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Episode 38:  Cheers to An Unconventional August

Hello, music teacher friends!  Welcome to Episode 38 of the Beyond Measure Podcast with ME!  Christina Whitlock – your self-proclaimed Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.  Thanks for joining me today as I seek to offer you a genuine sense of solidarity in this wild life of independent music teaching.

There are certain times in the calendar year that REALLY seem to benefit from shaking things up a bit. One of those is definitely the very end of the school year, and, actually – at least in my experience – I would say the same for the START of the school year.  Over the last several years, I’ve settled into a rhythm that works pretty well for me… at least, when we’re NOT in the midst of a global pandemic… and I thought I’d share with you today.

I’m not sharing because I think you all need to replicate my system in your own studios, but because I know I’m always inspired by the ways other teachers shake things up and I thought this might help you ponder your own ideas for future years.

There was a time when August felt like total madness for me.  I would sweat bullets over assembling a new fall schedule, only to have family after family request changes once soccer schedules and student council meetings got announced.  Getting kids back in a practice routine while they were establishing new school schedules always felt harder than it should.  And, of course, I would quietly mourn the ability to cook actual dinners for my family at a decent hour.

I’m sure at least one of those aspects sounds familiar to you.  And I wish I could tell you, “here is the solution to it all!” but that’s not exactly what I’m doing here.  However, I have learned how to make the best of it.

My tuition calendar runs from August through May.  For reference, our local schools go back in session the first and second weeks of August around here, depending on the district.  My August lessons begin the third week of the month, which, this year, falls on August 16^th.  Taking those first two weeks off is really important to me.  Mostly because it gives me uninterrupted time with my OWN kids before they’re back in school.  Also, because absolutely ZERO of my studio families are disappointed that we don’t have lessons those weeks.  There’s just too much going on.

THEN – those last three weeks in August – get this, friends – my students pretty much only come in groups.  I send out a google form asking for availability JUST for those three weeks, and I group kids with similar ages into one hour sessions.  This accomplishes a bunch of things.  First of all, it offers a temporary, like, band-aid on fall schedules until student schedules have had a chance to settle in a bit.  I collect schedule requests for the rest of the year that final week in August, which gives me MUCH more

…for more, tune into Episode 038 of Beyond Measure.