"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!