Years ago I heard someone make a distinction by stating, “I don’t teach piano; I teach students to play the piano.” This has stuck with me ever since I heard it, and guides my perspective from week to week as I work with my students. One of the reasons I love teaching so much is because I really love my students! Every single one of them has a unique personality, God-given talents, varied interests, differing perspectives, etc. I love talking with them, sharing ideas, discussing life events, and getting input from them.

Numerous times, I have heard other teachers exclaim about how nice it is to have “adult interaction” in contrast with spending so much time each day with kids (a.k.a. their students). It’s also not uncommon to hear others advise new teachers to keep their personal life separate from their professional life. They caution them to keep their dealings with their studio families professional and not to get too personal with them. I couldn’t disagree more with either of these mindsets! For starters, when I’m working with my students, I speak to them on the same level that I would most adults. I don’t dumb down my vocabulary. If they don’t understand something, we discuss it in more detail, or I alter my explanation, but I don’t automatically assume that they won’t understand me if I explain it in the most precise terminology. And we discuss all sorts of things – philosophies of musical styles, historical elements of time periods, theory concepts…as well as many non-music topics.

Secondly, my studio operates with almost a full overlap between a professional and personal approach. I intentionally make efforts to get to know my students and families on a personal level. One of the ways I do this is by attending other events in which my students are involved – plays, concerts, sports games, community fairs, etc. Two weekends ago, several of my students were competing at a local 4-H event, so I went to watch and support them. When I arrived, I ran into a neighbor friend who asked what I was doing there. When I told her I was watching my students in the piano competition, she was in awe and said that in many years of her daughters competing in the event their piano teacher has never once attended.

Now I realize that there is not always the flexibility to be able to attend events and support our students in their various endeavors. But I strongly believe that one of the primary ways we can invest in our students as people, not just as musicians, is by getting to know them and their families on a personal level – caring about them and who they are outside of the piano lesson. This is why I look forward to lessons – not only do I have the opportunity to impart a love for music and the skills to play the piano, but I also get to see and spend time with some of my favorite people!

One of my goals this year is to purchase a piano to replace the current acoustic piano in my studio. The current piano is a low-end instrument that is 30+ years old. Some of the repair work it needs now would cost significantly more than it’s worth, so I finally decided I better get serious about saving for a new piano. I’ve started doing some preliminary research and came across the Piano Buyer website. Larry Fine’s popular Piano Buyer Supplement can be read for free online! There are lots of other great resources on the site as well. A place I will undoubtedly be visiting many times this year!

I would love to have input from some other teachers on pianos. What brands and models do you really like? Which ones do you not like? Any other advice on choosing a piano? As much as I would love to have a grand piano, right now both space and financial considerations have limited me to an upright. I’ve heard that some upright grands are a close second to a real grand, so that’s what I’m hoping to find!

I know we’re a ways past the first of the year now, but I’m still contemplating goals I want to work toward and improvements I want to make – personally and professionally. Chris Foley has a fabulous article on “10 Ways to Improve Your Musicianship in 2010.” Check out this great statement:

“Single-mindedness and dedication will in large part determine the outcome in a process where talent usually means less than the hard work required for others to think that you were talented in the first place.”

My favorite item is 5. Go on a diet – of listening. A fascinating concept. Chris concludes with this observation, “If you become a part of the performing culture of your chosen musical style, it will add an energy and passion to your musical endeavors that will help propel your playing to the next level.” I’ve never been very “up” on different performers and haven’t made a point to listen to a wide variety of musicians in the past, so I’m excited about the possibility of making an intentional effort toward this end this year. We’ll see how that goes!

Okay, I think I’ve saved the best for the last! You must, must, must find a way to get together with other teachers on a somewhat regular basis. Virtually is good, but in person is the best! I am a member of several local music teachers associations, plus our state association, and Music Teachers National Association. I can say without hesitation that I would not be the teacher that I am today were it not for the investment of numerous other teachers in my life. It is impossible to quantify the benefit I have received from attending local workshops, serving on leadership boards, traveling to state and national conferences, and just visiting with colleagues about a host of teaching-related issues. They’ve given me advice, support, encouragement, ideas, and camaraderie that is invaluable!

It’s great to be able to connect with other teachers on-line via forums, blogs, and e-mail (and I’ve met some incredible teachers that way!), but I highly recommend becoming a member of your local association(s) and making plans to attend a state or national conference this year. In fact, I just completed my registration for the MTNA Conference in Albuquerque, NM March 20-24 a couple weeks ago and I think it would be a blast to plan a time to meet-up, get to know each other in person, and talk about all things teaching-related (well, maybe about other things, too…)! Anyone else already going? Anyone else thinking about going? Leave a comment or e-mail me if you’re interested in being part of a group meet-up and we can start working on the specific arrangements. (Or, for those of you on facebook, RSVP on the 2010 MTNA Conference event page and I’ll keep you in the loop as we make plans!) I still have to finalize my travel and lodging arrangements, but now that the registration is in, I’m thrilled and anticipating a fabulous time!

Hopefully this short series on re-igniting enthusiasm has been helpful. Please keep sharing your own thoughts or suggestions in this area. I know we can all use it!

The recital last Thursday night was a wonderful time! I am so proud of all of my students for their hard work leading up to the recital, the poise they exhibited in their performances, and for being a blessing to so many people with their music. And I think we’re even starting to get the after-performance bow mastered!

Thanks to all who have contributed great ideas for the Christmas gift idea list! In fact, if you have an idea that’s not specific to Christmas, but is still a great gift idea for students, I think the list will be valuable for teachers for any gift-giving occasion. So, keep sending those ideas my way and I’ll work on getting the list compiled!

I’m off of teaching this week and next, so I’m also planning to take a couple weeks off of blogging here. I’ve got a ton of ideas and topics that I’d like to post about, so hopefully the next couple of weeks will give me some time to organize and do some preliminary work to launch 2010 off to an exciting start! Stay tuned!

May you all have a blessed and merry Christmas!

I’m off this week in my studio and decided to take a week off from blogging as well. Hopefully I can tackle all the things that I’ve been adding to my list of oh-I-can-just-wait-and-do-that-during-my-week-off. I’ll leave you with a beautiful quote that some friends sent me recently:

“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul;
it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.
I have no pleasure in any man who despises music.
It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology.
Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us.
My heart, which is so full to overflowing,
has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.
Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

~Martin Luther

May you all have a blessed week!

Is everyone else in the midst of Christmas music and preparations for Christmas recitals? Somehow it snuck up on me this year, so I didn’t get the recital selections to all my students until last week. Gulp! I hope they are motivated to work really hard between now and the recital to get them learned well! My process for selecting Christmas recital music is about the same as what I outlined in this post.

I start off by taking requests from students for a piece that they would like to play for the recital. And this is basically first-come-first-served because I only allow one rendition of each carol/song. No, all 30 of you cannot play Carol of the Bells! Then I spend hours and hours pouring through the books I have on hand and sitting at the music store trying to find just the right arrangement for each student. I want them to love their piece and to sound beautiful when they play it!

Once all the pieces have been selected and assigned, I incorporate them into our theme for the recital and write the narration or other elements that will be included along with the performances. This year’s theme is Jesus: God of the Galaxy! (This is in keeping with our Exploring A Galaxy of Music theme for the studio this year.) We’ll have our recital on December 17th, with a mandatory rehearsal the week prior. This Name that Christmas Tune game that Wendy posted looks fun! I think I’m going to use it at the rehearsal as a fun game in between our two run-throughs of the program.

I love doing our annual Christmas recital! It’s become a favorite tradition among my students and their families, and I’ve found that the students play so much better since I’ve started holding regular group classes throughout the year that give them the opportunity to develop their performance skills on a regular basis. I’d love to hear what others are doing recital-wise. Are you doing a Christmas recital? Do you have a theme? Favorite pieces? Traditions?

Here’s a short video with a collection of news reports that aired eight years ago on September 11.

HT: The Cloakroom Blog

I can still remember the day vividly. Most of my students canceled lessons that day, but I did have a few that came, and we carried on the best we could. Everyone was pretty somber, though. Today, our music teachers association is having our monthly meeting, and we are playing patriotic music for each other in honor and remembrance of the many lives that were lost and sacrificed on September 11, 2001.

Since it’s an official holiday, I’m officially taking the day off here. Plus, I’m fully absorbed in another website project at the moment, so any answers to Monday Mailbag questions might be less-than-coherent.