Music Teaching Tips

1. Be organized! - Be as organized in ALL facets of your teaching as possible, ranging from billing to repertoire lists to teaching materials for your students. Although it appears to take time away from the lessons, the time you spend getting organized now will make it much easier to give lessons, as well as make a better impression on your students.

2. Consider yourself a professional, worthy of as much respect as would be given to any professional, and act that way at all times. Make sure that your students and parents realize that teaching is your profession. You'll be treated better and your students will progress faster if they understand that you're a dedicated professional.

3. Always be willing and able to learn, learn, learn and then relearn. There is no perfect method that will work for every single student that comes across your path. Take the initiative YOURSELF to do research constantly on different methods. Restudy pieces of music that you learned yourself as a child and see if you have some different ideas about interpretation, etc than you did before. Always be willing to explore music written by 20th and 21st century composers. Your willingness to expand your musical knowledge will benefit your students by showing them that new are not something to be feared, but, rather, something to explore.