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September 5, 2002
Table of Contents:
1. MTIPS Theme
2. Welcome Notes
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Quotables
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1. MTIPS Theme
Adversity offers many opportunities to those who choose
to take them. Sometimes the path of least resistance is
not always the best path for growth.
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2. Welcome Notes
Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS)
Newsletter!
They're Up! For MTIPS subscribers who have not yet
checked out the FREE Reports at www.musicsimplymusic.com/reports,
please do so! So far there are 7 reports posted. My goal
is to have 24 FREE reports up within 24 months. This is
a password protected page and can only be accessed by
MTIPS and VIPS subscribers. The username for subscribers
is msmusic. The password is mzk3241. Both are case
sensitive. Please feel free to send me your feedback
about the reports and how I can serve you better!
A warm welcome to our MANY new subscribers. This month
alone, we had an increase of 13.6 percent! It is with
much gratitude that I say "Thank you" to all
my colleagues and friends who have passed MTIPS onto
your friends and colleagues. That's how we grow, and
your hitting the "Forward" button and sharing
your copy with a friend (or two or three) is deeply
appreciated. 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:
nick@musicsimplymusic.com
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3. MTIPS Development
As we enter that time of the year where people become
"educationally conscious", many of us will
have an influx of students. I know that some teachers
will audition students for their studios and I often
wonder what they are auditioning for.
Is it musical competence? Talent? Learning readiness? Or
easy of teaching?
Certainly I understand that given a set number of hours
that we can teach a week, it would be most advantageous
to choose the easiest teaching load. You know, students
who are musically gifted, always practice, and never
cancel. (Such a dream!) Yet I question as to whether
this practice truly supports us in a way that develops
us as people, musicians and teachers.
Adversity offers many opportunities to those who choose
to take them. Sometimes the path of least resistance is
not always the best path for growth. My children would
certainly be easiest to feed if all the food my wife and
I fed them contained some form of chocolate syrup,
sprinkles and whipped cream! Yet, as parents, we seek to
fuel, as well as to teach them to fuel, their bodies
with better nutritional sources. Sometimes these sources
do not taste as good, but they offer more nutritional
benefit. How about fueling our teaching bodies with a
little more roughage? (God bless the Italian in my
heritage. Everything comes back to food!)
Take on one or two challenging students. You know,
students who do not fit the method book mold or who need
to learn differently or who are not known for their
practicing consistency. Maybe you could work with a
student who is at the middle or bottom of the pack with
regard to musical talent. (FYI, my belief about talent
is that it is simply nurtured, harvested potential and
everyone has potential!) One of these students offers
more gifts to enhancing your teaching skills than all of
your "easy" students combined.
You ask your students to constantly stretch their
comfort zones. That's basically the goal of education.
Despite the fact that Bach may be difficult, you
probably at some time in your student's tutelage,
request that they play it. Why? Because you know it will
make them a better, more well rounded musician. Yet are
your stretching your comfort zone as a teacher or are
your taking the easy way out?
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4. Notable Quotable
Teachers recognize that the excitement of anxiety and
challenge is the very zest of teaching. When they are
involved and struggling, they do indeed feel most alive!
Dr. Herbert M. Greenberg
Copyright © 2002 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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