On Time, Ahead of Time & Yet Outta Time

When I asked as student how his week has been going, he replied, "Average." He had tests and assignments - the usual. It hasn't been an average week for me. Yesterday, two students swapped lesson times for the week and today, two simply didn't show for their lessons while two anounced that they will be leaving. Lesson swapping is a great system but in this case, I had to jump into the fray since this student was having challenges finding someone available to trade with. No-shows do happen from time to time. However, we teachers do appreciate the heads up beforehand so we can re-adjust our schedule. Though, the nice thing about running a private studio is that I can get some office work (or housework) done when a student doesn't show. I got quite a bit of ARMTA work done. Just about set for Monday's general meeting. I even managed to catalogue some new music I recently purchased for the studio library.

I am sad to see the two students leave but I understand that sometimes, life's demands don't leave room for one to do music.

My students' piano recital is this Sunday. Getting the signs and Certificates of Achievement done was a nice brainless task, unlike the recital programme, which took at least three drafts (I stopped counting). It's amazing how many changes were made with people changing songs or saying that a schedule conflict has come up and they can no longer attend. Well, I've printed off over 100 programmes. Any other changes will have to be made from the stage.

Now all that's left to finalize are the post-recital reception supplies, figure out the most efficient way to get through the programme, pick up the church key (would you believe it takes 74 minutes to get to the church by city transit?) and put together my Recital Box/Bag (tape, footstool, etc.). Perhaps I'll get the students to sit up front in their performance order and get everyone to follow the programme instead of having an MC introduce them. The MC is a nice touch, but I'm really trying to keep the running time within an hour. With students playing more than one song and exam students running through their programme, timing is a challenge.

This round, the students who are playing more than one songwill perform each song at different points in the programme. I read somewhere that it gives parents and students something to look forward to as family are concerned with three only things - "When is Johnny playing? When does he play next? When is this over?" From a performer's standpoint, it gives them a chance to regroup. We'll see how it works on Sunday.

Alas, I am outta time. I thought I had ample time to drop off a job application (I'm looking for a PT job to help with the bills - especially in the summer drought) and to get all my bookkeeping done. I was three months behind on the personal side. I finally updated my personal chequebook (still pathetic looking) and will have to tackle the business side tomorrow (er...later today).

Off to practice. I still have some problem spots in my song that need to be ironed out before Sunday and a wedding music consultation on Saturday. Time to dust off those wedding songs. Hopefully, I can squeeze in a good practice, get enough sleep AND catch the 9:10 bus on time in the morning...

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Piano Paperwork Musings

This past weekend, Maestro and I processed all the student registrations submitted during the Early Registration period. Maestro lounged on his bed as I inputted the student's registration information into my teaching schedule, Palm Pilot, e-mail groups, birthday lists, my website administration site and Quickbooks.Quickbooks and my Palm Pilot are already programmed to enter the monthly invoices (Quickbooks) or beep before each piano lesson next year (Palm Pilot). Maestro would shoot up out of bed as soon as he heard the stapler, paper slicer and hole punch - all of which he guards zealously. He vascillated from watching my every move intently to make sure I use all tools properly, to lunging for them. The latter leads to him being hip-checked. Why he thinks they are toys is beyond me.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB Canada. All rights reserved.

Enter Troppo Crazy Season

Yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – this is truly a late night blog entry. We are now into troppo crazy season. I was speaking with a fellow teacher this past afternoon. We talked about how the pace will be prestissimo from now until June; with the mad rush to nudge (er, push) students to get everything memorized/prepared for festivals, recitals and exams, everyone becoming busy with extracurricular activities, work and/or school. I’ve been a busy bee, trying to get as much done by Thursday so I can actually take some time off during Easter Break (novel concept).

The submission deadline for Calgary ARMTA’s newsletter has come and gone, which involved bugging (er, reminding) advertisers that we needed their ad ASAP. The logo design contest is over and I must say I do like our new logo. Check it out at Calgary ARMTA’s website (I just reformatted the fonts on ALL the pages, by the way). My 2006/07 Registration Package has been distributed to most students. My own website got a bit of an overhaul in the Studio Central section. The online Studio Handbook is complete and uploaded to Studio Central. And no list of mine can be complete without bookkeeping. I am nearly done my corrections and will be seeing my accountant later this week. I hope I don’t owe the tax man too much.

Outstanding items? Marking theory, re-arranging Above All for piano duet, arrange a song in lead sheet format for another student, cleaning up, practicing for a wedding gig next week and more administration. I’ll have to start thinking about my summer teaching schedule, but can’t nail that down until a few things are finalized.

My brain is sliding into an ungraceful ritardando. Onto the fun links and then I can call it a night.

Copyright 2006, Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Planning & Research: A Look into a Music Teacher’s Day

The students in public school have this week off. It also happens to be Group Class Week at the Studio (group class in lieu of a lesson), A.K.A. “catch-up” week for me. I have spent most of my time working on the advertising campaign for Calgary ARMTA’s newsletter and finalizing my 2006/07 Studio Registration Package (studio calendar, policies, registration form, letter to students, policy agreement). Some policy changes have been made, which may or may not go over well. It has all been for the sake of improving business operations. Less time on troubleshooting or putting out fires equals more time and energy to put into being a better teacher.

Having a well-defined standard set of studio policies and practices is essential to the survival of any business. Everyone – the students, parents and teachers – will be operating within the same set of rules and regulations. Each year, teachers improve upon their policies and practices (or at least, they should).

I am also writing an online Studio Handbook, which contains everything from lesson protocol to practice tips, and from teaching philosophies to how parents can support their child’s music studies. Working on the policies and the handbook is energizing. After all, it’s a chance to do some reflection on what’s important, on what I want to accomplish and look at areas that can be improved upon.

I took a break from it this morning to go shopping. My theory students will soon be working on practice tests, so I needed the latest set to go over myself. I also found some funky music class resources for the upcoming group classes: Music Listening Bingo by Cheryl Lavender. I hope the students enjoy them.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find everyone on my shopping list today. Try as I might, I couldn’t find piano music for an AC/DC song that I’ve been asked to play as a wedding recessional song. The wedding isn’t until August, so I have time to research it a bit more.

© 2006 by Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Friday Fun Link #15 & A List to Make Your Head Spin

My head’s starting to spin again. This week, I’ve been organizing next week’s Piano Group Class (a behind the scenes tour of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium), preparing for Monday’s Calgary ARMTA Executive meeting (Barb, I’ll get my reports done before Saturday!), reminding and coaching students and their parents to register for their piano/theory exams and the APTA Music Festival, creating contracts with milestones for the exam students, parents and I to commit to, restraining myself from screaming at students who don’t practice (and trying not to look bored when they stumble through a piece they’ve had for far too long), fielding calls from parents looking for a piano teacher, fielding calls from brides looking for wedding music and trying very hard to keep up with lesson planning, practicing and paperwork.

All this while dealing with a dog with a bad case of sniffles (but really wants his walkies), a short story contest deadline looming, passing along sad news to my fellow U of L music alum (and then trying to track down contact info for classmates who are MIA), re-recording a student whose recital performance was full of static, looking for Iaido clothing that fits petite women, designing a photo waiver for the Iaido Club, practicing Iaido, getting used to life without a car (retired to Car Heaven), setting up networking lunches, dealing with a weird company about digestive enzymes that caused a nasty reaction and what else? Housecleaning. Whoa. I am out of breath just reading that. Now that is called a run-on sentence. I certainly need a Friday Fun Link to lighten the mood. This week’s link is CyberParodies. I’m listening to “Carbs” (a parody on “Cars”). Pretty wacky, just like my list.

And that’s that. Back to paperwork, practicing and practicing. Have a good weekend everyone!

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.