Here's a scenario - You know your student is in their final year of lessons. They hardly have any time to practice. What do you do? Is this a time to push ahead or pull back? How do you help students like this navigate through their last months/weeks of instruction? What’s the best approach for music teachers?
The Celebration Concert - When students are in their final months/weeks of lessons with me, I appreciate the opportunity to end on a high note with a “celebration concert”. It’s such a simple event with an amazing impact on students’ musical ownership. I invite my students to create a final project that reflects who they’ve become as music makers. They pull together pieces they’ve done in the past. They add on carefully selected new works they can manage in the time available. It’s such a great way to celebrate their journey and highlight students’ accomplishments as independent music makers with their own evolving identity.
As you can imagine, the celebration concerts are as unique as my students. Here are some examples - Ethan sang and accompanied himself in songs spanning 50 years of pop music. Jennifer put together a concert of musical themes from the Harry Potter movies. Charlotte assembled her own unique combination of piano classics and broadway tunes. Putting together a celebration concert doesn’t need to be time-consuming or back-breaking. The best approach is to blend students’ personality and their own musical journey.
They’ve Come A Long Ways - As students move through their final months of music lessons, I want to make sure that students recognize how far they’ve come. We revisit some of the hard-won achievements that might have faded away over time. Concerts. Repertoire. Understandings. Connections. I cherish the final stretch of lessons as an opportunity to affirm that music making stays with them long after the end of formal music lessons. We talk about how to keep music making in their lives. Will the keyboard go with them to university? How far is the music faculty from their dorm? There are lots of ways to keep music making in their lives.
Sometimes I’m alarmed at how quickly my students arrive at their final months/weeks of lessons. Where did the time go? How did that happen? Celebrating with students in their last months/weeks is something I treasure. Helping them to leave with a sense of who they are as music makers and where they can go next is what makes this work feel so worthwhile. It’s an honour and privilege I never take for granted.
What do you do to empower your students during their final lessons?
How do you feel about a “celebration concert”?
Do you know a music teacher who might appreciate reading this blog? Please feel welcome to share it with them.