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Read reflections from students in Chapter 40 in Making Music and Having A Blast!: A Guide For All Music Students "Is All This Hard Work Worth It?"
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for concrete solutions to your everyday problems and ideas to get more satisfaction from the
best job in the world!
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The Funnies
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"I've never really viewed myself as particularly talented. I've viewed myself as slightly above average in talent. And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy's sleeping? I'm working. While the other guy's eatin'? I'm working. While the other guy's making love, I mean, I'm making love, too. But I'm working really hard at it."
~Will Smith
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Greetings!
My student, a senior named "Katherine," was crying at her last lesson. Her parents don't want her to be a music major and reason that since this is her "last year playing the flute" and because they have some financial difficulties, she should not participate in all the events in my studio.
This year, I have six seniors. As we start out the school year, I assess what they need for their college goals, what we have achieved musically in the past years, but most of all, I remember what they were like as people when they first started lessons and the incredible people they have become.
Katherine's first lessons were awful! She could barely play, she wouldn't talk above a whisper, and she hid behind her curtain of hair. Now she is in a top youth orchestra, has won awards, but best of all she laughs and talks, and has a sense of pride in herself. She loves music, but she loves herself more too.
When we step back from musical goals, we know we're offering our students much more than learning how to play an instrument. Whether they ever pick up their instrument again after graduation or not, I know that it is all worth it. So in this newsletter I'd like to offer some inspiration.
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When Lessons Are Long Over
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Years after our students leave us, will they remember that Beethoven sonata, that trill fingering, or what a diminished 7th chord is? Probably not.
What they will remember is that you as a music teacher were a friend and a mentor. Someone they can trust and depend on, and someone who loved them unconditionally. That is the gift you give.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
~Maya Angelou
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Who Do You Have To Thank?
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Think back to the important adults outside of your family who helped mold you into the person you are today. I bet there's an inspirational music teacher in that list.
When people ask you, "How much do you make as a music teacher?" You can look them in the eye and say,
"I make a difference!"
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A Little Music Training Goes A Long Way
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A Little Music Training Goes a Long Way: Practicing Music for Only a Few Years in Childhood Helps Improve Adult Brain
Kids who play musical instruments, if only for a few years, turn out to be better listeners later in life, their brains better able to process complex sounds. Say the researchers, "Based on what we already know about the ways that music helps shape the brain, the study suggests that short-term music lessons may enhance lifelong listening and learning."
Learning Music Now Pays Off Your Entire Life!
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Making Music And Enriching Lives
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Flute Flash
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 We always wish we had bigger lungs! Here are a few ways to increase that lung capacity:
- Set the metronome and play a two-octave scale with one note per beat. Keep moving the metronome down one notch at a time.
- Ignore the natural breathing places, and see how far you can play in one breath.
- Breathe in for four beats and out for say 30. Then in for three and out for 30, in for two and out for 30. Then play a 30-second long tone on one breath. This is great practice for taking quick breaths.
- Practice playing everything FFFF and making the breaths. Normal dynamics will be easy after that!
- Practice scales from the top down: Play the highest note of a two-octave scale, go to the lowest and hold the top note as long as possible.
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Bonnie's Speech Calendar
Stop by and say hello!
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 2012-2013 Speech Calendar
October 9, 11:00 a.m.
Olympia Music Teachers Association
October 9, 11:00 a.m.
WSMTA District I & II conference
Fun recitals
October 20, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Wenatchee Music Teachers Association
All-Day Workshop
February 22
Mt. Rainier/Puyallup MTNA
You Already Taught Me That?
March 2013
MTNA National Convention
Get Paid What You're Worth
April 2013
Gig Harbor Music Teachers
Topic TBA
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