Were Your Summer Sessions a Success?

 I always look forward to summer break. It is a time when I see students raise their music skills one, or even two, grade levels. Non-readers become music reading machines, student compositions start flowing into the studio and jazz chord/scale, and theory books, get completed in a few short weeks. The children don't have competing school or sport activities, and they often return from family trips sharing stories about new bands they discovered, or live performances they attended. It is often the greatest season for private music teachers to see and hear student success. 

As I sit here writing I am a little sad because most of my kids go back to school next week. The summers seem to get shorter every year. I only had a few students finish music compositions and theory books, unlike former summers. And adult students who were set on joining a free slow jam in my home to learn folk tunes, or learn a new instrument during the summer, were never able to find the time. Still I did see successes in a handful of young students and that is enough to encourage me. A student who always rushes  has started using her metronome in her home rehearsals and she has learned to correct herself as she plays. Another student has almost completed all of her first cycle of scales by carefully working her scales at the beginning of each rehearsal. Another student checked out books on music composers at the local library to use as her summer reading for school and now has a deeper understanding about her music. And I am happy to say a young man has tackled his upper body, hand, and arm technique and now is sounding like a young professional at the keyboard. 

I have learned not to worry about students who choose to achieve at a slower pace than others. When I was younger I would push students so they could experience the same success as self driven students. But now I let each student blossom as they desire. No more begging, no more trying to over encourage, no more pressure on them, their parents, or me. Music lessons are a good indicator of how a child will perform in their chosen field as an adult. If a child comes to lessons every week without their books, they will forget their laptop when they go in to work. If they lie about their practice time or embellish their accomplishments, they will do the same as an adult. If a child procrastinates in music, they will procrastinate on the job. If the child needs someone to push them before they complete a music task, they will need someone to puch them as an adult. I have seen this pattern over decades of teaching. The only way a person will change as an adult, is if they want to change on their own. We can not change another person.  

This year I have started a new policy that all my students are aware of: if music is not memorized 15 days prior to an assessment, competition, or exam, the student will be pulled from the opportunity. Once music is memorized and played daily, the details in the performance can be polished and the piece becomes alive. Too many students have crammed their music at the last minute and given weak performances. The parents who are not musicians are often clueless. The judges and the teachers are not. If you are a teacher I know you agree that you can easily hear the sound of a piece that has been fully digested by a student. Judges will also make comments letting the student know that they could tell how hard the student worked to prepare the piece. So this year students will receive the best from Miss Dolly but no room to cram at the last minute. 

Are you entering the new school year with any fresh ideas or new studio rules for your students? 

Early Preparation is the Key for High School Seniors

I tried a new approach with my seniors this year and am happy to report that they will have their thesis pieces ready to perform by December.  Unfortunately this isn't always the result. Last year, during the thesis juries, a few of the students were held back by their own instructors. It was obvious to all on the panel that the students did not apply themselves to preparing their pieces. Yes, they knew the notes and most of the correct rhythms, but the music had not developed to an acceptable level. One student was held back because she chose a duet partner who was far below her level simply because that person was her friend. That friend was not a good contributor to the final performance. As in athletics, musicians want to choose partners who are at their level of expertise. A hard lesson learned. 

Seniors are typically overwhelmed with too much on their plates. They have visited university campuses during their junior year and are now sending in college applications (typically due in October) to their selected schools. They are preparing for a performance thesis at the school of the arts which has changing requirements every year. Many are working jobs to save for college expenses. And some still want to stay active in after school activities that they have enjoyed in their earlier high school years. The last year of high school goes by quickly.

The senior year is the one that clearly separates those who will succeed from those who may struggle in life. Fortunately, most piano students who have continued with music at this level are highly disciplined. Some of my seniors come to their music lessons with planners and dates of progress they have determined for themselves - and they achieve those dates! They continue to practice on their instrument 1.5 - 2 hours every day. They know the field in which they want to major at college, and those who don't choose music as their major often are planning to minor in piano. As an aside, throughout my years of teaching I have also found that those students who choose to major in the field of Chemistry often double major in Music. 

So how did we get ahead in our preparations this year? 

Knowing the stresses my seniors would encounter, I introduced the students to their pieces before the end of the last school year. That meant that the students knew, and/or had, the music they would be performing for their 25-26 school year events before summer break started. The summer is always a challenging season to grow through musically because of family vacations and sleep-away camps. But even a few days of practice (as opposed to regular daily practice during the school year) set their mind to the task so they could succeed. 

Students started researching their composers and analyzing their music during the summer and it has given them more confidence as they are now in the polishing segment of their work where the pieces are memorized. In the past, the students did not select their repertoire until September, when school started. This resulted in a lot of frustration and poor performances on their juries. I am hoping that I will be able to convince other rising seniors to prepare in advance as this year's group. What a difference those two extra months of concentrated work on their pieces has made. 

Music Recitals: What are the Options?

Until the early 2000s, like many private music teachers, I held an annual Christmas Recital with a large food spread. I could usually count on one or more adult students, and a parent, to help with the kitchen end of setting up the food and drink tables and monitoring the food until after the performances had ended. Every studio member attended and brought extended family. We never had less than a feast with families bringing meat trays, casseroles, ice cream punch mixes, cookies, cakes, and more. The students had fun and there was a real sense of community. How times have changed. 

Event spaces and churches were always happy to extend free, or reduced fee, recital space to private music teachers in their communities. However, since the pandemic, and along with event rental inflation in our area specifically, it is close to impossible to find a place to hold recitals. Event space rental here in Charleston is now priced beginning at $5,000.00, per portion of a day (not even a full day), for most of the locations we have researched. Churches, that would donate space for a contribution or smaller rental amount, no longer offer use of their buildings saying they are concerned about covid, and other safety, liability. Church music directors - who also teach privately - have also told us that they are no longer able to use the facilities, in the churches where they serve, for student recitals. 

For those lucky enough to find a space for a studio recital, the expenses can include: rental, cleaning fee, insurance costs, key holder fee, security fee, video-photographer, parking lot fee, recital programs, certificates, and gifts for the participants. If there is an afterglow reception those costs also must be considered. After this preparation, teachers may experience last minute surprises from students who have to cancel the day of the event due to sports, family outings, or other last minute conflicts.

I recently heard from an elderly colleague who told me she has held her last recital and isn't even going to try for options in the future. For decades she held an end-of-the-year holiday recital at her local methodist church. But her church no longer allowed use of the space because of the pandemic. The instructor put together a large recital event for her studio last year. She and her husband invested in reserving a pizzeria in their town for the recital. Cheese, and cheese and pepperoni, pizzas along with all beverages, were complementary for students and attendees and were purchased in advance along with the space. The date was scheduled four(4) months ahead of the recital and families were notified of the recital date and location as soon as it was scheduled. The students had all prepared their musical selections, the restaurant had been paid, gift bags were prepared, and programs were printed. This teacher has a large student base and when the recital date came, only nine of her students and their families attended. She said the families who didn't show did not notify her that they decided not to come - even having confirmed the week before.  She  had purchased food, as part of the rental contract, for over 30 students and their families. Can you imagine? Fortunately her husband was able to contact a person from the local Salvation Army who arranged for distribution of the surplus pizzas that were already purchased.  This is not an isolated "Recitals Gone Wrong"  story in our current day. Families are simply over-scheduled. Even teachers who charge a "pay-to-perform" fee tell me students often don't attend when the family has purchased tickets, or paid, to be in an event. So, with the cost of event space, and over extended families, what other options are there to provide for important performance opportunities?

A number of my colleagues have opted out of any type of student events and gatherings. However, there are still those of us who are focused on finding a way to offer opportunities for students to get performance practice, and believe, like me, that even if a few families are interested, it is well worth the effort and investment. 

Here are some ideas teachers are coming up with:

• One teacher I spoke with over social media was able to use her community HOA room by offering any other music teacher's students or piano players, within that HOA community, the opportunity to perform on the recital. 
• A Florida teacher is nervously preparing for a backyard recital, and praying for no rain and a happy septic tank, for next Saturday.  
• I have one colleague who has been able to purchase a large home this year, with her family's help, that will accommodate the recital space she needs; This is the ideal, but quite a financial leap. 
• A Michigan teacher has persuaded her husband to clean out the garage and purchase portable heaters so they can use their garage and driveway for a true winter recital.
• Some private teachers, like me, are experimenting with virtual gatherings, and others are still searching to find an answer to keep the recital tradition alive. 

Inflation in rentals and recital costs, along with families that are over-extended in commitments, are all challenges for teachers who need new performance platform ideas. I am curious to see what the future holds for small studio recitals, especially in tourist areas and towns that are seeing large increases in event space rentals. 

QUESTION

As a private music teacher, how has your outlook on recitals changed over the years? Do you think they are still important for music students? If you schedule recitals for your students, what platform are you using now to provide studio recital opportunities? I would love to read your responses. Please feel free to email your thoughts, or respond on this blog. Musically, Miss Dolly.