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I have mentioned before that I have an older sister, and while people might say we look a like (even sound alike *insert eyeroll here*) we are very, very different. When I think back to our experiences in music, we took completely different paths. I stayed with lessons, couldn't get enough of them and my sister quit piano before her first major scale. My sister is in love with music. She knows greatest hits, newest hits and everything in between and she'll turn her car into a club if the music is right. Me.... I go through phases; I like country music (right now), gospel music, and silence for the most part. My point is that as two people who love music, we love it in very different ways. I have many siblings that take music lessons and they usually come together and stay together. This is a challenge for me because I truly believe that a huge part of the magic in music lessons is the one on one time that a child gets to spend with a teacher. I'm finding it tough to balance the attention that each child needs, while ultimately encouraging one at a time to focus on their lesson at hand. For some siblings sharing is hard enough, nevermind sharing my attention, sharing the piano, and sharing creative space. I recently got a pair of 'Beats by Dre' headphones. They are awesome. I didn't pay for them; they came with a new computer that I bought in a back to school program at Apple. I also have a couch that reclines, so my idea was to have one student have the choice to listen to music with some fancy headphones relaxing on the couch. The way I managed the song selection was using Songza and choosing the 'children's music' category. For some students I picked clean pop, others I picked Disney's Hit Tunes, so on and so forth. That actually lasts for some students and they can sit there for a better part of a 30 min lesson that their sibling is taking. I lock the ipod their using so they can only really change the song. It's very clear which of my students are independant at this point. Ones that are secure in not needing my attention at every moment are able to keep themselves busy and focused or are able to listen to their sibling. Some of my other students get themselves into trouble out of jealousy. They use their sibling to distract from what they need to accomplish, or they fight against sitting still for their own lesson. I haven't seen a trend in age or gender for this, it's really just what my student is used to and what their needs are. It's also very interesting establishing age-appropriate boundaries to create a space for students to respect each other and music. I have nothing against group lessons, I just don't think they are as effective and I don't teach them as of right now. I'm also trying to prepare some colouring and educational printouts for my students to engage with while I'm teaching their siblings. Mostly because I'm not an advocate for using electronics to entertain children - but I like the idea of them listening to music they've never heard before. It's all about finding that balance for all my students- ones in the lesson, ones waiting for a lesson..
I had a brother and sister recently fight about Elsa, and whether or not she was amazing and magical (sister's thoughts) or evil and ugly (brother's thoughts). The brother became so frustrated and burst into a small tantrum which he huffed "I HATE ELSA, I HATE HER, I HATE FROZEN, I HATE THEM ALLL- BAHHHHHH". Without missing a beat, his little sister turned to me and her brother and said "Don't say hate. Hate is a strong word". Oy vey..... I couldn't plant these quotes if I tried.