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There is no doubt that people in general struggle with keeping their resolutions. It's a popular fact that as humans, we long to better ourselves, but rarely muster whatever we need to keep our intentions alive. Despite not being an excellent resolution keeper - I love making resolutions! I love goal making, resolution making, making plans regarding change. Resolutions give me hope, no matter how poorly executed.
This year I've made 16 personal resolutions such as;
-read two books a month min.
-drink way more water
-grow out my hair
-try reflexology ....
None of the above is heartbreaking or self-esteem breaking if left unmet as a challenge. So, bring on the resolutions! My casual promises, with hopeful intention... that I'm under no legal obligation to fulfill really help me, so I've decided to make 4 teaching resolutions as well. Here they are.
1. Make every lesson as joyful as possible
There are so many philosophies that point to or point away from creating a rote structure for students to effectively learn piano (or anything for that matter). However, as a piano teacher I've really been thinking about my ultimate goal for my students; why am I teaching piano? I'm teaching piano because music, movement and expression bring people joy!
Learning to cultivate that joyful spirit will allow my students to engage more deeply in our lessons. I've seen it, that spark and that giggle, it changes the entire room. For some students it's me showing excitement, for other students it's me speaking really quietly, for a few of my 6 year olds it's talking to them like they are adults that *snaps* them into this joyful mood of independance and importance.
Figuring that out in a 30 minute lesson will be hard, but worth it!
2. Consistent Praise
When my students play something correctly or ask an engaged question or are really working hard, I want to be sure to praise them in a way that is motivating and consistent. That way my students also can gage their own success. I try to stay away from sentences like 'good girl' because it can be demeaning and their success isn't innate - their success is coming from an action they're doing. I want to be sure not to blur the lines between - you're so great and you're listening and hard work is so great.
I find that offering my students a double high-five or a pat on the back is the most encouraging. That positive reinforcement related to our physical and verbal space is generally more rewarding than just using a sticker system. I think I will continue the sticker system that encourages repetition, since repetition and stamina are important skills to develop for piano anyway. Four stickers if you play this song four time, two stickers if you play the song twice. In that sense, the stickers are something they've earned after they've been rewarded for good behavior, engaged listening and effort.
3. Engage Parents More
I have already etched out time in my schedule to work on administration. This includes tracking payments, doing paper work, printing worksheets and tidying up the studio. However, I'd also like to be able to put out a monthly email for my parent audience. I think it's important that they know how seriously I take my job and I would really like to get some of them more involved in their child's piano lessons. I can think of my own parents in this situation; my mom loved being involved in my lessons - coming to them, sitting in, knowing my teachers whereas my dad just preferred to show up to the performances and take me to and from rehearsals. Both of their roles in my musical life meant a lot to me- it showed me how committed they were to me. I want to create opportunities to engage parents as best I can - not sure what that looks like yet, but it's time to get the creative wheels turning.
4. Expand Without Burning Out
At this point I feel like I have a good number of students. It's doubled from what it was a year ago, but there is such a trill in meeting new students and beginning new relationships around the piano. Right now my student roster is full - I can't accomodate more than the number of students I have . In April I will find out what my next academic steps are and take cues from that to decide if I should take on more students.
Although, expanding to me doesn't just mean more students. It means, more performance opportunities, more engagement, more consistancy in my admin operations. I want to achieve all these things without 'selling out', without feeling like a lesson-factory, where I'm pumping out the same crap, lesson after lesson. Worse, I don't want to romanticise ideas I have an never follow through with them. This also means working smarter, not harder. Last semester was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. I hosted 2 parties, one rehearsal and one recital as my membership doubled. I almost burned out.
Here's my action plan :
1. PLAN : Planning three months ahead seems to keep me in a sweet spot with my students. Right now I've already planned out March Break and have begun giving out adverts for a promotion that I'll be doing. In february I will start seeking out a recital space for May/June. In March I will start creating my 'summer programming' schedule and adverts.
2. Days OFF: I need exactly 2 whole days off where I can do whatever I want. This means I have no class and no students to teach. Right now I have Fridays and Sundays to cushion myself and I really want to continue honouring thoes days.
3. Have Faith: Having a deep sense of faith about where I am with my students and studio has been a connecting thread for me. There was a time when I really thought about closing my studio because it was more work than reward. Suddenly, out of the blue I was greeted with 3 new students. Some people call this Big Magic, some call it The Secret, I call it Faith. Keeping faith that God has put these students in my life for a reason, that teaching is my calling and trusting that wherever this brings me is where I'm supposed to be.
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There we have it!
So grateful to be starting another year of life and teaching.
I hope you all feel the joy of new starts!
-Olivia