April is an interesting month in my studio. My students’ spring breaks fall on different weeks throughout the month, so each week is a little lighter than usual.
But what’s most interesting is that when they come back, they’re just a little bit more focused and motivated than usual.
The same goes for me when I return from vacation. As much as I love spending some time in the sun with no responsibilities, it’s that refreshed and recharged feeling I have when I return that I like the most.
In March, I traveled to New York City for the Music Teachers National Conference. Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, gave the keynote address on themes from the book that he and his wife wrote entitled, “The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life.” A colleague and I arrived early for the session and were greeted warmly with a friendly smile and handshake by Zander himself! He inquired where we were from and took a sincere interest in us. I knew at that moment that this would be a special session. And it was – it was truly transformational.
Zander began his talk unconventionally by walking from the front to the back of the room. He mentioned why people choose to sit in the back or the front row. Often, people won’t choose to be in the front row because they think it is saved for V.I.P. “Back rowers” like to be able to make a quick exit, sleep or text. Those who choose to be in the front row are open to receive (we had hesitantly chosen to sit in the front row!). Since the front row seats were not full, he invited folks to move up into them.
We all have the choice to be in the front row of our lives. According to Zander, our choices can be boiled down to either an upward or downward spiral (winning or losing, succes or failure), or the “radiating circle of possibility.” He said, “The world will show up entirely in the way you create it.” In other words, the secret of life is that, “It is all invented.”
Below is a list of the bug fixes in March, 2012. On People > Families, deleting a family did not delete the entire family. This is now fixed. When a new expense is added and the vendor is new, an error message appeared saying you must choose a vendor. This is now fixed. Parent and students did not receive any email confirmation when they registered online. This...
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About six months prior to making the leap from running my studio part-time to full-time, I decided it was time for an upgrade. For the past three years, my studio had been located at the front of my house, meaning my students would enter through the front door and parents would wait in the living room.
This worked very well for a while, but as my teaching hours grew longer, this set-up interfered with my family. It was definitely time for a change.
So I made plans to turn the two spare bedrooms into a new studio and waiting room and add a dedicated entrance off of the garage. The next four months were spent turning my plans into a reality (with the help of contractors), and my new studio was ready just in time for the start of the summer 2011 session.
Spring has definitely sprung! Soon your phone will be ringing (or your inbox will by chiming!) with parents of prospective students. How do you handle a transfer from a different teacher? If handled poorly, you lose respect among your colleagues. I have experienced both sides of the transfer student dilemma. When faced with this circumstance, one must practice integrity. Webster’s defines integrity as “a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.”
The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) provides a Code ot Ethics that addresses this issue in its Commitment to Colleagues section:
The teacher shall maintain a professional attitude and shall act with integrity in regard to colleagues in the profession.
Furthermore, the last two bullets in the Commitment to Colleagues section speak to the ethics involved in transfer situations among students, parents and teachers: