Simpedia

Rebecca G., Colorado

Hi Claude,

I may not be the best person to respond to your questions about this, but I’ll give it a shot.

I’m a relatively new teacher to music altogether (started teaching SM about 18 months ago). I haven’t been strict at all about when I give out certificates, probably because up to this point all of my students have been adults, and I’ve assumed certificates aren’t as big of a deal to them as they might be to kids (perhaps that is not true). My only requirement has been that a student can play through all pieces of the completed Foundation level, and they don’t have to be up to speed or at a consistent tempo as long as they’re working on getting the piece onto the playlist. Basically, once the foundation level’s been completed, the students can play the songs for me, and they can explain what the diagrams mean, I’ll give a certificate to them for that level. I may get more precise about what I want to require for certificate awarding as time goes on, but for now that’s all I’ve got.

One potential problem with making very strict requirements for receiving a SM certificate is that it could start feeling a bit like the pressure- and competition-based environment of traditional piano lessons, where you have to take exams and perform in recitals and pass certain markers as a routine part of the process. This can make students feel anxious about their practice time, accomplishments (or lack thereof), and musicality in general, and that is not the sort of energy I want to generate in my studio.

The other problem is that I don’t feel I can judge each of my students on the same set of standards, because the quality of their musicianship is not equal. Some students will take a long time to come back with a simple composition they feel safe sharing in front of their peers, and others will compose several new pieces each week. So I would definitely avoid the idea of requiring comp #2 to be longer or more complex than comp #1, for example. You can always provide a suggestion or new idea to a student who’s doing well with an assignment and would be excited by a new piece of information, but if someone comes back with a new comp that sounds very similar to the 5 previous ones they’ve written, I would still call that success. I believe advancement happens naturally as students play more, are exposed to more challenging pieces, and are given the chance to feel wildly successful about their efforts. All they need from me is lots and lots of permission, space, and praise to encourage their own composition and improv; the rest will evolve naturally.

I tell my students that if they leave my classes feeling consistently overwhelmed or intimidated then I’m not doing my job as a teacher. Of course we know that our relationship with music is not always fun and exciting, but I feel that my job as a teacher is to be as positive and encouraging and uplifting as possible. That spills over into my rewards system, including the awarding of certificates, so I try to keep it light and exciting rather than competitive and something that feels like a major hurdle to overcome.

Claude D.

Wow, thanks so much Rebecca. I’ve been thinking about all that since 3 weeks now, and after all those brains storms I completely agree now. Simply Music, a world where everyone play so no stress, no exams, just the pleasure to play their pieces in a nice, lovely way. I’m giving my first level 2 certificates this week so that’s why I had to decide what kind of accomplishment I wanted from them.

My students are all children for now and you are right, they feel proud of this certificate. Except for my oldest (12) and more advance one, he is playing all kind of different pieces outside the Simply Music one (he studied with me for 2 years before starting Simply Music from level one) so it took a long time to go through level 2 because of those other difficult pieces he loves to learn. The level 2 certificate looks like it was to easy for him and I think that’s why I was a bit disturb by giving him a reward for something that was very easy for him.

On another hand, I have another story. I was sick last week so I had to cancel some days of teaching and this week, one of my students was disappointed and thought she wasn’t good enough to deserve level 2. She thought that it was the reason why I was not giving her the level 2 certificate (I forgot to bring it with me, I teach at her house) See? So each student is so different and I feel really good now, with asking only to play the songs and not as an exam or a stressful accomplishment.

I feel peace inside now and thanks so much to you…I love your way of seeing this! We have the same philosophy!

Rebecca G., Colorado

You’re welcome Claude – I’m sure there are other ways of approaching this issue, but I’m glad some of my suggestions helped you. It sounds like you’ve really found a solution for your situation that you’re feeling peaceful and very happy about. That is always the best sign that you’re on the right track!

I just started my first class with younger students several weeks ago, and I know they’re going to be really excited to earn their certificates just like your students have been. It’s also a great experience for us as teachers to be able to just reward our students for the good work they’re doing without applying extra pressure, stress, or judgment to their progress.

Congratulations, and good luck with all you’re working on!

Mark M., New York

There is no requirement for recording songs at every level, much less all historical songs at any level. There are only the requirements for recordings at particular milestones, and even those requirements only apply if you choose to seek a status level changes, which is itself not required of any teacher at any time after initial certification.

Whether you choose to record any other songs at any other times for any other purposes, for sharing with your students/families or otherwise, is entirely up to you.

Darla H., Kansas

I choose to record my students at the end of every level because it has proven to be real motivation for my students to keep up their playlists. What I do is record all Foundation pieces learned, up through level 3. Once they finish level 4, I have them do all of the last 2 levels and a random one from the level before that. (For example, after level 7, they record level 7, 6 and draw one title from level 5–this random one is chosen immediately before recording.

The idea is that they need to be prepared with all songs from that level, but I won’t take the time to record all of them.) I also record every composition that they would like to keep. So, at the end of each level they receive a CD with their foundation recordings, plus all the compositions they have shared.

The recording is a way of motivating students to keep songs up so that they can play them well enough that they are satisfied. There is a big variance in what satisfies each student. I keep it all low-key, so there’s no more pressure than what they choose to put on themselves. I do require that they know each song well enough to play it through without asking for help–it doesn’t have to be perfect, but if they can’t get through a song, they re-record it another time.

It does take a lot of time for me to edit recordings, make CDs, etc, but it’s worth it to me. And my students generally get through between 1 1/2 – 2 levels a year, so it doesn’t take as much time as if we were moving through faster.