Blog by Merlin B. Thompson

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...

It seems like there are several topics I'm always circling back to more than others - the role of music making in our lives, lifelong music making, and how music making contributes to our quality of life. As we move through the changing landscape of music teaching - what we prioritize, how we connec...