Going on Maternity Leave!

So, my due date for kid #2 is one week from today.  That means I might not have a blog next week.  I’ll miss you all and I hope you’ll miss hearing from me for the next week or two, though this little girl seems comfy and not interested in moving out!  Of course I’m concerned about what’s going to happen to my studio and my students while I’m out.  I don’t want to “lose” anyone literally or figuratively while I’m out, so I’ll be relying heavily on my website to keep us moving forward (prepare for shameless plug!)

For the entire month of June, LessonSpark.com will be my only contact with most of my students.  I’m going to be relying heavily on the practice diary and repertoire tools to keep everyone on track.  A new baby has no schedule, so I may be checking in on student updates in the middle of the night, but at least I can give some guidance and identify if there are problems without the kids having to wait a month for feedback.  I just don’t want anyone to lose momentum or motivation for lack of lessons for a month, but I’ll really need the time off!

Anyway, music friends (or just friends in general), if you haven’t at least checked it out, please do.  Let me know your feedback!  Tell your other friends, and encourage them to join too!

What Do We Do About Summer?

I love summer!  I love the changing seasons in general, but I really love summer.  I love the sunshine.  I love the thunderstorms that roll in on hot evenings.  I love the heat.  I love cooking out, and trips to the playground and the beach and most other things you can think of about summer.  The only drawback is what to do about lessons!  Some kids want to take time off.  Even though they have more time to practice, some students practice less because their routines change, which can be frustrating.  And worst of all, my high school seniors leave me for college!  So what can we do?

This summer is going to be different for me.  We’re expecting our second daughter in less than two weeks now, so I’ll be taking some time off this summer too.  But it’s important to me not to leave my students hanging for the whole summer and to keep up their momentum.  I also don’t want to lose the growth trend I’ve been having in my studio.  So what to do?

Normally, I’d do some kind of Flute Camp or summer workshop, not just for my students, but my co-teacher and I try to get as many as we can from the area.  This year, we’re not doing the camp, so I’m planning on having a short workshop with just my students sometime once I’m back into the swing of things.  I also am advertising for summer only lessons; some of these you can convert to regular students so it’s worth it.  Kids, especially those in school band may have to audition for chairs or to be section leader, and I can help them with that.  I also start advertising for district band/orchestra audition preparation.  The audition pieces for my area just came out, and it’s very competitive, so now is the time for them to get coaching if they don’t already have a teacher. 

As far as students taking time off, from a business perspective it isn’t great for me.  I have absences and scheduling spelled out pretty well in my studio contract to prevent too much loss of income.  But, kids work hard all year at lessons and at school, and if they need two weeks off to go to the Grand Canyon with their family, I’m happy for them.  I also find it easier to schedule performing gigs in the summer to make up for some of the income as well.

Mostly, I’m just looking forward to meeting my new little one and enjoying the summer!

You Can’t…or Can You?

A high school career counselor told me that I was most suited to being a waitress or a greeting card editor.  This was after I had taken some weird skill assessment test.  “No, I’m going to study music and be a musician,” I said.  She told me that according to the test, I didn’t have the “manual dexterity” to be successful at something as complicated as playing a musical instrument.  The implication was that my life would be unhappy if I dared take a path other than the one designed by the testing machine.  There were others that warned me off for other reasons as well, but I was young and foolish and could not be dissuaded.  And here I am twenty years later doing exactly what I said I would.

I have a former student/friend I see from time to time for lunch and we play for fun.  During a recent visit the topic came up of whether a music teacher is doing a disservice to a student by not telling them if they don’t have “it.”  Making a living as a professional musician is tough.  There’s the constant hustle to win auditions, book gigs, and attract students, all for what may not amount to enough to live on, at least for a long time.  But there is a huge amount of freedom.  You can make your own schedule, be your own boss if you want, and some people thrive on the competition aspect of it, whether that’s building a teaching studio or winning an audition.  And if you're passionate about music, it's a great life.

The problem remains:  Is it a teacher’s job to warn off a student from going down the path of becoming a professional musician (or other things) if we believe they aren’t suited to it?  I still don’t know, and I think it keeps coming up because there isn’t a pat answer.  On the one hand, I don’t have a lot of respect for the people that discouraged me from doing something I’m passionate about.  I wonder if they had been more supportive if I might have learned more from them.  On the other hand, their lack of faith in me was a motivator that fueled me to try harder.   But I struggle with this with my own students?  Is it worth their anger/disappointment with me now to save them from something I might think is a mistake?

I just can’t squash someone’s dreams.  I think if this life isn’t right for them, that’s something they have to learn on their own.  And if that’s what they decide, I’ll support them in that decision too.  Am I doing the right thing?  I don’t know.  All I know is the people that told me I couldn’t do it were wrong.  I’d rather be wrong for believing in somebody than be right about their dreams being out of reach.

Recital Time!

I held my Spring studio recital this past Sunday afternoon, and I am so proud of all my students! 

I love doing recitals with them, but they are a little high stress.  This one was a little moreso.  As those of you that have been following me know, I recently left a teaching position, so I’ve been building my studio at the institute and at home.  As a result, many of my performers were beginners, performing for the first time.  I think it’s important for them to have a positive experience performing, especially the younger ones.  I get terrible stage fright, always have.  I worry that my students will be overwhelmed by it and not have fun.  There was a little stage fright, but everyone played really well in spite of it.

It also struck me once again, how difficult it is to just let them go.  It’s my job week after week to be not only the cheerleader of their successes, but also to evaluate their playing and critique and fix problems.  But at recital time, I’m in the audience.  I have to let them just do their own thing and sit back and enjoy, and do something else I find difficult – relax! 

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over and went well.  That doesn't mean we slow down....It's time for new music for everyone!  That's always fun!

Skill Vs. Will

I had a mentor (back when I had a “day job”) that talked and taught “skill vs. will,” and it’s always stuck with me that it really applies to so many things.  I’ve applied it to my teaching, and it has really changed my approach to performance issues.   The basic concept is that there are two components to being successful at any endeavor, skill and will.  The skill part comprises of knowing how to do what it takes to accomplish a goal.  The will part is having the drive to do what it takes meet the goal.  Skills can be taught.  Will is a much more difficult problem. 

Who of us hasn’t struggled with this very problem?  We know exactly what we need to do, but actually doing it is overwhelming, unappealing, or just plain scary.  So we avoid it or skip over it and maybe we promise ourselves we’ll come back to whatever “it” is later.  And sometimes we do, but sometimes we don’t.  Every student I’ve ever had has struggled with this as well.  They struggle with the same few measures of a piece for weeks simply because they don’t make the effort to fix the problem.  Or they use the wrong fingering for a note over and over because it’s easier to do it the way they way they always have, even if they squeak every time and it sounds terrible.

Once you know that they know what to do, and just aren’t doing it, it’s a question of throwing a little extra motivation at them to solve the problem.  Who doesn’t need a little extra motivation now and then? 

A New Way to Get Paid – Part 2

I promised I’d let you know how I was making out with Square, the credit card processing tool that attaches to a smart phone.

The answer is GREAT!  I gave all of my students notice that beginning in April, I could start taking payment via credit card.  Many of them showed up with card in hand, happy not to need to write a check.  A few of them forgot it was payment time, but had a card on them.

I had ZERO late payments this month.  How awesome is that?  I didn’t have to hound anyone, we just took care of business.  The fees are really minimal, and I can deduct them as an expense, so I’m really not losing anything.  The money is automatically transferred directly to my bank account within 1-3 days, so I don’t have to even drive to the bank to deposit checks and wait for them to clear.  Plus, I don’t have to juggle anything in my own household budget while I wait for people to remember their checks!

If anyone is looking at this as a tool to use with their teaching studio or other small business, go for it!

What’s Going on Between Lessons?

“We’ll just call this a complete failure.  I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong?” 

I’ve mentioned my website www.LessonSpark.com a few times here.  One of the features is a Practice Diary that students update with their daily practice activities so their teacher can see what they are doing between lessons.  The quote above was the entry of one of my students this week, and exemplifies why I built the site in the first place.

Teaching good practice skills and keeping students motivated throughout the week is one of the toughest things we do as music teachers.  We can all tell when a student has practiced or not, and we can probe about what is actually happening, but how can we really know?  We only see them for a short time once a week or so, then send them off to do most of the learning on their own through daily practice.  I remember times when I was a kid being frustrated because I didn’t understand something I was supposed to practice, and I honestly don’t think I learned good practice skills until college.  I want my students to have a different experience. 

So I created www.LessonSpark.com.  Teachers can post lesson assignments so students know what it expected, and they can see what is happening with their students between lessons in their practice diaries.  Of course, some of my students are better than others about updating their diaries, but at least I have a window into what they are doing.  I can encourage them, give them praise, and help them when there are problems rather than waiting to find out at their next lesson and responding on the fly.  It doesn’t take a lot of time, just a few minutes every day or two to check in and maybe send a message, but I think it goes a long way to helping my students learn.

The student that posted the entry above was unable to play for a few weeks and last week was our first real lesson in a month.  If you’ve ever been unable to play for whatever reason for a period of time, you understand her frustration.  I got this message 2 days after her last lesson, so I was able to reach out and provide some encouragement and guidance to get her through the rest of the week.  That makes all the effort worth it.