Students
Teens and Piano
I have a handful of teen students most of whom have switched over to SM from traditional experience. I have to say that they cover the gamut of ability, interest and practice regiment. This is a very challenging age group because I have a couple…
Teens and Claiming Territory
I wanted to share a territory victory, even though it caused me to lose a student. This student was 12 (not quite a teenager, but BOY did she act like one). I told her coming in, as I do with all prospective students of this…
Teen Students & Parents
I have a couple of teenagers (16 and 17) that have years of previous experience and have been with Simply Music since summer ’09. They both catch on easily and are wonderfully capable of going forward. However, neither of them are keeping their playlist alive and…
Motivating Junior High-Age Students
I was just curious if anyone had any strategies for junior high students (ages 11 or so through 14). I have a class of 6 at this age ready to start level 6 and a couple of them are so quiet and apathetic. I would…
Bored Student
This is probably a moot point because this student has all but decided to quit, but I’ll ask anyhow. Here’s the background: 17 year old student, who was my most advanced of traditional students when I transferred my studio over to Simply Music. He has…
Student Update – Neil Moore
Hi all, Recently I forwarded you a copy of a weekly update that I received from one of our teachers, Diana A.. Her most recent update is also valuable, and as such, I have included an edited transcript. I have left out the students’ names.…
Student Accountability
I want to share something I’ve learned that has really helped my teaching. I love working with kids, but when I first started teaching, I had never really been around kids much. I am not a parent, and most of my time had been spent…
Request vs Requirement Based Studios
December 2006 Neil came over to Australia for a series of workshops and spoke about the difference between Require and Request. This was a rather large insight for me. Although I knew where Neil was coming from and could appreciate it, I did wonder how…
Unfolding The Relationship Conversation
One thing I’ve learned from experience, is that when you take the time to educate the parents and the kids on how this Program works from the very beginning, then life is a whole lot easier. This week, I started two brothers, 8 and 9.…
The Relationship Conversation for Adults
The relationship conversation as currently outlined is very clearly directed to a parent/child situation. I’m curious what anyone out there does to modify it when presenting the Foundation Session to a group of only adults, especially a group of older/senior adults. Simply leaving out references…