Pick the music that you want to play

I remember taking one of my brother's 'jazz' piano books to my high school piano teacher and asking her to teach me the pieces. She was not impressed. (It wasn't like they were even jazz standards). She put the book away and told me that I need to focus on my exam pieces. But I hated practicing the piano with a passion and I had figured that it was because I need some more inspiring pieces. Needless to say it wasn't long before I switched piano teachers, but it was still my high school subject, and I still needed to learn those exam pieces. 

Over the later years of learning to play music, I just accepted whatever pieces my teachers gave me and decided that it was the only way it needed to be done. I convinced myself that if you want to be a good musician, you have to play all the pieces you are given.

But the reality of this, is that those pieces (or scales) that didn't motivate me to practice, also lead me to recent the piano. 

Somehow, learning all the pieces on my woodwind instruments wasn't so terrifying, but it certainly didn't always make me excited about picking up my instruments and practicing.

Now as a musician, I have found that the best way to motivate myself to practice, is to pick music to play that I actually like. This is not necessarily music that I always listen to, or that is popular. But music that is interesting and fairly challenging to play. Yet it mustn't be so difficult that I can't sight-read some of it. 

If this is my motivation, then it needs to be how I approach my teaching. Yes, you still need to eat your vegetables, learn those scales and play those pieces, but a dessert of a fun piece, is a definite incentive.

So I hope that you too can find some fun, catchy music to learn this holidays.

Happy one week holiday everyone

Robyn

10 reasons I love working from home.

Today I joined the library for the first time in about 20 years. Please don't judge me. Most of the books or articles I read have something to do with business or music and so, while I did take out one fiction book, I also had to borrow a book called 'Your Guide to Working from home'. Even though the book was first published in 1997, chapter titles such as 'Discipline and Motivation, 'The Dining-room Syndrome' and 'Good habits, bad habits', sparked my interest. And, of course, the promise of being able to read something without the disruption of some pop-up advert or link distracting me.

The prospect of reading this book made me so excited because I am so blessed to work from home. I hope to eventually work from home completely, but I am counting my blessings.

Here are 10 of the many reasons I love working from home:

1. I am able to create a space that is welcoming for my students

2. I have the freedom to decorate the space as I choose

3. If there are any last minute cancellations, it is super easy to fill that time with household chores  or admin.

4. Having the ability to work reasonable hours and put food on the table

5. No added rental costs

6. No travel time is wasted

7. I am fortunate enough to have a separate studio from our house, so people do not have to come into our private space

8. The studio is dedicated space for my work, which means there is no need for me to bring work 'home'

9. I don't need to lug heavy bags with books or instruments to work

10. I have a great big room, which is spacious and clean. What more could a person ask for?

I hope that you all have a musically inspiring week.

Robyn

All good things time

'The more I practice, the luckier I get'

They say that patience is a virtue, but sometimes we just want something now! I guess that's one of the greatest thing that we have to learn from music. That all good things take time...and perseverance...a lot of patience...and a lot of hard work!

Sometimes it can be very frustrating when we have to wait on others for our dream to take the next step closer to being realised. It shows that we do actually need other people to get where we want to go, even if it means that it may take longer to get there. It will probably end up being far better than we could have imagined, and hence, worthwhile in the end. The most important thing, I am learning in this instance, is that we have to stick to our guns and continue to play our part to the best of our ability. It can be tempting to either give up or just get incredibly frustrated while waiting for things to happen. But learning to overcome these feelings and remember the long term goal is what is necessary. 

Back to school, back to reality

Momentum is a strange thing and I thought going into the second term, I would have lots of it, but this first week was quite strange for me. After such a short holiday break, this week didn't go as smoothly for me as I had anticipated. I realised that my life has changed so much, as I thought I could jump back into routine I found that it can't be the same as when we lived in Claremont. It certainly won't be the same once we have settled into our new place and my studio is up and running. I need to take a step back, rearrange my schedule a bit and then things will work again. While this week was a bit of a shock to the system, it's all very exciting anticipating the future. 

I guess life would be very boring if things were the same all the time. Someone once told me that in business if you are not improving your business, then it is getting worse as there is no such thing as a stagnant business. I think this is so true and I really believe that once everything has come together, I will have renewed energy as I can start to see things come together.

They also say 'all good things come to those that wait'. I'm in the waiting season and have to patient, give it a few more weeks and we'll be in full swing.

Please share with me if you have an interesting ideas I can implement in my little music school :-)

Music teacher's survival kit

So every awesome teacher needs awesome stationery, right? Oh yes they do!

Below is some stationery that I have in my studio as well as other necessities that I think every woodwind music teacher needs.

I think I will call this is my 'survival kit':


A funky clock that does not 'tick' too loudly.

Many reeds that you can sell to your students. It's so convenient for parents and saves the learner missing out if their reed suddenly decides to die!

An extra, comfortable neck strap. At least one student will forget their saxophone strap! Always handy to have a spare. Some new students come with a piece of string or a broken strap.

Your trusty metronome, tuner and music stand. I am so excited to introduce my new stand to you!

Very important paper clips. I forgot to take a picture of pins, but they aren't that exciting.

Mini screw driver set. Would you believe that I got this in a Christmas cracker one year? And it has been the most useful thing yet. It is the perfect size for emergency repair work.

A 'paid' stamp, for the odd student who pays you in cash.

Lots of colourful paper! (I am South African, and that is the correct way to spell 'colour'! Just saying.)

Awesome musical and educational posters.

My trusty 'Circle of Fifths' sheets. Every student MUST get one of these.

Syllabus books.

Whiteboard markers

Sellotape, maybe?

Awesome record coasters for all the yummy tea you will drink. (And, of course, water.)

Manuscript books.

Pegs, pegs and more pegs. If ever you or your students need to perform outside!

Awesome stickers! You will be amazed at how stickers can be a great motivation for students.

I would be a terrible person if I did not have tea to get me through the day. This mug is great for when I'm traveling to a school or if I have to walk quite far from the staff kitchen to my classroom.

Here's another super cute mug. Perfect for a woodwind teacher! I love it :-)

And.....of course every teacher needs lots and lots of

(please note that this is not my own image, but it could have been!)

Or coffee, if you prefer.

Not my image, but pretty!

Stationery LOVE!!!! 1.

When I was at school new stationery promised the beginning of a new year. It meant BACK TO SCHOOL, which was no particular draw-card. So pens and pencils were just necessary and not very exciting. Funny enough (as I get older) over the last few years, my love for stationery has grown so much. I'm not sure if it's because of all the gorgeous new shops and products that are on sale, or the fact that I can rationalize buying something that I 'need' over other things that I just want!? And as a teacher of any subject stationery is a necessity. It's actually quite strange considering technology seems to be taking over the world (but that's a discussion for another time).

Regardless of what musical instrument you learn, if you are learning to read music, you will at some point need to write something down. So what basic stationery does any music student need? I am going to tell you, and (or course) there are pictures to accompany my little list.

A good pencil. HB's are my personal fav.

If you are able to use a clutch pencil and not keep breaking the nib, like I always do, then good for you! You don't need a sharpener!

An eraser.

A sharpener.

A flip-file. Your teacher may give you extra notes, and scales, so this is always good to have. (Note the subtle marketing here!?)

A notebook. Even if you aren't super good at checking this 'homework diary', it can be so helpful to track your lessons and your progress.

A music book. I call this a manuscript book. It has music ledger lines on each page, great for theory learning and even composing if you are that way inclined.

I take all of the above and stick them in a large poly-envelope, which has enough space for you to put your music tutor book in as well.

I sell these little packs for R65. So convenient for my students.

Please note that these are just the basic essentials. I have so much more exciting stationery, which I plan to show you in the next post.