TeachMusic21C - Blog by Merlin B. ThompsonTeachMusic21C - Blog by Merlin B. Thompsonhttps://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/author/merlin-blake-thompsonFri, 29 May 2026 10:53:50 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Helping Music Students Build Lifelong Relationships with Music]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/helping-lifelong

Answers to Questions from the Music Teacher Studio

What keeps music students motivated long-term? What helps students continue making music into adulthood rather than quitting after a few years of lessons? What do music students need from today’s music teachers?


Music teachers often answer these questions with strategies designed to help students survive the long process of learning an instrument. We suggest effective practice routines and champion excellence. We promote discipline and technical mastery. We encourage perseverance. We help students when they struggle, knowing that overcoming difficulty is part of growth. While these things certainly matter, I have the impression it’s too much like putting the cart before the horse.

That’s why I start with a vision of lifelong music makers because practice routines and the ability to endure difficulty will only take students so far. Whereas developing meaningful relationships with music has the potential to sustain student enthusiasm today and long into the future. And without meaningful relationships with music, students may not be convinced it’s really worth their time or effort. Students may lose motivation to continue music lessons if they don’t experience personal meaning in music making. 


I appreciate the idea that it’s our job to help students experience for themselves how making music enriches their quality of life. It’s like music teachers play the role of ambassadors to that most remarkable world of music making. We know first hand what it’s like to include music making in our lives and how making music has enriched our lives. Now it’s our opportunity to guide and support students in exploring, developing, and exercising their own personal relationships with music and strengthen long-term student motivation. Music teachers become ambassadors for lifelong music making by teaching music lessons that help students experience music as part of everyday living.


That means music teachers encourage our students to experience how making music can be a source of comfort, expression, challenge, connection, creativity, curiosity, reflection, and joy in students’ schedules and long after lessons are over. We include activities in lessons that reinforce the many directions students may take as active music makers. We initiate conversations about why making music is worth carrying into the rest of their lives so that students know what making music actually accomplishes in their everyday lives. 

Like my student Alex who keeps on going because he’s experienced for himself the uplifting that making music can bring. Is he learning harder repertoire? No. Is he getting ready for an exam? No. Is he thriving as a music maker? Yes. Do we talk about practice routines? Off and on. Does he have good weeks and bad weeks? All the time. What does he need from me? Mostly I want Alex to know he’s got my support in building the musical life he can turn to again and again throughout his entire life. I want him to leave music lessons believing that music making belongs to him personally.


So, What do music students need from today’s music teachers?


Here’s what I’d like to promote - Students need music teachers to highlight musical explorations that inspire students to see themselves continuing to make music as adults. They need music teachers to draw from the deep well of our own musical experiences. They need us to excel as musical ambassadors in this week’s music lessons and beyond.


Is that something we can do? Absolutely we can. So let’s do it!


How do you help your students build their own personal relationship with music?


How do you help your students experience music as part of everyday living?


What are you doing to strengthen the likelihood that making music remains present in your students’ lives years from now?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration into lifelong music making resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 25 May 2026 14:42:19 +0000<![CDATA[Music Teachers & Solving Problems]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/solving-problems

Sometimes it seems like there’s no end to the problems music teacher are required to solve. We’ve got students who need guidance from us. Students with certain problems. Students in situations that pull our attention. So what do we do? Take a look at these two solutions that may not be what first comes to your mind…

#1. Collaboration - Something I need to remind myself often is that there’s another person in the studio who can help with solving problems. My student. Yes - my student. No matter what age or level. And while it might feel like because I’m the teacher that I should have all the answers ready to go at my fingertips, it’s just not realistic for me to take on all the problems that show up in my studio. 


Like with my student Spencer who would really benefit from listening to recordings more often. So I try suggestion number one. Then number two. But nothing really changes until I turn things to him by asking him to take the role of adviser for a moment. “Spencer,” I say, “What advice would you have for a student who rarely listens?” He’s got a few ideas. Some of them are things I never would have considered. It feels really good to have his input. Especially when I ask, “Spencer, why do you think a student would never make time for listening?”


When students come up with solutions to their problems, I feel greatly relieved. The burden of teacher responsibility has been lifted. And it’s a pleasure to help students get the actual practice they need in recognizing problems and coming up with solutions for themselves. Which in the long run, seems much more valuable than me always coming up with solutions. What’s my takeaway? That collaboration is a valuable tool.

#2. Patience - Not everything needs to be addressed right now. Sometimes being aware of things that need fixing can be my teacher downfall. I know - it seems the opposite of what good teaching is all about. Good teachers identify what needs to be fixed and then get busy with fixing things. Right#!? Then on occasion, the best thing I can do is to get comfortable with not fixing everything on the spot. 


Earlier this year, my student Jessica didn’t seem to making any progress. Week after week, it was just another view from the same plateau. And the situation was made even more obvious by her mother who had introduced a “reward program” with Jessica and her younger brother. It was a strategy that clearly matched Jessica’s younger sibling. But it didn’t match Jessica. In fact, it just seemed to magnify her lack of progress. 


So I decided to stop talking about progress. It wasn’t a priority for me at all with Jessica. And to calm down Jessica’s mother, I would send her a note after each lesson to let her know I was comfortable with what Jessica was doing. Now it’s several months later and Jessica’s lack of progress has disappeared. How did that happen? I have no idea. What’s my takeaway? That patience is a valuable tool.


Wrapping Things Up - I really appreciate how certain valuable teaching tools may not be what first comes to mind. Like inviting students into collaborative problem-solving processes and being patient with making progress. Stepping away from fixing what’s wrong as quickly as possible can be difficult for teachers. So take a moment. Step back. Breathe deeply.


Some of our students’ most meaningful musical experiences occur when teachers create opportunities for students to think, reflect, and discover for themselves. When teachers resist the urge to rush every situation toward immediate improvement. When teachers allow trust and space to do their quiet work. When teachers support our lifelong music maker students as they grow in ways we could never fully script or predict. 


It’s an amazing journey… 


How often do you invite students to participate in solving the challenges they face in lessons and practice?


Are there situations in your teaching where trying to “fix” something immediately may actually be creating more pressure?


What would it look like for you to trust collaboration and patience as effective teaching tools?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration into solving problems has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 18 May 2026 16:52:25 +0000<![CDATA[When Students Choose Repertoire Beyond Their Current Level of Mastery -]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/difficult-repertoire

What Should Music Teachers Do?

Have you ever had this situation? Your student arrives with a selection they’d like to learn that’s clearly beyond their current level. They absolutely can’t wait to get started. As music teachers, we know what could happen next. On the one hand, we worry that students’ decision may result in technical strain, inefficient habits, or even long-term damage. On the other, we recognize there’s something powerful at work: curiosity, ambition, and personal connection to music. 


So what do we do when students choose repertoire that’s clearly beyond their current level of mastery?

Step One: Celebrate! Students who come with their own musical wish lists is a good thing. Not a bad thing or something downplay and put aside, even when their choice is beyond their current level. When students make musical choices, it’s obvious they’re connected to music. They have musical interests that reflect what inspires them, what they listen to, and how they see themselves as music makers. Ignoring students’ natural impulses can easily dampen their musical enthusiasm. Discouraging their musical interests can send the message that teachers don’t understand or welcome students for who they are. That’s not what we want to accomplish - even when students' choices are well beyond their current mastery.


We want to let students know we’re 100% behind their journey. We’re here to help out - not get in their way.


Step Two: Be Open. I’m always open to seeing how far students can get with their own musical interests. Sometimes they get further than I anticipated. With support from me, students may achieve more than their current level might suggest - especially when I help students approach the music with more informed strategies than they might use on their own.


On certain occasions, it may be enough for students to just learn one line like my beginner student Connor. For him, learning the first line of Für Elise was deeply satisfying and motivating. It gave him a sense of connection to the music without getting bogged down by details beyond his ability. On some occasions, students’ choices turn out to be less engaging than they anticipated. Students indicate they’d like to move on to something else. I’m not worried about students necessarily finishing the piece. There’s real value in giving things a try. Moving on to other pieces isn’t a failure. It’s part of a healthy learning process. 

Step Three: Ownership. Last year my elementary student Alyssa told me she wanted to learn a selection from Imagine Dragons. That meant using her most accessible strategy - learning by ear. We started by going online and listening to the selection on YouTube. Then checked to see how much of the song Alyssa could sing with words and zeroed in on the section she was most comfortable with. Finally I found the first note on the piano and demonstrated it for her with an appropriate fingering. For elementary students like Alyssa, the easiest learning process starts with making sure she’s got ownership of the song inside her ears. 


With my student Angie the process is quite different as her reading skills are sufficiently developed. And over the years, she’s always taken ownership by learning how to find sheet music online and at the music store. Her most valuable skill is knowing how to look out for keywords like “easy version”, “intermediate”, and “advanced”. Through her own trial and error process, Angie has learned that not all pieces suit her, even when the level is appropriate. Make sure students have ownership of learning strategies that work for them.

Step Four: Protection - I also want to protect my students from risks they can’t see for themselves. Technical strain, inefficient movement patterns, or repertoire that pushes the body beyond safe limits require careful monitoring. Left unchecked, certain repertoire choices can do more harm than good. That’s where our professional judgment comes in. We provide guidance. We simplify passages, isolate manageable sections, or reframe the goal entirely. 


When my teenage student Renae indicated she wanted to learn Mozart’s Turkish March, I could see she was barely prepared to handle the octave sections. Through discussion and demonstration, Renae understood the importance of gentle and hand-friendly practicing routines. For my elementary student Alex, I responded to his interest in performing Liszt’s La Campanella by quickly arranging a one-page simplified adaptation. For both Renae and Alex, their musical interests aren’t organized by levels of repertoire. The music they want to explore is the music that’s bubbling in their ears not on a list of graded pieces. When students reach beyond their current level, they reveal something about their musical identity. As music teachers, we have the privilege and pleasure of meeting them where they are, helping them to explore safely and productively.


In Conclusion - Many years ago, a teacher colleague shared something that has stuck with me ever since. She said, “If a student truly wants to learn a piece, there’s really nothing teachers can do to stop them. And why would we? Isn’t the whole point of music lessons for teachers to help students so they may make musical explorations without their teacher’s assistance?” 


I’m still nodding my head in agreement.


How do you respond when students request learning something beyond their current mastery?


How do you protect students long term health while recognizing the music that excites and energizes them?


Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration into students reaching beyond their current mastery has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 11 May 2026 17:02:16 +0000<![CDATA[Excellence With Integrity: Moving Beyond Pushy Teaching]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/excellence-with-integrity

How do you teach excellence?

I give a lot of presentations to university-level music majors. And over the years I’ve noticed several questions are often on their minds. They want to know - Is it possible for students to achieve advanced performance levels without being pushed? Can students achieve excellence without pressure? Can high standards actually be taught through kindness and empathy? 


I recognize how many university-level students grapple with unresolved aspects of their own musical journey that may have included fear-based or authoritarian music lessons. Their own journey hasn’t necessarily known empathy or fostered personal wellbeing. And yet, here they are, university students passionately pursuing their musical dreams. So how can music teachers continue with excellence on our plates?

Excellence and Music Lessons - I want to start by saying that excellence is an important part of music lessons. And it may be true that pushy teaching can produce excellent results. The problem is that pushy teaching may also foster student anxiety, self-doubt, perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, and even ill-will towards making music itself. And those are not outcomes I want to be associated with music lessons.


I’m interested in teaching that empowers students to take on challenges for themselves. Teaching that helps students develop courage, independence, and curiosity. It’s not just about pushing students into high standards. It’s about welcoming students as reflective thinkers who can envision and work toward high standards because it’s meaningful for them. This kind of teaching supports students and invites them to strive for excellence in ways that align with who they are and what they hope making music will mean in their lives. 


Excellence with Integrity - Excellence that’s built on fear may produce substantial achievements and yet leave an even greater amount of damage. In contrast, excellence that’s built on ownership, challenge, trust, and good will can also accomplish substantial achievements while supporting students at the same time. That’s the kind of excellence in teaching I’m interested in. Not excellence at any cost. Excellence with integrity.

Excellence isn’t something teachers own. Students also have their own deeply intuitive understandings and experiences of excellence drawn from their own lives. They know what excellent foods taste like. They know when a game is played with excellence. They recognize excellence in storytelling, in design, in sport, in friendships and relationships built on trust and care. As my student Patrick revealed in a recent discussion, excellence is a mindset, a way of looking at or thinking about what you’re doing. And the mindset of excellence is something both teachers and students can generate. 


In this way, it’s not simply about teachers becoming nicer or kinder. It’s about rethinking where excellence comes from and who participates in shaping it. I have the impression excellence is often treated as something teachers possess and students may not fully understand. But what if teachers treat excellence as a collaborative pursuit? What if  we teach so that students are not merely recipients of standards but active participants in imagining, understanding, and striving toward them?


When teachers involve students in recognizing excellence, naming it, reflecting on it, and pursuing it for themselves, standards become something more than teacher expectations. They become personally meaningful aspirations. That’s a very different path to high achievement. Not excellence driven primarily by external pressure - but excellence pursued through collaborative interaction, thoughtful challenges, and respectful relationships built on our shared commitment. Once again, I’ll bring in my student Patrick who pointed out how excellence is great when you feel happy about it. When excellence results in shame or disrespect, we most likely need to rethink things.

University Students - Somehow, this feels like a very important shift in music teaching. Moving from controlling excellence to nurturing students as they grow in their experience and pursuit of excellence. And this brings me back to those university students and their concerns. As the upcoming generation of music teachers, there’s an opportunity here for university students to change the tone of music lessons, to move beyond the idea that excellence must be teacher-driven, and toward a view of excellence that is shared, understood, and pursued. That’s something I’d love to see them take on.


Excellence requires effort - to be sure. The beauty is that when music teachers invite students to think, reflect, and take ownership, students don’t just reach for excellence because they’ve been told to. They strive for excellence because they believe it belongs to them.


What beliefs about excellence do you carry into your teaching?


Did your own training rely more on pressure or on understanding? What do you want to pass on?


What does excellence with integrity look like in your studio?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration into excellence and pushy teaching has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Fri, 01 May 2026 15:14:28 +0000<![CDATA[Good Assignments, Ownership, and Repetition: Lessons from My Music Teaching Studio]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/assignments-ownership-repetition

This past week I’ve had an intertwining of questions on my mind - What makes a good assignment for our students? How can we help students take ownership of their musical journey? And how can we integrate meaningful repetition into our students’ home practice sessions? After all, good assignments can make a huge difference. Ownership means that it belongs to students. And repetition brings students closer to fluency and mastery. So how can music teachers get all that to happen?

What makes a good assignment? I’m struck by how many ways you can answer that question. So I think I’ll try to get things right down to the foundation. For me - a good assignment is one that students are willing to take on. And you’ll notice I use “willingness” as the key word. Because if it’s something students don’t buy into, it’s unlikely they’ll give it much effort at home. “Willingness” is my starting place.


Like with my student Eric, who always needs more practice to get comfortable. The problem is that Eric easily gets discouraged after just a couple of run-throughs. It’s as if by the third attempt he’s emotionally and physically worn out. I know that with more repetition, Eric would experience success more quickly, but right now that’s not possible. So I keep his assignments to something I know he can willingly take on. There’s a lot more to his journey coming up and I don’t want to squash his sense of security by trying to get there sooner than he’s ready.


In this way, a good assignment builds on students’ willingness - which is often the doorway to persistence, and persistence is where growth can happen.


How can we help students take ownership? Ownership begins when teachers create spaces for students to recognize what’s going on, help define goals, and assist with choosing strategies. We put the process of students taking ownership into action when we involve students as active music makers. 


Once more with Eric, it’s interesting to watch how simple questions can fuel his involvement as an active participant. Which line would you like to strengthen first? What strategy (stop & go, or playing eyes closed) helped you the most today? What should I write in your notebook? These questions shift ownership to him. And that matters a lot, because Eric will stay positively engaged longer at home when he feels like the process feels belongs to him. For me, it’s the aspect of having ownership that provides the most momentum.


Ownership is all about designing assignments with students.

How can we integrate meaningful repetition? Music teachers know a lot about repetition. Especially how repetition can help students move from Stage One of getting familiar with something to Stage Two of having something internalized. And sometimes, it might feel like we just need to be honest and tell our students to get the 100 times of repetition over and done with. But there’s something I’m not so comfortable with that approach.


Back to Eric. I could tell Eric that his progress on this piece will be amazing when he’s practiced it 100 times. I could do that. But, what if he achieves the goal with less repetition? What if he needs even more than 100 times? Meaningful repetition isn’t just doing things over and over. Meaningful repetition means both Eric and I are using our awareness to keep track of what’s going on. It’s not about me setting goals for Eric that only I can monitor, because if I’m the only one who can tell when he’s successful, we are in big trouble!! It’s about including Eric and helping him develop the awareness of things he can be in charge of.


Meaningful repetition has a twofold trajectory. It deepens students’ mastery while also increasing their music maker awareness. 


Bringing It Together - I started with an interweaving of questions for this article. Much to my delight, the more time I spend with these questions, the more I appreciate how they reveal a connected way of working with my students.  

Good assignments invite ownership. Ownership makes repetition meaningful. Meaningful repetition leads to mastery, awareness, confidence, and fluency. Assignments, ownership, and repetition each have something to offer. It’s remarkable how each aspect interweaves with the next. Their biggest impact lies in how each gives strength to the others.


I appreciate how there’s something genuinely remarkable about interweaving. How some of the deepest growth in teaching doesn’t come from isolated strategies, but from ideas working in relationship. When elements support one another rather than stand alone, learning often becomes more coherent, more human, and more lasting. It's a win-win strategy for teachers and students. 


Do your assignments reflect what students should do, or what they’re willing and ready to take on?


How could you be more intentional about inviting students to participate actively in shaping their own assignments?


Does repetition in your teaching involve counting numbers or developing awareness?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:43:50 +0000<![CDATA[Effective Tools for Music Teachers]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/effective-tools

What if the most effective strategies in your teaching didn’t require new materials, new repertoire, or a ton of planning? What if effective strategies could come from doing things more intentionally? This article is inspired by a recent conversation with a music teacher colleague who highlighted two simple tools that significantly elevate the quality of teaching and the depth of student learning. They’re not new tools. They don’t require training or technology. But when used consistently, these strategies can transform how a teaching week unfolds.

Tool #1: Teach the Same Lesson All Week - Most music teachers are accustomed to tailoring lessons to each student one at a time. When each student arrives, we respond in the moment—adjusting, reacting, moving things forward as best we can. So here’s another layer we can include that involves teaching the same lesson to every one of our students for the entire week.


Instead of reinventing our entire approach for every student, we choose one overarching teaching focus. It might be: shaping phrases, improving tone production, using multiple ownership, or asking students to be the teacher. Then, we explore that same idea with every student—adjusting the level and language to match our individual students.


What I’ve noticed in my own teaching is how by the third or fourth lesson, I’ve figured out a few things that resonate with students. I’m feeling more certain about which words to use. I’ve got a sense of which demonstrations actually get the point across. Having worked with a few students, I can now anticipate student responses which make it easier to move in multiple directions. 


This is such a great strategy because by the end of the week, we’re no longer “trying” to teach the concept— we actually have variations of the experience to back up how we teach. We’ve accelerated the time span for gaining experience. Our teaching improves not over months or years, but within a single week, and our students benefit immediately from that growing clarity.

Tool #2: Follow-Up - There may be few things more important for music teachers to do than following up on what we did at our students’ previous lesson. Because every time we don’t follow up on assignments from the previous week, we send a message to students that we’ll most likely soon regret - that  whatever we did at their last lesson wasn’t really all that important and students didn’t need to follow up on it at home. 


When teachers include follow up in each week’s lesson, we confirm that we value what students do at home. We’re interested in finding out how things turned out. We ask questions - Did students resolve what needed resolving? Did students run into more problems on their own? Did students achieve success? We return to what we assigned.


The biggest challenge with follow up may be time management during the students’ lesson period. Because, if during the previous week, we gave students a lengthy list of assignments, we may be challenged to actually follow up on that entire list at the following lesson. Which means follow up has implications for what teachers initially included in students’ assignments. 


When teachers make assignments, we’re not just thinking about what students need to get on top of this week. We also need to consider how much time will it take for students to follow through at home. And how much time will it take us as teachers to follow through at their next lesson. Too many assignments, and it’s unlikely students will have time or effort to follow through at home. Too many assignments, and it’s unlikely that we teachers will have time to follow through meaningfully. In this way - follow up isn’t just a matter of what we do next week. Knowing that teachers will need to follow up next week becomes a guideline for how much teachers assign in this week’s lesson.

Bringing the Two Tools Together - It’s amazing how a quick conversation with a colleague reignited my enthusiasm for teaching the same lesson for a week and building in follow-up. When music teachers apply a focused idea across multiple students, it’s so rewarding to see how we can refine our teaching in real time. When we follow up on previous assignments, we demonstrate our accountability to students while making sure that assignments don’t disappear after a single encounter.


I appreciate that when music teachers create a teaching environment where ideas are clearer, the resulting learning is deeper, and progress more visible. And I hope that in doing so, music teaching begins to feel less rushed and more purposeful.


In a profession where it’s easy to feel stretched across dozens of students and countless details, these tools offer a way to regain focus—one week, and one idea, at a time.


What is one concept you could focus on across all students next week?


What message do your current follow-up habits send to students about the importance of their assignments?


How might combining a weekly teaching focus with consistent follow-up change the pace of your lessons?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:59:47 +0000<![CDATA[What If "How Do I Get Students To Practice?" Isn't the Question We Should Be Asking?]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/What-if

Join a music teacher discussion group and it most likely won’t take long before someone asks the question, “How do I get students to practice?” It’s a question music teachers have grappled with for decades that carries urgency, frustration, and a genuine desire to help students succeed. Music teachers feel that practice is something we need to “get” students to do. We’re responsible for prompting, nudging, or insisting that our students practice diligently. When students do practice diligently, we feel successful in our teaching role. When students don’t practice as we’d like them to, it may be difficult to shake off the disappointment and insecurity we feel. 

What if “How do I get students to practice?” isn’t the question we should be asking? 


When music teachers focus on getting students to practice, we place our energy on strategies, incentives, and reminders—tools designed to increase minutes spent at the instrument. While these may produce short-term results, those same short-term results may not turn into long-term student involvement. And so it’s not long before music teachers need to come up with another cycle of new strategies, incentives, and reminders to get the job done. 


The problem with ongoing cycles of short-term solutions is that students may experience the opposite of what music teachers are actually aiming for. Rather than developing our students’ own musical relationship, students may come to understand practicing as something that blocks out their own musical connections. They see taking music lessons followed by practicing at home as an obligation - as something they’re required to complete. Practicing isn’t something they do because they want to or see its value. Practicing is what students do because their teacher tells them to. And as music teachers I think we can all agree, that’s not exactly what we’re hoping to achieve with music lessons.

How can I help students deepen their relationship with music? 


Every student who comes to music lessons already has a relationship with music - no matter how well defined or casual that may be. When music teachers help students deepen their relationship with music, we shift our attention from trying to control what they do to inspiring our students’ own meaningful musical explorations. And that might mean music teachers need to strategically put aside our commitment to practicing so that we can make space to talk about and explore our students’ own musical connections. 


What do students feel when they play their favourite piece? How do beginner string students feel when they play open strings? Or beginner brass students when they bring their instrument to life? What’s going on when students make music? Is it energy? Movement? Companion? Fun? Calm? Uplifting? 


When students leave their lessons with awareness, reminders, and validation of what their own musical connections feel like, they’re far more likely to seek out those connections at home. Not because they’re required to, but because they want to. When music teachers take the time to recognize who our students are and inspire their musical relationship, students connecting with their instrument becomes less of teacher requirement and more a natural part of students’ everyday lives. And that’s something we’d like to see, isn’t it!

Take a Deep Breath 


My goal in writing this article isn’t to get music teachers to abandon practicing structures or expectations. That would be ridiculous on my part. What I hope you come away with is an appreciation for all the amazing ways that students connect with music making. The next time the question “How do I get students to practice?” takes over your thought process, my suggestion is to take a deep breath. Recognize the moment as a request for reflective thinking. Take another deep breath. Then start putting together the remarkably creative and meaningful ways you can respond to the question -


How can I help students deepen their relationship with music? 


What does “a meaningful relationship with music” look like for each of your students—not in general, but individually?


What small shift could you make this week to support a student’s musical relationship, not just their practice habits?


How might your teaching look different if your primary goal was not minutes practiced, but a lifetime of musical connection?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:58:24 +0000<![CDATA[Teach with Vision. Inspire for Life]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/vision-inspire

Earlier this year, two parents contacted me about music lessons for their children. They visited my studio. We chatted. They had questions. So did I. After some time, the reassuring look on their faces told me we had arrived at an important commonality. We had zeroed in on something remarkable that would provide momentum and meaning for their boys’ music lessons. What was it? What did our conversation reveal?


A vision of lifelong music makers. We were unanimous in our enthusiasm for using music lessons to nurture their children’s own lifelong relationships with music. We had a vision of lifelong music makers - of what music lessons could accomplish for their two boys that reached far into the future.

What strikes me as noteworthy in our discussion was that it didn’t feel like I needed to convince the parents of anything. It wasn’t about me talking the parents into my point of view. My impression is that we were able to agree on our enthusiasm for lifelong music making because parents care about their children’s futures. Especially today with the intrusive presence of technology, parents want their children to experience life-affirming activities that prepare them for the future. They don’t want playing video games and scrolling to take over their children’s lives.


Vision and Inspiration - Since meeting with these new parents, I’ve been exploring how vision and inspiration impact music teaching. What I’m discovering is that when vision is present and consistently shared, it alters the entire studio experience. Having vision changes the way we inspire our students. It informs how we talk during lessons, the words we choose, and the actions we take with the goal of shaping how students build on and exercise their own relationship with music. When we teach with vision, we inspire students to explore music making as something that belongs in their everyday lives. Vision helps students and families understand what we’re doing and why it matters. Inspiration is how we put vision into action.


The more I explore this idea, the more I see that vision and inspiration need to be intentional. It’s about choosing words that open doors and reflect possibility. It’s noticing when students are most engaged and naming why that matters. It’s helping families experience for themselves how music making supports a full and meaningful life. It’s about doing all this again and again - week after week and year after year. 

This is where Teach Music 21C continues to grow for me. Now I’m planning ahead to bring clarity to what vision is and what we can do as inspiring music teachers. Not with trendy music teacher add-ons, but through the meaningful discussions we have, the timely questions we ask, and the activities that bring life to our student’s musical journeys. I’m looking forward to sharing more about the link between visionary thinking and the actions we can take to inspire students. 


Starting Today - I appreciate how teaching with vision and inspiration is something we can all begin right away. One conversation. One sentence. One gesture that connects what we say with what we do. When we teach with vision and inspiration, we do more than guide students through lessons—we help shape the role making music will play in their lives for years to come.


When you describe your teaching approach to parents, what future are you inviting them to imagine?


In your teaching, where does your vision of lifelong music makers naturally show up? Where might it be missing?


How do you help students see making music as part of their life, not just preparing for their lessons?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration of teaching with vision and inspiration has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:22:53 +0000<![CDATA[Teaching Real Life Students in Real Life Music Lessons]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/real-life-students-lessons

Lately I’ve had the topic of real life students on my mind - and how all my students show up for their lessons with any number of individual characteristics. That means I have some students who learn quickly. I also have students who learn slowly. Some have lots of time to practice. Some have many obstacles that get in the way of practicing. Some of my students easily follow teacher’s instructions. Some need massive amounts of independence. My studio consists of real life students.


Why is it important to recognize real life students? Mostly because we come from a history where teachers often felt compelled to turn their students into the ideal version. For previous generations of music teachers, it wasn’t so much about recognizing students for who they are. It was about shaping students into a predetermined mold. That’s not what we’re doing in today’s music studios. 


Today’s music teachers value diversity and inclusion in our teaching. Our real life students arrive with any number of idiosyncratic characteristics. They have their own variations of curiosity, hesitation, energy, and individuality. Our role is to support them by meeting them where they are. Our goal is to make sure the next generation of music makers feels seen, capable, and inspired to create their own path.

Real Life Lessons - The shift from teaching “ideal students” to teaching real life students changes more than our mindset — it reshapes our teaching decisions. Real life lessons begin with a simple but powerful action: we stop delivering a standardized experience and start designing learning around the human being in front of us. This means adjusting what we teach and how we teach—our pacing, our expectations, our language, and even our measure of progress. Real life lessons are responsive. They make space for the student who had a difficult week, the one who is bursting with curiosity, and the one who needs a different path forward. In doing so, lessons become less about covering material and more about uncovering potential.


At the same time, real life lessons are rich with opportunity. When we pay close attention to our students, we begin to notice small but meaningful moments—breakthroughs, shifts in attitude, sparks of interest. These moments may not always align with traditional markers of success, but they are often the very experiences that shape a student’s long-term relationship with music. Teaching in this way invites us to be present, observant, and open to outcomes that are not always predictable.


Working with real life students also invites us to rethink why students seek out music lessons. Not every student is driven by exams, competitions, or external achievement. Not every student is a match for pop music, classical standards, or the latest YouTube trend. Many real life students appreciate making music as a space for enjoyment, expression, or sense of belonging. When we take time to understand what matters to our real life students, we can align our teaching with their personal reasons for learning. In doing so, we transform practice from an obligation into something that feels personal, meaningful, relevant, and worthwhile.

Make Moments for Gratitude - Teaching real life students reminds us that each lesson is an exchange, not a one-way delivery. Because our students bring their personalities, challenges, and perspectives into the studio, they continually shape us as teachers just as much as our influence shapes them. Gratitude helps us recognize the privilege of being part of that process—the opportunity to witness growth, to support development, and to share in the evolving musical lives of our students.


Gratitude also grounds us during the more challenging moments. Not every lesson will feel successful. Not every student will progress in a straight line. But when we step back and appreciate the broader journey, it becomes easier to stay patient, flexible, and committed. Gratitude shifts our focus from what is missing to what is present—from frustration to possibility.


Today's Real Life Teachers - I genuinely appreciate how today's music teachers are moving away from previous generation's focus on "ideal" students. It's refreshing and empowering to know that we are the generation that is changing the trajectory of music lessons. We are the music teachers who may accomplish something that no previous generation has been able to accomplish - truly lifelong music making. 


I think it's an immense honour to teach the students we have. By appreciating them for who they are and welcoming  their idiosyncratic characteristics, we create a learning environment rooted in respect, connection, and purpose. And in that kind of environment it seems quite certain, both real life students and real life teachers are far more likely to thrive.


So let's celebrate real life students AND real life teachers!


Are you designing lessons for the students in front of you or for an ideal you’re holding onto?


What do your real life students look like? What do they need from you?

Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


If this exploration of real life students, teachers, and lessons has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

]]>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:18:39 +0000<![CDATA[Questions for Music Teachers that Never Seem to Go Away]]>https://www.teachmusic21c.com/blogs/post/Questions-Away

Have you ever noticed how certain questions just never go away? Uncomfortable questions like -  Why do so many students drop out of music lessons? Why do so few students participate in recreational music making as adults? What’s going on? Who’s at fault? What are we doing wrong?


These uncomfortable questions persist because, as music teachers, we know first hand what it’s like to enjoy long-lasting and meaningful connections with music making. And furthermore, we’d really like every person to enjoy a meaningful long-lasting relationship with music. Not just a few students here and there. Every person. 

What can music teachers do? Over the long course of my career, I’ve noticed that students rarely disengage because they lack ability. Most often, it’s because students struggle to make connections between their music lessons and how making music fits into their lives beyond the lesson. The challenge for music teachers is that when music lessons focus on formalized teacher-led achievements — prescribed pieces learned, exams passed, recitals completed — we may miss the larger goal: helping students build lasting, personal relationships with music.


That’s why I value looking to the future and to the kind of musical life each student might carry forward. When I consider how my students might participate in music making activities as adults, lesson activities take on a much more meaningful trajectory. Like for my student Reggie, who I see improvising for her own enjoyment years from now when she gets home from her day job. Or my student Alex who’ll be routinely advising his friends in university to take a music making break from their studies every now and again. Or my student Ian who’ll get together with friends to jam in the garage. These are things I can see them genuinely doing.

Students' Own Musical Connections - Do our music lessons empower our students’ independence and ownership? Are students given opportunities to make choices and connect making music to their own experiences? When students feel that music belongs to them—not just to the teacher or the studio—it’s obvious that they’ll be far more likely to continue. Including student choices in lessons can create powerful changes in how students perceive music: from something they do for lessons to something they do for themselves.


Uncomfortable questions regarding the prevalence of student drop outs and limited adult participation in making music may be jarring for music teachers. However, recognizing what’s going on is a promising first step. The second step is the important one because that’s where we actually do something about it. So let’s be the generation of music teachers that makes things happen. Let’s get going.

 

I appreciate when music teachers align our teaching with a vision of lifelong music making, we can anticipate some very exciting results. We may find that students stay engaged. Students continue making music that matches their own personality. Students discover that making music is more than just an after-school activity. It’s an integral part of who they are.


  • When music students leave your studio, what role does music making play in their everyday lives? 

  • What can you do in this week's lessons to highlight the value of making music? 

  • In what ways do your lessons invite students to take ownership, make choices, and see music as something that belongs to them?

    • Do you have colleagues who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel free to share it with them.


    If this exploration of uncomfortable questions has got you thinking, I’d love to hear from you. Click HERE to send me an email message. 


    This is your invitation to keep the conversation going....

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