Why are you a teacher?
Honestly, for me, I began teaching because it was a way for me to pay the bills when acting jobs weren’t coming and stay connected to what I love to do.
As I’m sure you have discovered in your own path as a teacher, there are hidden rewards that you discover only as you do it.
Lately, I have been noticing how many of my clients’ lives are really taking off since they committed themselves to singing…and it’s made me think about the real reason we want to make music and share it…as performers or teachers.
It’s great for our souls.
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Posted in Teaching Tips
Right now, teachers are gearing up for end of semester recitals, benefit concerts, holiday school concerts, and holiday gigs. And then there’s the additional blur of holiday shopping trips and social commitments. But it’s definitely time to make plans for the January 2012 NAMM show if you haven’t already done so. NAMM is taking place from January 19th to January 22nd, 2012 in Anaheim, California. Music Education Days is Jan. 21st to 22nd. About 1,400 exhibitors are participating and over 90,000 people will attend.
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Posted in Financial Business, Music & Technology, Professional Development
There isn’t much written about the tune “Turkey in the Straw” but in honor of Thanksgiving, her
e’s my take on it, and a version you might enjoy using for students at various levels. They can use it to learn a simple tune, learn about variations and improvisation, and about phrasing and structure. Below I’ll give a little history and here’s a thumbnail of the music stripped to its basics, with phrasing and variations shown — you can click on it to enlarge it:
Although I’ve worked with many styles of music, one style I have specialized in is Scottish music, and having played and studied many of these tunes in historical context, I’m convinced that “Turkey In the Straw” originated as a type of tune called Read more…
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Posted in Music History & Facts
The pursuit of mastery has been a popular topic in recent years, with plenty of research and information being presented in books like Outliers. The basic assertion of the mastery research is that to become a master, one needs to do 10,000 hours of practice. Studies have been done on chess masters, musicians, and even youths who grow into soccer pros. Part of the research on the process of mastery has been the assertion that high intelligence is of little or no help to the process after a point.
Now, there is research to counter that assertion. New research indicates that intelligence does indeed play a role. Read more…
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Posted in Music News, Practicing
“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield has become my bible. It was recommended to me by a friend 3 years ago and I have read it over and over again since. The author declares resistance to be the official enemy of all creative endeavors, and it is a demon that takes on many, many forms. Self-pity, television, relationship problems, a messy house, long to-do lists, volunteer committees, any kind of personal drama, etcetera, etcetera. You get the point. As music teachers, it can be difficult to make time for our own practice, but I am beginning to realize how essential this is.
When I started teaching, I told myself I would work really hard to get my teaching business going, and once that happened, I would begin making my own practice a priority again. That was 7 years ago. What happened? Life happened. It became difficult to not only find time, but also motivation for practice. There was always an excuse. The kicker came when I was asked by a student how long I practice each day. I was so embarrassed to say that I was so busy with the business that I probably only practiced a few hours a week. Yikes. What a bad example. Read more…
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Posted in Practicing, Professional Development
As I write this blog entry, I realize that it was about a year ago that I joined this wonderful Music Teachers Helper community. My first article here was “Time to plan the Holiday Recital” – it is that time of the year again!
Over the years, I have come across a great variety of holiday music for students. My favorites include: Music for Little Mozarts Little Mozarts Perform the Nutcracker, Famous and Fun Christmas by Carol Matz, Christmas Jazz, Rags & Blues by Martha Mier, and Especially Popular Christmas by Dennis Alexander – all of which feature fantastic arrangements of some of the most popular holiday classics. They are carefully graded to suit different student levels, musically appealing, and provide a good deal of pedagogical merits.
While I always enjoy teaching holiday music to my students and playing the teacher duet parts, every now and then I want to play those beautiful, familiar tunes, too! There are countless Christmas songbooks out there, but most of them are collections for voice/guitar/piano. I am not a big fan of these fakebook-style anthologies – the piano part is usually not very pianistically written, either it is too simple and boring, or it is awkward with big leaps and stretches. I want pianistic, musical solos that sound sophisticated, have a bit of an improvisational nature, do not sound juvenile, and are “showy” enough to play for friends and family! This year, I have found three books that fit the bill! Read more…
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Posted in Product Reviews, Teaching Tips
Most students need motivation to move forward. My theory is that if one loves the
musical selection, the motivation will follow. However, the long journey towards transforming a favorite piece into a successful performance can often frustrate, dampen spirits and lessen the attraction.
Let’s be honest–why do we work? Because we love it? Perhaps, but back in the fast-food-job days, I worked for that paycheck. With the demanding, repetitious practice required during the “transformation period” an incentive or a “paycheck” can prove helpful. Music Money, created by TCW Resources, sparked my curiosity years ago and I continue to see the benefits of paying students for practice and progress (and so do my students!)
Ways to Pay that Can Make Huge Dividends Read more…
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Posted in Music Theory, Practicing, Product Reviews, Teaching Tips
I care what you DO want.
Why do we spend so much time worrying about what we don’t want in life (& singing)? I learned SO much from my three days with Shirlee Emmons at an Arizona NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) workshop in 2007 that it is still influencing my thoughts of how I approach life and teaching. Her book Power Performance for Singers, co-written with sports psychologist Alma Thomas, focuses on how to think so that we perform better. Unfortunately, we lost Shirlee in 2010, but her thoughts and words are still a daily inspiration to many throughout the singing community.
One of the biggest thoughts I learned from Shirlee that I try to focus on, in singing, teaching & life in general, is that “We don’t care what we don’t want.” Basically, let’s not focus on what went wrong, let’s focus on what went right and how to repeat it. To that end, I ask questions of both myself and my students: What happened? What worked? What could you do to make it better? Where did the sound go? How did it feel? How did it sound? What were you thinking about? Read more…
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Posted in Performing, Practicing, Teaching Tips
“That was great. Now imagine how good you’d be if you actually practiced….” my teacher chided. I heard that statement a countless number of times. I always loved to PLAY piano, but I never wanted to actually PRACTICE piano. “Practice makes perfect, “ I heard over and over again. “If you want to play 
well, you need to practice!” Nowadays, I actually do enjoy practicing most of the time, although occasionally I find that my old habits still creep in. Suddenly, I am at the bench playing for fun instead of wood-shedding those tough spots that need a lot of attention. It’s those times that my dear, public school, music teacher hubby calls from the next room, “Honey, PERFECT practice makes perfect….” And he’s right.
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Posted in Practicing, Teaching Tips
I have often gained new ideas from learning how others use Music Teachers Helper (MTH), regardless of how many years I’ve used MTH. This post is about various ways I use event categories and email reminders, and I hope it contains a few ideas you find intriguing. Feel free to share your perspective by adding a comment below or on Facebook so that readers can benefit from your ideas too.
My MTH day begins at 5am the previous day – that’s when my automatic email reminders go out, and when I learn which notifications have been sent to people. (Several times I’ve been asked why I was up at 5am sending those reminders out!)
No matter how long it’s been since a lesson or class, I know students will receive a notice about their appointments the day ahead of time. Not only does this avoid missed lessons and all the hassle or disputes that can go with them, it also serves to put student and teacher on the same page. There have been times when a student and I agreed to change a lesson time, but I failed to change the calendar, or times when a student proposed a change of time but did not follow up on it – in these cases, the reminder prompts the student to get in touch with me and say, “Really? Do we have a lesson scheduled then?” and I can look it up and sort out any misunderstanding before anyone misses a lesson, or before I find myself waiting for a no-show.
If you’re not using automatic reminders, you can set them up by Read more…
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Posted in Using Music Teacher's Helper
