What makes you really excited? Studying music history? Sight-reading new repertoire? Dreaming up game ideas? Improvising arrangements of familiar tunes by ear? Capitalize on your own area of interest to build the enthusiasm of your students. Invest your excitement into putting together creative assignments for your students. For example, plan a group class around composers […]
Teaching
Reigniting Enthusiasm – Examine your Expectations
One of the driving motivations in life is to increase my knowledge and skills and strive for excellence in all that I do. While these qualities reflect some of my core values, I realized several years ago that I was running myself into the ground because I was expecting more of myself than I could […]
Monday Mailbag – Re-igniting Enthusiasm!
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had a marvelous Christmas season and are ready for a new year of teaching. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I had hoped, but I think I’ll be saying that the rest of my life! Today’s Monday Mailbag question is perfect for the […]
Christmas Break!
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 […]
The Countdown is Over!
Monday Mailbag – Billing and Payments
How do you deal with payments? I’ve been billing my students on the last week of the month, for the next month. Seems quite backwards, but I’m not sure how to do this! Do you do postdated cheques? Some teachers find that works well, but what if the student misses a lesson? Please just give […]