Thursday, November 7, 2013

Top 10 Ways to Keep Students Motivated Through the Holiday Season

It's that time of year again.  The steam from start of semester has tapered off, and focus has turned to the upcoming holidays.  Students and teachers alike feel this sense of apathy all together and all at the wrong time.  In order to keep going until through December (and performance evaluations), here are the top ten tips collected from various teachers to re-focus, re-energize, and re-sist the urge to break their instrument in half, throw it across the room, and call it quits.

10.  Reconnect with your students.  A lot has happened in each of your lives since you began lessons. If you're not having a weekly conversation to check in about school, family, friends, etc, then take some time to get to know each other again.  A strong bond will stay with both of you through the week and keep you excited to come back to see each other.


9.  Create short goals.  Not "small" goals.  Goals that can be reached within a week's time.  Both of you will feel the accomplishments that will fuel further growth and development.  Examples of short term goals might include:  Practice every day (no matter how much time, just every day), find a piece you are playing on YouTube, sing a phrase without stopping, play 1 new rudiment, etc.  When the goal is reached, celebrate it!


8.  Make a playlist.  Most of our students have access to YouTube.  Give them a list of videos/recordings they should listen to for inspiration.  It could be related to their instrument, or an example of excellent musicality, or just an interesting piece.


7.  Play along with a track.  Maybe you can put an etude to a hip hop beat?  Is there a band-in-the-box accompaniment to go along with the excerpt?  We have speaker systems that you can plug an iPod into or CD player to use in your lessons to make even the most technical selections a little more interesting.


6.  Play with your students.  Duets!  A great excuse to practice listening, playing with others, keeping good tempo and rhythm, and a time for your students to hear you and make music with you.

5.  Choose some FUN repertoire.  Choose a Christmas carol or a pop tune they love.  Add it to the practice journal for a few weeks.  No pressure, just fun music.  We have several Disney books in the library, and you can find almost ANYTHING online.



4.  Record them.  Use your iPhone to make a recording, or check out a Tascam digital recorder from the front desk for your lesson.  It is always beneficial for a musician to listen to and critique their own performance.  When you know you have a good one, keep it and make a comprehensive album at the end of the year or semester.  We have blank CDs you may use to burn a copy for you and your students.


3.  Invite them to a rehearsal or performance.  Are you in a band?  Play in an orchestra?  Invite your students to come watch you play.  We'll facilitate making sure that it is ok with parents, and you've got a really cool experience to offer your students.  Teachers in the past have asked students to sit in on rehearsals, even play along when it is appropriate.


2.  BE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!  A very smart music education professor told me once that my "pants had to be on fire" for students to be remotely interested in the subject matter.  OK, running the same etude over and over again isn't the most exciting thing, but students definitely won't be excited if you look like you're about to fall asleep.  Fake it 'til you make it, the fire will catch on eventually for both of you.

1.  Threaten to cut off their thumbs.  "If you don't practice with five fingers on each hand, I'll cut your thumbs off and you'll have to figure out how to only use four fingers'.  Alright, maybe not really, but using humor gets students engaged faster than just about anything.  Make sure they know that you take them seriously, but music should be fun.  Always remember the joy and fun in music making, and they will too.


Always let the staff know if we can provide you with anything you need for lessons.  Keep up the excellent work!  Even when students don't seem engaged, they just need a quick pick-me-up.  Enjoy the rest of the semester!

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