Creating safe places for students
As music teachers, we develop our own teaching habits. We listen for the missed notes, notice the uneven rhythms, identify the technical challenges, and look for what needs to be corrected. We pay a lot of attention to our students making progress. These aspects are essential to our work, but over time, they can inadvertently become our default approach of seeing students. We assume making progress is easy for everyone. We notice what’s missing before acknowledging that we don’t know what’s entirely going on in our students’ learning journey. A student’s daily life, the obstacles they face, their sensitivity, or discomfort with taking a risk can easily take over their journey.
Recently, while talking with teachers about the challenges they face, I found myself asking a different question: “What makes this situation harder than it needs to be?” It’s a simple question that invites us to step back and take a deep breath. Maybe we're so focused on what a student can’t yet do that we’ve forgotten about our own creativity and reflective processes. Maybe our expectations, lesson routines, or approaches to practice are creating obstacles that we could remove. Instead of working harder to correct the problem, we may need to think differently about the situation.
The same question can be helpful when parents express concern about a lack of progress. Rather than feeling the need to defend our teaching or focus on what their child isn't doing, we can explain the challenges we’re noticing and how teaching and learning processes aren’t always as straightforward as we think they should be. Sometimes, changing the goals from what we think students should achieve to goals that students can genuinely achieve can help parents see their child’s lessons in a new light.
At Teach Music 21C, we believe that meaningful teaching begins with the perspectives we hold onto. It starts with us - who we are and what we think teaching/learning should look like. This doesn’t mean ignoring musical challenges or lowering our expectations. It means recognizing that every student brings strengths, challenges, experiences, and possibilities into the lesson. It also means recognizing that our own assumptions, habits, and expectations can sometimes get in the way. Our task is to find ways to help our students as they move along their musical journey. And that’s something that may not show up when we’d like it to. It’s something that may require week after week - even year after year - of detours and alternate routes before we get things right.
This week, when you encounter a situation that seems challenging, try asking yourself the question - “What makes this situation harder than it needs to be?”
Maybe the answer lies in giving a student more time, easing an expectation, changing our approach, or simply allowing them to be where they are for a while. Our students need room to grow, but they also need a place where they can take a breath, feel accepted, and enjoy making music without always having to prove they're making progress. Sometimes, what matters most isn't how far a student moves forward, but whether they feel safe enough to keep showing up, exploring, and making music. Sometimes, what students need most from us isn’t another assignment; it’s the space and security to be where they are.
A few reflective questions -
What might I be overlooking when I focus on what a student isn't doing or achieving?
What could change if I gave this student a different way to experience success?
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