Blog by Merlin B. Thompson

It’s the end of summer. Music lessons are resuming. And music teachers everywhere are thinking about how to help students following their summer break.

With September just around the corner, it’s time we start thinking about how to set the tone for a fantastic year of music making! Writing an introductory letter to our students’ parents is a great way to share our enthusiasm for teaching, outline our plans, and create a collaborative s...

Welcome back to "Working With Parents". In Parts 1 and 2, we took a look at past parent/teacher interactions and recent research into parental involvement. For Part 3, let's weave all this information together and consider - How can music teachers and parents work together given the many l...

Welcome back to "Working With Parents". In Part 1, we took a look at past interactions between music teachers and parents. For Part 2, it's time to take a look at what recent research has to say about parental involvement in their children's musical journey.

Every where I go - it seems music teachers have questions about parental involvement. Should music teachers require parents to attend their child’s music lessons? Is it advantageous for music teachers to require parents to monitor their child’s practicing at home? How much should parents be involved...

How often do you think your students spend time with their favourite Chill Out piece? Once in a while? Every now and then? All the time? Whenever it’s convenient? Never - they don’t have any Chill Out pieces. 

Have you ever thought about the cycle of Growth and Rest in learning/teaching how to sing or play a musical instrument? Mother Nature reminds us that Growth and Rest always work together. After a day of Growth, we’ve got nighttime as a very much needed period of Rest. Or consider the seasons - ...

Do your students ever get frustrated during their lessons? Have you ever had the following situation? The student repeatedly returns to the beginning of the piece, starting over again and again in order to create sufficient momentum to make it through the unwieldy challenges in bar 3. Finally, after...

With June lessons just around the corner, it’s time to think about wrapping up student lessons. For many music teachers, June is a year-end target with celebration in a formal concert and a reception for everyone. I look at June as the time to reflect on what students have done over the previous mon...

What do you do when parents request lessons for a month to see if their child likes it before they make a commitment? Do you tell them it's better to make a one-year commitment, as progress can be fairly slow at the beginning? Is there anything music teachers can do to get parents to change their mi...

Why are human beings so enraptured by music making? What is it about music making that people from cultures around the world find so natural and meaningful throughout their entire lives? I have the impression people return to music making again and again because music making sparks something deep in...