Performing at our recitals

I have really enjoyed Jenny’s posts this week about performing for your students and about fitting in practice time for yourself. This is something I’ve thought about a lot. It is a bit of a downer when I am reminded of how much better I was when I was doing my piano degree than I am now. Depressing! There is no way I can continue to practice 4-5 hours a day now that I am the primary caregiver for two small children, in addition to teaching and other adult responsibilities. BUT, that doesn’t mean that I have to stop practicing altogether! Without a performance to prepare for, it is easy for me to put off practicing, because there is always something else that needs to be done. That is one of the (admittedly more selfish) reasons that I perform at all of my studio recitals. An upcoming performance in front of all of my students and their parents is more than enough motivation for me to make sure that my practicing gets done. And really, anyone can practice, no matter how busy they are, if they make it a priority. (Isn’t this what we are preaching to our students?) My favorite time to practice is at night after my girls are in bed, but I try to get little snatches done during the day – often just 10 minutes at a time. I remember once I was babysitting a friend’s kids along with my own and I got 45 minutes of practicing in because the kids were having such a great time dancing and running around to the music. (It was Prokofiev’s Suggestion Diabolique, and its frantic sound and pace made those kids pretty wild!) Anyway, we musicians are pretty good at time management – a vital skill we had to acquire to fit in all the practicing we did in college – and with enough creativity and motivation, we can continue to develop our musicianship in adulthood.

As far as what to play at my studio recitals, I like to learn something new each time. There are plenty of pieces that I’ve always wanted to play, and it has been a fun challenge to choose a piece, listen to a variety of recordings, decide how I want it to sound, and teach it to myself. (I would, however, like to take piano lessons again someday.)

There are so many reasons to perform for our students! One is to expose them to a variety of classical repertoire that is fun to listen to, thereby (hopefully) generating more interest in different types of classical music. We can show them that it can be exciting to listen to and fun to perform! Another reason for performing is to give ourselves a little more authority when we tell our students what they need to do. 🙂 Students have a lot more respect for a teacher who clearly knows what they’re talking about, and what better way to demonstrate that than by showing them good piano habits in action? Performing is a good way to advertise our “product” not only to our students, but to the parents as well, who are paying us and should know what kind of a pianist their child’s teacher is.

One concern that may keep some teachers from performing at their recitals is that they will seem like they are trying to upstage their students. I have worried about this a little, but I don’t think it has to be an issue. You do not have to make yourself the focal point of the recital – make it clear that the recital is about the students. I’ve found that my students and their parents look forward to and appreciate hearing me play, which is encouraging, but I make an effort to focus on their child’s performance when talking to them after the recital. After all, that is what they really want to hear about anyway. When I was a piano student, hearing my teachers play was a real treat, and I had much more respect for the teachers who performed than for those who didn’t. My piano professor in college is a prolific performer – search for “Scott Holden, piano” on YouTube – and he encouraged us to perform at every opportunity when we became teachers. I am trying to follow his advice, and only good things have come from it.

Teaching when you have little kids

Balancing teaching and family is something that I have dealt with a lot in the past few years. My teaching studio really started to get going right after my first child was born. Now she is three and a half and I have another daughter who is almost one. My husband has been in medical school for these past four years and for the first two he was able to be available while I taught. This was so great because my teaching time was his special daddy-daughter time with Kate. They went to the zoo at least once a week and I was so glad that they had so much designated together time.

However, the third and fourth years of medical school were a whole different story, as Scott’s schedule became very erratic and he was rarely available to watch the girls while I taught piano. I realized that since I didn’t want to quit teaching, and I didn’t have parents or in-laws close by to help watch my kids, I would have to start hiring babysitters to come over while I taught. At first it was hard for me to accept how paying a babysitter would cut into my hourly rate. I ended up raising my rates a little ($5 more per month) to help compensate for this. The main issue, however, was scheduling. The babysitters that I know are quite busy, especially during those after school hours when I teach, and it was hard to find a “regular” for each day of the week. Piano lessons can be a hassle to schedule in the first place, especially with cancellations and make-up lessons, but when you throw a babysitter into the mix, upholding your lesson cancellation policy becomes even more important! It is so important to stick to your guns about no-shows, for example, when you have a babysitter that you are paying to be at your house for a student’s lesson and then that student doesn’t show up!

Also, apart from making myself, my home, and my children presentable, clean, fed, and rested (or resting) before the lessons started, I would often have to pick up the babysitter (which usually cut someone’s nap short) and be back in plenty of time in case my first student arrived early. If it sounds like a logistical nightmare, that’s because it was! Some of my babysitters had sympathetic parents that would drop them off for me, which was a lifesaver. However, I soon found that the best method was to have my students themselves be the babysitters. If someone already had a lesson that day, they could either come early or stay late and do the rest of that day’s babysitting. A couple of families who had multiple children taking from me worked out a deal – for a modest monthly discount, their children took turns babysitting during their siblings’ lessons so I wouldn’t have to hire anyone during their lesson times. I also felt like I could hire younger babysitters (like 10- and 11-year-olds) because I wasn’t actually leaving the house and would be available if an emergency occurred. There were still plenty of scheduling disasters, but once I started using my students as babysitters I usually made it to the end of each day with my sanity intact. 🙂

Apart from the logistical issues, I think balancing teaching and family has been really healthy for our whole family. Both of my girls are pretty clingy with me and it has helped them to become more independent (and alleviated their stranger anxiety) as they’ve learned to be cared for by other people on a regular basis. I really think they’ve developed better social skills from having several different babysitters each week. Also, I think it’s really important for my children to see that Mom is not just a mom, but a person too, with her own interests and responsibilities outside of motherhood. Most of the time, I am available when my girls want me, but I think it’s good for kids not to expect that their mother should be at their beck and call 24/7. Teaching piano has been a great illustration of this principle, and at times it has been hard (for my girls AND for me) to have to say, “I can’t hold you/play with you/read to you until lessons are over,” but I truly feel like it has benefitted all of us. I’ve also enjoyed having a couple of hours of break each day where I am a piano teacher instead of a mom, and usually by the end I am thrilled to see my girls again! (Especially when I hear little giggles coming from the back room while I’m teaching and feel a little sad that I’m missing the fun.)

Another reason I’ve loved teaching lessons (apart from the joy of teaching itself) is that it gives structure to my day. I have to plan my time so that the house is clean (or at least tidy), I am showered and presentable, and dinner is prepped (or at least planned) before I start teaching. Other stay-at-home moms are probably naturally good at this, but for me it really helps to be forced sometimes! Also, it helps my sense of self to have a job/talent of my own apart from being a mom; although motherhood is my main focus, I like to be learning and developing my own talents too. Especially when I see my husband going to medical school and envy him for getting smarter every day, I feel the need to have my own independent pursuits. This is also why I perform at all of my students’ recitals – but that is a post for another day.

Right now I’m in limbo because we’re about to move to Texas, so I’ve had to say goodbye to my students here and will be starting the studio-building process all over when we arrive at our new home. I’m not sure how much I’ll teach as our family continues to grow or how I will handle the challenge of having school-age children who have their own activities to go to during teaching hours. I’m still interested to hear how any of you have dealt with this situation. But after tackling the challenges of teaching with newborns and clingy toddlers, I have a little more confidence in my ability to find a solution that works for me and my family.

Another Payment Option

These posts about the studio policy and contract have been great! So many smart ideas have already been shared so I don’t have much to add. However, I thought I would share the way I do lesson payment in my studio.

First of all, let me say that automatic online payment (like mubus.com) is the ideal collection method for the teacher. However, if your students’ parents feel at all uncomfortable with providing their credit card information or having payments automatically drafted from their account, another option is to use post-dated checks. At the beginning of each semester, my parents write checks for each month of that semester and date them the first of each month. This means that I only have to collect payment once a semester (because isn’t asking for payment the worst?), but parents don’t have to pay for the entire semester all at once, which can be a financial burden to some families. The bonus for me is that at the first of each month, I already have all the checks for that month in my possession and they are valid for deposit.

Just an idea, but it has worked really well for my studio.

Contributor Bio: Jen Swendsen

A big welcome to our next fabulous contributor, Jen Swendsen. We shall see if we can keep all the Jen’s straight! 🙂 Here is a little about her:


name:
Jen Swendsen

she is from:
Houston, TX

she is:
a planner, a hard worker, lazy, your friend

she attended:
BYU, where she studied with Scott Holden and received a bachelor’s in piano performance and pedagogy

currently:
teaching piano and taking care of her two little girls

her studio:
includes students of all ages, abilities, and commitment levels!

she loves:
exercise, cooking, baking, reading, performing

she recently:
learned she will be relocating to somewhere in Texas this summer

read more:
on her family blog at thurber55.blogspot.com

her posts:
click here to read all of Jen’s articles on this blog!

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