"Removing Fears and Tears"

Philippians 1:1 - Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus 
which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: ²Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father,and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, ⁴Always in every prayer of mine 

for  you all making request with joy, ⁵For your fellowship in the gospel from the 

first day until now; ⁶Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a 

good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Paul and Timothy thanked God for the saints, they prayed for the saints, and they had confidence that God would use the saints in His work.  Couldn't we learn something as teachers? Even as piano or music teachers?

Were you ever afraid to go to a music lesson?  I remember being totally mortified with certain teachers.  I was afraid of disapproval, failure, correction, possible chiding, and being compared to other students.  I was always happy to leave the piano lesson if I received at least one sticker on my music books.  For a shy child, I can't believe I kept going to lessons.  

Our students are not mature nor do they possess the confidence that we have.  They are only beginning the journey.  Sometimes they may be afraid to try a different type of song or may feel that it is out of their reach. One of our jobs as teachers should be to remove fears.  

1. Make it clear to the student that your job is to help them reach their goals.

2. Ask them what their goals are and what they would like to learn in the next few months.

3. When they don't reach their practice goals, help them come up with a plan for the next week.

4. Break down big goals into small goals they can reach.

5. Be generous with praise and stickers, they are cheap!

6. Express your confidence and belief in the student on a regular basis.

7. Play duets with the student if they are afraid to play solos.  Our goal is not to teach just soloists, but musicians.  Duets are great tools and fun to play!

8. Allow students to use their music while performing.  I use mine every week.  Memorization is great at some point, but if it would mean the difference of a student hating music lessons or loving them, let it go.

9. Purchase music for your students and write encouraging notes on the covers.  I have every piece of music that my teachers gave to me.  It meant a lot that they thought of me and thought enough of me to give me music.

10. If they are struggling with a song, save it for later or toss it.  No song is more important than them moving along.  There are other songs that will teach the same technique or note reading skills.  I sound like a radical here but I've seen my students relieved faces when I decide to "change" their songs because I don't like them!

Remove their fears.  Music should be a wonderful and enjoyable experience.  No more tears!

"A Missing Ingredient"

What is the difference between the students you enjoy teaching and students that you teach because you are their teacher and it is your duty to teach them?  It is their DESIRE.

When a student has a DESIRE to learn about music...
1. they are never habitually late to lessons
2. they bring their books
3. they practice what you assign and then some
4. they listen to what you say during lessons
5. their lesson time seems to fly by
6. they see the importance of every thing you try to teach them
7. there is improvement, it may not be miraculous, but there is steady improvement
8. they may never be great musicians but they will learn and will enjoy music

There are students that I absolutely love teaching.  The Lord has blessed me tremendously with a wonderful group of students.  The teaching time does not stop after the lesson.  I receive emails, questions throughout the week, and we "talk music" when I see them in passing.  I love this.

What can we do to add this ingredient into a student's heart and mind?  I think we must teach desire by example.  We should have enthusiasm, excitement, and passion about every thing we do or play or say about the music ministry.

Proverbs 18

¹Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

If a student wants to be a good musician, he will need desire and he will need to separate himself in order to get the wisdom he needs.  His desire will help him overcome the loneliness of practice time or the sacrifice of missing another activity due to lessons or practice time.  

Some things that I do to help my students get excited about their lessons and practice time:
1. Assign at least one song that they absolutely LOVE.  Ask them what they love to listen to or if they like fast songs, slow songs, fun songs, or banging songs.
2. Play something for them to hear while you're waiting for them to get to the lesson.  My teachers did this and I remember standing outside the door listening.  My desire to go home and practice increased and I couldn't wait to try to learn the pieces they played. They didn't tell me or make me, they showed me.
3. Give them music cds with your favorite songs on them, from one musician to another.
4. When you teach a new concept, explain why they must learn the concept.  Example:  Show them how a scale is useful in hymn playing or classical pieces.  Don't just make them learn a scale, they don't see the point.
5. Occasionally have treats, candy, pens, notebooks, and prizes to give them when they do well, or just because you thought of them.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"Allowing Your Students to Be Musicians"

Sometimes we can become a slave to our piano curriculum, as I mentioned in the previous post.  I remember one particular student who practiced every assignment I asked from her.  She practiced at least four hours a week, which was tremendous for a beginner student of her age.  I was pleased with her progress and she never complained.  One particular lesson had several folk-type songs assigned.  I didn't think anything of it until her parents saw me at church.  They me how happy they were to hear their daughter play a song they actually recognized and enjoyed listening to.  I thought they would start giggling from happiness.
I learned a lesson.  Piano students do have learn the basics but they also need to make music.  From the very first lessons they should play something recognizable, something that brings out the musician in their soul.  The entire household can either cheer the student to practice or beg the student to stop practicing.  I'm not saying throw out the scales, exercises, and boring studies.  They should be part of the practice time, but students should also be musical.
One of my students learned to play the melody to "Fur Elise" by ear.  He was so proud and couldn't wait to play it for me.  Jennifer Petticoffer from ten years ago might have told him to wait until he could read the notes, but the Jennifer Petticoffer of today couldn't wait to hear what he had done.  He loves that piece and he will learn it, but until he does he can enjoy hearing the little melody in between the pages of "Swans on the Lake" and "The Hare and the Rabbit".