Review : The Little Book of Talent
By Cynthia Brown
The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle has many excellent ideas that can be used to help students learn to play an instrument . I highly recommend that anyone looking for a way to put a new spin on old information give this quick read a try .
The book presents fifty-two extremely practical ideas to develop a talent . Divided into three sections , a reader can pick and choose from the ideas and focus on one technique at a time . As a teacher , I found that there were many ideas that could be used with students as young as the fourth grade .
Part One , Getting Started , provides the reader with twelve tips that focus on developing basic habits to help the practitioner work toward excellence . A technique I found especially helpful with my beginning band students was tip # 1 Stare At Who You Want To Become ". During the first few weeks of band I emailed YouTube links of excellent performers home to the students and their parents . I encouraged the families to watch these clips together and talk about what they saw and heard . This gave both the students and their parents some clear direction on developing characteristic tone and good posture .