Last summer, a friend recommended a book to me called “Brain Rules”, by Dr. Jon Medina.  The books comes with a DVD, which my friend played for me on his laptop during a trip to Chicago.   A bit of a self improvement junkie, I found myself instantly riveted and I bought the book and the audio book shortly thereafter.  Dr. Medina’s book presents twelve rules that people should understand about how their brains work.  The twelve rules are presented in twelve chapters.  At the end of each chapter, Dr. Medina presents several suggestions to implement these rules and (possibly) transform your life.  Some of the suggestions are simple, and some suggest a reshaping of some of society’s current habits and norms.

Prior to reading Medina’s book, I found myself reconciling lessons and answering emails from 1 to 2 hours per day. In addition to that, I would try to squeeze in thirty minutes of exercise plus two hours of daily practice. Never mind teaching a full load of 60 students and group lessons 6 days a week! And then just daily tasks – cooking, cleaning the studio, paying bills, returning phone calls. This is no small task to get all of these items done. Unfortunately, (like most people) exercise was frequently trimmed from the daily to do list when things got hectic. And exercise was the thing that would benefit me the most in navigating this demanding schedule.

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I hope you enjoy this series of fictional scenarios about teaching music, and find it at times thought-provoking, familiar, and even humorous.  We look forward to reading comments by yourself and other teachers at the end, about “what would you do?”

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Anabel is very excited to be taking music lessons.  She is a middle-aged adult and is committed to practicing.  At her lessons she asks many questions, and does what you tell her as best she can.  She takes notes in her notebook to use at home.

She understands your lesson polices, having printed them out from your policies page on your Music Teachers Helper website.  Your policy is that a student has to pay for a lesson if they cancel the same day, or if they don’t show up.

Anabel is very particular about lesson times.  She wants her money’s worth.  She is not overbearing about it, but she lets you know that if you start her lesson 3 minutes late, she does not want to quit on time.  She does not mind if her lesson goes a touch late, however.

One winter day, the day of Anabel’s lesson, there is a snowstorm in the morning.  More…

Let’s face it, teaching private lessons can be tough. You only see your students from 30 to 60 minutes per week, and not only need to fit in as much instruction as possible, but make sure that students remember what you taught and motivate them enough to put it to use in their practice sessions. Writing useful lesson notes can greatly extend the contact that you have with students through the week. Over the last few years, quite a number of articles here on the Music Teacher’s Helper blog have dealt with the issue of creating the most interesting lesson notes possible and in what format to deliver them.

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Dr. Foley, I forgot my notebook again. Can you just email the lesson notes to me so I can read them on my phone when I practice?

Often students arrive without their notebook, still expecting lesson notes to magically appear. If you’re able to use a laptop with an internet connection, it’s a snap to use Music Teacher’s Helper to type lesson notes that can be sent to the student and/or parent the minute they leave.  It’s relatively easy to wire your home studio with a reliable internet connection. However, many institutional and corporate music teachers work in studios without the benefits of ethernet or wifi connections. What to do? More…

I really enjoy having the option to send out lesson notes after a lesson through the Music Teacher’s Helper website. I find this is a great way to recap a lesson, reiterate the main theme of that lesson, and to remind me of what occurred in the student’s previous lesson, as the notes appear on my daily summary. As I teach solidly with very few breaks in between lessons, I keep a notebook on my piano that I jot notes into for lesson notes. When I sit down at my computer (sometimes that evening, and often times the next morning) I have a reference to go to on what happened at a student’s lesson and what comments I would like them to take away from that lesson.

When creating lesson notes each week, I always try to touch on something positive that happened in the lesson. Sometimes that may be as small as “Nice job being on time three weeks in a row!” or as large as “Great improvement! You are on to a new level!” I also have my students keep a “Voice Notebook” that I write in, as well as they write in. More…

An assignment given to me as a grad student was to visit various successful piano teachers in the area. One studio that particularly inspired me offered a computer session with each lesson. Upon graduating I embraced the technology of the 20th century and since then have attracted many students because of the “Lab” (computer session) with the “Lesson”.

In the 21st century, most households have succumbed to the technology and expect others to do so as well. At this point, why not capitalize on the countless options provided by the virtual world? WHY NOT set up lab time for your students and hire your computer?

Why?

• More Students–show that you care and attract students by meeting them where they are–online, on the phone, xbox, iTunes…
• More Time–spend 30 minutes teaching your student and then increase his/her learning time by a 30-minute lab
• More Income–charge for the lesson and add a lab fee as well (about one-third of your lesson fee)
• More Learning Tools–with more income you are able to purchase more equipment, music, software, etc that provide a variety of options for all learning styles

When?

• Schedule two students each hour, one works with you for 30 minutes while one works on the lab assignment for 30 minutes, then switch
• Consider this schedule for students in preschool, 1st-8th graders and beyond

How?

• Create Lab Folders for each student that lists the assignment to be covered for the day
• Choose software, or activities that provide tutorials, ear training, note name drills, YOU decide
• Create a unit and choose games, drills and tutorials focused on that concept

Why Not?

• Do not attempt to add a Lab if you are NOT  interested in computers, software, internet…
• If you are NOT able to multi-task, reconsider the Lab. You must be prepared to teach one student and expect interruptions from the other working on the computer
• If you are NOT willing to spend time determining lab assignments (however, great resources like www.keystoimagination.com are available to lift this burden!)
• If you are NOT interested in learning about, acquiring and installing software More…

Time put into lesson notes is well worth it for yourself, for students, and if the students are kids, for their parents as well.  Lesson notes are added when you reconcile a lesson; while you’re doing it, you can check off the box to have the notes emailed to the student.  For tips on reconciling see this post.

One great benefit of lesson notes for students is that they are read on emails (if you checked the box), at a quiet time away from the lesson, when the student can think over what you say and remember pointers from their lesson to good effect.

For yourself, you’ll gain the benefit of viewing the lesson notes from the last time you saw each student when you use the Daily Summary Report, which you can view, print out, or have emailed to you each day.  This is invaluable for tuning you into each student as you see them.  My own preference is to print the Daily Summmary report (see earlier post for more info on this) and use that sheet as a place to make notes about the current lesson.  You can use codes to speed the process:  for example, circle or underline relevant comments from the previous lesson to show that these items were reviewed, along with a comment about it, or use initials or code words to help you write new lesson notes.

Below are 4 types of comments, and examples of each, that I think are worth including in your lesson notes: More…

Audience at Belmont Village Retirement Home

This past summer, I posted an ambitious article titled “50 Ways to Change the World Through Music” and asked teachers to help me come up with 50 ideas to put on the list. Well, I didn’t get up to the number 50, but with the help of my students, friends, and a few posters on this blog, I was able to compile a list of 38. I started the school year off by explaining to each student and parent that this year we would have a theme and the theme would be “Music and Service”. Each student received a copy of the list. I explained to them that I wanted them to try and complete at least 15 items on the list by the end of the school year. At the end of the year recital, each student who does this will receive a special certificate.

Some items on the list are simple, like #8: “Play music for your dogs.” (Yup, every student did this one first .) Others require more planning, like #13: More…

It’s that crazy time of the year for music teachers when students are getting sick, canceling, rescheduling, and requiring extra lessons before that upcoming festival or studio recital. If you’re adding a large number of one-time events to your schedule, how can you do it quickly, without the need to go through the front door of your teaching website?

If you’re a Firefox user, you can quickly add a bookmarklet to your browser’s bookmarks toolbar so you can add an event with only one click. Here’s how to do it:

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One of the ongoing challenges of using Music Teacher’s Helper is getting students and parents to regularly login to their teacher’s site and make use of the student-only features. The solution: create a regularly updated stream of cool content so that they’ll get hooked. Just below the Upcoming Events section is a list of Announcements, which can be created and tweaked using the Studio Announcements feature.

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