I recently wrote a blog post about my stance on whether or not to offer a free trial lesson to prospective students. After about fifteen years of experimenting and trying things, I’m resting (for now) on the side of offering a free trial lesson to new beginners and transferring students alike. You can read about […]
For Suzuki Violin Teachers
Why Does My Child Always Need Water When It’s Time to Practice?
Kids are busy. With extra-curriculars, homework, school; but also with their free play and imagination. A kid hardly ever just walks up the stairs. They scale Mount Everest. A kid hardly ever just eats a sandwich. They wonder what a peanut butter factory looks like. A kid hardly ever just brushes their hair in the […]
For Music Teachers: Why Offer a Free Trial Lesson?
Why I offer free trial lessons to prospective students and why you might want to, too. Free trial lessons are a somewhat controversial topic in the music teaching world. Many teachers believe offering a free lesson devalues our work and encourages prospective students to exploit these offerings. This may or may not be true. But […]
Will AI Change Music Teaching?
I was obsessed with birds as a kid. I had two pet cockatiels, June and Sydney, that I adored. I watched the movie Polly over and over again. I had a bird book and a pair of binoculars. My dad and I would sit by the window and try to identify the birds that came […]
McKenzie’s Institute Reflections
Every year that I take Suzuki Teacher Training I write pages and pages of notes. Though I’d like to review my notes more, it doesn’t really happen. In the last few years, I’ve started ending the course by creating one page of key takeaways. I tuck it into my planner and skim through before I […]
Why I Have My Kids Take Violin Lessons from SOMEONE ELSE
Teacher Appreciation week is the first full week of May, but since I think celebrating teachers for only a week is ridiculous, we’re devoting the whole month of May to teachers. (Yeah, yeah, and because I totally missed the first week of May somehow. I’m way behind on EVERYTHING this month.) I always knew that […]
My New Guidelines for Students: Suzuki in the Time of Coronavirus
One of my many character flaws, is that I, when faced with a difficulty, will often put off creating a solution in the hope that the problem I’m facing will just…disappear. One of these difficulties is one you’re probably facing right now as well–online teaching due to Coronavirus. There was (and still is, to be […]
How to Address Difficult Situations with Students…
I’m going to make a guess that if you’re reading this blog post, that you are, or have been, in a situation where you need to discuss something sensitive with a parent or student in your music studio. Maybe you’ve been meaning to have the conversation for a long time, and you’ve finally decided it’s […]
Setting Boundaries in Your Suzuki Studio
As the beginning of school approaches, I like to take some time to reflect on what’s working and what isn’t in my Suzuki violin studio. I love the magic of a new start, and the beginning of fall is my favorite time of year. It’s important to me to set myself up well at the […]
Online Teaching: What’s Working, What’s Not…
It’s been about six weeks since all of my violin teaching has moved online. Like so many others, I have had to learn a lot very quickly. In many ways, it has gone really well. I get to see all of my favorite little violinists every week! They are all making progress. If I had […]