After the past few months of lost income due to students canceling lessons for injuries, soccer games, vacations, etc., I am realizing how wise you and other teachers are for charging monthly tuition rather than per-lesson fees! Switching to such a policy for this fall is top on my priority list, but I am curious […]
Business
What if Your Student Could Compose a Piece and Have it Performed by a Professional Musician?
That is exactly the vision behind Music-COMP (formerly the Vermont Midi Project). The organization began in 1995 with the purpose of “encourage[ing] and support[ing] students in composing and arranging music.” This is accomplished via “A community of professional composers, teachers, pre-service educators, and students engage in mentoring and online discussion of student work.” I had […]
Monday Mailbag – Year End Achievement Awards
“I am curious about student achievement awards. I am wondering what you and other teachers do. Do you give out awards based on years in lessons (i.e. 3 year award) or perhaps awards based on level of achievement (i.e. completed Faber level 2A etc.)? Maybe some teachers simply give out a participation certificate. This will […]
Monday Mailbag – Making Custom Student Worksheets
What program do you use to create your worksheets and publications? It may shock (or horrify!) some of you better designer-types to know this, but I create almost all of my worksheets and practice incentive materials in Microsoft Word. I’ve discovered that with the use of tables, you can accomplish just about anything in Word. […]
Teaching Tips from Snowboard School – Part Three: Plan a Systematic Approach
From the moment we set our snowboards down on the powder, it was obvious that our instructor had a clearly laid out plan for teaching us. He gave descriptive explanations and walked us through each step, familiarizing us with the board and what we should expect from the class. This was an incredible confidence-booster and […]
Teaching Tips from Snowboard School – Part Two: Give Students a Vision of Success
When I first fastened my boots onto the snowboard, the prospect of whizzing down the slopes like the other snowboarders I had observed for years propelled me forward. From my experience years ago, though, I learned that the gap between where I want to be and where I actually am can quickly seem insurmountable (i.e. […]
