I’ll admit, I’m not the teacher that is always up on all the “music/teaching” apps out there. Part of me can be a teensy-weensy bit slow at keeping up on that end. I was, however, happy to add to my iPad this week, TuneTrain especially for students who love to compose. The best part is that with a single tap, the student can transform their visual “picture” melody into actual notation. Fab. Continue reading
What’s the one digital item you find trickiest to keep organized?
For me, it’s photos.
Many readers have asked about this, and when a friend asked the same question just the other day, I knew it was time to share.
I have a confession though – I wouldn’t call my way anything special, it’s just what I do for now. I love seeing ideas of how others organize, even if I don’t end up doing it that way, so hopefully, you can find some inspiration to clean up your photo files and share any great tips you have with me!
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Did you know Music Mind Games has a rhythm solitaire app? It’s only $0.99 on the app store and will be a fun addition to my lab time. Rhythm and solitaire – a brilliant combination! Continue reading
Recently, in an attempt to help my students take more ownership of their lessons and learning, I’ve tried tweaking a few things with my teaching style. These personal teaching tweaks are nothing major, but I thought it might be fun to share.
As a very organized person who likes things neat and tidy, and wants to be as efficient with our short time together, I found myself doing too many things for my students.
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I just printed out Julie Knerr’s 20-Ways to Practice for a Recital to use with my students in the two weeks leading up to their recital. I printed the list page on one side and then printed the 25-check boxes image on the other side of the page.
One of my favorite hymns is It is Well with My Soul. I downloaded the studio license. It’s already loaded into my ForScore app ready to play on Sunday. Continue reading
Change.
I thrive on it. I love the seasons, rearranging my studio annually and re-doing my student schedule each summer and fall. The latter, of course, takes time, but for me, the idea of never changing my lesson schedule is suffocating! LOL.
Clear start and endpoints can give distinctive physical and mental relief and rest. When I used to be a choral director, I would frequently get sick the week following school being out as my body was letting go of the stress!
For many independent studios, the end of the school year is a time to take a step back and celebrate the culmination of students’ work and progress through recitals.
Not only that, but it’s the perfect time to turn our heads and reflect on the last 30-40 lessons and 4,000-plus hours of practice. Did we use our time wisely? Did the student make progress? Did they participate in any studio events? Does the student feel they put in their best effort? There are so many questions that can be pondered and progress assessed, that conducting student evaluations has become a part of my annual schedule.
My recital is always the Sunday before Memorial Day. It does get a little crazy having it that time of year, but I love the feeling of having that culminating event where the whole studio comes together to celebrate and make music.
The week following the recital, students and parents come to the student’s normal lesson time, but there is no formal lesson. We sit down and hash out the past and the future of the student’s piano studies together. (My studio is closed for a semester break the last week of May, and then we return for summer lessons the first week of June.)
My role in that meeting time is to give the student a formal evaluation, and the parent and student’s part is to fill out questionnaires, which I give to them ahead of time. Today, we’re focusing on the former.
Many teachers, after seeing my extensive tutorial on how Evernote can help you organize your studio, got a peek at my evaluation form, and have been asking if I would be willing to share. Not only am I going to share the form, but I’m going to explain in detail how I use Evernote to organize and track evaluations from year to year.
Seeing how far we’ve come is only possible if we remember where we started!
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The name “Clafoutis” alone makes me want to bake this beautiful french desert. Rustic, and cozy. I wouldn’t tackle a dessert like this without my cherry pitter
How Joy has been using MLT in her studio since our trip to Boston for the MLT certification course last August.
All the hype over this? Continue reading
It’s that time of year for many when preparations for year-end recitals are in full force. If you have ever had to mentally think through the same basic list of tasks every year for your recital preparation, this post is for you!
The first year I had a recital in my studio, I kept detailed records of what needed to be done, when, food needs and amounts, and more. I’ve continued to do so every year, and this habit has become a planning life-saver.
Using a recital preparation timeline and checklist keeps me sane, saves time (by not having to think through every little detail again from year to year), and saves money (tracking food purchases vs. actual usage).
There are three different types of items you will want to create checklists for:
The recital preparation timeline and checklist should include a timeline leading up to the recital, such as what items to complete 3-4 months before, 6-12 weeks before, 3-4 weeks before, the week before, the day before, and the day of.
Miscellaneous notes of reflection are a great place to jot down mental notes for yourself for future recitals. For example, “Don’t do recitals that last longer than 60 minutes without including an intermission,” “Don’t forget you like to keep a clipboard with you for all your announcements and awards,” and so forth.
The food buying guide, of course, is only applicable if you provide the refreshments for the recital yourself (or for the rehearsal). I’ve always liked serving students a pizza lunch after rehearsal as a simple and fun way to build community within the studio.
Over the years, I’ve saved myself a lot of money by taking time to record actual numbers, such as how many people attended, how much food I bought, how much was left, etc., and have really gotten it down to an exact science.
Be sure to sit down no more than a day or two following the recital to make your notes of reflection and record food consumption. I promise your future self will thank you!
To help you get started, I’m going to share a free document of my list of items – many of which you will want to include.
Keep in mind that the content is my personal record. I’m giving you access via Google Docs. Access is view-only, so you will want to download the document and make your own edits.
Interested in learning how to organize studio awards? Check out this post: Studio Awards Policies and Procedures.
This is a guest post by Dr. Andrea McAlister. After attending the 2017 MTNA Conference in Baltimore, I wanted to bring you the session that impacted me most. Leading up to the conference, I had been noticing myself using the word “good” a lot and without thought (even though I knew better) so this was exactly what I needed. Andrea was a fantastic presenter. Despite being a 20-minute accelerated track session, she epitomized the saying that “less is more.” She got to the point, was clear, and very engaging. I hope you glean as much as I did from her regarding our use of language and words.
I recently had the opportunity to present Better Than “Good” at the 2017 MTNA National Conference and, while I’ve given numerous presentations throughout the years, I found this one to be strangely difficult to assemble. According to my abstract, I was to talk about praise, feedback, and the different ways in which we can effectively communicate with our students. It’s what I do every year in my pedagogy classes with the next generation of teachers. We discuss a variety of ways to put gestures, musical concepts, and technical skills into verbal cues for a variety of ages and levels. While it’s difficult enough for new teachers to put ideas into words, many of my students speak English as a second language, making the process that much more difficult and important. As they grow in education and experience, these new teachers fill their toolboxes with expressions they know will work with their students and pick up a new tip or two along the way.
I do this year after year with a new crew of pedagogy students, so why did it seem so difficult to prepare the same material for the conference? Why not take the same tried-and-true class activities, slap them on a power point slide, and be done with it? “Teaching is not telling,” says Frances Clark and yet here I was, telling teachers how to use words. Something didn’t feel right. Continue reading
Another perspective on the madness.
I couple of articles supporting the group over individual lessons. The Advantages of Small Group Classes and Private or Group by Dr. Robert Pace.
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