Music Group Class Round 1 Reflections

Well, students and teachers of Musespeak Studio and To the Wind Studio have survived the first round of music group classes with this new format.  I learned three main lessons:

1. I have gotten too complacent as far as teacher-student communications go. My students, their parents and I have an established rapport. I'm starting virtually from scratch with my brother's students. Sure, we've chatted at recitals, but a five-minute chat and teaching in 90-minute stretches are two totally different things.

2. It is important to over-plan and have several back-up activities up your sleeve. My pacing for one of the group classes was perfect. One was all right but could use a few more activities, while the other - well we raced through my lesson plan and I wound up flying by the seat of my pants for a very long time. I have Divine inspiration to thank for the "Let's Make Up a Story with Sound" exercise that I did with yesterday's students when improvising.

3. When teaching at another studio, have a studio contact list on hand in case you need to contact a parent in the case of an emergency or behavioural issue.

Overall, it was a positive experience. I've learned which students I need to be firm with and which ones I can recruit to take more of a mentoring role with the junior students.

I enjoyed teaching four lovely girls basic conducting gestures and beat patterns.  They giggled a lot and had a great rapport with each other.  

The "Get into The Groove" class challenged me the most. I will need to plan more rhythm exercises, especially ones where they split off into smaller groups. As for the stubborn ones - let's just say that I'm just as good, if not better at digging in my heels. "The Art of Practicing" also wound up being a great group of music students who were very engaged. In discussing how to practice music, we discussed stretching as well as their learning styles and practicing challenges (e.g. "When I Don't Feel Like Practicing"). The conversation also lead to areas I had not thought of incorporating into my presentation - and they should be. Thanks to them, talking about how to practice when injured and speed learning will be incorporated into my presentation. I look forward to the next round of music group classes.

Setting up the Studio Computer Lab

Technology and music is a huge area for growth as far as music teaching goes. I recently transformed my old office laptop into a music computer lab.

I downloaded various cool (and free) apps from Ubuntu's software center, including:

• Audacity

• Linthesia

• Score Reading Trainer

• GNU Denemo

• GNU Solfege

• Hydrogen Drum Machine

• Linux Multimedia Studio

• Virtual Midi Piano Keyboard

• Musescore

Generally, I zoomed in on apps that help students with note reading practice, ear training and rhythm work. The music notation software and audio recording software is to give them something fun to create.

One student was tickled pink that he earned three Maestro Bucks for creating a funky drum loop (and tutored his sister on how to use the program).

Revamping My Student Incentive Program

After several years of running "Maestro's Musical Quest", I've come to the conclusion that my student rewards program needs a complete overhaul.

This is what I've learned with Maestro's Musical Quest:

1. Most of my students found it very hard to maintain a practise diary. Many couldn't be bothered with it. Some hated it.

2. Quite a few students detested logging their minutes.

3. My students got discouraged when they saw that they weren't earning as many Maestro Bucks (to spend at Maestro's Market) because they didn't maintain their practising diary or get their parents' signature and basically gave up on the program.

4. The Top Dogs (Most Minutes Practised, Most Tasks Cleared, Most Maestro Bucks Earned) weren't necessarily practising efficiently.

I came to the sad realization that my practise incentives rewarded students for practising inefficiently. That is something I do not want to keep doing. Having a system that frustrates students isn't something I want either. Having said this, I still want them to be accountable for their work. It really made me think about what exactly I wanted to reward and inspire in my students. 

I decided to focus on four main areas: technical proficiency, music mastery, leadership/initiative and efficiency/meeting goals. The first three are Top Dog categories, re-branded as: "Technique Savvy", "Music Mastery" and "Music Maestro".

Technique Savvy:

Students will earn $2 Maestro Bucks for each technical element they master.

Music Mastery:

Students will earn $25 Maestro Bucks for each five songs they master. Memory is optional. Perfection will NOT be stressed at all. The main thing I want to reward is proficiency.

Music Maestro:

Students will earn $3 Maestro Bucks each time they do something above and beyond their assignments, e.g. do a concert report, compose a song, do a music review, help out as a recital assistant, do a composer report, present an independent study or work ahead on their own.

For those who are wondering, student prize that "costs" $100 Maestro Bucks costs me $1.00 to buy. Prizes are in $25, $50, $100, $250 and $500 amounts. I have gotten some requests for a $1,000 MB category as my students really like this one squishy exercise ball (which costs me $10).

The three Top Dogs will be awarded at the year-end Top Dog party, which all students (and pets) will be invited to attend (Note to self: find out if the neighbourhood park is available).

Mastery will also be rewarded through the

Gig Card

program. Perform 20 times and get a prize.

Goal setting, milestones and accountability are addressed with the

Goal Setting Sheet

. We'll work together to set their short-term, medium term and long-term goals:

On the reverse side, there is a spot for

End-of-Semester Checkpoints

. Both sides of the sheet must be signed by the parent, student and teacher.

The "assignment sheet" has been renamed "Learning Goals for the Week" to support the shift towards more goal-oriented practising habits versus practising for X minutes.  The Practise Diary? Gone. The Practise Log? Also gone. Parent signature? Not required. All I ask of them is to check off which days they worked towards meeting their learning goals. They will earn $1 Maestro Buck for each goal cleared.

Truth be told, my own Practising "Diary" is just a To Do List for that session. I don't log minutes. I stop when the job is done. I stop when I need a break. I change my strategy when something isn't working.

This is the heart of what I want them to learn - to make the best use of their time, whether they have 10 minutes or 60. Then when they do perform, wherever they perform, they can do so with a high level of proficiency and artistry.

© Rhona-Mae Arca, 2012.

All rights reserved.

Drowning in Music Lesson Planning

Once again, summer has flown by. My big list of summer projects? Pfft. Don't ask me about them and we'll be fine.

I'm currently in the throes of planning the group class schedule for my music studio. One idea launches into another idea and so forth and so on. The result is that I can barely get my ideas committed to paper (or in this case, the screen) quickly enough.

I'm quite excited about the activities that I have nailed down so far. Thanks to the staff at Caffe Crema, our first Studio Winter Music Showcase will be held there. My students will perform a set of contrasting selections. They will have to script their patter. I can hear them now, "It'll be like, a real gig!" Well, yes, kids. You'll be performing in public, so it will be a real deal gig. They'll have two "Open Mic Days" at my studio to get a feel for it all.

The year-end recital has been booked too. We have a few things planned to make it less recital-ish.

My students also be heading off-site for a few studio events too. So far, St. John's Music and Steinway Pianos of Calgary are booked.

But now, it's back to planning for the music group classes happening next week. My brother will be teaching my students about all the multimedia projects they'll be working on throughout the year, while I'll be doing a few interactive workshop-style classes with his students on practising, conducting and rhythm.

I suppose I should get back to figuring out why Libre Office refuses to print my handout with my stick-girl conductor properly.

© 2012 by Musespeak™. All rights reserved.

Music Group Classes Musings

Although summer has just begun, my mind is already focusing on the upcoming teaching year. I've made a few changes to my studio, which are both exciting and scary. Some of the ideas are inspired by music teacher, author and savvy entrepreneur Kristin Yost.

1. Moving to a year-round curriculum: My colleagues in the US have taught year-round for many years and have found that it really works. I know I'm not the only Canadian music teacher to hear, "I didn't practice at all this summer," from a student. It takes them months before they get back to where they were the previous June. Truly, what a waste.Summer-flex lessons make it easier for families to work around their summer activities but still provide the students with that needed consistency at their instrument.

2. Teaming up with another studio to provide more: It pays to have another music teacher in the family. I shall be teaming up with my brother's studio, To the Wind, to offer our students a wider range in their music studies. He has sound engineering and multimedia design under his belt.

3. More group classes and more varied ones: Group classes have been extremely popular at my studio. Up to this year, they've had between three and four a year. However, starting next year, they will get six. These are just some of the ideas To the Wind Studio and Musespeak Studio have up their sleeves: Introduction to Conducting, Video Games Live - mini version, So You Want to Play and Sing at the Same Time, improvisation, piano combos, composing, Design and Produce Your Own Radio Show, essential grooves, etc.

4. Cafe Performance: Most of our students are studying piano for cultural enrichment and recreation. Many of them loath the traditional recital format. So, shy not make it more IRL (in real life) and head to a cafe? The students will prepare a set of music, script a little patter; and their family and friends cheer them on while enjoying a delicious latte and dessert. The cafe performance, combined with adding the Video Games Live and Radio show projects to the year-end recital promise to make for exciting performances.

5. More Optional Activities: Depending on how our students respond, we will be offering a variety of optional activities to our students, as well as opening these up to our colleagues' studios. Some examples: tour of the Cantos Keyboard Museum, tour of a piano refurbisher's workshop, How to Make a Multi-Track Project, Live Interactive or workshop with some of our colleagues from other places in the world, like David Story in Ontario, Bren Wrona Norris in California and Liam Walsh in the UK. My involvement with Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir has opened the door to unlimited partnership possibilities with my Virtual Choir friends and colleagues.

Some of these ideas are merely an expansion of things I've already been doing at the studio. However, this is taking things to a much higher level. That's what makes it so exciting. However, to make it work, a lot of planning is needed right now. On the plus side, this planning can take place outside where we can enjoy the sun.

© 2012 by Musespeak™. All rights reserved.