Here in Los Angeles, I still have ton of private students who have not gone off to camp yet. There is still time to put together this quick gift idea for the kids. If your students have already left, I apologize for the tardiness of this article, but consider using it as a “Beginning of the Year” gift idea.
I’m sure most of you have demos and full length albums, and your students would just love to have a CD of your work. They will love playing it for their friends and family while bragging “This is my teacher!”. So take 3 of your recorded songs, burn them to a bunch of CDRs, slap on a label with a note that says something like “It’s been fun teaching you this year. I’m looking forward to next year. Have a great Summer! Sincerely, Michelle Payne, (insert email address).”
I did this for my students last year, and it was a hit. The kids all put the songs on their iPods and listened to them in the car and shared it with everyone. The other plus is that someone’s friend is bound to hear your CD and be impressed enough to inquire about lessons.
If you try this out, please post back and let me know how it goes!
About the Author
When I was just a college Junior, I started teaching private guitar lessons in order to support myself. I was in a rock band, writing songs and performing on a regular basis, and I certainly did not plan on becoming a teacher. My plan was to graduate, get a job in social work, and just continue writing songs. Teaching surprised me. I ended up falling in love with the act of guiding a student from point a to point b. To watch someone go from knowing nothing about a subject, to simply performing in a recital, is such an awesome thing. I ended up scrapping that social work idea. I was doing more good as a teacher, minus the intense stress that most social workers go home with. I currently have a busy program that teaches private guitar, piano, and voice lessons in Los Angeles homes. I am also the creator of the music and service blog 38 Ways to Change the World Through Music.
