sitting next to weaker players. I would recommend that anyway, but it’s especially important if you want to use peer tutors like this.
Whole-class partner activities
I often have the whole class work with a partner to review concepts and skills. Everyone partners up and I randomly assign one partner to be the “teacher” while the other partner is the “student.” I’ll usually say something like “the taller person will be the teacher,” or the older person, or the person with a bigger shoe size, etc. Whoever is assigned to be the teacher has to “teach” the concept or skill to the “student.” Sometimes I’ll have them do a verbal explanation. Sometimes the “teachers” do a demonstration, or they watch the “student” play something and give them feedback. We then switch roles and do it again.
Because everyone is working with a partner and roles are randomly assigned, no one feels awkward or singled out. If the “teacher” doesn’t know something, the “student” can help them out when they switch roles. The process of teaching a concept to someone else is a great way to learn it better, anyway, so everyone benefits. It’s also an opportunity for me to listen to those conversations and see which students really understand and which students need more help. Depending on how many students need help, I can step in and become the “teacher” for an individual or pair, or I can give more instruction to the whole class.
Peer Mentors
Sometimes students need a lot more help than I can give them individually or with brief partner activities in class. These students might be beginners on their instrument, or maybe they never learned to read music, or they came from a teacher who didn’t teach them correctly. While I do my best to help them in class and I encourage them to get private lessons from a qualified teacher, sometimes they still need extra support to feel successful. That’s when I’ve used peer mentors.
I don’t trust just any student to be a peer mentor, nor do I just go with the best players. I watch for students who have great social skills first: someone who is positive, outgoing, and easy to talk to. Playing ability is secondary. Once I’ve identified students who have the social skills to be a good mentor, I ask them individually if they would be interested in mentoring. If they are hesitant or uncomfortable with the idea, I move on and ask another student.
Once I’ve chosen mentors, I let them know what the expectations are for mentoring. First and foremost, they just need to be positive and encouraging. I do NOT expect them to be the teacher – that’s my job. I just need them to be a cheerleader and resource for these less-experienced students.
The peer mentors go out into a practice room or in the hall to work with the struggling students for about 10 minutes once or twice a week. I give them specific activities to do, like going through flash cards for note names, clapping rhythms, playing through their part, etc. After the 10 minute practice session, they fill out a form telling me what they did and what they think the struggling student needs the most help with. That helps me to plan our whole class activities as well as come up with the next set of activities for the peer mentors to help with.
I don’t have the same peer mentors all the time. I like to rotate mentors, so no one gets tired of doing it and the struggling students get to work with several mentors. They can make more friends in the group and benefit from the strengths of different students.
Partner work can be invaluable in your performing ensemble, but it has to be done right to be an effective use of time. When done thoughtfully, peer learning doesn’t just strengthen musical skills – it builds empathy, leadership, and community within your ensemble. Try a few different activities and watch your students’ reactions. You’ll quickly start to learn what types of activities work and which ones don’t.