improving as a teacher, Motivation, Questions, Studio Business

SUMMARY | The June Forum: Making Your Vocation A Vacation

The Way to Paradise June is over (summer is going by so quickly!!), and so is the June Forum: Making Your Vocation A Vacation topic.  Thanks for all the thought-provoking comments, all!  Here’s a summary of your comments, along with some thoughts of my own mixed in:

  • Teach only when you want to. Don’t overdo it.  Only schedule yourself what you can easily handle each day/week.  If needed, schedule yourself an occasional 15-minute break so you can chill out for a bit and perhaps get a bite to eat.
  • Teach only who you want to. Whenever possible, accept only the students who are motivated and hardworking.  I’d like to also add: only teach the levels/ages you are comfortable with.  For example, if teaching adult students isn’t your forte, don’t feel as if you have to accept them into your studio.  Recognize the areas where you shine and make those your focus!  Same goes with styles of music: if you aren’t comfortable teaching jazz, recommend those students to another teacher who is comfortable doing so.
  • Be firm on your business procedures. As teachers and musicians, we often don’t like to think about the financial side of things.  We like to focus on passing our passion for music on to our students.  The reality is, there will always be parents/students who show up late, don’t show up at all, don’t pay on time, etc..  Everyone handles these situations differently, but I would recommend never allowing yourself to be stepped over.  It will stress you out.  (I know from experience!)  Write up some Studio Policies and stick to them.  (This is an area I personally need to work on — so I’ve been brainstorming some ways to make “the business end of things” run more smoothly and efficiently.)
  • Keep it fun and fresh by varying up each lesson, and tailoring lessons to each individual student.  Be on the lookout for new music books or games to try with students.  Try to discover each student’s interests, strengths, and weaknesses so you can personalize their lessons to their individual needs.  Attend local/state/national music teaching conferences so you can continue your own education as well as network and exchange ideas with other teachers.
  • Find ways to make sure your students are making progress. When students are making progress, students are having fun, and when students are having fun, the teacher is having fun!  Decorate your studio, create an incentive program, keep communication open with parents to keep them involved, have a practice requirement — in short, find ways to keep students engaged and motivated to develop their skills at the piano and excited about lessons!

All these ideas above are part of being an effective, successful teacher — and that’s when teaching becomes a vacation rather than a vocation.  Great thoughts, everyone!

Stay tuned for the introduction of the July Forum topic, coming later this week!

Photo credit: nattu | CC 2.0

Printables, Studio Business

Printables updated: Student Info form, and Student Interview forms

As part of my preparation for the upcoming academic year of teaching piano, I working updating all of my studio business forms.  The following three forms have just completed renovation, and are available on the Printables page:

  • Student Information form (for all incoming students to fill out)
  • Beginner Student Interview form (to be used while interviewing beginner students)
  • Transfer Student Interview form (to be used while interviewing new non-beginner students)

Questions have been clarified, more space has been given between lines so that there is more room to write in the blanks, and the overall format has been given a makeover in order to get a cleaner look.  In addition, the wording of some questions on the forms (the Beginner Student Interview form and the Student Information form, especially) have been adjusted to better accommodate adult students who might be filling out the forms / being interviewed.

Side note: Don’t let the word “interview” scare you if you don’t already do something like this in your studio!  These forms are simply designed to help with evaluating the student’s playing level at the first lesson.  Personally, I’ve found that taking notes helps me immensely when I’m trying to decide what repertoire and method books to use with a new student, whether it’s a beginner student or not.  Give it a try!

Scroll down for a BIGGER look!

Continue reading “Printables updated: Student Info form, and Student Interview forms”

improving as a teacher, Technique

Bench Height: Try Little Pillows for Little Students

Just thought I’d share my recent find.  One again, I’ll admit, I found another treasure at the dollar store.  (Does anyone else love dollar stores as much as I do?)

It might not seem like much, but I see great potential in these little blue travel sized pillows.  My little student won’t have to sit on a stack of piano books any longer in order to attain the correct height at the piano!

When I first picked up the pillow, I expected the stuffing to be cheap and light stuffing which would do nothing for the student’s height once they’d sit on it, but actually it is stuffed pretty well with some kind of heavier material.  And for a dollar, the price can’t be beat.

If you aren’t convinced on the importance of playing with the proper bench height at the piano, check out the revealing pictures at the Well-Balanced Pianist website.

My hand is awkwardly sticking out in this picture to give you a better idea of the size of the pillow.  It’s just the right size for students under age 8 or so.

If you are interested in getting one of these pillows, check if there is a Dollar Tree store in your area.  I looked for the listing of this pillow on the Dollar Tree website, but was unable to find it (if anyone finds it, please let me know).  The tag on the pillow just said “Decorative Pillow.”  The pillow also comes in green.

I’ve heard of some teachers using those interlocking foam square pieces for getting students to the right height.  The nice thing about using those foam squares is that you can choose how many of them to stack on top of each other in order to reach just the perfect height.

What have you found to work well for attaining proper height at the piano?