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? 

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.  

 

Another Year of Student Auditions

Every year seems to get a little more challenging with age. Last year I was dealing eye problems during my student's music exams. The year before that I struggled to walk. This year my lumbar spine was damaged which made spending volunteer hours in support of my students a painful event today. I am grateful to my co-hall monitor and the volunteer teenagers that helped with running students up and down the stairs. (And oh those stairs!) 

I often wonder how my childhood piano teacher did it all. She taught until she was in her 100s, and lived to be 107. She chaired all of the Southeastern Michigan piano teacher festivals, in cooperation with Grinnell's piano, well into her later years. She handled the logistics of; hiring conductors, procuring duet scores for hundreds of students and adult professionals, securing rehearsal space, bringing one hundred pianos, and a couple dozen organs into rehearsal spaces and performance venues like Cobo Hall and Meadowbrook, hiring a composer to write a fanfare, and then hiring a brass ensemble to play the fanfare for each year, all to create one of the largest piano orchestras in the States, every year. And I struggled to go up and down the stairs and dealt with horrible back pain today just trying to calm and help children to their exam rooms for five hours. I'm a wimp.

I always breathe a sigh of relief after this day has ended. I think it is fair to say that teachers feel as much stress in preparing their students, as the students feel on the day of the event(s). But as much as teachers may struggle leading up to this day, it is so important for students. And that's why we support it (even through physical limitations and pain.) If a student should decide to pursue music as a career without these types of experiences, they would be disadvantaged. More importantly, music exams and assessment events prepare students, not only for future music events of a higher caliber but, for many of life's expectations in the work place. The dedication of building and rehearsing business presentations, board room meetings, and more, starts with the discipline of preparing music to bring in front of a judge for both performance and written exams. Self discipline, preparation, study, research, physical practice, memorization, confidence in one's hard work, these are just some of the strengths gained from private music study and music auditions at the pre-college level. 

The board members for both the NFMC's Junior Festival, and CMTA's Achievement Day, work very hard to make these events happen. Fortunately they are all twenty to thirty years younger than me with an abundance of physical and mental energy. But that doesn't mean the work is easy for them. I have both chaired and judged music assessments in younger years and these are not tasks to be taken on lightly.

The day is done. The teachers are relieved. The students are relieved. The parents are relieved. We are grateful to all the volunteers who made the event possible. And now we wait to hear the results. 

I am heading to bed much earlier tonight along with an ice pack and a muscle relaxer. Tomorrow starts preparations for the next event on this year's list. 

What Went Wrong at the SCTMA Pre-College Auditions? (Music Teachers National Association)

South Carolina piano teachers noticed a change in the way music performance evaluations were conducted during the 23-24 Music Teachers National Association season in the State Pre-College auditions for South Carolina. And they were not happy.

I received texts and emails from other piano teachers after last season's State evaluations for piano students. I tried to determine:  What was happening? Why were we not seeing evaluations or ratings? Typically, teachers would receive their student assessments within a week of the event. But there was no communication from the state level for weeks. The district director could not find any answers either. Was it worth it to continue in this organization's events? 

Judges typically give very thorough evaluations that touch on many elements which help the teacher and encourage the student to improve their playing going forward. For the upper levels we found this to be generally true - when the evaluations did finally arrive. It seemed that the upper level judges were honestly evaluating students and also scouting for students who might attend their music college in the future.  These upper level judges also took extra time to talk with the students during their evaluations.

However, the lower level evaluation sheets were sparse. Sheets came back without any actual evaluations only single statements like, "Great Job, enjoyed your playing!" "You looked so professional, thanks for playing." These types of comments are nice to end an assessment with, but they are not evaluations and, they don't help anyone. The teachers began to question the competency of the judges being hired for the lower levels. These vague evaluations were also a concern for some of the parents who drove their children long distances for the state event.

There were issues with reported grades that were emailed to teachers, verses the actual grades received on the evaluation forms. Initially, this past season, teachers were only given the rating grade for their students without being able to see the evaluations. This has never happened before and there was concern that the evaluations had been lost. When the evaluations finally arrived weeks later, teachers found that the ratings were not consistent with the actual rating given by the judges. Imagine having to tell children they didn't actually receive the mark that had been reported.

Despite the disappointment of the 23-24 season we hope for the best as we enter this 24-25 season. I am satisfied that our district director brought these issues to light with the state, and possibly, national organization. And I trust that our concerns have been ironed out. MTNA has always been a well respected organization for music teachers and students and we are all hoping this past season is a one-off that South Carolina won't see again.