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A book for instrumental teachers

The six days in between

Teaching instrumental pupils to be their own teacher

Paul Wood · Paperback · 100 pages · 2026

Every week I get thirty minutes with a pupil. They get seventy-five minutes alone. Who is teaching them tomorrow?

Buy the printed book from Amazon · £9.99

Printed to order and posted to you by Amazon. Bookshops can order it with ISBN 978-1-0654287-0-1.

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About the book

The lesson is where we teach. The practice happens in the six days after it, when the only teacher in the room is the pupil, deciding for themselves what to do.

This book is about how much of that deciding you can hand over, and how to do it. It comes from nearly forty years of teaching, and it follows real pupils: the ones it worked for, the ones it worked for slowly, and the ones it did not.

Inside

  • Why a long list of things to practise so rarely gets done
  • The one question every pupil learns to expect, and how to make it small enough to answer
  • Handing over decisions, one small choice at a time
  • A loop for working out what is wrong, that a pupil can run on their own
  • Getting ready to play to somebody, from the first time at home to the exam room
  • What home can do to help, and why teaching is not a parent's job

Who it’s for

Instrumental teachers of every instrument, in individual and group lessons, whether you are new to teaching or have taught for years.

A look inside

Contents page of The six days in between Opening page of chapter 1, Who is teaching tomorrow?
Cover of Practice Notes for ABRSM Grade 1 Violin

Goes with this book

Practice Notes: the method in a pupil’s hands

A weekly practice diary, written in during the lesson and used at home.

See Practice Notes

The six days in between

Frequently Asked Questions