Wednesday 11 September 2013

A brand new year of music lesson

Fall is upon is, but for teaching it feels more like spring; a sense of a new beginning. A fresh 'batch' of new students are awaiting teachers, and a refreshed outlook on teaching is helping us to get the best out of our students.

Getting organized
Over the summer Jackie (partner in life and music, pianist) and I have developed a completely new record keeping and tracking system, which will help us to be more effective teachers. 

An essential part of the record keeping is the Goals and Accomplishments sheets. Each student will have their goals defined during the first lesson, and a comprehensive strategy is developed for the full year.

Goals can be straightforward, such as "improving my tone" or "doing more jazz improvisation this year". But there's more to it than just that. Together with the student we will design an effective, goal oriented strategy.

New duo-tangs!
Helping students setting goals and planning for the year.  

For example, somebody who is planning to do an RCM Grade 8 exam would want to take advantage of more performing and mock-testing opportunities, and would want to know where and when theory lessons are available. With the help of our Goals and Accomplishments sheet in combination with our Theory, Concerts & Exams sheet we are now able to plan this.

All of these documents have been put in bright coloured duo-tangs (easy to find in your music bag), together with newly designed weekly Practice Charts, which will help the students realizing their goals step-by-step. 

New performance opportunities
Both Jackie and I are members of the BCRMTA, the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers Association. THE BCRMTA organizes five student concerts a year, which gives our students more opportunities to perform.

And we have not forgotten about taking care of our adult students. An "adults only" concert is scheduled for the end of the season.

We are looking forward to a GREAT year of music making with you!

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