Should I Keep That Student?

"How do I know when to remove a music student from my private teaching studio?" This is a question I have had colleagues ask me over the years. 

A teaching professional needs to have a clear vision of what they will, and won't, allow in their studio. Studio boundaries are important and will make it easier for an educator to expel a student when necessary. 

Along with personal boundaries, it is essential for an educator to consider the needs of all studio members when forming studio boundaries.

If a student is a personal threat to an instructor, removal from the studio is clear. However, a teacher will want to be aware that, even in private lesson studios, a student's actions can influence the morale, or spirit, of the music studio as a whole.

Consider the following scenarios:

Studio Recitals: Names have been printed in the recital program and confirmations have been given. Without contact, or reason, certain students don't attend the recital. How do the participating students feel when fellow music studio members listed in the program do not show up to support them? 

Professional Assessments: Most students in private studios are required to attend a certain number of professional assessments each year where they play before a judge. Seeing other students they recognize from their studio can be an encouragement. Now imagine that, without reason, a student who registered for the assessment, decides not to attend. How does that impact the attitude of the students who participate? Many of my students would start to ask questions and be concerned about a missing student who was scheduled for the opportunity.

Fun Studio Challenges: Teachers often invite their students to take part in studio opportunities. These can range from piano-thons to raise money for a cause, writing a poem about music for a contest, drawing artwork for a magazine cover, participating in a competition, writing a song, and other fun activities. If enough students from a studio do not take part, the opportunity may no longer be available to the students who want to put in the time and were looking forward to participation in the event.

Completing weekly assignments, and regular practice habits: This is perhaps the most obvious in regards to how it impacts the instructor, but many teachers don't realize how one student's practice habits can affect the studio at large. 

Students who adhere to their teacher's individualized lesson plans each week usually show consistent progress. Members of a music studio may all be at different ages and levels but, they are all seeing one another grow in their music skills and knowledge. 

Students like to brag about others in their studios. I often hear comments like, "I saw Julie playing at the church service." "I heard Marco won a scholarship." "I met Jim at the assessment and we live close to one another and are going to play video games together." "Nancy told the class at school that she earned her first Music Theory trophy!"  All of the above are just a few examples of how studio morale can be strengthened by students who actively participate together and continue to improve their skills through completion of assignments and regular practice habits.

Students who refuse to do their weekly assignments on a regular basis, can bring the studio morale down. Keeping a non-productive student, a student who disrespects the studio by refusing to do their assignments or participate in activities, may not be a wise choice. Social media and piano forums are riddled with private piano teacher burn-out stories everyday. These teachers have given more attention to non-committed students in hopes of turning them around (and therefore have less energy to give to more involved students). These teachers have tried everything in their wheelhouse to help these uninterested students and are exhausted and ready to leave their career in teaching. I have known private music teachers, much younger than my years, who left the profession because of one, or two, piano students who should have been dismissed from their studios. 

There are many ways that a disinterested student can overburden an instructor and bring down the energy of a private music studio. And there are teachers who base removal, or retention, of a student on their personal feelings toward the child. A teacher is not a failure because a child refuses to apply themselves. Looking at how a child's lack of interest might be harming the morale of another student and, perhaps, the studio as a whole is important in deciding whether to let a student remain in your studio. 

Turning the focus toward the spirit of the studio as a whole might be a better choice. Private music lessons may be one-on-one, but every student contributes to the overall spirit of your studio. Fortunately, most students are proud of their teacher and their private music studio. Make healthy boundaries for yourself and for the good health of your active music studio members.  

 

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. 

Help for self-employed private music teachers in WNC and crisis areas

Helping Private Music Teachers in WNC and other Crisis Areas

Please reach out if you are a private music teacher who has lost teaching materials from the recent hurricanes. 

After finding that there are no organizations that help self-employed private music teachers in crisis areas, Low Country Studios is working to find ways to help our sisters and brothers who may have lost teaching studios, instruments, and teaching materials in the recent hurricanes. 

Most self-employed private music teachers are not in the public eye and live quiet lives mentoring future musicians. Unlike full time performing musicians, who are well recognized in their communities, private music teachers don't have a fan following, or performing colleagues, to arrange benefit events for them.

Private music instructors can pay high membership fees to belong to professional organizations that provide opportunities for their students, but offer few to no benefits for the private music teacher. When a crisis hits, a self-employed private music teacher may not be able to find any help. Many of us discovered that there was no help for self-employed music teachers during the pandemic, or the Lahaina fires crisis.

Musicians in Need:

+Support Lyle Rickards through his Bandcamp.com page by purchasing his digital recordings on his Bandcamp page. Lyle is from Asheville and only made it out with his musical instrument.

+Join other piano teachers through the Piano Teachers facebook page to help Brandon Kouri who is the pianist/organist at Roser Community Church in Anna Marie Island FL rebuild his piano/organ music library. Brandon lost his personal music book library during Helene.

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If you are a private teacher who needs help, please send an email to us at LowCountryStudios at yahoo dot com.

We are searching for the best way to set up a transparent fundraising page for self-employed private music teachers in crisis. Until then, if you would like to help by making a small monetary gift to our Venmo, please indicate that it is for "hurricane area private music teachers." Our Venmo is @dollypaul with a photo of Miss Dolly and her cat as the avatar.

Thank you for caring.

Care,

Miss Dolly

Getting Started with Worship Songs

One of the joys of teaching, for me, is working with students who compose music. I have students whose focus is creating worship songs. These students write music for non-denominational and contemporary christian worship gatherings. A few have gone on to have successful careers in the field of worship music. Others have used the works they have written for their own personal times of worship. (God inhabits the praises of his people. Psalm 22:3) 

Some students write song melodies with ease, while others struggle to write melodies. Some students are more gifted with words, while others struggle with writing lyrics. (Lyrics are the words to a song.) 

Occasionally, a student will work with a friend who complements their writing skills. For instance, a student who is a strong melody writer will pair with another student who is a strong lyricist to write a song. But more often I see students who want to excel both as a music composer and a lyricist.

One of the first things I ask a student, when they want to start a new worship song project, is "What type of worship song are you writing?" When a composer can define what they want to express in a worship song, the words and music come together a lot faster. Let's look at three types of worship song forms used today.  

The first song form is, perhaps, the most obvious: Psalms. Psalms use the words of the Judeo-Christian bible for the lyrics. Verses containing the inspired word of God from the old and new testaments are used. 

The second form of worship song, that we talk about in lessons, is the Hymn. Hymns contain a doctrinal truth. A doctrinal truth is something that was, is, and always will be.

The last form we consider is the Spiritual Song. In a spiritual song the writer shares a personal story of what God has done in their life through grace, mercy, or a miracle, from their personal point of view. 

Establishing the purpose of a song and narrowing down the details can be a big help to students. Though it seems too simple, this step, at the start of a composition will really help.

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Please note: There are other forms of music used in places of worship that have different criteria than what I have shared above. It is always prudent to consult with your worship leader so you have a full understanding of the music and lyric guidelines that are welcome at your place of worship. 

Self-discipline vs. Motivation

Motivation; The first time I heard that word, used generously, was when I taught classroom music in a school for gifted children in the 1980s. It was starting to be a "buzz" word in classroom education for slower learners. The school served children with learning disabilities and recognized that many children were not able to develop tools that are necessary for success in life. It became commonplace to hear statements like, Jimmy could not finish the task because he was not motivated.  It was a gentler way of speaking about a student's learning challenges. 

Self-discipline helps an individual achieve by building constructive habits that lead to success in sports, arts, science, religion, or any other field of choice. Motivation is feeling pressed to do a task because of one's emotions. A boy is motivated to attend soccer practice because he will feel embarrassed in front of his peers if he stays home to play video games. That boy is motivated. A young girl gets up at 4:00am every morning to catch the bus to go to the skating rink, and practice by herself, before she has to go to school. This girl has self-discipline. Let's take this to the adult level.

A man is motivated to go into the office, to a mundane job, every day, because he doesn't want society to think of him as a bum. He is moved by his feelings. A young woman starts her own clothing design firm and with daily perseverance through many failures, and self-discipline, moves from a once-a-week small farmer's market tent to opening her own successful store in a popular town. She is self-disciplined.

Your grandparents called self-discipline, a good work ethic. What do you think of when you think about self-discipline? Some don't like the word and feel it is too harsh.

Like every teacher, I see self-disciplined children who do excel. But more frequently, I see children who will only do work if there is an emotional component; which means they don't progress as far in their education as they could. Only doing a task when one is triggered by fear, embarrassment, fun, companionship, peer pressure, or jealousy, is not a healthy path to success. Failure, in many areas, can start to set in if every task is approached only when the person relies on their feelings to motivate positive movement. 

When you practice self-discipline, good feelings come as you see yourself improving. Use self-discipline to bring honest feelings. Don't wait for your feelings to cause you to act. 

It is my opinion that the re-structuring of education, with motivation (doing work because of an emotional component) becoming more important than rewards of self-discipline, has produced lower standards in many fields of education. 

I have a theory as to why motivation continues to be stressed ahead of teaching self-discipline in education. 

We now have a generation of parents who were raised within an educational system that employed motivation strategies. (This is not the fault of today's parents.) These parents are now raising children using the tools they were taught which were motivational practices. 

Sometimes I see myself as a one-woman-band trying to guide students in how to succeed with self-discipline. I welcome any educator who wants to join me. 

Gifts for Students Poll: Yes or No

I have waited until the major holidays have passed before giving you the results from my December 2023 poll on "Gifts for Students: Yes or No." I didn't want to influence private music instructors, in either direction, during the gift giving season. 

This poll included teachers from the United States of America and Canada. Teachers that are local to me, and teachers from private piano teacher face book forums, were polled. I have listed some of the comments left by teachers in each corresponding section. There didn't seem to be a grey area in this poll. Teachers were either strongly for giving, or strongly against giving, anything to a student.

I requested that teachers, who chose to respond to the poll, give their location and their gender. They were also given space to leave a comment. Some of the comments were quite strong. The poll was taken near the Christmas holiday in 2023 and many teachers were feeling stretched from a very busy season. And knowing their responses would be anonymous, I believe the option to take this poll might have been therapeutic for some of these teachers. Teaching private music lessons can be alienating for some teachers. Teachers often work out of their homes or through a single teacher studio. Some may not have other teachers near with whom they feel safe enough to discuss their business frustrations.

If you were one of the teachers who participated in this poll, THANK YOU! Some of you have contacted me with your eagerness to read this poll's outcome. Thank you for your patience.

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.

12 Days in the Studio for Christmas

As I write this we are entering the second day of Christmas, the end of this year's Hanukkah celebrations, Boxing Day for my Canadian friends, and Kwanza. The first day of Christmas has passed and now is the time to relax a bit with leftovers, continued gatherings, and a look to the New Year. 

The last quarter of this year was quite an upheaval in this studio with flooding from Ian, home repair delays which included my piano being in storage, vehicle concerns, health concerns, and other bumps in the road that all reared their ugly heads at the same time. But bless God, we came through. So now I can start focusing on what will help me and my students as we come to the end of the year. 

In 2022 I joined a number of music organizations and supported other music businesses online to gain more tools for my studio. As the year has been coming to an end I have noticed that there simply isn't enough time to read all their emails. And honestly, many of the organizations looked like good fits for my studio, but after the initial membership was satisfied, I didn't receive any information that was new to me, or tools that were helpful to my studio and students. I am finding that many of these organizations offer information that is helpful to teachers who are not formally trained, or new to the field and feeling overwhelmed. But for seasoned and degreed teachers, the material is too basic. 

Trimming back music organization memberships for my studio has started. My personal big three connections will continue because there are State connections that my students can benefit from. But I have already disconnected from receiving and renewing memberships to, at least, eight organizations. Will each organization start the year with a new platform to regain my interest or find new followers? Yes, I expect that, but I have seen what they had to offer through 2022 and I know that they are not a fit with my studio. 

What changes are you starting to think about for your studio in the coming year? What changes have you made this year that helped you succeed?