Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a form of psychotherapy first developed in the 1970s. Used often as a tool for management training and personal self-development, this approach can be adapted to the process of one-to-one tutoring in the development of preliminary listening skills as part of the basic musicianship curriculum. Through study of the current approach to musicianship teaching and tutoring, as well as a detailed examination of core NLP techniques, the two disciplines become interwoven in a new NLP-based tutoring methodology. The intention is to highlight inadequacies of current tutoring techniques and to draw attention to an individual student’s learning style and development, rather than the common focus on curriculum-based attainment goals in the group classroom. The method I have developed is process based, rather than content based and this represents a significant change in the way that basic musicianship is commonly taught, and tutored.
