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Episode Summary
While practice is one of the biggest lines we tow with students, the truth is that we aren’t always practicing what we preach as teachers. In today’s episode, we’ll look at reasons we may not practice ourselves enough and find ways we can enable a routine because practice…it’s not just for students!
Items Mentioned
BOOK: Atomic Habits by James Clear (Amazon)
Book Review – Atomic Habits by James Clear (PianoPantry.com)
5 Reasons to Perform Alongside Your Students at Studio Recitals (ColorinMyPiano.com)
Listening Playlists To Accompany Music-Themed Children’s Books
(Please note that Piano Pantry is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Simply put, being an associate allows me to make a small percentage from Amazon on items to which I link at no extra cost to you.)
Transcript:
As a private music teacher, if you had to pin-point one thing that has the potential to be the “be-all-to-end-all” magic wand for student success, what would it be?
Without putting much thought into it, I’m guessing the first word that came to mind is PRACTICE.
That being said, I’m going to put in a quick disclaimer that if quantity or even quality of practice is ALL we focus on with our students, we will be setting ourselves up for undue stress and frustration. That though, is a topic for another day.
In general though, big picture speaking, yes, OF COURSE, practice is GOLD in the land of instrument-learning.
So, why is it that one of the biggest things we preach to our students is perhaps the one thing we don’t do enough of ourselves?? BUSTED!
In today’s episode we’re first going to go to the heart of the matter and explore WHY we may not practice what we preach both literally and figuratively speaking.
Then, we’ll look at a few ways we can enable and improve our own practice dedication and what that can mean in turn for helping our students.
Welcome to the Piano Pantry Podcast where together we live life as independent music teachers. I’m your host, Amy Chaplin. In this space we’re going to talk about all things teacher-life related from organizing our studios to getting dinner on the table and all that comes between. You’ll get loads of easily-actionable tips on organizing and managing your studio while balancing life and home.
Let’s do it!
Back in 2011 as I wrapped up my Masters in Piano Performance and Pedagogy degree at Ball State University, my piano teacher, advisor, and pedagogy coach turned to me and in her serious teacher voice said (and I paraphrase), “don’t stop practicing. You must keep playing or you will quickly lose much of the progress we have made in these past two years.”
Wide eyed, and hanging onto every word my oh, so, brilliant instructor was saying to me, I shook my head and promised with all my might that I understood and would keep the wheel turning.
Full of drive and excitement for building my own business, I stepped foot into the real world and plunged myself into the life of an entrepreneur. There was real estate-rental, studio renovation, and marketing; There was student-building, continued growth in learning to teach with the best piano pedagogy skills I could. On top of all that, there was profession-building including stepping onto the Indiana Music Teachers Association board of directors, and more.
All of a sudden a few years had passed and the realization struck me.
I FAILED HER.
I let my practice go.
Even though I completely agreed with her and understood the importance of keeping my own skills up, I became so passionate about all of these other things, I allowed them to overtake my life and mind. While I was definitely skill-building when it came to being a teacher and running a business, I had forgotten about the one thing it all came back to. My own skill as a pianist.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I had stopped playing altogether, I just wasn’t putting much effort into a regular practice routine.
Let’s take a look at three reasons why it can be easy for our own practice suffer.
I think the first reason, as this story demonstrates, is that LIFE happens. It’s can be so easy for daily life to take over I find myself sometimes almost FORGETTING that I’ve FORGOTTEN to practice my own skill.
Second, I think once we hit an advanced level of playing that allows us to, in turn, teach others, it’s easy to feel like you’ve mastered the skill and forget that it CAN diminish. Once you hit a certain level, yes, you will never lose it completely, but what once used to be easy, will definitely start to get harder and harder.
I noticed it. Bigtime. It was VERY clear to me I wasn’t practicing enough when I began to struggle to sight-read music at a level at which I knew I used to be able to play almost perfectly at the drop of a hat.
The third reason it can be easy to let our own practice go by the wayside is lack of REASON to practice. If you don’t have something to prepare for, then practicing simply for the reason of not LOSING our skill doesn’t lend itself to a very good long-term factor for motivation, at least for me.
If it can be easy to allow our own practice time to suffer, what can we do about it?
I think perhaps the single most important thing we can do is in reaction to the third reason why we allow it to suffer – simply having a REASON – that is, an event. As independent music teachers we don’t necessarily have required performance schedules like a university teacher. Just as we create performance opportunities for our students a few times a year, WE need things to play for and might have to work a little harder to craft those opportunities.
What might this look like?
Well, it could be as simple as playing in your student recitals. I know there are BIG debates around this topic but I am 100% team PLAY. I’m not going to get into reasons why, but if you feel you need some convincing, then let me direct you to an excellent post by my friend, Joy Morin over at Color in My Piano called “5 Reasons to Perform Alongside Your Students at Studio Recitals.” I’ll link to that blog post in the show notes.
It might mean taking on a church job where you need to play a new prelude each week, or accompanying a local school choir for 3-4 performances a year. Maybe it’s hosting your own mini-recital and inviting friends to come for an evening event.
This one might feel a little scary – but consider going back and taking lessons again yourself for awhile.
Do what you have to do to have a REASON – a goal to shoot for.
A few years after I opened my studio, the organist at the Lutheran church in my town asked me to fill in for her a few times. I’m not an organist but they had a piano I used instead. She retired not long after that and the minister came to see if I was interested in the job. At first I wasn’t but quickly realized the comfortable salary offered would be a nice second income alongside teaching and I quickly gave in.
Here I am six years in, and while I’ll admit I wobble back and forth at times on whether I’m ready to move on, I’ve come to realize that if I didn’t have that job, I would have little to no other opportunities where I need to prepare a new solo each week. Even just playing new hymns and liturgies has been nice. My own church in it’s contemporary worship setting offers great opportunity for improvising on chord charts which I enjoy, but otherwise, my solo piano skills aren’t really needed there on any kind of a regular basis.
Now that we’ve recognized reasons why we may not be practicing enough and addressed how we can encourage it by creating a reason to practice, let’s talk about some tangible and achievable ways to put a routine into practice.
First, sit down and determine a time in your daily schedule when you can be consistent in practice. Preferably that would be at the same time each day but if not at least a regular time very day – even if it’s different each day of the week. Building a successful habit is all about consistency.
Once you determine when you will practice, schedule it. Literally, put it on your calendar just as you would your student lesson times. Maybe go so far as to even allowing a notification reminder to go off to keep yourself in check.
Think about your practice time in regards to how it fits into your student lesson schedule. You could:
- Practice as soon as you enter your studio each day before you sit down to your computer.
- You could practice for 30 seconds between students – run through a scale in a variety of ways as students transition in and out of the studio – even while giving your salutations.
- You could practice while your student runs to the bathroom
- LASTLY, practice for the 10-30 minutes leading up to your first lesson of the day. This last one has been a big winner for me. I have found that if I allow myself to continue working on whatever project I’m working on right up until the minute my first student of the day works in the door, I’m either too distracted to get anything done as the time gets closer to their arrival, or I get so focused that I actually feel disappointment when the student walks in the door because I have to stop what I’m working on. This is a feeling I really don’t like and one I decided was time to do away with. Practicing has become a great solution. The other reason I find this to be a great time to practice is because it gives your students a chance to hear you playing. My students frequently walk in the door and are star-struck or totally loving hearing what I’m playing. What better motivation them than to hear what’s possible in the skill they are learning!
If you would like to learn more on the growth mindset and habit-building, I would highly recommend checking out James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits” and will include a link to that book on Amazon in the show notes.
As we wrap up todays episode, let’s quickly think about how implementation of a healthy practice routine for ourselves as teachers can in turn benefit our students.
The first is the obvious as stated in the beginning – practicing what we preach!
The second is relatability. When we work through practice struggles and wins we, in turn can share those experiences with our students.
The third is empathy. Perhaps this is the same as relatability but if we struggle, we can (or at least we should) understand when they struggle and relate.
So, let’s vow to make this an important lesson for both us and our students and acknowledge that IT’S HARD and there are going to be seasons – whether short or long – when we simply CAN NOT practice either at all or as much as we would like. It’s OK. Have grace with yourself knowing you can’t always do it all.
When you can though, follow the three big principles from this episode:
- Recognize why you’re not practicing
- Create a reason to practice
- Enable a regular routine
Wow, this episode has been nothing short of a counseling session with myself and you are just along for the ride. I think most of us would say we could use a little boost on practice habits just like our students.
Before we say farewell, in order for us to get to know each other a little better, in each episode I like sharing a fun fact with you about me.
Today, I thought I would share that one of my little hobbies is creating playlists on Spotify. My husband always chuckles every time I tell him I’m making a new list. Luckily he thinks it’s cute and not a strange thing to enjoy.
Recently I created a series of playlists that accompany 9 or 10 music-themed children’s books. Along with that, I created a free downloadable bookmark so you can print out and insert into the books. When students check out the books from your studio and take it home to read, parents can easily access the playlist using the QR code on the bookmark. I’ll link to that in the show notes for you.
If you enjoyed this episode, would you do me a favor and jump over to Apple podcast to leave a review. It would mean a lot and be a great help to me.
If you’re online I would love to connect with you. You can find me a pianopantry.com/podcast, on Facebook at Piano Pantry or an Instagram at Amy Chaplin Piano.
Alright, my teacher peeps, stop listening to podcasts and go plan your new practice routine!
I’ll chat with soon!
