Music Simply Music - Warm Fuzzies

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!
A sound approach to music education.

September 5, 2000

Table of Contents:

1. MTIPS Theme
2. Welcome Notes - (Shameless Marketing!)
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Birthdays
5. Book Time
6. Recommended Sites

1. MTIPS Theme

Music education is a wonderful metaphor for life. We have, as music educators, an incredible opportunity to instill in our students not just skills for success in music, but more importantly, for success in life! Goal setting, or what I prefer to label goal getting is just one of these important skills.

2. Welcome Notes

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter! A warm welcome to our MANY new subscriber! And a special “thank you” to all my colleagues and friends that have passed MTIPS onto your friends and colleagues. I consider it an honor that you find MTIPS valuable enough to pass it on. Thanks!

Shameless Marketing Plug: If you know someone who would benefit by subscribing to MTIPS, please forward them this copy and if they choose, they can click on the link below to become a monthly subscriber.

http://www.musicsimplymusic.com/newsletters.htm.

MTIPS is a FREE monthly newsletter that’s goal is to provide piano teachers (hopefully you!) with insightful practices that will make the career of sharing music with soon-to-be-musicians a more rewarding and successful one. Please let me know how I can be of further service to you. You may contact me at: nickambrosino@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!

3. MTIPS Development

For those subscribers in the United States, we have just “celebrated” Labor Day. A day that we get to not work, but instead to relax, regroup and get back in touch with our families. Probably a day that should be regularly scheduled in our monthly routine. Certainly a model of a day that should be periodically conducted with our music students.

Many people use the end of the year to decide what their goals will be for the next year. Yet by the 2nd month of the year, the goals are usually forgotten and the goal setter ha fallen into old habits. Music students are no different. Why not take a lesson every quarter to reflect on goals achieved, challenges overcome and dreams to be achieved in the upon coming months?

Properly set goals must be able to answer 2 questions; how many/much and by when? At what tempo do you want to be able to play your major scales and by when? How much of the sonata do you want to learn, with what level of accuracy and by what date? How many jazz solos do you want to transcribe and by when? The next lesson, the end of the year? Get the idea?

Many times, students will not “get” the goal they have chosen. This is an incredible opportunity to allow the student to learn a non- musical lesson that will have a tremendous impact on both his/her musical performance as well as his/her “life performance”. You can assist the student in determining why the goal was not achieved. Was it just too much? Did the student not go at it 100% and what does 100% mean? Were there other priorities in life that the student had not calculated into the formula? A final exam, a term project, several tests, a book that had to be read for school? Did the student not manage his/her time properly?

Allow your student to determine what the cause was. While it may be easy for us to see as adults, it is more important for the student to learn to notice the cause. Once we teach him/her to recognize it, we will not have to remind them again of what to do. They will know on their own. (Reminds me of the old saying, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.”)

One last point. Sometimes, I have seen teachers use the lack of goal getting, as an opportunity to try to motivate the student through negative reinforcement. “See, you just don’t work hard enough”. “I don’t know what to do with you”. Unfortunately, the teacher is missing an incredible opportunity to teach the student a lesson about life, a lesson that may stay with him long after he stops practicing his scales!

4. Notable Quotables

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous." Actually, who are you NOT to be. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won't feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest the glory that is within us. It is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Marianne Williamson About the Submitter: Submitted by Aboodi Shaby, Professional Coach, who can be reached at Aboodi@wonderful-life.com, or visited on the web at http://www.wonderful-life.com.

5. Notable Birthdays

Antonin Dvorak 9/8
George Gershwin 9/26
Jean-Phillipe Rameau 9/25

6. Book Time

Goals: Setting and Achieving them on Schedule By Zig Ziglar OK, so this isn’t a book, it’s a 2 cassette program. But I love it so much that I had to put it under my Book Time recommendation. If you have never listened to Zig, you are missing a huge treat! He is probably one of the most influential public speakers of our time and educators need to hear what he has to say. He is inspiring motivational and sentimental. Gentle, yet nudging. Sounds like the making of a great teacher. If you never order another program about goal setting, order this for just $15.30 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671520318/musicsimplymusic.

The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals By Keith Ellis Keith Ellis does a wonderful job bypassing the mundane and inspiring the magnificent! The Magic Lamp transforms the process of setting goals from a dull routine into an exciting adventure because it's the first book to combine the methods of goal setting with the magic of making your wishes come true. To order this book for only $11.70, click on the link below: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/060980166X/musicsimplymusic

7. Recommended Sites

http://www.philiphumbert.com. Visit this site for over 200 pages of articles, Top 10 lists (everything from motivation to romantic things to do for your partner!), humor, quotes, and tools for your success! Philip Humbert also publishes a FREE monthly newsletter to which you will want to subscribe. Check it out!

Copyright © 2000 Nicholas Ambrosino. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute MTIPS so long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author of this article is Nicholas Ambrosino and he may be contacted at:

http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
director@musicsimplymusic.com

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