Last week my family and a couple of friends and I headed up to the slopes of Summit County, Colorado for our annual ski trip. After many years of skiing, several of us thought it would be a great adventure to give snowboarding a try. This was actually my second attempt at the new sport. Some other friends and I tried it about 10 years ago, but…well, let’s just say it didn’t take. 🙂
This time was an entirely different story. And I’m pretty sure I know why. Last time we grabbed our boards, managed to take our seats on the lift, and disembarked in a less-than-graceful fashion at the top. We then tumbled and crashed our way down the mountain with nothing but a backside full of bruises and sore wrists to show for it at the bottom. In contrast, last Monday, by the time the lifts closed in the afternoon, I had completed two successful runs down the mountain and was quickly getting the hang of the techniques required to be a good snowboarder. The difference? Snowboard School.
After my failed experience a decade ago, I determined that if I was to ever try snowboarding again I would enroll in lessons instead of going at it on my own. We had one of the best instructors on the slope (in my opinion) and I took lots of mental notes of his teaching approach so that I could relate it to my own teaching and better identify with beginning students in my studio. I learned so much from the experience that I feel like I could almost write the whole trip off as a business expense. Almost. 🙂
In light of that, I’ve decided to put together a 10-part series here on Music Matters Blog: Teaching Tips from Snowboard School. Check back every Thursday morning for each installment of the series. I hope this will be helpful to new and experienced teachers alike as we all strive to be excellent teachers so that our students will become successful musicians and have a lot of fun in the process!
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