Instructional Overview

Doublebass instruction has been offered as a string instrument option for over fifty years in the Halifax public schools. This program aligns itself with the Nova Scotia Band Instrument guidelines as the program is not offered throughout the province and therefor has no specific string outcomes. The American String Teachers Association is relied upon for string instrument instruction guidelines as well as published methodologies such as The Gary Karr Double Bass Book (Karr, G 1987), Suzuki Bass School (1999), Nouvelle Technique De La Contrabasse (Rabbath, F. ), New Methods for Double Bass (Simandl, F.) as well as other standard instructional bass methods.

This program is offered to students wanting to elect to take Doublebass instruction either for the first time playing an instrument or continuing string instruction from prior instruction on another string instrument. Instruction starts in grade seven and is offered through grade twelve. The lessons comprise of one private our group lesson out of school time a week. The lesson time varies from 30 minutes to one hour.

Brennen’s philosophy based on constructivism allows the students to engage in a meaningful way to support their agency to learn. (Brennan, 2013) Students will develop their ability to define and pursue personal learning goals by taking part in their own self-development and adapted material. Structures would be built into the course to support the learner.

The nature of offering students a late entry to a musical course requires modelling to be very clear and structured as well as be instructed by teachers who have attained a high level of achievement with the subject matter. Using the Due but not Done philosophy addresses the four pillars of philosophical program construction: ARTISTRY • PHILOSOPHY • PSYCHOLOGY • PEDAGOGY. Using these components to build a program will allow students to build trust and remove their fear of failure. Using this modelling also offers a learner centered experience that will engage students to move from an extrinsic model of learning to an intrinsic experience. (Lonis & Haley 2018)