April 5, 2003

Table of Contents:

1. MTIPS Theme
2. Welcome Notes
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Quotables

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1. MTIPS Theme

Distinctions are like levers, making the right distinction will enable you to move larger masses with less effort.
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2. Welcome Notes

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter! The topic of the day is "distinctions", the little things we do that create the big results. I would like to invite you to play with me on this issue. Here's my proposal. After reading this issue and getting a flavor for this idea of distinctions, send me important distinctions that make you as effective as you are. I will compile them (all contact information will be included) and post them on the Music Simply Music web site. Send your distinctions to distinctions@musicsimplymusic.com. I looking forward to hearing what makes your teaching different!


Thanks to your referrals, MTIPS is growing in leaps and bounds! This month alone we welcome 27 new subscribers! Would you take a moment to forward this issue to a friend or two whom would benefit from a positive ezine to assist them in utilizing their fullest potentials as teachers and students? Thanks!

My goal is to provide you with practical tips and insights that will make your career or education in music, more fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to see a certain topic covered in an upcoming issue of MTIPS. My email address is editor@musicsimplymusic.com

Be sure to check our web site at:
http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
We have lots of information, and resources you can use. We're constantly adding and up-dating, so check it often!

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3. MTIPS Development

I was speaking with one of my adult students recently who is a computer programmer. In our conversation we started discussing what makes his programming different, (specifically his user friendly interfaces), than other programmer's interfaces as well as what makes my teaching different than other music teacher's lessons. We came across a very interesting point. What we uncovered was, that while it may appear, to the outward observer, that there are big differences between his interfaces and his colleagues and my teaching and my colleagues, quite the contrary is true. It's not one big thing, it's a whole lot of little things, a whole lot of little distinctions.

Ask any successful person what makes him different than the rest of the pack and he will mostly likely give a list of little things. Small consistent differences that when compiled on top of each other appear to create a largely different picture. Distinctions are like levers, making the right distinction will enable you to move larger masses with less effort. Take for instance a recent distinction my staff and I discussed at our last staff meeting. The difference between forceful vs. firm.

As a professional educator, we can get a student to do something through sheer force. Make the lesson ugly, put some serious pressure on the student. Impose your will and you might get results. You will also get a lot of other stuff for which you hadn't bargained. Stuff that's usually not good for business. Stuff like quitting students, resentment, resistance and a dislike for making music.

Inherent to the word "forceful" is a certain amount of ego, a certain amount of my will over my student's. An image that pops into my mind is that of putting a square peg in a round whole. Sure I could do it, but the square would sacrifice a lot of it's squareness to fit.

On the other hand, listen to the word "firm." Say it a couple of times and be aware of how it feels in the emotional part of you. Doesn't it feel gentler, kinder, more compassionate?

Being firm seems to suggest a respect for the student's being, as well as the educator's experience. Being firm suggests that people are being held accountable. There is no "underlying agenda" to the firmness, no resentful emotions. Just a way that invites all parties involved to stay true to their words. 

What distinctions make you different? What words are not just words, but important vocabulary choices you make that are paramount to your success and the success of your students?

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4. Notable Quotable

Copyright © 2003 Nicholas Ambrosino. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute MTIPS so long as this copyright notice and full contact information about the author is attached. The author of this issue is Nicholas Ambrosino and he may be contacted at:
director@musicsimplymusic.com or reached by telephone at 631-863-2069

To subscribe, simply send an email to:
mtips@aweber.com
with the words "subscribe" subject line of the email.

"We enjoy what we do, and so will you!"
phone: 631-863-2354     fax: 631-471-8311

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