This is the third and final installment of The Varsity Musician’s Playbook. In it, we discuss community presence — being visible in your community and building community within your studio.
It was written by my good friend and colleague, Christina Whitlock, NCTM. I asked her to write this series for you since, of all the conference sessions I attended last year, it was the one that impacted me the most.
If you missed the first two posts in this series, I would recommend reading them first.
Part 1 – Studio Interdependence
Part 2 – Studio “Locker Room”
Be “The Piano Teacher.”
Consider this: If a young man introduces himself and says he plays football, the next question is almost guaranteed to be, “for what team?”.
When I mention the fact that my daughter takes gymnastics, I can almost always count on the next question to be, “at which gym?”.
Why should our studios be any different? Our communities should know us by name!
Carpet Squares. I went to my local carpet store and asked if they had old samples they needed to get off their hands. They were happy to sell them to me for $1 each. I purchased 25. My original intent was to hand them out to families to use as bench “prop-ups.” Layering several of them is a perfect way to boost a little kiddo up on the bench without beeing too “cushy.” I just store them under a table in the studio.
I had a freshman beginning student who’s been with me a year and a half. She’s currently playing at Faber 2B level but is ready for a good challenge piece.
Are you interested in learning more about Music Learning Theory (MLT)?
